Indie Midlands: In November you released your latest single ‘Drive’ and I loved it. What was the process of first writing that song to recording and releasing it like?
Bridget.: So, it came as a bit of a surprise! I went to a gig, seeing Hak Baker in London with my dad, there were some drinks, an uber, a lost set of car keys. When I woke up the next day I knew I wanted to write a song based on an exaggerated version of those events. I’m not a natural born guitar player, as I have said a few times before; singing was my first instrument, so I picked up the guitar and wanted more of a gritty, driving sound rather than the standard chords I know. I just began sliding up the fretboard and then there was a song. I was super keen to record this as soon as I played it live the first time, it’s so cathartic to scream!!! Recorded the track with Tom at Tom Donovan Studios, and it was exactly how I wanted it to be; myself screaming in a room for about 30 mins. And now it’s out, with video! Happy days.
Indie Midlands: I have seen your music described as grunge and post-punk a lot, would you use those words to describe your style or would you describe yourself as something else?
Bridget.: Yeah, so I would say grunge, post-punk definitely fits the music part of what I’m doing. I think you could say my vocal style stretches across a few genres, that’s why I’ve started to just call the whole thing ‘alt-rock’ a lot more now. My music has been described to me as ‘the lovechild of PJ Harvey and Courtney Love’, and I get quite a few comparisons to other female alt-rock artists like Ellie Rowsell (Wolf Alice) which is cool! I’d deffo go with grunge for the most-part though.
Indie Midlands: Leading on from your style of music, who would you say are your biggest influences in both performance and songwriting?
Bridget.: I’ve been inspired massively by Amyl and The Sniffers performance-wise! Amy is just a brilliant reminder to move how you feel like moving on stage, what anyone thinks of that is their business. She’s tough-as-nails! Skin (Skunk Anansie) too- I adore her rawness and seeing her perform live and it was a massive inspiration to me to continue to be a fierce little fucker basically. Songwriting wise, I used to think my songs weren’t particularly influenced by anybody UNTIL I heard them in full effect and realised, ‘oh yeah, that sounds like an exact blend of my favourite bands!’ That being said, Nirvana are a big influence on me. The lyricism and messy nature of their performances; love it. Also I really admire Sia’s songwriting, someone who I would sell a limb to work with in the future! Such a raw and poetic way of writing, not to mention her incredibly emotive vocals.
Indie Midlands: You have had a lot of incredibly exciting opportunities due to being surrounded by live music, but what would you say has been the most exciting moment of your music career?
Bridget.: It’s got to be the first time I had people singing my songs back to me. I got the opportunity to headline the Colchester Arts Centre, as part of a gig raising awareness and funds for Safe Gigs For Women. I did that thing musicians do when you’re first starting out, which is get really surprised when people turn up to watch you play. It was the biggest gig I’d done at that time so, safe to say, I was very moved when I walked out to see friends and strangersthere and have them sing my songs back at me. It’s a very cool moment when you know that you want to pursue music and then you see a real-life glimpse of that being possible.
Indie Midlands: Was there a specific moment in your life where you decided that music was what you wanted to do or was it something that you had always held an interest in?
Bridget.: I always had a massive interest in music and remember being moved by it and feeling really connected to it from a young age. Music was always on in the house, car or I was at festivals and I started singing when I was about 3 or 4. Even if it meant having to sing a musical theatre number in a school show that I didn’t really connect to, I just did it because I really loved singing. It was difficult to find a space where I could write and perform the songs I wanted to, but when I started hopping up with local bands, singing for a song at a gig or just some harmonies; I found a great place and couldn’t wait to do my own thing. One night I had to sing at this showcase evening for a performing arts club I used to do and straight after I had to be at a gig in town, where my dad’s band Ghosts Of Men were playing, so I could sing a track live with them. I just remember buzzing about the fact I got to sing 3 songs in one night and I think I told my mum ‘I can’t wait to tour one day’ haha.
Indie Midlands: The music video for ‘Drive’ released a month ago and it is a music video I could not look away from, did you have a lot of creative input into how you wanted it to look?
Bridget.: Absolutely. It was super exciting as I had Graham (‘How It Feels’ and ‘Deflate’ music videos) and Aaron (Film By Aaron Lamb) both on board for this one. They had to bare with me sending these storyboards that I scribbled out, Pinterest moodboards for lighting and chucking ideas for shots in the chat for a few weeks before the shoot…But! I was so keen to get it right. They both worked hard to ensure things looked how I wanted, holding lights at awkward angles and getting people riled up. I don’t like doing things neatly, so it was cool to have free reign over my make-up and acting. Plus by the end of the day I was obviously very tired, which gave me the perfect ‘derranged’ look. One of my favourite parts was getting my dad to smear that bright red lippy all over his face, I just think it looks horrible and great! Imagine seeing that, stumbling through a house party, trollied… My aim was to create a very fractured and hazy evening that had strange stuff going on in cut-aways, all whilst trying not to accidentally create every 00s house party music video at the same time. It was very D.I.Y. and held together by everyone involved, which made it a super fun and silly day. Go watch it!!!
Indie Midlands: You obviously do a lot of different things as a musician whether that is recording, writing, performing, but what is your favourite part about being a musician?
Bridget.: My favourite part about being a musician, besides the recording, writing and performing, is probably the magical ability to transcend mentally from bad or mundane situations. Bored at work- write a song. Going through a hard time- write a song. It’s very cliché but being a musician and writing or performing music is definitely therapy a lot of the time. It’s a superpower that you can share with others.