Getting to know Beth Rowley

April 18, 2018

Ten years ago, Beth Rowley’s debut album went top 10 and garnered a Brit nomination. Having felt compromised both musically and stylistically by the record’s success, it’s taken a decade for the singer-songwriter to deliver her second album. But it’s finally ready to be unleashed. We asked her to tell us about herself:

I am… so ready for this music to come out! It’s been a long labour of love and I’m very very happy it’s finished. I’ve really missed touring and playing live and I am excited to get out there again. I’ve just started working on my next project for 2019.

Forest Fire is… the first single from my new album Gota Fría. I wrote it with Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith a few years back. We’ve written a few songs together but they’ve never been released. I wanted to save them for when the album was ready. Some are pretty old now – Brother, another song I wrote with Ron, was written 6 years ago when he was visiting London. I’d written the lyrics that morning on the train and when I got there he started playing guitar and the melody came out – its the quickest song I’ve ever written with anyone and I loved it straight away. It feels very simple and even though its not a new song I still love it as much today as I did then.

Home is… now Bristol, once again! I grew up in South Bristol and all my mates started moving to London but I resisted. I started my first band in Bristol when I was at sixth form and spent years gigging in all the local venues both in Bristol and all round the South West. Bristol has an amazing community of musicians so I didn’t fancy leaving. I finally gave in when I got singing work in London, and a new manager to work on a new album so when I was 28 I moved with another singer friend. We shared a flat in Stamford Hill and we had to keep topping the electricity meter with pound coins. I lived there for 7 years and I met many of the musicians that I still work with. I love London and go back for work all the time but I always missed the slower pace of Bristol and the familiarity of where I grew up. I moved back to Bristol last year and don’t really think of London much anymore. I feel way more creative and able to write music in Bristol.

I spend too much time… on my computer. I find it hard having to spend so much time on social media. I’m way better at it than I used to be… but still days go by where not much is happening and I forget to post something. I try to set times in the day where I do it all then can forget about it. I love interacting with supporters and music lovers but its a strange feeling having to be so available constantly. I always prefer to talk to people at gigs, where you can see the other person and have a real interaction.

I’ve never… done a world tour of my own! That would be coool! Me and the band have toured a lot in the UK over the years. We did a few tours in Europe and a few token gigs in New York and LA but I’ve always wanted to go on tour to places like Japan and South America. I toured lots when I sang backing vocals for Ronan Keating and Enrique Englesias and more recently with Jools Holland too but I’m looking forward to touring this album and travelling with the boys. Performing live is the most important part of it all – all the other stuff, writing, rehearsing, recording, all the business meetings and time spent planning schedules are all just so I can do the live performance bit, its a 80/20 split but thats the way it is, and its completely worth it.

It might surprise people to learn that… I was born in Peru. My parents lived there for years when I was young and me and my two brothers were born there. We grew up with lots of latin american influences in our house when we came back to the UK and I think it gave us all a sense of different cultures, music, arts, creativity and view points.

This summer, I’m going to… be hanging out with the band a lot! My new album will be coming out on 29th June and we got lots of gigs planned. So I’ve got my wellies and my blowup mattress ready. We have a UK tour booked in June, festivals in the summer and a UK Album release tour in September. Also I’ll be heading to Bethlehem to an awesome music festival called BetLahem Live. I’ve worked with a small human rights organisation for the last 6 years as a side project to my music, and this year we’re taking Samba drummers/dancers out to collaborate with local music and dance projects. The work shops will culminate with performances at the community festival and collaborations with local artists – its become one of the highlights of my summer. Check out https://www.amostrust.org/ for more info.

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Beth’s new album Gota Fría is released June 29th on Stoopnik Records/Absolute via Universal. You can pre-order it at: https://www.musicglue.com/beth-rowley

Catch Beth at the following venues in June. Tickets on sale from this Friday:
24 – Latest Music Bar, BRIGHTON
25 – Whelans, DUBLIN
26 – Studio Theatre, BANGOR
27 – Omeara, LONDON (w/David Ford)
28 – Barbican Theatre, PLYMOUTH
29 – The Gallery, BATH

Keep up to date with Beth on Facebook.