Words With: Amy Smith

Gigwise catches up with newbie on the block, the stunning singer/songwriter Amy Smith as she prepares for her homecoming gig at Liverpool’s Barfly. Nauturally we probe her on internet downloads, her obsession with Cardiff, and a certain metal band mix up!

Gigwise : Hi Amy, how are you?
Amy: I’m really good at the moment thanks, it’s all going really well

G: But you must be tired? We’ve seen your touring schedule and it’s been pretty intense!
A: Yeah…well, actually I am quite tired! But it’s been great…busy but great…we’ve been spending the first two weeks of each month playing shows in various Barfly’s, and it has been pretty nonstop, it seems to be show after show after show, but tonight is the first gig of this leg of the tour so I’ve had a little rest.

G: Yeah, speaking of the Barfly thing, can we ask why? Working in the Cardiff Barfly at Easter just seemed to involve putting up your posters! Why so many dates there? We were beginning to think you were Barfly sponsored!
A: Haha! Well, we really like the Barfly’s as a venue and the kind of crowd they seem to attract.  They seem to be more authentically about the music and have a good reputation.  As to why the repetition and constant giging, we just had the philosophy not to wait until the right gig, but more strive to create the right gig…by re-visiting places it’s nice to see a crowd building up who specifically come out to see you, and it kinda keeps it going, by doing a coupe of shows.  You know, we wanted to kind of reinstate the old style of gigs, where there are loads of acts, I mean it worked for the Rock Circus and stuff.  We want to get out there, get stuff known, get a crowd and provide a whole nights entertainment with a variety of good bands, a mixture. 

G: Speaking of variety, is it true that at one venue the support bands were actually metal acts?!  You can’t get much more varied than that!
A: Haha! Yes! Although it was more a case of a mix up than anything.  We turned up and discovered that our supports were actually metal bands! I was worried obviously, because I thought that a crowd who had come out to see a quiet, acoustic set might not enjoy a metal band….that did annoy me a bit, just the total miss matching of it!  But it was okay, the bands were good, don’t get me wrong, but just not a good choice for support I guess.  But after the gig, people did come up and say they enjoyed the set, so I don’t think they were too put off or pissed off about the metal!

G: Good good!  So although you are creating quite a buzz right now, you are still just on the surface of recognition…so who exactly is Amy Smith?
A: Amy Smith is actually Amy Newhouse-Smith, but we decided to drop the Newhouse because of Amy Winehouse!  I’ve always been into music, I grew up loving Dylan and Zeppelin and the greats like that.  I actually grew up in Liverpool and went to LIPPA.  I write my own stuff and have a quiet, mellow sound.  I live in London now…I’m in Clapham now since I’ve got my advance!

G: Today Clapham – tomorrow Mayfair eh!?
A: Haha! I wish! No, it’s just nice because I don’t have to stress about paying the bills and stuff, you know? I’m just working really hard right now with touring and getting exposure, and … that’s about it!

G: Ah! So this is like a home-coming show for you? Have you got a crowd of friends coming tonight?
A: Yeah, it’s really nice just to have the opportunity to come back here and catch up with all my friends and stuff.  I don’t know how many of them are coming down tonight, but I’ve texted a few!  My mum is coming down with a friend, that’ll be really nice. I just love being back here whenever I can, especially recently because I’ve just been sooo busy!

G: And yes, it’s always nice to be able to pay the bills!  Along that line, how do you feel about illegal internet downloads? Would you be pissed off if people were illegally downloading your material?
A: I’ve not really thought a lot about it… I suppose it’s still getting your music out there and being heard, and I’d hope that if someone came across my stuff and really liked it, they’d go and buy the album, or even come along to a show.  They’d be paying money then as a direct consequence of having illegally downloaded my stuff.  That’s how I think I’d go anyway…if I came across something great online it’d make me go out and buy it.  Obviously I’d prefer it if they bought the single or paid to download it or whatever... but if they did it, and if it made them go out and end up buying stuff then I think it’s a positive thing. I still need to be making a living at the end of the day, but I think it’s a good way of getting out there.

G: You write your own material, and some of your songs are very deep and tackle quite difficult issues…would you say then, that to be a good singer songwriter in your genre, you need to have quite an emotionally explicit array of life experiences?
A: I’ve often had this conversation with friends actually, because sometimes I really think I’m not ‘worthy’ of writing music…because I’m not a drug addict or a serial shagger or deeply troubled.  You know, I come from a good solid family, I had a great childhood…I’m…normal… But I do diversify in terms of perspectives…a lot of my material is drawn from personal experience, but for instance, I’ve written a song that’s about being left by your partner.  But in reality, I was the one who left the relationship, but I turned it around and wrote from how I imagined he would be feeling.  I like to do that, be a bit more intelligent and draw from perceived experiences as well as my own.

G: There are a lot of female acoustic vocalists out on the scene at the moment, such as KT Tunstal, Jem and Amy Winehouse.   What do you feel your music has to offer in terms of difference? What defines you?
A:  Ahh I dread this question!  I have listened to what else is out there and, I’m not saying that it’s not good because a lot of it is, but I haven’t found anyone who is doing what I’m doing.  I feel that, ok we might be in the same genre but I have a different sound within that, and I'm doing other things, for example my touring ethic.  Also, when you read whom these other women cite as influences they cite a lot of female vocalists.  That’s where I think I am different because, although I love people like Joni Mitchell and Carol King, I’ve not listened to them that much.  It’s not that I decidedly don’t listen to them, but I have always preferred male singer-songwriters. People like Joni Mitchell I find her work so inspiring and complicated and obviously she has an amazing voice, but, I can’t just listen to her, I have to work out what she’s doing and what she’s creating and how I can learn from it.  So I’d say that my main defining thing is my male based influences.  And that in turn helps me to create a different sound