there are songs about boyfriends I had when I was like 16, who I don’t think about any more, but having to sing that still now, when I didn’t think I would be, is…
It must be like looking through an old photo album every day, like a forced nostalgia… Yeah, it is; I don’t think people realise how personal songs can be sometimes – I know that’s my own fault – but at the same time, at the time you write it, it’s something you need to get off your chest, but I’m the kind of person who will write a song, play it for about 6 months at the most, and then need to move on and never want to see it again. But I’ll get used to it! I’m happy that people want to hear it.
When you were recording the album, you spent your time in America and I recently saw you tweet, “Can I just marry the whole of LA?” Might we lose our northeast girl to the west coast of the US? Yeeeah, I’m afraid that might be the case. I’d like to live there.
What’s LA got that Holt hasn’t, eh?! Oh goodness, I don’t know, I feel bad!
You’ll change your mind when you get to Holt, I imagine. Yeah, I’m sure, haha! I don’t know, since I was really, really young I remember the first record I heard on vinyl was Joni Mitchell’s ‘Ladies of the Canyon’. I was fascinated first of all by the vinyl, and that whole record just encompasses a time and a place in the 70s in Laurel Canyon. From there I discovered Neil Young and Te Mamas and the Papas and Frank Zappa and to me it was just this magical place where it’s warm and there’s palm trees and people are making music and even though they weren’t all living in the same house, there was a sort of sense of like a commune. Tey always intrigued me, communes. My love just sort of blossomed from there and then I went, and it really was as I had imagined; it’s kind of just a magical place really and has a nice vibe, I guess.
I have to ask you about the band as well, because I don’t know if they were with you when you came to Norwich last… No, I must have
done.
So is it just that now you have formally named them the Hooves of Destiny? Oh no, no, they’ve been the Hooves of Destiny for five years, but it just took a long time for people to agree and put it on everything!Tat was a problem for us where people would still bill it as just me and then I think people would come expecting me with an acoustic guitar and be disappointed, then people who would probably want to come and see a band didn’t, because it wasn’t billed as that. But we’ve got that point across now; they’ve been with me for five years now.
We run a tattoo convention in Norwich, so have a strong relationship with body art and I couldn’t help but notice your offerings of ink dotted around your body – - I’ve got either eight or nine tattoos; I’m not sure. I’m trying to slow down, I mean, I never wanted to be like a tattooed lady, but I do have nine tattoos now!
see it every day and remember to be grateful.
But they’re quite discreet, quite small… Well kind of, but now I have one each on the palm of my hand; on one palm I have a bird and on the other one I have ‘Tank You’ in Underwood typewriter font, quite big in the middle of my hand so that I see it every day and remember to be grateful. I think it’s easy to forget and a lot of people focus on what they don’t have and get a bit bummed out about that, but they need to be thankful for what they already have. It’s all about being happy and sad in the same situation.
Emma Garwood
Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny make up part of the line-up for this year’s Holt Festival.Te band play on Monday 23rd July at the Holt Community Centre. For tickets, go to
www.holtfestival.org. Read the uncut version of this interview at
Outlineonline.co.uk
outlineonline.co.uk / July 2012 / 49
You’ [tattooed], quite big in the middle of my hand so that I
I have ‘Tank
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