During the summer, we caught up with rising indie singer/songwriter Lissy Taylor ahead of her main stage appearance at Y Not Festival.
Introduce us to Lissy Taylor, how did you start your music journey?
I started just playing guitar in my kitchen as a teenager. I was quite shy and my mum told me to go out and play open mic sessions, or I wouldn’t be allowed to play my guitar anymore! So I started going out and playing open mic’s and at bars, and then people started coming because they had heard my music. I then moved to America and through word of mouth again I started playing in different bars and getting different bookings. I started out in Stoke then moved to America and am now in Manchester, and that’s when I started playing with a full band and going for that real indie-rock sound.
What made you decide to go full-time as a musician this year?
You have got to go with your gut feeling and in the last year it’s kind of picked up, we really believe in our music. Being played on Radio 1 and supporting bigger bands, we have supported The View, Circa Waves and The Snuts recently.
As your music becomes more recognised are you going to announce a UK tour soon?
We did a headline show at the start of July in Manchester, our first sold-out show in Manchester. I would like to go on tour with a bigger band before doing one of my own. I have played at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh and Broadcast in Glasgow.
Have things been happening quickly enough in the music industry for you?
You have to make your own opportunities and luck really. If you have this mentality that your going to wait for a label or management they are not necessarily going to have the magic key to open all the doors, so I think it’s just more the thinking what can I do myself.
We are really enjoying the two singles you have brought out recently, Life Changing and Your Girl. Have you been able to access better recording facilities/studios for your latest songs in comparison to the earlier releases?
My reputation has been built from the songs that I have written. Tate Nicols invited me last year to record at Abbey Road in London, which was a great experience. He said I really like your songwriting and can you start working with us, and I have recorded at Strongroom Studios in London also as part of a showcase for production as well. Working with producers as well like Gaz, who has produced The K’s and other bands, and he produced Life Changing and Your Girl. It’s just finding the right producer more so than the right studio that is important.
Are we going to get to hear the new songs today?
We will be playing a brand new one called Jealous, as well as the ones we released last year.
We still enjoy listening to some of your older tracks, how do you think your music has changed over the past few years?
My music has evolved since then, and I still write from my own experiences and what I feel emotionally, but in terms of sound it’s definitely become more edgier and more modern in production as well, and that’s the direction that I want to go in. The more recent releases certainly feel more aligned with how I want to progress as an artist.
We wanted to ask you about the story behind the song Ghost In A Summer Dress, can you elaborate on this for us?
That song was when I lived in America, the house that we were renting at the time was actually haunted! I had a few experiences in the house and I was kind of thinking something was going on in this house. Of course people said no, we don’t believe you, and the neighbour came round one day and said have you all seen the ghost? And they were all like, oh she is not going crazy then. The ghost was a grandma kind of figure and I could see her with a summer night gown and was really surreal. One night she woke me up holding me and a lot of the time she would wake me up in a grandma kind of way. I wasn’t really scared of her, it was just more like a wacky experience!
Do you prefer playing acoustically or with the full band now?
It has more power behind it with the full band and I feel like we can do some of the songs more justice, such as Quiet Rage, where it comes across more with the band than it does acoustically. A couple of the other songs can speak for themselves acoustically, but you do get confidence in how you portray a song and the boys in the band are brilliant as well. I feel like they are like my brothers. I really trust them and feel solid with them on stage. We are doing an even bigger arrangement today, so we can have a little more fun with crowd interactions etc. We are usually a four-piece band, but having that extra guitarist gives the band more flexibility and opportunity for fun.
Is there any more new music coming this year?
I am hoping that we are going to be able to release Jealous, we will be playing that one today. I have another track that’s good to go, but I have a really good gut feeling about Jealous so I want to see if I can get the mix done fast enough before the festivities begin in the winter. I am determined to get this one released this year.
You definitely have enough songs now to make an album, is this something you would consider?
That’s what I want to do, is release an album. I write almost every day so the catalogue of songs that I have is bonkers, that’s what I am working on in the background.
You are playing the main stage at the Y Not today, is this your first time playing the main stage at a festival?
Yes it is. I played at Neverworld a few years ago with acts such as Tom Grennan and Jake Bugg and that was an amazing experience. I have played Y Not a couple of times before but nothing this big. To get to this stage feels like next level honestly, we are all so excited.
Have you had any support from other bands on the way up?
Supporting these band, I don’t have a management team or a label so am literally like just trying to create my own opportunities and find the right people to ask the right questions to. A lot of the time the bands are really supportive, such as Sea Girls, I have asked a few bands can I open for you? Tom from The Lottery Winners has been so supportive of our music, we have supported them a few times now. There is a great indie scene in Manchester and Liverpool right now, we have become friendly with bands such as The Cairos, who are on the main stage after us today.
Thank you so much for the interview Lissy, we look forward to seeing your main stage debut today.
