Making a vocal point
Muirsical Conversation with Rebecca Downes
Muirsical Conversation with Rebecca Downes
In 2019, in conversation with FabricationsHQ and in reply to my comments about the difficulties for even the most talented of artists getting to the next level with high-quality product (then new/ current album More Sinner Than Saint, critically well received but deserving of far more traction), award winning singer & vocal coach Rebecca Downes said:
"Is this album do or die? It might well be. Would I give it up altogether – of course I wouldn’t – but without a major injection of cash, or getting to that next level you mentioned, I don’t know how we could ever follow something like More Sinner Than Saint."
While it’s still the case that Rebecca Downes should have a bigger piece of the (admittedly tasty) blues rock pie, the good news is she has, along with guitarist & songwriting partner Steve Birkett and the rest of her band, managed to successfully follow up the outstanding MSTS with new offering The Space Between Us.
That success is two-fold – first, the pandemic lockdowns gave Downes and Birkett plenty of songwriting and arranging time to really structure The Space Between Us and create an album that served them best.
Secondly, while the pair see this as an album that returns them to their blues rock roots, it’s also a left-turn from MSTS; the results are a broader scoped album that stretches their songwriting and musical boundaries.
Those very thoughts were related to Rebecca Downes as she prepared to sit down with FabricationsHQ to talk at length about The Space Between Us and her very honest hopes and aspirations for the album…
Rebecca Downes: I stand by what I said to you three years ago about More Sinner Than Saint, especially when you take everything into account from the way it was done, to the songs, the time taken with production and everything else that went with it.
And you’re right, I don’t think it did get the traction it should have; there are a lot of really strong songs on that album and I stand by them.
You’ve also kind of hit the nail on the head with The Space Between Us because when we got that time during lockdown I said to Steve Birkett "I don’t think we should try and follow More Sinner Than Saint, I just want to write good songs!"
I love old R&B and I love Gary Clark Jr and Eric Gales, and what they are trying to do by bringing more R&B and soul into their blues. But I also loved the parts of the Sinner album, like Stand On My Feet and With Me, that were musically and spatially different – with The Space Between Us it was like having one foot in both of those camps.
And of course Steve is also a great sound engineer; Steve produced the album and we had Gavin Monaghan, who mixed the whole thing, so it sounded great.
So now, more than ever, we know we where we are going and where we should be going.
Ross Muir: I’m glad you mentioned the production and mix because while you can have the songs, you also need the sound – or the sonic accompaniment that best suits those songs.
This album has a really fine production, engineering and mixing job behind it; we should also give a nod to the production assistance from Steve Birkett Junior.
Gavin also delivered a very live sounding mix, which I’m guessing was intentional?
RD: Yes, that was absolutely intentional. But a lot of that came from the demos; the demos also sounded really good, but then that’s what Gavin does!
I worked with Gavin when I was really young, eighteen or nineteen, and we’ve remained Facebook friends and all of that, but when we did our slow version of Mama Weer All Crazee Now a few years ago he sent me a message saying "Oh my God Becky, we really need to work together – I absolutely love Mama Weer All Crazee Now, I love what you’re trying to do here."
And he really does know what we’re trying to do and what sound we’re looking for.
For example on the song Head Over Heart, from the new album, he makes that track just shimmer; he just takes little parts and you go "Woo hoo! How did he think of that? How did he even do that?" [laughs].
Even the slightest little thing he does makes all the difference.
As another example, when he was mixing the album and I was in the studio, he said to me "Oh yeah, I’ve just decided to take this backing vocal and I’m just delaying it ever so slightly against the other backing vocal, because I think that will sound great…" And you’re just thinking "Yes! It does!" [laughs].
I think he must have a ridiculously high IQ because he’s a genius! He’s mixed Paolo Nutini, the Editors, all those sorts of acts, but he is also down to earth and very giving; a lot of producers or mixers aren’t.
Steve and me sat in with him and he went through everything he was doing; most would go "Oh no, I don’t want you to know what I’m doing – it’s all to be a mystery!" [laughs]
"Is this album do or die? It might well be. Would I give it up altogether – of course I wouldn’t – but without a major injection of cash, or getting to that next level you mentioned, I don’t know how we could ever follow something like More Sinner Than Saint."
While it’s still the case that Rebecca Downes should have a bigger piece of the (admittedly tasty) blues rock pie, the good news is she has, along with guitarist & songwriting partner Steve Birkett and the rest of her band, managed to successfully follow up the outstanding MSTS with new offering The Space Between Us.
That success is two-fold – first, the pandemic lockdowns gave Downes and Birkett plenty of songwriting and arranging time to really structure The Space Between Us and create an album that served them best.
Secondly, while the pair see this as an album that returns them to their blues rock roots, it’s also a left-turn from MSTS; the results are a broader scoped album that stretches their songwriting and musical boundaries.
Those very thoughts were related to Rebecca Downes as she prepared to sit down with FabricationsHQ to talk at length about The Space Between Us and her very honest hopes and aspirations for the album…
Rebecca Downes: I stand by what I said to you three years ago about More Sinner Than Saint, especially when you take everything into account from the way it was done, to the songs, the time taken with production and everything else that went with it.
And you’re right, I don’t think it did get the traction it should have; there are a lot of really strong songs on that album and I stand by them.
You’ve also kind of hit the nail on the head with The Space Between Us because when we got that time during lockdown I said to Steve Birkett "I don’t think we should try and follow More Sinner Than Saint, I just want to write good songs!"
I love old R&B and I love Gary Clark Jr and Eric Gales, and what they are trying to do by bringing more R&B and soul into their blues. But I also loved the parts of the Sinner album, like Stand On My Feet and With Me, that were musically and spatially different – with The Space Between Us it was like having one foot in both of those camps.
And of course Steve is also a great sound engineer; Steve produced the album and we had Gavin Monaghan, who mixed the whole thing, so it sounded great.
So now, more than ever, we know we where we are going and where we should be going.
Ross Muir: I’m glad you mentioned the production and mix because while you can have the songs, you also need the sound – or the sonic accompaniment that best suits those songs.
This album has a really fine production, engineering and mixing job behind it; we should also give a nod to the production assistance from Steve Birkett Junior.
Gavin also delivered a very live sounding mix, which I’m guessing was intentional?
RD: Yes, that was absolutely intentional. But a lot of that came from the demos; the demos also sounded really good, but then that’s what Gavin does!
I worked with Gavin when I was really young, eighteen or nineteen, and we’ve remained Facebook friends and all of that, but when we did our slow version of Mama Weer All Crazee Now a few years ago he sent me a message saying "Oh my God Becky, we really need to work together – I absolutely love Mama Weer All Crazee Now, I love what you’re trying to do here."
And he really does know what we’re trying to do and what sound we’re looking for.
For example on the song Head Over Heart, from the new album, he makes that track just shimmer; he just takes little parts and you go "Woo hoo! How did he think of that? How did he even do that?" [laughs].
Even the slightest little thing he does makes all the difference.
As another example, when he was mixing the album and I was in the studio, he said to me "Oh yeah, I’ve just decided to take this backing vocal and I’m just delaying it ever so slightly against the other backing vocal, because I think that will sound great…" And you’re just thinking "Yes! It does!" [laughs].
I think he must have a ridiculously high IQ because he’s a genius! He’s mixed Paolo Nutini, the Editors, all those sorts of acts, but he is also down to earth and very giving; a lot of producers or mixers aren’t.
Steve and me sat in with him and he went through everything he was doing; most would go "Oh no, I don’t want you to know what I’m doing – it’s all to be a mystery!" [laughs]
RM: From sound to songs. You open with the very traditional sounding and short Becks Blues complete with crackling ‘78 record sound and a lyric that seems to be a retort to the naysayers and critics.
Whose idea was it to come up with that scratchy record start?
RD: That was Steve, I think, but we both kind of came up with the idea of the actual song because I find it really hard to sing an old, original blues song; I don’t know what I could bring to it that hasn’t already been done.
I feel awkward about it because those old blues songs are perfect as they are, because of their history, some of which is based around some of the worst history of mankind, and the artists that recorded them and their meaning.
I really do find it difficult to even go there.
When you listen to Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton and break down what they are singing about, I find it just too hard to think about singing those same songs; it’s not my place to sing them. So the song Becks Blues was really kind of like a thank you to those original songs and singers but also, yeah, there is a little bit of me saying "for God’s sake everyone, can you stop with the she’s not blues enough, or she’s not this or she’s not that."
I’m not blues, but then are any of us really blues? The original blues? I don’t think we can be.
RM: You can be influenced, moved or inspired by the blues; many can directly relate to the blues; but I agree, you cannot be those artists.
RD: No, you can’t, and that’s always been a real sticking point for me – yes, I am influenced by the blues but I can’t be the blues; I’m just a white girl from Wolverhampton!
When you think about folk music, it’s completely different, the way folk music came about and its history, which sits better.
If I was going to be a folk artist I could and would sing some old folk songs – English folk songs that is, I couldn’t do Scottish or Irish folk because, again, I’d be thinking "God, I shouldn’t be doing these songs!"
Do you know what I mean by that?
RM: I do. Traditional music is so very deep-rooted generationally; it's in the history and musical heritage of a country and its peoples, so I get why you would feel that way or uncomfortable about singing such songs.
To return to your blues point – Stevie Nimmo, in conversation a few years ago, said much the same thing.
He’s never lived the lives, or had the hardships those original blues pioneers sang about when the first blues records came out, so why pretend to be one of those guys? Nor would he able to do it well, for those very reasons – leave that to those that truly know the blues.
Stevie and others like him, yourself included, put their own spin on it. You can have an authentic sound, if you will, but you can’t truly be authentic.
RD: No, you can’t; you can’t be authentic. Have seen the film Harriet?
RM: I haven’t seen it yet, for my sins.
RD: You really have to; it’s brilliant. I got turned onto it because of Cynthia Eviro who is a great actress and such an amazing vocalist. She sang Stand Up, which is main track of the film. I was teaching that song to some degree students when I thought "I should really watch this film, because I’m teaching the track!"
And, again, that’s when that whole history, and the gospel element, erupted in me – I wasn’t brought up with that life or singing in a gospel church, I can’t be singing those songs, or the blues that followed from it.
You can be heavily influenced by all of that but I agree with Stevie, we can’t be that blues or those artists.
Otherwise it’s just appropriation, and that’s just really wrong.
RM: Hence your homage via Becks Blues, as you have explained. That song then segues to the big, bold and decidedly modern melodic blues rock of Hold On. That track reinforces the comments from you and Steve about this album returning you to your blues rock roots…
Whose idea was it to come up with that scratchy record start?
RD: That was Steve, I think, but we both kind of came up with the idea of the actual song because I find it really hard to sing an old, original blues song; I don’t know what I could bring to it that hasn’t already been done.
I feel awkward about it because those old blues songs are perfect as they are, because of their history, some of which is based around some of the worst history of mankind, and the artists that recorded them and their meaning.
I really do find it difficult to even go there.
When you listen to Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton and break down what they are singing about, I find it just too hard to think about singing those same songs; it’s not my place to sing them. So the song Becks Blues was really kind of like a thank you to those original songs and singers but also, yeah, there is a little bit of me saying "for God’s sake everyone, can you stop with the she’s not blues enough, or she’s not this or she’s not that."
I’m not blues, but then are any of us really blues? The original blues? I don’t think we can be.
RM: You can be influenced, moved or inspired by the blues; many can directly relate to the blues; but I agree, you cannot be those artists.
RD: No, you can’t, and that’s always been a real sticking point for me – yes, I am influenced by the blues but I can’t be the blues; I’m just a white girl from Wolverhampton!
When you think about folk music, it’s completely different, the way folk music came about and its history, which sits better.
If I was going to be a folk artist I could and would sing some old folk songs – English folk songs that is, I couldn’t do Scottish or Irish folk because, again, I’d be thinking "God, I shouldn’t be doing these songs!"
Do you know what I mean by that?
RM: I do. Traditional music is so very deep-rooted generationally; it's in the history and musical heritage of a country and its peoples, so I get why you would feel that way or uncomfortable about singing such songs.
To return to your blues point – Stevie Nimmo, in conversation a few years ago, said much the same thing.
He’s never lived the lives, or had the hardships those original blues pioneers sang about when the first blues records came out, so why pretend to be one of those guys? Nor would he able to do it well, for those very reasons – leave that to those that truly know the blues.
Stevie and others like him, yourself included, put their own spin on it. You can have an authentic sound, if you will, but you can’t truly be authentic.
RD: No, you can’t; you can’t be authentic. Have seen the film Harriet?
RM: I haven’t seen it yet, for my sins.
RD: You really have to; it’s brilliant. I got turned onto it because of Cynthia Eviro who is a great actress and such an amazing vocalist. She sang Stand Up, which is main track of the film. I was teaching that song to some degree students when I thought "I should really watch this film, because I’m teaching the track!"
And, again, that’s when that whole history, and the gospel element, erupted in me – I wasn’t brought up with that life or singing in a gospel church, I can’t be singing those songs, or the blues that followed from it.
You can be heavily influenced by all of that but I agree with Stevie, we can’t be that blues or those artists.
Otherwise it’s just appropriation, and that’s just really wrong.
RM: Hence your homage via Becks Blues, as you have explained. That song then segues to the big, bold and decidedly modern melodic blues rock of Hold On. That track reinforces the comments from you and Steve about this album returning you to your blues rock roots…
RM: That blues rock sound, as heard on Hold On, is but one facet of The Space Between Us because, as I mentioned in the introduction, this is a broader-scoped, boundary stretching album.
This is How it Feels for example, is a pulsating and in its own way unsettling number with moody verses and a big melodic chorus. Lyrically seems to be saying just trying to be in my shoes for five minutes.
RD: Definitely. When I wrote those lyrics I wasn’t saying I have it harder than anyone else – in fact I disagreed during lockdown with a lot of musicians moaning about their situation; that really got my goat, because everyone was struggling, with their own problems.
But everyone also kept asking "Oh, how is it being a musician at the moment?" or "how are you doing because I know your mum is really ill," or "how is it for you right now with everything that’s going on?"
But it wasn’t a slap round the face to anyone; it was me saying "Look, if you really wanna know then this is how it feels!" That’s what it was about. It was for everyone who felt like that.
I’m sure we were all asking each other how we all were and were probably a bit more honest than usual during the lockdowns, but we all, probably, also just wanted to say "this is how it feels – and it feels shit!"
So it's not about not having any gigs, or wondering when I might be singing live again – it’s about the combination of everything that led to lockdown, and how we all felt during it.
RM: It’s also stylistically, a very different number; similarly, a song such as Lights Go Out.
That rhythmic and partly brooding rocker features one of your most impassioned vocal deliveries to date: "Take it away – don’t need your hatred." You are not skirting about on a lot of these lyrics.
RD: Yeah, I think the more time goes on the more direct I am, really, rather than skirting around the subject.
Lights Go Out is about, again, when we were in lockdown. I really felt something good could have come out of that period, that we could all become a bit nicer and maybe that would stay, but it doesn’t seem to have been the case; that niceness seemed to crash pretty quickly!
It probably started with Brexit, with two sides warring, and it’s never really stopped – you just think "for God’s sake!" And then there’s the arguments about asylum seekers, then it’s this, and then it’s that, and I hate you but I hate you more – [shouts] Agh! Too much guys; it’s just too much!
RM: And of course that’s all fuelled by the fact social media and mainstream news hone in on, and perpetuate, that division – because that’s what gets attention and sells stories.
RD: Yes, exactly, scaremongering and getting people worried, buying papers who make them think a certain way or voting how you want them to vote because they are running scared.
Lights Out is about that too – and rallying against my father, bless him, who reads the Daily Mail! [laughter]
RM: It also just occurs the album could have been titled, or sub-titled, Enough Already.
RD: Absolutely! [laughs]. Although I do think the album carries a positive vibe – I didn’t want a "Oh woe is me" vibe, but I do think anger is very useful emotion.
But yeah, there is a bit of "for God’s sake guys, just take this away; we don’t need it."
RM: On the flip-side of songs such as This is How it Feel and Lights Go Out, and to underline your positive vibe comment, you have the optimistic, good-time, foot-tapping, smile-on-your-face cover of Free’s Little Bit of Love. It sounds like that was great fun to record.
RD: That was part of it but it was also the sentiment, and the fact not many people seem to have covered it.
It just has such a great vibe and we love the song; that opening riff is just so euphoric!
This is How it Feels for example, is a pulsating and in its own way unsettling number with moody verses and a big melodic chorus. Lyrically seems to be saying just trying to be in my shoes for five minutes.
RD: Definitely. When I wrote those lyrics I wasn’t saying I have it harder than anyone else – in fact I disagreed during lockdown with a lot of musicians moaning about their situation; that really got my goat, because everyone was struggling, with their own problems.
But everyone also kept asking "Oh, how is it being a musician at the moment?" or "how are you doing because I know your mum is really ill," or "how is it for you right now with everything that’s going on?"
But it wasn’t a slap round the face to anyone; it was me saying "Look, if you really wanna know then this is how it feels!" That’s what it was about. It was for everyone who felt like that.
I’m sure we were all asking each other how we all were and were probably a bit more honest than usual during the lockdowns, but we all, probably, also just wanted to say "this is how it feels – and it feels shit!"
So it's not about not having any gigs, or wondering when I might be singing live again – it’s about the combination of everything that led to lockdown, and how we all felt during it.
RM: It’s also stylistically, a very different number; similarly, a song such as Lights Go Out.
That rhythmic and partly brooding rocker features one of your most impassioned vocal deliveries to date: "Take it away – don’t need your hatred." You are not skirting about on a lot of these lyrics.
RD: Yeah, I think the more time goes on the more direct I am, really, rather than skirting around the subject.
Lights Go Out is about, again, when we were in lockdown. I really felt something good could have come out of that period, that we could all become a bit nicer and maybe that would stay, but it doesn’t seem to have been the case; that niceness seemed to crash pretty quickly!
It probably started with Brexit, with two sides warring, and it’s never really stopped – you just think "for God’s sake!" And then there’s the arguments about asylum seekers, then it’s this, and then it’s that, and I hate you but I hate you more – [shouts] Agh! Too much guys; it’s just too much!
RM: And of course that’s all fuelled by the fact social media and mainstream news hone in on, and perpetuate, that division – because that’s what gets attention and sells stories.
RD: Yes, exactly, scaremongering and getting people worried, buying papers who make them think a certain way or voting how you want them to vote because they are running scared.
Lights Out is about that too – and rallying against my father, bless him, who reads the Daily Mail! [laughter]
RM: It also just occurs the album could have been titled, or sub-titled, Enough Already.
RD: Absolutely! [laughs]. Although I do think the album carries a positive vibe – I didn’t want a "Oh woe is me" vibe, but I do think anger is very useful emotion.
But yeah, there is a bit of "for God’s sake guys, just take this away; we don’t need it."
RM: On the flip-side of songs such as This is How it Feel and Lights Go Out, and to underline your positive vibe comment, you have the optimistic, good-time, foot-tapping, smile-on-your-face cover of Free’s Little Bit of Love. It sounds like that was great fun to record.
RD: That was part of it but it was also the sentiment, and the fact not many people seem to have covered it.
It just has such a great vibe and we love the song; that opening riff is just so euphoric!
RM: Just as Stand On My Feet was the fulcrum point of the More Sinner album, Not On My Knees is the fulcrum moment of The Space Between Us.
Lyrically, there’s a retort once again to the naysayers but musically that song is incredibly powerful, with a modern, or progressive, bell tolling blues approach.
Not On My Knees is, for me, one of your most passionate vocal performances to date.
RD: Yeah I think so; I’d probably agree with that. The more me and Steve thought about the lyric – and Steve is always in the room with me when I record – the more different deliveries we tried.
But we really try and bring it down to the essence of what I’m trying to say, because I can become vocally obsessed! It would be very easy for me, with the big voice, to just go full on and think about every syllable and how to shape the vocal.
Lyrically, I know it’s a bit of a cliché to say I’ve been kicked around all of my days, which a lot of people have, but that’s the truth.
RM: It’s also another song where it was time for honesty; that lyrical defiance and particular vocal performance makes the song all the more powerful.
I totally get your vocally obsessed comment too because we’re both very much into the art of vocality.
As I’ve said before your annunciation, where to emphasis a particular word or line, vocal inflection, phrasing – all of which come across on Not On My Knees – are exceptional.
RD: Thank you. I’ve always seen – or heard – my voice as coming out like a colour, or a stream of colours.
Head Over Heart, which we mentioned earlier? I deliberated over the word Heart, and its vowel shaping, for ages! I would just go away and sing the word heart, then start thinking “should I give a slight break there, a little crack maybe, or open it up just here? Or shall I crescendo it a bit then pull it back right at the end of the word?" It’s just bizarre! [laughs]
So you go through all that, but you’re still thinking about how to bring the rest of the lyrics alive – I always think you have to have one foot in the technical and one foot in the emotional of what you are trying to say, and sing. If you lose the emotion, it will just become nothing.
You’ve always got to be thinking about the lyrics, but in a positive way, like a guitarist would be thinking about where to put their fingers.
RM: It becomes a controlled or intelligent vocal, as opposed to an uncontrolled or undisciplined voice.
RD: Yeah, and when it works, it’s like "Oh yes, I got that right!" You’ve just got to grasp it in the right way, because when you get it it’s great but, like all vocals, it’s so elusive and changeable.
It’s like that with songs too; you’re always searching for that perfect chorus, which doesn’t really exist, which is why you keep writing – you try and get your message across but then you’re trying to write the next one, and the next one.
But yeah, with the vocals, it’s just an absolute obsession!
Lyrically, there’s a retort once again to the naysayers but musically that song is incredibly powerful, with a modern, or progressive, bell tolling blues approach.
Not On My Knees is, for me, one of your most passionate vocal performances to date.
RD: Yeah I think so; I’d probably agree with that. The more me and Steve thought about the lyric – and Steve is always in the room with me when I record – the more different deliveries we tried.
But we really try and bring it down to the essence of what I’m trying to say, because I can become vocally obsessed! It would be very easy for me, with the big voice, to just go full on and think about every syllable and how to shape the vocal.
Lyrically, I know it’s a bit of a cliché to say I’ve been kicked around all of my days, which a lot of people have, but that’s the truth.
RM: It’s also another song where it was time for honesty; that lyrical defiance and particular vocal performance makes the song all the more powerful.
I totally get your vocally obsessed comment too because we’re both very much into the art of vocality.
As I’ve said before your annunciation, where to emphasis a particular word or line, vocal inflection, phrasing – all of which come across on Not On My Knees – are exceptional.
RD: Thank you. I’ve always seen – or heard – my voice as coming out like a colour, or a stream of colours.
Head Over Heart, which we mentioned earlier? I deliberated over the word Heart, and its vowel shaping, for ages! I would just go away and sing the word heart, then start thinking “should I give a slight break there, a little crack maybe, or open it up just here? Or shall I crescendo it a bit then pull it back right at the end of the word?" It’s just bizarre! [laughs]
So you go through all that, but you’re still thinking about how to bring the rest of the lyrics alive – I always think you have to have one foot in the technical and one foot in the emotional of what you are trying to say, and sing. If you lose the emotion, it will just become nothing.
You’ve always got to be thinking about the lyrics, but in a positive way, like a guitarist would be thinking about where to put their fingers.
RM: It becomes a controlled or intelligent vocal, as opposed to an uncontrolled or undisciplined voice.
RD: Yeah, and when it works, it’s like "Oh yes, I got that right!" You’ve just got to grasp it in the right way, because when you get it it’s great but, like all vocals, it’s so elusive and changeable.
It’s like that with songs too; you’re always searching for that perfect chorus, which doesn’t really exist, which is why you keep writing – you try and get your message across but then you’re trying to write the next one, and the next one.
But yeah, with the vocals, it’s just an absolute obsession!
RM: But it’s clearly a pleasurable part of the job for you – striving for that perfect delivery.
RD: I love it. With my vocal coaching I get people to send me phone recordings of what they’re doing and I just take it apart in my head and go "Right, they’re a tad too high there" or "on this part the placement is too far up their nose." It’s almost a syllable by syllable unwrapping until you get to the essence; then you build it back up, in the right way.
Some students get a bit freaked out by that though – they’ll go "Agh! there’s so much I’ve got to think about." And I’ll say "Yes, and isn’t that brilliant!" Because when they do get it, they’ll think it’s brilliant, too!
RM: Exactly that – it’s almost a science; it’s certainly a true art-form.
One of the most beautiful vocalists who made singing an art-form was Karen Carpenter; I could listen to her all day.
RD: Oh, all day long! She had such clarity and tone; and the fact that she was bringing up so much of her chest voice, which is why it’s so round.
I remember my mum actually saying to me "If you want to be a singer, sing like her!" I was thinking "Oh dear, no pressure then!" And I was just a kid at the time! [laughs]
RM: To return to, and sign off, on the album, you close out with rock and roll blues number Rattle My Cage, which was recorded live off the floor. That’s just such a fun song.
RD: Yeah, it’s great fun to play live. Me and Steve were working on a riff, and that song came out of that riff.
I just felt that we really needed a kind of good-time blues number with tongue-in-cheek lyrics.
We certainly didn’t do anything like that on More Sinner but I just thought we should sign-off on a sort of let’s have a good time boogie!
RM: Having discussed the album, it leads to the obvious follow-on question.
What are the hopes and goals for The Space Between Us?
RD: What we are trying to do with The Space Between Us, and because I think a lot of the tracks on More Sinner Than Saint were missed, is we are trying to draw people back, but also trying to make a little bridge between More Sinner and where we think we should be going with The Space Between Us.
I also think some of the tracks on this album will have a broader reach; we’re also hoping for more radio play because we have a completely different strategy this time, compared with what we have done before.
That seems to have worked because we had more pre-sales than ever before.
We also concentrated a little bit more on Social Media marketing, so we could reach more people that way, and got some digital marketers involved who helped a lot.
Also, we had unprecedented sales on Amazon and we didn’t push anyone through Amazon; we’ve never bothered because I’m not going to ask my fans to buy ten or twenty copies each so I can chart.
You can do what you like, as far as I’m concerned, as an artist, but I don’t care about Amazon charts because charts don’t mean much anymore – honestly, unless you’re an Amazon Number One for weeks on end I don’t know what it brings.
It’s great to have your album on Amazon, and in HMV, and all those places, and they need to be there – and I am grateful they are – but we always direct people to our website because I’m an independent artist, and any third party takes at least half the cost of the album.
We also want to develop a relationship with our fans; we want to communicate with them and let them see that we appreciate them; that won’t show up if you have people buy your stuff from Amazon.
We are also going to release more singles this time to help trigger streaming algorithms; even if we don’t do a full video for each single we’ll at least do a Lyric Video or some sort of video to accompany the song.
The next one will be the title track, which we are releasing as a single in January.
Basically, we’re going to push the songs more than we did with More Sinner; I think we were just thinking about radio play with that album when what we should have done was pushed out way more singles to bring them into the consciousness of people.
It's still early day so we shall see, but what I am really happy with is the fact that Not On My Knees, which as you said is the fulcrum point of the album, has been embraced way more than Stand On My Feet, the fulcrum of More Sinner. For me that’s been incredibly positive; I’m very happy about that.
RM: Yes, as always, it’s about taking the positive and snubbing a nose at negativity and the naysayers.
Rebecca, thanks for such an open and honest conversation and here’s to wider and deserved success for The Space Between Us and the Rebecca Downes Band.
RD: Thank you so much Ross and for all your support; it’s massively appreciated!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Rebecca Downes
December 2022
Official Website: https://www.rebeccadownes.com/
The Space Between Us and related merch/ bundles: https://www.rebeccadownes.com/the-space-between-us
Photo Credits: D R Fossey (top and lower photos); Mal Whichelow (live/ B&W photo)
RD: I love it. With my vocal coaching I get people to send me phone recordings of what they’re doing and I just take it apart in my head and go "Right, they’re a tad too high there" or "on this part the placement is too far up their nose." It’s almost a syllable by syllable unwrapping until you get to the essence; then you build it back up, in the right way.
Some students get a bit freaked out by that though – they’ll go "Agh! there’s so much I’ve got to think about." And I’ll say "Yes, and isn’t that brilliant!" Because when they do get it, they’ll think it’s brilliant, too!
RM: Exactly that – it’s almost a science; it’s certainly a true art-form.
One of the most beautiful vocalists who made singing an art-form was Karen Carpenter; I could listen to her all day.
RD: Oh, all day long! She had such clarity and tone; and the fact that she was bringing up so much of her chest voice, which is why it’s so round.
I remember my mum actually saying to me "If you want to be a singer, sing like her!" I was thinking "Oh dear, no pressure then!" And I was just a kid at the time! [laughs]
RM: To return to, and sign off, on the album, you close out with rock and roll blues number Rattle My Cage, which was recorded live off the floor. That’s just such a fun song.
RD: Yeah, it’s great fun to play live. Me and Steve were working on a riff, and that song came out of that riff.
I just felt that we really needed a kind of good-time blues number with tongue-in-cheek lyrics.
We certainly didn’t do anything like that on More Sinner but I just thought we should sign-off on a sort of let’s have a good time boogie!
RM: Having discussed the album, it leads to the obvious follow-on question.
What are the hopes and goals for The Space Between Us?
RD: What we are trying to do with The Space Between Us, and because I think a lot of the tracks on More Sinner Than Saint were missed, is we are trying to draw people back, but also trying to make a little bridge between More Sinner and where we think we should be going with The Space Between Us.
I also think some of the tracks on this album will have a broader reach; we’re also hoping for more radio play because we have a completely different strategy this time, compared with what we have done before.
That seems to have worked because we had more pre-sales than ever before.
We also concentrated a little bit more on Social Media marketing, so we could reach more people that way, and got some digital marketers involved who helped a lot.
Also, we had unprecedented sales on Amazon and we didn’t push anyone through Amazon; we’ve never bothered because I’m not going to ask my fans to buy ten or twenty copies each so I can chart.
You can do what you like, as far as I’m concerned, as an artist, but I don’t care about Amazon charts because charts don’t mean much anymore – honestly, unless you’re an Amazon Number One for weeks on end I don’t know what it brings.
It’s great to have your album on Amazon, and in HMV, and all those places, and they need to be there – and I am grateful they are – but we always direct people to our website because I’m an independent artist, and any third party takes at least half the cost of the album.
We also want to develop a relationship with our fans; we want to communicate with them and let them see that we appreciate them; that won’t show up if you have people buy your stuff from Amazon.
We are also going to release more singles this time to help trigger streaming algorithms; even if we don’t do a full video for each single we’ll at least do a Lyric Video or some sort of video to accompany the song.
The next one will be the title track, which we are releasing as a single in January.
Basically, we’re going to push the songs more than we did with More Sinner; I think we were just thinking about radio play with that album when what we should have done was pushed out way more singles to bring them into the consciousness of people.
It's still early day so we shall see, but what I am really happy with is the fact that Not On My Knees, which as you said is the fulcrum point of the album, has been embraced way more than Stand On My Feet, the fulcrum of More Sinner. For me that’s been incredibly positive; I’m very happy about that.
RM: Yes, as always, it’s about taking the positive and snubbing a nose at negativity and the naysayers.
Rebecca, thanks for such an open and honest conversation and here’s to wider and deserved success for The Space Between Us and the Rebecca Downes Band.
RD: Thank you so much Ross and for all your support; it’s massively appreciated!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Rebecca Downes
December 2022
Official Website: https://www.rebeccadownes.com/
The Space Between Us and related merch/ bundles: https://www.rebeccadownes.com/the-space-between-us
Photo Credits: D R Fossey (top and lower photos); Mal Whichelow (live/ B&W photo)