Exposed Vocals just caught an exclusive interview with Lucinda Belle

So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up in a borough in London called West Hampstead. My desire to become an artist emerged around age 15 but I kept my intentions hidden from family and friends as I felt I needed to prove myself first so that they would take me seriously. I pursued music but did not reveal the true intentions behind my pursuit.

What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Yes, I give my music away for free, often, because ultimately I want to share my music and inspire people to get to know me, be inspired by it, buy an album and come see me live. Ultimately music is my livelihood and so my disappointment about online music sharing is that it’s become more about branding, self-promotion, and PR to be heard above the noise, rather than about the music itself.  As much as we artists give away our music freely, it’s still vital that fans show their appreciation and support through purchasing music and seeing artists perform. It takes a lot of creativity, time, effort, and money to produce an album…therefore that should carry a price tag.  Otherwise, we may not be able to afford to make another one!

Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

I would always advise smaller local bands to first practice and perfect a show as much as possible at home or in a studio.  Then keep it local, go out and get some gigs with local venues, bars, clubs, etc.  Create a postcard with a free music download link on it to give away to fans at gigs with all your social media links on it so they can find you online.  If you have a CD to sell at gigs, make sure you have someone there selling for you and asking people to give them names and email addresses for your mailing list.

 Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Hell yes…I play the mother of all instruments, the harp! It has seven pedals and 49 strings! I used to let any errors torment me during my performance but time and experience have taught me to let it go and carry on. Always carry on!!!! Don’t let the audience know what you know because mostly they won’t have caught on to it!

Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Hmm…Ever heard of the saying “what goes on tour stay on tour”?  Let’s just say that when cabin fever sets in, sometimes we all need to let our hair down.

Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

My inspiration comes from all over the place. Often a beat or idea of a melody from every day noises inspires me.  In train stations, a dripping tap (I once recorded that and built up a rhythm from it), construction work…the natural music and harmony in our world can be found if you look for it.  My own life experiences are usually what take me to the writing table. Harmonically, I’m inspired by classical composers and for me it always seems like an initial melody idea just comes from nowhere, then I hone in on it and go to work!

What online platforms do you use to share your music and why?

It’s important to have your music up in as many places as possible so you can reach as many fans as possible.  That means both selling tracks and streaming them.  You never know where you will find your next biggest fan!  So, now, my music is up on all digital distribution platforms like iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon, Tidal…the list goes on and on and on.

Personally, I like Spotify because I’m a user of the site too.  I like that I can share playlists with my fans there so they can see what I’m listening to.  It’s also a great tool for fans to show their friends what THEY’RE listening to and, if that includes my music, it builds my audience.  I want people to see me too, so of course YouTube is a no brainer, and so is Vimeo.  SoundCloud is fun as you can see people’s comments within a track.

What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player? Hmmm…

I’m not embarrassed about anything I listen to as there’s always something in a song that I like and think is cool and my taste is totally eclectic.  Ok so I really like the song ‘Gasolina’ the DJ Buddha remix… I’ll happily blast that from my convertible anytime.  No matter what anyone thinks but better than that is ‘Copacabana’ By Barry Manilow!! Love it!! ‘Her name was Lola’ don’t you know?

 If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Ok this is my favourite question; it feeds into my fantasy of how I would spend my lottery winnings!!!  It’s gotta be a journey of adventure, exploration, and musical exploration to Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Brazil, The Caribbean, and Africa! Playing and recording with street musicians.  Invest some of the money into a deposit on a house. Leave money back for the year after the year off to go make the record of my musical year of travelling and adventure!  Ooh I may throw in a couple of beauty treatments and shopping sprees too…how could any girl in her right mind not?!

Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Not so much studio at the moment, but I just bought something called a Cymatic Audio LR 16 – playback machine which I’m hoping will revolutionise my live performances.  My next studio piece of equipment, I would like to be a mini Moog.  I’m fairly obsessed with 70’s and 80’s film scores like Scarface, Brazil, etc. Van Gelis at the moment and the Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’ has a similar score, which I’m in love with.

How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Well I try to communicate with fans as best as I can on all my social media platforms and give them teasers of me, my world, and what’s to come. But aside from that, I’m all about innovation and finding ways to collaborate with other artists, people, and projects to reach different audiences whilst stretching myself to another dimension. An example is a music hack I took part in with PHD doctors of University of St Mary’s, London at the Barbican where we experimented using live music and new technology to read and interpret people’s emotions through music.  Truly there is no way better to promote my music than live as I want people to have an experience when they enter the world of Lucinda Belle.

 If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Got loads on this list… As a jazz/pop/rock crossover artist and because I place harp upfront in music I can only imagine how cool it would have been to have collaborated with Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, all of the Rat Pack, Louis Prima, Louis Armstrong, David Bowie…For artists who are still alive, I’d love to work with Labrinth, one of the most talented and artists/ producers around, Yelawolf because we are so different and I already covered one of his songs and I’m a big fan, De Dre (need I say more…), Son Little – love him, not many people know about him, and José Gonzales who I think I could make the most unbelievably beautiful and haunting music with ever and I need to make music with him.

So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Totally…

I am going to be releasing my album THINK BIG : LIKE ME around Spring time 2017 which I’m really excited about. I made the record with producer Tim Bran (James Morrison, Foxes, Birdy) in an original 8 track recording studio named Toerag Studios, (White Stripes made their Grammy winning Elephant album there). It’s a collection of songs that reflect a period of my life and captures the true emotion of what I was going through at that time. It’s an album of classic timeless songs that paint the picture, tell the story, and draw influence from American Songbook, but I’ve kept it modern with subtle hip hop and reggae flourishes and slightly warped bending of genres! I can’t wait to tour the album through the US next year.  I’m also going to be making a vinyl recording with Gearbox records. Will be cutting the live performance straight to vinyl as part of their gearbox sessions series.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

I would definitely be doing something that involved some sort of therapeutic craft. I always fancied myself as a gold leafing expert, I’ve done it as a hobby or a perfumier or jewellery designer.

Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

First record I ever bought was a 12” of ‘Fame’ by Irene Cara. But the B side was a good old fashioned southern gospel choir singing a song called ‘Never Alone.’  I listened to the B side more. First album was by Queen, who I’m still obsessed with to this day. I listened to that album, ‘Night at the Opera’, religiously and continuously for over 4 months solidly.

How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

I do ok. I’m not the best time keeper though it has to be said, but on the whole I like to think I stay on top of things. The only thing that creeps in from time to time are parking fines! F@£###rs

What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

More of Lucinda Belle, expect to hear more of my music most definitely online, more little random things that I’m up to, collabs with other people etc. more music from my forthcoming album THINK BIG: LIKE ME. Another music video or two! and definitely more from me on the live scene.  We are a planning a tour around summer/fall time.