Q&A with Gemma Mewse

I recently featured a New Artist Alert on the lovely Gemma Mewse back in May. I've secured a great interview with the South-London songstress which you can enjoy below.

Where did making-music begin for you; when was it you knew that this was your ideal career?

I started out as a dancer, when I was about 7 I got involved with an amatuer musical theatre group and I knew from then I loved to perform and I wanted to be a singer.

Has living in London helped or hindered your aspirations? On the one hand, as an outsider, it seems great for contacts and the amount of gig venues, but on the other perhaps too much competition?

Just take 'Empire State of Mind Part 2' [Alicia Keys' hit] and replace any lyric to do with New York with London and that's what it means to me. I consider myself lucky to be brought up here, I love it! So many opportunities and different people. If I lived anywhere else in the world I would move here to achieve my goal. Just like so many artists have and I'm sure will still keep doing!

Where do you take inspiration from when writing your music? How did ‘Numpty’ begin life and where was the inspiration to write it?
I take inspiration from how I feel at that particular moment in time. Other times I'll take it from what I see going on around me, whether it's friends and family and sometimes even from T.V programmes, mainly soaps/dramas. After watching I interpret the story into a song and that's how Numpty came about; not from personal experience (lucky for me) haha!

Tell me about how performing on the Royal Variety Show came about.

When I was at primary school our Ex-Head Teacher (Harvey Norton) had persued a career within the music industry and was after a group of children to use for any future work he had lined up, so I auditioned and became one of the 'Red Hill Kids' Fun times!

What has been the key to getting to where you are now?
Determination, passion, patience, drive and learning from experiences.

You name many great artists on your Myspace page as influences including Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash and Bob Marley. Who would you say has had the biggest influence on you personally and as an artist?
I wouldn't say I was influenced by anyone, I'd say inspired by them as performers. I remember 3 moments from when I was a kid that really inspired me and want to be a singer: 1) Queen @ Live Aid 2) Britney's snake performance at MTV VMA's 3) Tina Arena @ Royal Albert Hall.

You claim, also on your Myspace page, “I am a movement, get involved!”. What sets you apart from other singer-songwriters?

I think modern artists think too much and are all about aesthetics and I'm all for 'putting on a show' but sometimes it's all a bit too much and can be distracting from the main purpose: the music. To me it's a bit of a cover up, a shield and I think people are waking up to it and want a break, natural instead of artificial.

How do you feel about the music industry in general at the moment? Are you excited or anxious for its current state and future?

I'm very excited!!! THE INTERNET!!! Yay for it :) It's such a powerful tool and unsigned acts such as me are using it to our advantage we can get music to millions of ears all over the world without a major label's budget!

What's new for you right now, and what does the future hold?

Again, I'm really excited with how things are going for me! One of the songs 'Grounded' from my album has been remixed and signed and getting played at clubs all around the UK! It got realeased on the 21st May and on the same night got played on Radio 1, also been played on RTE radio station in Ireland which reminds me of some excting shows I've got lined up: heading off over there for a charity concert for Autism which I'm really pleased to be involved with! You can grab my remixes off itunes and check out future shows on Myspace.

Will you be playing in Southampton soon?!
I don't see why not!? Planning to travel outwards in the near future so stay tuned! :)

Finally, can you tell us a secret?
A secret?!.......erm haha not really a secret more of a 'thing' is that I'm tongue tied and I can't roll my R's or poke my tongue out very far haha never stopped me singing tho ;) haha!

As Gemma states in the interview, her music is available to download on itunes, and you can have a listen to her stuff and check out where she is playing on her Myspace page.