Welsh singer/songwriter, Bryde will play Cardiff later in April.
Bryde aka Sarah Howells, recently set up her label Seahorse Music to publish records by like-minded women and help make them more visible in a male-dominated industry and recently released her debut solo LP Like An Island flitting in sessions between London and LA.
Andy Howells recently caught up with Bryde to discuss the new album and forthcoming UK tour.
You hail from Wales, where do you come from and how did you find your path as a singer/songwriter?
I’m from a semi-detached house in Milford Haven, the Hakin side. My bedroom was in an extension my Dad built on the side and I could see the estuary from my window.
I started out having Classical music lessons on piano and then violin but quickly learned that I preferred to make up my own stuff on piano than actually play the sheet music I had to learn. I always wanted to be a singer..
I told a family friend at a house party once when I was about 8 that I wanted be a pop star and I remember them laughing.. so I changed it to interior designer for a while. I bought an electric guitar at about 16 and have been in a band ever since.
Milford Haven singer-songwriter Bryde will play both Bristol and cardiff as part of her UK tour supporting her album, Like An Island.
What or who has inspired your music journey?
My best friend and previous band founder Nia George inspired me a huge amount. Musically, Fleetwood Mac, Alanis Morrisette, Fiona Apple, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead.
You are about to release your debut album, can you tell us a bit about it and how it all came together?
Like an Island is a kind of summing up of the lyrical journey I’ve been on since I started Bryde. It brings together all of the themes of anger, sadness, defiance, disappointment, drama and vitriol and then adds some optimism, some light-at-the-end-of-tunnel and some calm..hopefully. It’s 11 tracks of light and dark and bit dynamic changes and emotional states.
The release is on your own label, Seahorse Music, how did you come to form your own label?
Forming the label came from finding myself giving musical friends advice (not always solicited) and wanting to share some of the knowledge I had about self-releasing music. Having done it with Paper Aeroplanes for years and then starting a new project from scratch in the current music industry I feel like I did a lot of learning from my mistakes and triumphs and wanted to share it.
Also it’s very frustrating watching music you think is great go unnoticed. It’s a side project to Bryde at the moment but I feel like it’s something that will grow gradually and solidly alongside it. We’re programming events and doing some mentoring to other artists now so it has many possibilities now.
You are about to embark on a tour, what can people expect from your gigs?
They can expect some shredding, some passion, dynamics, intimacy and me over-sharing in between songs.
What do you enjoy listening to at the moment?
I’m really loving Middle Kids, Muna, Cosima, Cold War Kids, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and just heard (massively late to the party) Nothing But Thieves, who sound like a band I would have loved at 17 but am obsessed by how incredible the singer’s voice is, he sounds like Jeff Buckley.
- Bryde plays Bristol’s Exchange on April 23 and Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on April 25. For tour details visit http://www.brydemusic.com