Catching up with Rachel Kennedy from FLOWERS
THE BEGINNING
I started playing piano when I was about 4, and have played music ever since though on a variety of different instruments.
I loved singing along to music with my mum in the car on long journeys or even just home from school... She always had loads of Dolly Parton, Nina Simone and Tom Waits CDs in her car, and all the Tarantino sound tracks, so it was always stuff like that. Also my dad is an amazing classical cellist, and I used to go stay at his flat on weekends, and I loved waking up listening to him practising the Bach cello suites on Sunday mornings.
FIRST LYRICS
"C The Cat"... Followed eventually by "D The Dog" (the first consisted of playing LOTS of "C" notes on the piano... You can guess the second!)
FASCINATED ABOUT…
I just always think it's amazing how someone can write a song and it come out so good... I don't even know how we do it when we write a song we like ourselves! It always seems like magic to me.
MY INSTRUMENTS
My first instrument was my piano... I still have it today, had to get a winch to get it out of our old flat into this one through the window! It's over 100 years old now so it sounds very soft but it still sounds bell-like and beautiful. Currently my favourite instrument to play with is a Fender Jazzmaster... I'm really bad at guitar but the neck on the Jazzmaster really fits my hand well and it just sounds great so it's helping me get better at guitar, along with lots of help from Sam!
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO…
We go through periods of listening to different albums over and over, so the answer to the question is always different... But the last few days we've been listening to Closer by Joy Division lots, as well as Ramones (we always listen to lots of them) and Evans The Death's new album which we think is brilliant.
STAYING CREATIVE
For me anyway that's not really a conscious thing or something I have any control over even... I feel like I've always had bursts of feeling very creative and wanting to make something (not always music necessarily), and some days I just don't feel like it. I never try and force it because if I'm having an uninspired sort of day and I try and make myself write a song or paint a picture it won't come out so good. Luckily, most days we feel like writing songs so we have a lot of them!
A DAY IN THE STUDIO…
Mostly our home is our studio so we just sit down with some tea and have fun making noises and eventually a song comes out! We usually write them very quickly and record as we're writing so that all happens very quickly and spontaneously. Once the song is recorded the process of mixing starts (which mostly falls to Sam as he's much more technically apt than I am) and that's a very concentrated few hours and usually we end up with big headaches and tired eyes, but also with a new song to be excited about.
MUSIC IS…
Pretty much everything. Music and the people (and dog) I love are my whole life.
LAST WORDS
We're on tour tomorrow, and very excited about it!
TOUR DATES
Tue 3 March - BRIGHTON - The Prince Albert
Wed 4 March - FALMOUTH - Shipwrights
Thur 5 March - BRISTOL - Roll to The Soul
Fri 6 March - MANCHESTER - The Castle
Sun 8 March - BIRMINGHAM - Hare and Hounds
Mon 9 March - NEWCASTLE - The Cluny
Tue 10 March - YORK - The Basement
Wed 11 March - LEICESTER - Magic Tea Pot
Thur 12 March - RASMGATE - Music Hall
