LIVE 24-SEVEN
People thought you were taking a break, but you were busy working on many projects from writing songs for movies to co-writes with Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and One Direction, how did you find writing for others, was it easier or slightly more pressure, as it’s now just for you? Is it kind of easier, those three you mentioned that ended up on albums, there’s plenty of other ones that didn’t [laughing]. You know, there are sometimes sessions with people where you just don’t click and not necessarily on a personal level, but on a songwriting level, sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and certainly not as well as those three that you mentioned! They were a real joy, I didn’t work with One Direction, I worked with Harry, but it ended up on a One Direction album. That was really fun, I love Harry, he’s great! Ed is a joy to work with and Taylor was amazing too, those experiences were great, I learnt a lot! They’re all a lot younger than I am and they have skills that maybe the younger modern songwriter has that maybe someone from the previous generation, which I guess I’m a part of, is not necessarily readily available, the swiftness… I’ve just realised what I said, I’m not trying to make a pun there [laughing]. It was good though [laughing] Let’s say the brevity with which they do things is kind of impressive. Especially Ed, you know he writes ten records in a heartbeat and you’ve only just managed to take your coat off, [laughing] it’s kind of staggering really.
Are you looking forward to the tour, because before you took your break you were like, release an album, tour, release an album, tour – exhausting! Are you thinking, “Oh no, here we go…”? Well no, that was a gruelling period of our lives in a sense, as gruelling as it gets for musicians, as let’s face it, it’s not the most difficult job in the world, but it was a lot of touring, then you’d make an album and go back on tour, it was pretty much ten years of constantly touring and going back into the studio. So, with the break that we’ve had we’re just so excited to get back out on tour. Even times when you’re feeling knackered on tour, it’s still generally quite fun, because were all so close and we laugh a lot on tour, at the end of the day we’re laughing like idiots [laughing] and it’s a lot of fun going around the world with your pals, so now we really excited to get back out and playing UK and Ireland again later in the year and into next year.
You dropped out to a fan that you’re working on a solo album, when can we hear that? Well it’s finished, but I just didn’t want anything to get in the way of this album. Also, it’s a really strange record, it won’t be a commercial record in any sense, I will probably just put it on Spotify and Vinyl that are interested buy it, I don’t think there will be any promotion, posters or radio [laughing] or anything like that! It’s not me making a move to become a social artist, these are just songs that I wrote that were definitely not typical songs, but they are songs that I love. They’re songs recorded in my kitchen, they’re not produced or anything like that if you know what I mean, they’re…ermm Raw…beautiful? Yes!
I love the Irish sense of humour, and I hope that you take this in the spirit I say it, most people don’t go to LA for clarity, but you
said that you went to LA for clarity… [laughing] [laughing] Yeah! Yet you went there and found it, I think you’re the only person! [laughing] [Laughing] I might well be! Yeah, it’s funny, that’s true people go there to find their fortune on the silver screen I guess, but I was never looking for that and I guess I found a different side of LA which maybe people don’t see that often. I found a lot of peace and calmness and people who changed my life immeasurably actually, one of the songs on the album called ‘Heal Me’ is about a person who I met there, who’s like a best friend and changed me immeasurably for the better – saved my life really. So, LA means a lot to me and for none of the reasons that it’s famous for, for the exact opposite of those reasons in fact.
Do you miss Ireland much? Well I moved home in December, I’ve had a house in my home town of Bangor for ten years and I’m back and forwards to that from LA, but I moved home permanently in December to be closer to my dad and mum with what my Dad’s going through. And my niece, my sister has a ten-year-old daughter and I missed a lot of her growing up and I don’t want to miss anymore. And we all live in the same building [laughing]… How very cool I love that… We’re all next-door neighbours! I bet she thinks she has the coolest uncle on the earth, doesn’t she? I don’t know about that, but she came to our last show in Belfast and she really enjoyed it anyway [laughing].
I read that you collect comics; do you? I did when I was kid, but I haven’t collected them in a long time [laughing]. I think it’s on my Wikipedia – which is nothing to do with me! I might have mentioned it in an interview once and it ends up there and forever it’s there! Now they have it as part of your pension strategy… [Laughing] Yes!
So good to talk to you! If I were in your comic book I would be the woman who killed men with her thighs as a former Irish dancer! [Laughing] That’s fantastic – it’s been really good talking to you Katie.
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