No Windows - an Edinburgh duo made up of 17 year old multi-instrumentalist Morgan Morris and 18 year old vocalist Verity Slangen - have shared a new single titled 'No Clue(Green Song)'.
The announcement follows closely on the heel of their recent, critically-acclaimed debut track 'Shout (Red Song)' and the news of their intensely promising debut EP Fishboy, which is set for release on November 25th via tastemaker label Something.
With early demos having already built up considerable interest north of the border, alongside an incendiary performance last month at Connect Festival, they recently released their first single proper in 'Shout (Red Song)', a slice of woozy, densely layered dreampop,
More considered and and introspective than it's predecessor, No Window's new single 'No Clue (Green Song)' exemplifies the duo's ability to manipulate the dynamics of their songwriting style to create something entirely new, without compromising the sonic composition of their EP as a singular body of work. The single combines muted 90s-inspired guitar lines with melancholic yet anthemic vocals that explore themes of growing up, entering a new stage of life as the seasons change and welcoming new people into your life.
"When writing 'No Clue', I was entering a new stage of my life,' Verity says about the single. 'I had just finished school and the seasons were changing. I wrote this song wanting it to be light, exploring the prospect of a new relationship and the emotions I was feeling at that time. I wanted it to feel positive - carry the energy of Spring changing into Summer while still staying true to our writing style, I wanted the melody of the chorus to feel uplifting.'
During the process of making the EP, which was self-recorded, self-performed and entirely self-produced in Morgan's bedroom, he labelled each track with a colour purely based on the colour that the track made him think of first. Before Verity had written lyrics each early recording could be attributed to that colour rather than its eventual words, each song given a unique identity from birth.
''Green Song' was given the name green song as it felt like it had a sense of discovery, like walking through a green, floral forest without knowing what’s ahead, which led to the name 'No Clue' that exists alongside its colour label,' Morgan adds.
Morgan and Verity began making music really early on at school. With Morgan in the school year below, he hadn't really come across Verity until he found her Instagram where she'd begun posting some covers and original music. They arranged to meet and cover a Mac Demarco song one lunchtime only for it to never happen, instead heading down the musical rabbit hole that would soon lead to their own songs.
Following an exclusive first play from Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2, British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kezia Gill has released brand new single 'Like I Did Before' - available to stream/download worldwide here.
Written by Gill with Kaity Rae, 'Like I Did Before' is the first new music to be shared from a forthcoming album, and marks an evolution in the rising star’s sound, bringing in sweeping, piano-led production while retaining the emotive storytelling that has been central to her success to date.
'This song is totally different from anything I've previously released' explains Gill. 'It's a song that I'm extremely proud to have co-written and I feel it displays a whole new side to me as an artist.'
Next month, she will be kicking off her first ever UK headline tour, presented by AEG, in her hometown of Derby. Due to phenomenal demand, with dates already sold out in London, Derby, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Weston-Super-Mare, Manchester and Brighton, Gill has added an additional date in Southampton, and limited tickets are still available in Cardiff and Dublin here.
'It's been a dream for so many years to put on my own headline tour, and to see how well it's been received and how many people are excited to see the show just fills my heart. I cannot wait to get out on the road' adds Gill.
Tour Dates
Saturday, 12th November - The Flowerpot, Derby (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, 13th November - Headrow House, Leeds (SOLD OUT)
Tuesday, 15th November - Hare & Hounds 2 - Birmingham (SOLD OUT)
Wednesday, 16th November - Broadcast, Glasgow (SOLD OUT)
Thursday, 17th November - The Cluny 2, Newcastle (SOLD OUT)
Saturday, 19th November - St Paul's Church, Weston-Super-Mare (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, 20th November - Deaf Institute, Manchester (SOLD OUT)
Wednesday, 23rd November - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (LIMITED AVAILABILITY)
Thursday, 24th November - Water Rats, London (SOLD OUT)
Saturday, 26th November - The Joiners, Southampton (DATE ADDED DUE TO DEMAND)
Sunday, 27th November - Green Door Store, Brighton (SOLD OUT)
Monday, 28th November - Water Rats, London (SOLD OUT)
Wednesday, 30th November - The Workman's Cellar, Dublin (LIMITED AVAILABILITY)
*
For more information about Kezia, including tour information, visit her website.
Jill Andrews, an acclaimed multi-genre singer-songwriter, will embark on her first UK tour in November, stopping in 14 cities.
A prolific songwriter, who has achieved over 100 million Spotify streams, Jill’s music has been featured on hit TV shows, including This is Us ('Only Love Can Break Your Heart'), Nashville ('Tell That Devil'), Grey’s Anatomy and Beauty and the Beast ('Rust Or Gold'). Andrews released 'Rust Or Gold' as a single, and within days of it airing on the show, the song ranked within the Top 10 on the U.S. Singer/Songwriter iTunes chart.
Speaking on her first UK tour, Jill said, 'It has long been a dream of mine to meet all of my fantastic fans across the UK and I can't believe in 2022 I am actually, finally getting to do it. I keep hearing how much people in the United Kingdom love and respect music. So I am excited to experience that for myself.'
Andrews released her latest project, The Parthenon Sessions, in June 2022. The EP was recorded in Centennial Park’s Parthenon, which is the only full-scale replica of the ancient Athenian temple in the world. All the recorded songs are tailored to the unique 5-second reverb of the building’s 42 foot tall ceilings.
The EP features a string orchestra and four re-imagined songs from Jill’s catalog, including her only recorded version of 'Sanctuary'. The song, written by Andrews, Gary Nicholson and Sarah Siskind, was originally performed in Nashville by Charles Esten and Lennon & Maisy Stella, and deemed by The Tennessean to have 'led to 'Nashville's most powerful musical moment.'
Andrews is currently working on her fourth full length project which is due to be released in early 2023, following her run of UK shows.
Tour Dates
Fri., 4 November – Howden Shire Hall | Howden, UK
Sat., 5 November – The Blue Lamp | Aberdeen, UK
Sun., 6 November – Broadcast | Glasgow, UK
Mon., 7 November – Cluny 2 | Newcastle, UK
Tue., 8 November – Retro Bar | Manchester, UK
Wed., 9 November – Hyde Park Book Club | Leeds, UK
Fri., 11 November – The Gate | Cardiff, UK
Sat., 12 November – Blue Sky Café | Bangor, UK
Mon., 14 November – Hare & Hounds 2 | Birmingham, UK
Tue., 15 November – Tivoli Theatre | Wimborne, UK
Wed., 16 November – St. Pancras Old Church | London, UK
Thur., 17 November – The Boileroom | Guildford, UK
Fri., 18 November – Strings Bar | Isle of Wight, UK
Sat., 19 November – St. Paul’s Church Bar | Weston-Super-Mare, UK
*
More information about Jill can be found on her website.
Rising country artist Alex Williams has released 'Old Before My Time', the latest single from his forthcoming record Waging Peace (out Oct 21st 2022 via Lightning Rod Records).
The song pays tribute to America’s classic road-warrior anthems as well as Williams’ country music heroes including Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, providing an introspective look into the mind of a 20-something year-old touring musician who is grappling with the notion of feeling too old for his age.
'The title is pretty self explanatory,' says Williams. 'A life of traveling around has a way of making you feel like sometimes you're aging a little bit faster than what you think.'
'Old Before My Time' is the latest preview of Waging Peace, joining the free-wheeling first single 'No Reservations' and the heavy-hitting title track, which are both available now. It continues the autobiographical narrative of an artist who took his 'outlaw' title too far and fell to rock bottom — a major label deal gone sour, giving into the temptations of the 'rockstar' lifestyle and a hard-fought, harrowing journey to find inner peace.
Gold Steps are marking a new era with new EP, That Ain't It.
The release is the first one on a label for Liz Mauritz (vocals), Zach Duarte (guitar), Ryan Rivas (bass) and Mike Britz (drums). They signed with Revival Recordings earlier this year and, after a short hiatus and pandemic, they are back and raring to go - and currently on a huge US tour with SayWeCanFly.
They were happy to spare some time from their busy lives to chat all things about the band with me!
*
I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today! For those who are unfamiliar, how did Gold Steps come to be?
Liz: Back in 2016, I [was] in a band with Zach, our guitarist. That band wasn’t going in the creative direction we wanted to. Since we were writing most of the songs, we decided it was time for us to move on [so] we left that band and started Gold Steps. We played around the Austin area for a while and started going out on tour pretty quickly after that. We released our first EP in 2016, released a second EP in 2018 and that’s when we really started hitting the road. We got to play Warped tour, we did a couple of shorter tours and then we did a full US tour in 2019 with Calling All Captains and Settle Your Scores.
In between those times we were getting in the studio, recording new demos and stuff to send to labels. Then in 2019, we decided to step back for a minute and take a break. We relocated to Milwaukee, which is where I’m from. We decided to get settled for a little bit [but] Covid happened before we were able to really situate ourselves and get new band members. It took a little bit but, towards the end of 2020, we decided to really start looking and commit to getting back to music. We found Ryan, our bassist, and drummer, Mikey. We started writing songs right away. We had our producer and co-writer come up to Milwaukee and we wrote three songs and added that to some of these demos that we’d recorded over the past couple of years and put it together as an EP,.
Revival Recordings reached out to us in either late 2021 or early 2022, kept the conversation going and we decided to sign with them earlier this year. They’re putting out our new record this October.
Covid hitting during that little hiatus was not particularly ideal. How was that time for you as a band? And as creatives in general?
Liz: In a couple of ways, it reinforced some of the thoughts I already had about putting yourself/self-care first, and putting family and personal needs ahead of your artistry. A lot of artists know that you sometimes put so much into your creative work that you forget to actually take care of yourself. You experience this crazy burnout. We’d hit that burnout point and decided to move to my home, so we could be closer to family. When the pandemic hit, it was almost validating that we made the right choice at the time to move closer to family - otherwise we would’ve been stuck in Austin, worrying.
As far as a rest break during that time? Even though we weren’t writing music necessarily, we were throwing ourselves into helping at our jobs. Zach’s job was considered essential work, he never stopped working. I was off for a couple of weeks but then I went back in to help, helping in any capacity that I could. So, we were still working fulltime during the pandemic.
Ryan, you weren’t really part of the band yet but you were in a bit of a different situation being stuck in Chicago.
Ryan: Yeah, I had lost my job because of the pandemic. I found myself sitting in my apartment day in, day out, during the beginning. Luckily I was able to find remote work that got me through. I ended up buying a guitar - I’m primarily a bass player. I took that time to write my own music and none of it will ever be aired anywhere because it’s terrible *laughs*. It gave me a chance to really focus on the creative things that I love. I really took that time to get back into music and, luckily, the stars aligned and I was able to find Zach and Liz once things started to recede. We made the most of that time. Even in 2021 it wasn’t totally over [but] that’s when the three of us and Mike, our drummer, really started to hone in our skills together and build on what had been started previously.
Zach: We learned how to practice, without amps, in our headphones, all electronically just in a basement. It was awesome being able to do that because we couldn’t find a practice space that was open. That actually branched out for us to start using in-ear monitors and stuff like that to up our live performance.
Liz: It was tough, though, getting new members and practicing constantly [and] then not being able to book shows. We were so excited to debut this new era but it was all put on hold. It made us so, so grateful when we were able to start playing shows again and able to get out there. We’re so, so appreciative that we get that chance to still tour and have people hear our music.
What is it like to balance those jobs with the band? You’re about to embark on a huge tour, how do you make time for both?
Liz: We don’t have social lives! *laughs* Everything we do is based around the band. We go out for drinks after practice and we’ll end up talking about music. We always end up meeting people and inviting them to our shows. We should carry stickers more but, when we do, we pass them out. The three of us live together, we essentially travel as a unit everywhere that isn’t our jobs. We’re always representing the band where we are, be it the grocery store or the gym. We’re always together, this is everything for us.
Zach: We have an upcoming tour that’s a month long. From September 30th to October 30th, we’re all taking leaves of absence from our jobs and not getting paid. It’s gonna be tough but it’s all gonna be worth it.
Liz: Yeah. You do what you love.
Ryan: We’re fortunate because all of our positions are not going away after the tour. It's endearing to know that our workplaces are allowing us to take this large leave of absence which, especially in the US, you don’t really see a ton of vacation time. The fact that all our companies are allowing us to do this is exciting.
The new EP, That Ain’t It, will be your first on Revival Recordings. Why did you decide to make the leap from unsigned to signed? Was it just the next logical step?
Liz: I think it was part of that. Having a team is really, really helpful when we’re all working full-time. There’s not enough hours in the day. If I had a superpower, it would be splitting myself into two halves so I could do all the things I want to do. I love my job! But I love singing and performing more than anything in the world…beside my husband.
For us, it made sense. Kevin from Revival Recordings, he’s our A&R rep, he came to us. We weren’t searching anyone out but he approached us. He had found us back in 2019 and I guess there might’ve been a couple of little conversations back and forth with our manager at the time but we weren’t part of that. We’re currently unmanaged, so we’re independent outside of the label - we do everything ourselves other than what the label helps with. Kevin approached us and we had some casual conversations. He wanted to know about us, what motivated us to start the band, what we wanted to do with it. It all really felt supportive from the beginning and as we got to know more of the team and talk more, it really felt like they were going to let us keep as much creative control as possible. They don’t get in the middle of anything. We say what kind of merch we want to offer for our pre-orders, we make our own album covers, they don’t have anything to do with how we write our songs or who we write them with. They just help us with the marketing side of things.
Zach: They help us branch out.
Liz: They’re helping us get our music out to the world. We have the same goal, to make our band as successful as possible so we can be out on the road as much as we can, so we can be meeting new fans so those fans can tell other people about us, and just help our growth reach more and more people. They are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. It made sense because we could not reach a larger audience continuing on independently the way we were, unless we got like a viral TikTok or something. We had reached our ceiling as an independent band - they could help us make the next leap.
We’ve only been on the label officially for about two months but there’s never a sour moment between us. They’re endlessly supportive and we can’t thank them enough.
You talk about marketing and social media is, of course, a huge part of that these days. It’s how I discovered you guys, through Instagram so, clearly, it’s working to some degree! What advice do you have for artists that are looking to use social media platforms to branch out and grow?
Ryan: Well we’re actually looking for tips from anyone that can help us with TikTok *laughs* We’re trying our hardest to grow on TikTok. In this day and age, you see it everywhere. Social media is another form of marketing for your band. It’s not about record sales anymore as much as it is getting your face out there and showing everyone what you’re doing. We’re guilty of it too, we’re always glued to our phones. Everyone is on their phone nowadays and to get people’s attention, you have to stand out.
The most important thing that we’ve learned, and we’re still trying to get better at, is being consistent with our presence on all platforms. We’re really good with Instagram but you have to diversify and make sure you’re hitting up everything. TikTok is huge right now for music. It’s a saturated market with musicians trying to do what we’re trying to do. The only way you’re going to get ahead is if you put your foot down on the gas pedal and continue on. It’s quite a learning curve.
Liz: The biggest thing that turns me off about social media is people being ingenuine. It’s kinda hard to walk that line. Last night we put a video up, we were playing a show, and after reviewing it I was like ‘that feels so marketing-y’. It felt branded, too curated. One thing we have to let go of, because we’re so critical of ourselves, especially me - I will be the first to knock something down and be like ‘nope that wasn’t perfect, redo it’. I think that’s why we’ve been so hesitant about TikTok because I can’t stand watching a video of myself like ‘ooh, that looks terrible’. Most people don’t care the same way that I care.
You never know when stuff is gonna change. We used to be so on top of Facebook but that's not where things are anymore. You have to go to where the people are. There’s still a lot of people on it but they’re not as active in groups as they used to be. You go to them and hope the algorithm picks you up.
Zach: Put sponsored ads out there. You never know who it’s gonna reach. You can actually set regions, countries, cities for your ads.
Liz: When we’re going on tour, we’ll look up the cities we’re playing in and send out an ad that’s directed. Now we have Chris at Herd Marketing handling our stuff. The dude is a genius. He is able to curate something that’s so incredibly well tuned, it works so quickly. We used to just throw $3 a day at an ad and just move it around regions we knew we would be visiting soon. His work has really spoken volumes over the last month and a half in seeing our growth.
Your 2018 EP Incandescent tackles mental health struggles and, now, moving onto your new EP, we’re seeing themes of empowerment. Things have changed bandwise between the two releases but, to me, it feels like a natural progression. Is that fair to say?
Liz: I definitely write things that are reflective of what I’m experiencing at the time. I wish I could dive into my past to bring some things up but I like to write when things are pretty raw. Usually when I write a song, it’s reflective of where my head is at in that moment.
So with our first couple of EPs, there’s a lot of mental health; a little bit more exasperation kind of feelings like hopelessness, trying to find hope, things like that. With our newest EP, I think part of it was just getting a little bit older and away from being in the college scene or too much into the party scene and really taking steps to take care of myself first.
That empowerment phase really started to creep in when I realized I was wasting a lot of energy and effort on people who didn't appreciate that energy and effort and were dragging me down with their own toxic behaviors. Taking a step back from that, and therapy, played a huge role in realizing that I have the power to make my own decisions and I have the power to remove myself from people who aren’t helping me be the best version of myself. You have to put your own mask on before you help others - you gotta save yourself before you can save somebody else. I think a lot of the empowerment really comes from that, that I’m the one in control of my own destiny and I’m not going to let somebody else derail me from where I want to be. That’s where a lot of the new themes come from.
Something that I noticed - and loved - when doing a deepdive of your music is that you guys have made some great music videos. With the rise of streaming and such, I feel it’s becoming something of a dying art…is that something you’re conscious of when releasing new music? To make that extra effort to create a memorable video?
Liz: I’m a little crazy when it comes to our music videos. For the videos we did for Incandescent, I would write out a shot list, second by second, of what I was envisaging was happening, and I would direct the shoot when doing it. We’ve done that with some of our newer videos too, although I’ve taken a little bit less of an intense approach because our current videographer, Eddie Curran - I can speak to him, tell him what I’m thinking and he makes it happen even more beautifully than I would expect it to. He really understands what I’m going for. Eddie drums for a band called The Keystones so him also being in a band [means] he knows what it’s like to be an artist and want that visual imagery to come out in a certain way.
Definitely when we finish a song and are listening to it, the second we get that track back I’m already thinking about [a video]. If I could do a music video for every song, I would. I love it. It’s like having a little film that drives home where my head was at with a song. It’s just really fun. I like acting and I like doing all that sort of thing. It just gives me another excuse to dress up in fun outfits and be sassy.
*
That Ain't It is out Friday.
More information on Gold Steps and info about their upcoming shows can be found on their website.
This Friday, the UK's own Twinnie drops her new track 'Bad Bad Bitch'.
A clip of the song was posted in a TikTok video starring her nieces on her account, and quickly took off. After over 100,000 views on the platform, the song is now being released in full.
We caught up with Twinnie ahead of the release!
*
Your new single, ‘Bad Bad Bitch’ is out October 7th. What’s the track about, and where did the idea come from?
Like all my songs it comes from an authentic place, it's really about owning all parts of yourself and putting that out there in a relationship. The good and bad, I like that it's an empowering, feel good track.
You’ve recently become a TikTok sensation due to the song! What was it like when you realized that the video was starting to gain traction?
It's amazing to see it getting so much attention, my nieces are now more famous than me haha. That traction was certainly a big factor in me choosing to release the song at this time.
How mindful are you, as an artist, of using social media? What sort of advice do you have for artists trying to use such platforms to grow?
I try not to let it rule my life and enjoy it. It's not real life and I think it's important to remember that it is just an extra tool for your brand etc. Just have fun with it as much as you can.
For your EP, Welcome to the Club, you put together a wonderful short film with each music video. Is this sort of project something you’re looking at doing more of with future releases? Is the video for ‘Bad Bad Bitch’ a standalone or part of something wider?
That's definitely something I'll be happy to do more of. For me music is a part of a bigger picture and the visuals help to narrate the story further so these kinds of projects are something I'm really passionate about. The 'Bad Bad Bitch' video will also be a part of a broader piece of a concept visual that will tie into my forthcoming record.
I think it’s fair to say that you put together some fantastic videos. How important to you are music videos when, sometimes, it feels as if they’re a dying art in this modern age?
Thank you! Like I said, I'm really passionate about creating a visual that tells the story of the song further and bringing to life different aspects of the lyrics. I'm very involved in the making of each visual and I love the art of creating.
As mentioned earlier, social media is a powerful platform. You use your platform in a great way as you launched I KNOW A WOMEN, a global music collective and something that I think is a great initiative. To those unfamiliar with it, what do you seek to do with IKAW?
IKAW is something I'm so passionate about and it's really good for my soul. We're a collective for male and female creatives and our main aim is to standardise therapy within all label and publishing deals but we also operate as a record label, management company, and non-profit. We're here to help all creatives and I'm very invested in making sure we can make this industry a safe space for all.
2022 has seen you perform the national anthem at Wembley, release EP Welcome to the Club and tour. Do you have any goals/plans for 2023 in mind?
When I look back on this year I feel really proud and a little overwhelmed at everything I've done, it was an honour to perform the National Anthem at Wembley and then again at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For 2023, I'll be back and forth to Nashville, playing lots more shows and a new album is also in the works so it's going to be an exciting time.
*
'Bad Bad Bitch' is out this Friday, October 7th.
More information about Twinnie can be found on her website.
British vocal powerhouse Twinnie returns with her tongue-in-cheek smash 'Bad Bad Bitch' a thumping effervescent offering that stacks up against the crossover hits coming out of Nashville.
It’s a song that will instantly capture the attention of fans; having recently garnered mass attention on video sharing platform TikTok. The track also builds on the success of her debut album Hollywood Gypsy and recent EP Welcome to the Club and teases what’s to come from her forthcoming sophomore LP.
It’s an anthem that encapsulates the many sonic influences of the singer/songwriter and captures the essence of her storytelling-based artistry. 'Bad Bad Bitch' showcases a fun side of Twinnie, and puts the spotlight on her razor-sharp songwriting.
'Bad Bad Bitch is the apotheosis of empowerment, freedom of expression and authenticity,' Twinnie says about the release. 'It's a playful reality of any relationship and me being completely transparent about the good, and the bad sides which is something in all relationships we inevitably experience with people. Bad Bad Bitch is also referred to as a woman who is badass, independent, confident, speaks her mind and makes her own path'
'Bad Bad Bitch' drops this Friday, October 7th.
*
More information about Twinnie and to presave/add 'Bad Bad Bitch' click here.
