Page 49 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2021 Issue

MW: When you recorded the EP ‘#9,’ you played the set unrehearsed. What was the idea behind
that?

RS: This was predominantly a financial decision as studio time is expensive for an independent,
particularly a solo artist. I am a firm believer in always paying the musicians I work with, though that's
not standard in this industry. Four players and an engineer for one evening was all I could afford at
the time whilst sticking to that ethos. It was risky, but so much fun.

MW: Did the musicians involved have any prior knowledge of what they would be playing?

RS: I played the songs through to the players a couple of times, letting them jam along and feel out
some parts. Then we hit ‘record.’ I have quite a laissez-faire attitude to performance, whether live or
in the studio. Mistakes happen, and sometimes they're the bits we wait for and relish as listeners. I
often think of the moment in 'Just What I Needed' by The Cars, where the drummer loses his place.
It's the bit I look forward to the most and am heartened by moments like these.

MW: And how do you feel about the outcome?

RS: I'm still very pleased with EP ‘#9’ as it's a perfect snapshot of me and my music at that time. I was
still very much using the conventional instrumentation typical of the singer-songwriter genre, but I was
then and am still now completely trusting of the musicians I work with. It was a joy.

MW: And was there much post-tweaking or is it pretty much as it was recorded?

RS: Because we were all in the same room, there was a fair bit of spill across the microphones and
we didn't play to a click track. So, there was no possibility of editing at all, only balancing the volume
of each instrument as best producer Paul Blakeman and I could. It's all exactly what happened in the
room that night, including a few people who came down to watch the session, joining in with the vocals
on 'I Swim,' which was a magical and unexpected moment.

MW: You made a decision to release EP ‘#9’ as physical copies only. Why was that?

RS: It was my brief stand against platforms like Spotify and iTunes, as the revenue artists receive
through them is so paltry. I knew that every EP sold at a show equates to around 1500 plays online.
So, making your music accessible only via physical copies encourages fans to spend that £5, which
is huge for an independent artist. I like to think I'll always keep EP ‘#9’ sacred and only available as
physical copies. But I know the era of COVID-19 has forced so many musicians onto streaming
services and I plan to join the masses with my next release.

MW: I read on your website that you're a big fan of Stevie Nicks.

RS: Massively so, yeah. My parents loved the track “Rhiannon” from their self-titled album, and I'm
called Rhiannon after that. And I am in turn a massive Stevie fan.

MW: Oh right! I never clicked the connection. ‘Investigative Journalist of the Year,’ right here.
Ha, ha!

RS: Ha, ha! Usually people assume I must be Welsh. But yeah, as a teenager I was obsessive about
lyrics and lyric books and reading all the biographies and getting really nerdy about the artist I was
into. And for a long time, it was Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. I feel like that intensity has waned
now and I can just listen to the music and really, really, enjoy it. I wonder if that's the same for everyone
-- obsessive teenagers poring over biographies and lyric sheets.