Emily Maguire interview, part 3...
Because of the internet, and the way the music industry is changing, you're never really cut off from the people that discover you and like you, are you?
No, I mean we might live in a very rustic timber shack but we do now have broadband, finally! The internet keeps us in touch with the rest of the world, that's how we get our news, through bbc.co.uk! I'm communicating with fans in any country really, over the net. The internet is what's made what we do possible. Without it, there'd be absolutely no way we'd be running our own record label and
have got to where we're at, with the support we've had, without spreading the word through the internet.
I think that's what makes it so vibrant, the music scene now. Although the majors are complaining about how terrible things are, and piracy, I don't think the music scene has been as vibrant as it is now for donkey's years.
Yeah absolutely. It's a kind of free for all isn't it, it's open to everybody. Now that you can record youself, distribute yourself and promote yourself without any intervention from a major record label, then the indutsry's been thrown wide open...I think I'm so blessed to be doing this right now, because If I'd been doing this 20 years ago it just wouldn't have been possible without getting a deal.
Exactly, and it's not just the internet, it's recording technology.
Exactly. Being able to do that without having a huge budget, or going to some other studio to do it. It's great, a brave new world!
Well, yeah, it's changed for good in some places. It's still down to that grassroots thing, I was at Cambridge when you were there, and Jane Brace was raving about you and then a couple of other artists were like 'Have you seen that Emily MaGuire?'
Oh really? Excellent!
That's the great thing. People see that and then because the festival scene over here is really good, people then hunt you out and find out more about you and see you on tour. Is that the plan next year, to do another tour in the UK or do more festivals?
Well, things are actually moving ahead quite quickly at the moment, as a result of the tour with Don McLean. The album 'Keep Walking' is being released in the UK and Europe through Universal on 12th November, and following that we'll be back on the road again touring. I'm not quite sure where or with who but at the moment we're going to be in the UK to do some promotional stuff and some more gigs. So, we're definitely going to be touring again starting next year. It's an exciting time. I've just gotta get this week done, play the Albert Hall and then see what comes out of that!
What do your parents think? Are they in Cambridge now?
Yeah, my dad is. They're very pleased that I'm staying in the country at the moment. It is quite diffult sometimes living abroad, especially as far away as Australia. And so I think my mum's certainly quite chuffed that I'm not going back quite yet!
But the success as well. You've gone from recording some albums off you own back to actually playing the Albert Hall with Don McLean It's pretty good going!! The way you write your songs, are you forming ideas now for the next songs you'll write, is it quite an internal process or are you sort of an observational writer, does what you do and where you are colour what comes out?
I don't know, it's almost like half thinking, songwriting, a kind of meditation. I'm not that conscious about it. I sort of get the urge ,and a song kind of comes out. I'm never quite sure how it's going to manifest itself or indeed what it's going to be about. Sometimes, I'll sit down and be writing some lyrics and be thinking about a certain situation or feeling, or quite often about somebody else that I've met, about their life or something that's happned to them. Then I'll finish the song and listen to it and go 'oh my god, it's about somthing else'. It's almost like the songs come from somewhere else, not directly from me. I don't know if that makes any sense?
Yeah, it does, I guess being out in the bush is a much more meditative process isn't it?
I certainly have quite an unusual environment to be writing in. I've actually got a little building of my own, that we call a yurt, a sort of hexagonal tin hut if you like. It overlooks the valley and I sit in there with an iron stove and a bed and a desk and I've got my guitar in there, and I sit there and look out the window, down into this beautiful valley with hills and trees and that's where I write. So, it's quite an inspirational environment that gives my mind a lot of space and possibility.
Well it's paying off! It's fantastic to talk to you. It would be good to catch up
after the Albert Hall one perhaps or when you're back...
Yeah definitely. I'm gonna be staying for the foreseeable so absoutely, any time.
It's nice to hear someone so fresh who gets the breaks!
That's one thing with MySpace and the internet, you realise the number of people out there who are talented and doing their thing. It's so hard to get a break and to be able to do this for a living would be such a privilege.
Iain Hazlewood
