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for me, some lyrics will come but usually for me the music, or the music with the lyrics comes. Andy who I’ ve co-written two of the songs with on the album, one on his own, writes in a completely different way. He writes a lot of lyrics down as he thinks of them and crafts it. The songs we’ ve written together are actually a really good combination because we’ re so different in that. I’ m much more intuitive in it coming out of me and then he’ ll come at it from a different point of view saying I really like that but this bit could be a little better, then we work on it together. It’ s great because he has this approach that I don’ t, it works well.”
Speaking of Andy Hobsbawm, Kate’ s husband, he has a key role to play in Kate’ s music career. Having seen Andy’ s terrific support later that evening in taking on the stage chatter and re-tuning the guitars down to compensate for the vocal effects of poor Kate’ s cold, it is clear they share a close partnership. Lead guitarist and co-writer on the album, Kate is keen to point out that“ Andy was a big part of bringing the album to life.”
Kate obviously has a huge body of work behind her, with more waiting for us to discover. I was keen to FACEBOOK: know if, for her, there’ s a
TWITTER: favourite track on the album, one that means instagram: more to her. Cruel question, I know. It was a bit like asking her pick her favourite child!“ That’ s hard for me to answer! We’ ve sat with some of these songs for a long time some of them are newer, but every single one of them I love. I wouldn’ t have put them on the album if I hadn’ t. They’ re very different. There’ s a sound that runs through them and talking about genres, there’ s slightly different sounds in each song.‘ Carve Me Out,’ being such an emotional song for me, has a different kind of resonance for me, but I can’ t pick one!”
Following her own route into music, Kate is a strong advocate for doing what you love. I asked her if she had any advice for aspiring singer-song writers out there, unsure whether to make the
web( videos & live dates): www. kateellis. com
' carve me out ' is available from: Amazon, iTunes & Google Play
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leap.“ I would say, more and more people are doing different careers in their lives. You cannot go wrong doing what you really love to do and want to do. I think it’ s very easy to over-ride that with a sense that you have to do the responsible thing, the sensible thing. In the end, I think that’ s always a dead end to do that. You have to follow what you love doing. Not just because you won’ t be happy otherwise, but I also think you won’ t be doing it well. I do think there’ s so many different things one can enjoy. I think one should explore. When I did law, I wasn’ t sure what I wanted to do. I actually thought I was going to be writing, in fact I started thinking about a book I wanted to write, then I got into a magazine job and then I thought I’ d llike to take up guitar on the side that’ ll be fun. So, there’ s no planning, but if you’ re out there exploring what you want to do, you’ ll run into it.”
So, what’ s next for Kate Ellis?“ We’ re working on a mini tour Sept / Oct time. We’ re doing another release, in the next couple of months. I’ m releasing another video, which will be my third, for‘ Night Before the Dawn,’ which was released as a single. We’ re also doing a gig in London in Islington on 27th September, to launch the vinyl edition of the album, so that’ s very exciting. Really focusing on the album, getting it out there and doing some gigs around it’ s promotion.” In fact, Ellis is already excited at the prospect of starting work on the next album.“ This one has been so long in the making that we have this bunch of songs, we’ ve probably got half an albums worth. So, it’ ll be fun to get back into those and figure out what they’ re going to be, write new ones. Next year I’ ll properly start thinking about that.”
A hugely talented singer-songwriter, mother to two children( a boy and a girl), wife to Andy, a role model, Kate Ellis is an inspiring woman who isn’ t afraid to expose her emotions via her music. She is one busy lady:“ I’ ve got two kids, so that’ s what I’ m doing the rest of my time. I love reading. We, as a family, love seeing movies. Basically there isn’ t a lot of extra time to be honest!”- KA
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