Miranda Sykes

August 2006

We caught up with the ever busy Miranda in the Summer...

What are you up to at the moment
I'm recording in Banbury with Little Johnny England for their new album due out next year, which is all going very well, we've done a few gigs together, it's good to be playing in a folk rock outfit. I'm doing lead and backing vocals and electric bass.

You've had a hectic year
Yeah! it's mostly been with Show Of Hands this year, which is really dominating my career at the moment. It started off in the spring with recording on Witness and then touring. We're off to Germany soon and then back to the UK for the Autumn tour. Pretty busy up till Christmas now! Then the Albert Hall next year, the ultimate gig of my lifetime I think

Actually I looked at the pics you have on your site of the Canadian tour, looked absolute hell with all the sunshine, horse riding and canoeing..
Absolutely dreadful! When we have a day off we like to sample some of the local culture, whether it be horse riding Western style or canoeing in Banff . The tour was really successful, we did Edmonton and Calgary festivals. The festivals are really different over there, they do a lot of workshop sessions where they get two or three bands on stage and you go around doing a song each all jamming in together to accompany everyone. That was really good fun. A lot of the festivals are dry, no drinking in the public areas

The new album (Bliss) is going down well
Yeah, I'm really pleased with it, I feel completely at home singing jazzy, bluesy songs. It all came together perfectly.

How difficult was it choosing the songs
Well there's only a certain type of song that works well with double bass and my vocals, I tend to know straight away if a certain song will work for me. The track 'I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free' was never intended to be on the album, it just happened because I love the song and I had a friend, Dave Jones, in the studio doing a session on piano. We were jamming it and it worked out so well that we ended up pressing the record button and laying it down.

where did the jazz influence come from
I've always loved jazz and found myself attracted to those songs more and more. When it came to putting an album together that's what came out. It's a classic combination of vocal and upright that works so well. I listen to a lot of jazz, the Indigo Girls are a great inspiration, I listen to a lot of Dave Matthews Band. I listen to all sorts of music, I keep a really open mind.

Any plans for a solo tour?
I'd love to do it eventually to support the album, at the moment there's no room really, but I'd love to tour solo with a pianist. At the moment I'm so satisfied musically working with Show Of Hands and doing pieces with the likes of Little Johnny England, they give me a lot of creative involvement. I couldn't hope for anything more really.

What made you choose the double bass at such a young age?
When I was eight a group of musicians came round to my school to talk about playing instruments. I went home and announced to my parents that I wanted to learn the double bass. As my parent's are very musical themselves they went and booked me some lessons. I've never looked back really! It's a bit of a bind when you have to fly and cart it around everywhere though.