Tag: interview

The Shires, Our Number One Country Act, Play Live This Weekend In An Exclusive Streamed Gig Via Stabal.com

April 6, 2021

The Shires are probably our most successful Country artists and just before lockdown last March, they released album number four ‘Good Years’ but had to put their tour on hold. The tour has been put back to 2022 but they are going to treat their fans, and hopefully some new fans, to an exclusive live gig to be streamed on Saturday, April 10th via Stabal. You can find out more here.

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Nothing Compares To Jedward As They Speak To Stephen Dixon On Sky News Breakfast

March 31, 2021

If you’ve been living under a rock then you’ll probably not have noticed that Jedward have been in the news a lot. If it’s not for their music, and their incredible banger of an album, ‘Voice Of A Rebel’, with their 22 self-written and produced songs, it’s for their astute political commentary on social media, and, more recently, the shaving of their trademark quiff hairstyles, in order to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society.

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Drew Sycamore Has A New Song ‘45 Fahrenheit Girl’ And A New Album And She Chats About Those Things And Her Inspirations With EP

March 19, 2021

Drew Sycamore’s new music feels like a culmination of everything that’s come before and to me really feels like she’s in a place where she understands her music and what she’d like it to sound like.

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Keir Chats With EP About His New Song And The Inspirations Behind His Innovative Style.

March 8, 2021

Keir has already achieved some major highs. He’s recorded at the world famous Maida Vale studios and he’s played Glastonbury in 2017. This is nothing more than his quality deserves.

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Julia Zahra Releases Her Debut Album ‘Remedy’ On March 5th And Chats With EP.

March 2, 2021

Julia Zahra was born in Indianapolis USA but raised in The Netherlands. At 25, she has achieved many things as she has won ‘The Voice of Holland’ at just 18, the youngest singer to ever audition for and win the show, and then in 2015 winning a show called ‘The Best Singers of Holland’.
Now, it’s time to find her own direction and try to find recognition outside of Holland. She has, since those shows, released critically acclaimed music of her own and toured extensively in Oceania where she’s garnered quite a following. Julia was speaking with Steve Holley.

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Imelda May Chats With Essentially Pop About Her New Release, Life And Love

February 17, 2021

Imelda May is surely one of our best songwriters. Having been born and raised in Dublin, she began her career at 16 performing locally. Now, on the eve of releasing her sixth studio album ‘11 Past the Hour’, she is known worldwide and critically acclaimed. She has worked with some of the world’s greatest producers and artists and when releasing the debut single from this new album was able to call upon friends Noel Gallagher and Ronnie Wood to collaborate. She really is that rare thing of being an artist’s artist.

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Laoise Releases Video To Accompany Her Uplifting But Sensitive New Song, ‘Gravy’ And We Get To Have A Chat With Another Exciting Irish Singer.

February 3, 2021

Laoise, pronounced ‘Leesha’ if you’re as bad at Irish names as I am, has released her video to accompany last week’s single release ‘Gravy’. Brought up in Galway but now living on a tiny island off of the western coast of Ireland, the song is from a forthcoming EP.

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Cha:dy Releases ‘Lazy’, A Moving Song That Looks At Mental Health In Young People And Launches A Big Year For This Outstanding Talent

February 1, 2021

Cha:dy is a Parisian alt-jazz singer who, last week, released new single ‘Lazy’. Taken from a forthcoming EP, it shines a light on young people suffering with mental health. Having suffered herself, Cha:dy was able to tap into her innermost emotions to write a song that is as honest as it is moving. Steve Holley had the chance to speak with Cha:dy.

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Exclusive interview with Allegra

January 25, 2021

Allegra, star of new pop bop-and-a-half, Do What I Want, is a girl on a mission. Her aim: to get to know herself better and to encourage others to do the same. We sat down with the budding young talent to find out more.

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Jeremiah Fraites Of The Lumineers Chats With EP As He Releases His Debut Solo Record ‘Piano, Piano’, An Instrumental Record Of Such Beauty That It’s So Much More Than Just Music, It’s A Salve In These Troubled Times

January 21, 2021

Steve Holley speaks with The Lumineers’ co-founder, Jeremiah Fraites, about his music, and new album, ‘Piano, Piano’.

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Layabout Black Bass Player And Co-Creator Greg Price Talks With EP About The Creation Of A New Musical Genre Born In The Land Of Pirates

January 19, 2021

Greg Price is a man on a mission. Also known as Layabout, the vocalist and bass guitarist from South London is making music for a new generation. With co songwriter Pharaoh Black and vocalist Robyn a new genre is being created in a place steeped in the history of some of the most famous Pirates. Punk Reggae is a genre that takes the legacy of Jamaica’s rich history of trade and anarchy and unleashes it in musical form. Not trying to be anything old but with respect of the past, not trying to be something other than a new music for an ever changing world but forged in the culture of Jamaica but with a hint of South London swagger. I was lucky enough to chat to bassist and co creator of Layabout Black about this new adventure and found him to be knowledgeable, hopeful and creative. A polite savage making music to transport you to a different place. Enjoy.

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Raul Malo, Lead Singer Of World Famous The Mavericks, Talks To Essentially Pop About ‘En Español’, The UK Tour And The Incredible Christmas Single ‘Happy Holidays’

December 21, 2020

The Mavericks, the Miami band famous for being able to cross so many boundaries between Americana, Country and Rock’n’Roll have this year added a new string to their multiple CMA and Grammy award winning bow. They have released a record entirely in Spanish. ‘En Español’ is quite simply The Mavericks in Spanish and is such a tour de force that it landed at #22 in the UK indie chart, #6 in the UK Americana chart as well as topping Billboard’s Latin Pop Album Chart. This incredible album is produced by the irrepressible lead singer Raul Malo with long time collaborator Niko Bolas, who has produced such greats as Neil Young, Prince and Sheryl Crow.

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Wesley Schultz Of The Lumineers Chats With Us About His Latest Release ‘Vignettes’ And Tells Us His Favourite Christmas Record

December 11, 2020

Steve Holley speaks to Wesley Schultz, of The Lumineers, about his solo album, ‘Vignettes’.

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Yoniro On Patriarchy, Italy, And Her inspirations – An Interview

December 10, 2020

Samuel Civilla and Pedro Maltez speak to Yoniro about her artistic concept, her music, and the differences between living and working in Italy and Australia.

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Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards, Known As SKYE, Talks With Essentially Pop About The Amazing New Record ‘Goodnight Songs For Rebel Girls’ And Her Part In It

December 7, 2020

SKYE is probably best known as the lead singer of the iconic Morcheeba but recently she has embarked upon a new initiative. She has joined forces with a collection of incredible female vocalists on an album to accompany, or rather complement, the stories from the books ‘Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls’. The books are a wonderful collection which highlight remarkable women and their extraordinary lives. Empowering, moving and inspirational stories are made all the more powerful by the addition of the incredible illustrations by sixty female artists from around the world.

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Rising Star Katie Kittermaster Releases ‘ Every Breath You Take’ And Answers A Few Questions For Essentially Pop

November 29, 2020

Katie Kittermaster is a singer songwriter from Kent who has recently been making real waves. This year would have been a very busy one with live dates a plenty in her own right and as a supporting act for some substantiated names in the industry. She toured with a recent interviewee of mine, Lucy Spraggan, and is about to release her new single, a cover of the classic ‘Every Breath You Take’. I was lucky enough to be able to ask her a few questions about what she’s been up to, the single and the sumptuous backdrop of the video to accompany it. Katie’s version of the song comes from a different place to the original and works beautifully. 

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Six Quick Questions With Dublin Band Wild Youth

November 26, 2020

Wild Youth are, in their own words, “one of the hottest Irish bands to emerge in recent times” and they’ve certainly established themselves as a name in their homeland, and are making great strides across the globe, with a view to world domination. Their most recent single, ‘Through The Phone’, was released earlier this month, and comes with a pastel-coloured music video, where they get creative with paint on an 80s era rotary phone.

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Essentially Pop Gets To Chat With Sacha Puttnam Who Is To Release ‘Spirit Of Cinema’ On November 6th

November 4, 2020

I’m a self confessed lover of soundtrack music. The first vinyl I ever bought was the soundtrack from ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ and ‘For A Few Dollars More’ by Ennio Morricone. That led to ‘Great Western Film Themes Collection’, and ‘ The Good, The Bad & The Ugly’, and I was hooked. These days I have over 150 soundtracks on vinyl and a majority of these are Morricone. So, when I got the chance to chat with Sacha Puttnam: classical musician, soundtrack composer and rock keyboard playing son of legendary movie producer Lord David Puttnam, it’s hard to underestimate my excitement. Add to that the fact that he is just about to release a stunning collection of reimagined soundtrack music from some of his father’s greatest films, which unsurprisingly number among some of the greatest films ever, and you may still underestimate.

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Won’t Let The Sun Go Down: Nik Kershaw Speaks To Us Ahead Of Release Of New Studio Album, ‘Oxymoron’

October 14, 2020

Lisa spoke last month to Nik Kershaw about his 9th studio album, ‘Oxymoron’, which is set for release this Friday, 16 October. An OG Kershaw fan, the prospect of speaking to the man himself knocked Lisa for 6, but thankfully she persevered.

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Glastonbury Repeat Performer, Lucy Spraggan, One Of Our Brightest Stars, Chats About Her New Single, ‘Flowers’, And A Personal Relaunch

September 25, 2020

Without any doubt, Lucy Spraggan is one of our brighter stars. Anyone that can release 5 albums in the past 9 years with an exciting sixth on the way early next year, play world famous Glastonbury twice, with this year’s third appearance sadly postponed, has certainly stood the most important first test for any artist, the test of time. That she should be more excited now about the future than feasibly at any time before, looking forward to a record she thinks might just be her best proves she has so much to give.

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