Brighton based singer/songwriter Tabitha joins Dani Wilde on tour in support of her new EP Black Wave.
National Blues Review recently caught up with Tabitha after her set opening for Dani Wilde at Sedgefield Rock and Blues Club to discuss her new EP, touring with Dani Wilde and what it was like to play at Glastonbury.
NBR: Thanks for taking the time to speak to us at National Blues Review. You’ve just come offstage at Sedgefield Blues Club. How was it for you?
Tabitha: It was great actually. I did enjoy it. I kind of had a bit of nerves beforehand because it was the first time I’ve ever played with the band. We didn’t rehearse we just kind of did it (laughing), and we pulled it off I think. It sounded good.
NBR: Have you done any other shows with Dani Wilde on this tour?
Tabitha: No, this is the first one.
NBR: I figured that with you playing with the band there, you had been doing this a while.
Tabitha: Oh good, good (laughing).
NBR: Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you started out in music?
Tabitha: Where shall I start, how early shall I go. I guess I started playing when I was about 15 or 16. I’ve always sang since I was little, but I used to play at this open-mic night in Bath in Somerset where I grew up at the Bell Inn which is quite renowned. So I got into performing through doing that.
Then I moved to Brighton in 2006 and I studied there and got a degree in music. I actually teach music now at a college in Sussex. So yeah that’s basically how I got into playing music.
NBR: You are supporting Dani Wilde tonight. How did you get to know Dani?
Tabitha: Dani and I went to primary school together. So we’ve known each other since we were five. We both ended up moving to Brighton. She moved before me actually and then I moved a few years later. Then we didn’t actually see each other at all, even though we both lived there for years and years and years, because Dani was going off to all different countries and doing her thing.
So we’ve only just reconnected over the last couple of years and we were chatting in a pub and she said why don’t you come on tour with me and I was like yeah alright then (laughing). So yeah here I am.
NBR: Any chance of you and Dani collaborating together?
Tabitha: I think we would both like to do something, even just if it’s like a song. So yeah we do like to sing together, so probably.
NBR: According to your bio you played Glastonbury. What was that like?
Tabitha: It was good. It was quite scary actually (laughing). There weren’t that many people watching me to be honest, probably only about 50 people but it was still worth it, and definitely an experience. I love that festival. I’ve been there five times which isn’t bad, but I would like to go more.
NBR: You recently released your latest EP ‘Black Wave’ via iTunes. Can you tell us a little bit about it and your inspiration behind it?
Tabitha: I actually recorded it a while ago and it’s just been sat around doing nothing for years and when Dani asked me to go on tour with her I kind of got everything out of the cupboard and got myself together again.
My influences were people like Crosby, Stills and Nash. I’m really, really into harmonies, there are a lot of harmonies on the EP. I also listen to a lot of old blues music like ‘Hound Dog’ and stuff like that, that’s in there. Actually a bit of electronic music too, I’m really into Bat For Lashes but obviously taking the kind of arrangement that you hear in electronic music and making it with real instruments (laughing).
NBR: Obviously this is the first show that you’ve done with Dani at Sedgefield Blues Club, but if you could play anywhere, where would be your dream gig?
Tabitha: (laughing) Might as well go for Glastonbury, but the main stage this time.
NBR: You just mentioned your musical influences, but where do you find the inspiration for your song writing?
Tabitha: That’s a really hard question. I tend to just write when I’ve got something on my mind. I write about anything really. Mostly romantic relationships, I’ve got a couple of songs about Dreams like ‘Black Wave’ on the EP is about a reoccurring dream I used to have.
So I don’t know I just kind of make up these sort of scenarios in my brain that might happen, a bit like theater. I imagine a scenario and then write about it.
NBR: This is the first show you have with Dani. What else do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Tabitha: For the rest of this year I am going to be doing a lot of writing, that is on the cards and definitely recording probably at the end of the year. So I’m hoping that I’m going to have a new CD out in time for the tour that I’m doing of Europe with Dani in April. I’m hoping to get something together that is new for that.
NBR: Thanks for taking the time to speak to us and we look forward to hearing more from you in the future.