Project Description

FOTSUN Special:

Interview with

GRACE TURNER

Interviewer: Jess Moog

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Lovely singer-songwriter Grace Turner has reached glorious new heights this year!

Hailing from Newcastle (otherwise known as The Best Place On Earth), Grace is a young talented gal on a big, musical mission. Just this month she has dropped a brand new tune, been added to regular rotation on Triple J AND grabbed herself a spot at Grow Your Own Festival in Forster thanks to a Triple J Unearthed competition.

I got to have a wonderful chinwag with Grace at FOTSUN, and suss out the goss on some of her future projects…

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First up, how are you today?
I’m doing well, I’m on holidays today! I do have to go back to work at my other job next week but in terms of music, I have a break now until the 11^th January. A bit of time to reconnect and recoup.

So what inspired you to make music?
It goes back to when I was a little kid, I used to write songs. I think it comes from not being a great communicator potentially, or not knowing how to express my feelings, so I went off into writing songs as a way to figure out what I was going through. But I’ve always loved singing as well, and I like the act of storytelling and creating little bubbles of songs!

Were you parents or anything musical, or did you just kind of come into it yourself?
My dad’s a poet, so I think I kind of got my interest in words and literature from him, although my mum did like to read a lot too. Both are artists, my mum’s a painter. So they love music, but they weren’t exactly musicians. But it was definitely part of my family life.

I actually saw you perform yesterday, you did an amazing job!
Oh thank you! Thanks for that.

Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
I actually come from mainly a singer-songwriter, folk, old country past. My biggest songwriter influences would be Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, maybe not so much for songwriting but more just her essence as a songwriter. I grew up listening to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I really like a lot of heavier music as well, and I like the singer-songwriter stuff. I like the intensity you get from heavy rock, but you’re actually speaking about something meaningful.

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So you’re a Newy gal! I’ve lived in Newy for the past four years and I bloody love it! What are some of your views on the Newcastle music scene?
How have I not met you?! It is good. I’ve watched Newcastle kind of grow, and then shift and change. We’ve had some lulls in the past, but at the moment there definitely feels like there is a big movement going on, and I think a lot of musicians are choosing to stay in Newcastle rather than having to move to other cities to fulfil their careers. So yeah, I think the scene is really good! I think there are some holes in available venues for singer-songwriters… but I’m definitely pro-Newcastle!

You just released your new song ‘Easy I Fall’. What was your creative process for that song?
That one came pretty quickly. Generally singles do end up coming pretty quickly, it’s this funny thing. But I would’ve written it maybe mid-last year. It took a long time to figure out how it should be as a song; I was thinking of keeping it to just vocals and guitar, really intimate, and I would eventually like to release a version of it like that. I was playing with a drummer at the time, he’s called Matt Taylor, and he’s my collaborator on that song. Eventually I had the idea to cut the band down to the first half of the song, and then he came up with the guitar part, and that really made the song for me. So yeah, it was a long process, but I think it was worth the wait.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome so far?
Probably the biggest thing is just getting over fear, but almost like that hidden fear that stops you from doing things, like being too critical on my songs but then realising that’s just me being too afraid to release things. And then just getting used to having to be brutally honest and kind of putting my heart on the line a bit. Also creating some sort of self-protection because my music is so personal and really telling some deep things, so trying to create some protection so I’m not just leaving it all out there.

I know what you mean about being too critical; I am ALWAYS over-critical with my writing.
Yeah it’s interesting. It’s a good thing to have, because that’s the whole point of being creative because you’re always trying to make things better and to grow, but you need the perfect balance. Every single song I’ve put out, I’ve been like ‘it’s not perfect’, but I just got to the point where it was better to release it because I’m just learning as I go.

Exactly. Perfect is fucking boring anyway so who cares!
Yeah definitely!

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Got anything fun planned for 2019? What’s next for Grace Turner?
I’m kind of preparing myself for next year to be quite big. But in terms of my work, I’m doing some recording in January. I really want to get an EP out quite soon in the New Year, and I’d like to try and do a headline tour. I’ve got another tour with Phil Jamieson, Mountain Sound’s Festival, and then I want to start working on an album next year too.

Wow. That’s a big year.
Yeah! And I’m also writing a lot at the moment, so I dunno, it’s all happening. I’m feeling creatively inspired.

Just to close up, who are you most keen to see this weekend? Any acts been your favourite so far?
POND blew my mind last night, they were soooo good. So did Tkay Maidza, and I’m a long time fan of Jess Locke so I got to see her. I’m about to head in to see Body Type, and Vera Blue, I’m very excited to see her. And Kwame! It’s good to be able to enjoy it now as a punter haha.

That’s about it! Cheers for your time!
That’s ok, thank you!

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Connect with GRACE TURNER:
Website // Facebook // Instagram

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