Southern Gothic girl
As one of the brightest rising stars of today’s British bluesrock scene, Chantel McGregor is hard at work writing for her third album and debuting some of the new tracks on her 2018 tour across the UK and Europe. Here, she reveals what fans can expect fro
How would you describe your sound?
“I think my style crosses many genres. When I was younger, aged 12 to 16, I used to go to jam sessions most nights of the week, so I cut my teeth on improvisation, psychedelic rock, blues, country etc; basically anything anyone threw at me. I think it’s so important to learn and listen to all different styles. It’s easy to just say ‘I play blues’ and close yourself off to everything else, but I think to be a well-rounded musician, you have to consider every style and genre.
“I really enjoy playing rock, I’ve always been interested in rock bands, even as I child, I used to play along to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden CDs. I think my style has always been rock, I think I was labelled blues at the start of my career as the two genres are often so closely related through guitar solos and a lot of rock has its roots in blues.
“I honestly think and have always said there’s two different genres of music, good and bad and both of those categories are down to the individual and are all subjective. I’m so lucky with my fans, in that they appreciate what I’m trying to do with my music, they enjoy the fact that I experiment and try different styles, like for instance I have been doing some acoustic solo shows, which are totally different to the band shows, but people enjoy them equally.”
What inspires your music?
“For me a lot of inspiration comes from what I’m listening to around the time of performing or writing, also what I’m watching on tv or books I’m reading, as I get a lot of the emotion for songs from characters, films, shows and books.
“Obviously, life events inspire and affect how you approach music, and I love drawing on them as everyone can relate to them, be it love, grief, sadness etc.”
Can you give us some background to your most recent release?
“My latest album is called Lose Control. I’m working on the third album at the moment for release in 2019.
“I’ve always been interested in the dark side of Southern Gothic literature, artwork and media, I wanted to create an album that reflected the imagery and themes of that genre. I drew inspiration from the TV shows True Detective and True Blood and studied the literary works of Tennessee Williams, Carson Mullers and Mark Twain.
“I also surrounded myself with imagery from artists and photographers such as Walker Evans and Clarence John Laughlin, all to immerse myself in the sinister, dark world of depravation, magic and voodoo,
writing most of the songs from the perspective of the disturbed flawed characters.
“My interpretation of Southern Gothic is the loss of control, either spiritually, physically - through other people or substances - or emotionally. I drew on this theme a lot throughout the album, hence the title Lose Control. I wanted the sound and emotion of the album to reflect the concept, so I juxtaposed heavy, guitar riff-based, dark tracks with haunting, emotive acoustic tracks, whilst tying them together with the lyrical themes of desperation and loss so often seen in Southern Gothic fiction.
“The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Livingstone Brown’s studio in Brixton over the space of 6 months, interspersing studio time with touring. Livingstone Brown, who’s worked with Ed Sheeran, Bryan Ferry, Robin Trower, played the majority of the bass on the album.”
What do you like most about touring?
“I love seeing new places and meeting people, I think as musicians we are really privileged to be able to tour around countries and places that we wouldn’t ordinarily have the opportunity to visit.”
What can people expect from your upcoming Derby gig?
“I love playing in Derby, it’s always one of my favourite shows of the year and we usually do it as one of our final gigs before Christmas, so it’s always a good feeling at the show.
“I’ll be performing some tracks from my first two albums and something from the upcoming third album, it’ll mainly be tracks with the band with a couple of solo acoustic tracks thrown in as well.”
What are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
“I’ve been listening to a lot of singer-songwriters recently, I went to see Ryan Adams on his last tour, which was amazing, so I’ve been exploring his back catalogue for a few months. I’m a huge fan of Steven Wilson too, so there’s a bit of his music influencing mine at the moment.”
What’s been your best live gig appearance as a performer?
“Tricky one as every gig is so much fun. I think playing a few shows with Joe Bonamassa was a great highlight for me.”
■Chantel McGregor will perform live at Derby’s The Flowerpot with support act James Manners on December 13. Tickets can be purchased for £14 and are available now from rawpromo.co.uk.