"I'm not just saying this... Wherever I live, I always try and find an Irish
pub because they're not pretentious, I like a nice pint of
Guinness" and
"the music is always good." Says
Louise Hull, Queen of Camden, and the brains behind one of the UK's most hotly tipped acts for 2012
Louise And The Pins, who have received raves reviews for their retro '50s tinged singles
Beauty Strange and
Melancholy.
Last night Louise and The Pins played their first Irish headline show at The Stags Head Raw Dublin's newest boutique music experience, an intimate and quaint venue best suited to laid back acoustic acts. Louise and The Pins are the biggest act to play the venue to date and Hull is full of praise for the venue, "This rooms really nice" she beams pointing at the bay window and period features in the room."We were here before for Arthur's Day so it was nice
to come back somewhere familiar. We had such a good time and we love
coming back here."
Hull's story is as classic as her downbeat '50s
sound she's an overnight success years in the making having previously
played under her full name Louise Hull, and in a folk duo; "Earning
my
stripes," as she puts it "getting good live...
because, if you
haven't got your shit together it really shows." Hull is a feisty young
lady and she wasn't shy when it came to promoting herself in the
beginning "I really pushed to get my demos
out there. Internet, YouTube, that kind of thing is invaluable for
getting your face out and people listening to your songs. And
then we just played some really important gigs where people saw us. Had
some really nice national press, which does you lots of favours. It was
not a quick thing. I think you have to be lucky."
One such piece of luck was meeting Laura Marling "I met Laura
through Marcus Mumford who I lived with for two years". Hull has
subsequently toured and collaborated with the Brit Award winning
singer-songwriter. A meeting of minds which has led to an unlikely love
affair between Louise and The Pins and Ireland. "We opened for Laura Marling in Vicar St. That was one of our
first gigs as Louise and The Pins. So we were kind of thrown in at the
deep end a little bit, but in a lovely way. Irish audiences seem to be
really active, they get on Twitter and send you messages on Facebook.
But they keep it up and that
response is amazing. Its nice sometimes to feel like people are
actually listening to you and finding out a bit more about you... I
think we got some really
steadfast fans from that show."
This connection with Ireland grew
even stronger when the band visited Dingle, for the recording of Other
Voices. "Laura was meant to be
playing but she got sick so we all ended up going there but not playing.
Richard Hawley was playing and we all had a good night out in Dingle."
"I absolutely loved it" she continues "I really want to play whenever the next one is on.
I
just think the whole thing is brilliant.Whoever organises it, has got it spot on. Its really really good."
She refers to St. James church as "a beautiful acoustically gorgeous
place." and is amazed that "its a working
church" between performances.
While "The atmosphere and the feel of it,
in this tiny beautiful town." really appeals to Hull, who holidayed in the
region as a child "I have memories of it being a really special place
and
when I went back again I just thought there's just something really
amazing about it. Everywhere I went
it was whats your name, where are you playing, what time are you on."
Other Voices proved a fortuitous experience as well as a heart warming
one for Louise Hull, who struck up friendships with both Richard Hawley,
and Lisa Hannigan on her visit to Dingle. "We saw
Lisa Hannigan, she was wonderful. She's gorgeous, She's really beautiful and she can drink like a
fish. She was knocking it back and I was like yeah, your my kind of girl. I
like
you. We swapped numbers and we've been in touch a little bit, I would
love to do something with her."
She's the picture of '50s innocence dressed in a modest unrevealing navy
dress and long black overcoat with a shock of bright red lipstick on her
face, but don't be fooled by this demure facade. Louise Hull is a sharp,
driven, thoughtful and genuine woman who wants to earn her place in the world. "Louise and The Pins is the idea behind the music, I decided it was going
to be Louise and The Pins because I love Smokey and The Miracles, Bill
Hailey and the Comets. That's why I did it cause, I'm not a band Louise
and the Pins is me, it's my identity."
"The reason I did it is the same
reason they did it in the '50s and the '60s. I was solo for a while, and my music was pretty much what it is now. I
just really wanted to play the songs I was writing with a band and every
recording I did I was putting my own harmonies and I thought live! I'm
just gonna have to get some girls, If its gonna work live, that's what it
needs to be. I knew Beth, already we were singing backing vocals together
in a friends band. It was hard actually, to find the girls Its quite a
hard thing to get 3 voices to sit well together. Getting the low voice
was tough. it took quite a while."
It appears that the
connection between Louise and The Pins and Ireland is growing
exponentially with the Dublin arm of Communion. The Mumford sponsored
label and creative community building platform, being ran by yet
another housemate "We started playing Communion shows about two years
ago, we've done quite a
lot of the London show and Manchester, Night and Day. My friend Graham
runs it (in Dublin) They've discovered some great people I think its
because they nurture people, they get them on stage. If they like them,
they'll put out an EP or they'll get them recording, even if no one else
is interested. And that's what you need, you need those people to help
you
get your first few steps."
Another road leading to Dublin via London
is The Camden Crawl "Oh God Camden Crawl" She exclaims "it's fun but
it's absolutely mental. I saw Boxer
Rebellion about 3 years ago and they were really good. if you're going
as a punter you need to be organised because it's absolutely packed. You
need to know where you want to be and make sure you can get in. It's
just mad how it's grown."
Hull is delighted that the Camden Crawl has
gone international and is coming to Dublin next month."I
think its great, it's such a good idea. We've been asked but I don't
know
if we are doing it. I think we might be away but, if we're not we'd love
to do it. Any excuse to come back. We'll try and get back very soon. We
love it here I don't know why but the Irish just really respond to us.
We've played her more than anywhere else. I think we should try and do a
little tour next time." This appreciation for Ireland seems quite
genuine and uncontrived as Hull is eager for us to write down the names
of suitable venues such as Roisin Dubh, for this potential tour
"I
like to think that there's a really strong torch song element
to it," Says Hull, giving her take of her musical style. unrequited love
is a reoccurring theme in her material "I think that sort of style of
singing and song has got
lost." she continues "You know how Billie Holiday, June London, or Sarah
Vaughan, just
go up and sing a song. They can convey
it, and that's what I'm trying to do. Style wise it is quite '50s but,
not
massively. There's a bit of folky stuff in there. A bit of upbeat
that's
kind of Rockabilly."
So how does a sharp modern career driven woman
come to be immersed in the 50's sub-culture. A simple case of household
rebellion in reverse. Louise Hull railed against her siblings musical
taste in favour of her parents vinyl collection. "My brothers really
liked the 60s and 70's stuff T Rex and Bowie and I like that kind of
stuff but, I've always gravitated
towards what my mum and dad were listening to, which is not very cool.
I
had two really cool older brothers but, I wasn't that interested." she
scorns.
"My mums really musical she was a dancer
professionally. So it was always in the theatre, that kind of thing.
But,
she loved all the one hit wonders, all the '60s pop. They stick in your
head, A lovely melody, I love melody, that's sort of my thing. And I got
a lot of her records when I got my own record
player. My dad loves Roy Orbison, Joe Cocker, real voices. I think
that's
why I just love songs but, a voice is what I latch onto. He loved Jazz
and
Blues and older 50's stuff. I just love that music. I do listen to some
new stuff. I try, if people recommend stuff I'll always listen and
there
are recent people that I love too but, I just like the real stuff." she
scoffs.
However Hull's love or music didn't transfer into songwriting for many
years "I never actually
started to play the guitar until I went to University" she says with a
hint of shame and surprise in her voice "I was about 17, which I think
is quite late to pick up a guitar. I played a
bit of piano when I was a kid, I always sang. Songwriting "wasn't
an immediate thing. Its definitely taken a while to get to where I am
now but, I think
songwriting is like that. I listen to stuff that I wrote when I was 18
and I can sort of pick out where I was heading. It was
more folky, kind of singer songwriter. I was in a duet at that point,
and
she had a big folk background and she influenced me a lot, in my
songwriting."
And it would seem that Hull also put many hours into
perfecting her vocal tones "Once you learn to harmonise it gets
easier and its not so painful but, when your starting out its the most
painful thing ever they've got to be perfect When Louise and The Pins
started, in my head, I kind of had the idea to do it more like an
Andrews
Sisters kind of thing. I think its a bit much, that level of harmony all
the time. A lot of it has been encapsulated in Louise and The Pins but,
its not as intense."
It could be said that Beauty Strange, is Louise and The Pins most
authentic song to date in terms of recreating the sound, feel and lyrics
of their influences "I naturally lean towards writing
slow downbeat songs," Says Hull "generally quite personal and about
love, with Beauty Strange, I was really trying
to write something that was about 2 and a half minutes long," she pauses
for a second before declaring "cause I want
to bring that back. All this six minute stuff. NO. Get in, do what
you're
doing and get out."
Hull, then lays out her perfect blueprint for a song
"look at all those '50s and '60s songs none of
them are longer than 3 minutes, some of them are two minutes. There's no
middle eight, no instrumentals, no repeat chorus at the end, they're
just
done. Or maybe it starts with the chorus and there's one more and it's
just done." Beauty Strange, clocks in at a whopping 2.33 secs "I just
wanted to write that
kind of song." She continues "It's a personal song but it's a little
more general and it's
a little bit sassy......"
Hull was disappointed at Beauty Strange's
chart position "Writing a good song is not enough unfortunately" She
says but she wouldn't be adverse to re-releasing the song in the future
because she believes it deserves more recognition.
An appearance on X Factor host Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show won
Louise and The Pins many new fans with their brave imaginative reworking
of a classic rock song striking a chord with listeners. "You don't even
realise what it is
until halfway through" Says Hull, with glee. Referring to her cover of
The Clash's 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'.
"For Dermot, they said could
it be an interesting take on a classic song. I'd been toying with the
idea of
doing 3 or 4 classic rock songs and that was the one that I was like, I
think this really
works, It went down really well" and now
"everyone asks us to play it." Hull is full of praise for O'Leary "He's
just such a gorgeous person. absolutely lovely,
really knows his stuff music wise. I was talking about Sarah Vaughan
and
he was like oh yeah I've got this album of her in Paris. I knew that he
would be interested in music."
But she was surprised at the level of
O'Leary's musical knowledge because of "The X
Factor connection". However she states "He's a real muso, he loves his
50's music as well, so
we have lovely chats." Hull also highly recommends O'Leary's world famous
hugs "I had a black eye at the time
because I'd been in a car crash. I got a kiss on the black eye. I got
lots
of cuddles, because obviously I wasn't looking very well. He was
absolutely lovely to us. He's a very cool individual and very good at
his job."
However it hasn't all been a case of chance meetings and happy accidents
for Louise Hull. She's also had to deal with the dubious honour of
being crowned Amy Winehouse's heir apparent following the singers death
in July 2011. Hull is hesitant to speak about the subject and is visibly
emotional when she does. "I lived in Camden for four years
and I worked at the Hawley where Amy always used to drink. The day the
Guardian did that, was the day after she died," she cringes
"and it was like ouch...."
"I have had those comparisons
before. Which I don't think are very relevant I think it was an easy
thing" for the media "to jump onto. We are both
a little bit retro but, the music is nothing alike. Girls always have
to be compared to somebody, oh she's the new Kate Bush or she's this and
that, I don't think men get that, that often. You can just be the first
you. I think that's obviously just a great story isn't it she's passing
the
baton. It's a nice thing to say and she was very talented but
I just don't think it's very relevant.God bless her."
You can't help
but feel that Louise Hull has been emotionally scared by the
disrespectful timing of such plaudits. Hull has since moved out of
Camden. "Camden's still very much heavy drinking partying. There's still
a big
music scene and the Hawley's still very prominent. it's still a really
fun pub.. But, Dalston, and East London is getting really popular with
bands. The music scenes really really good. The
Slaughtered Lamb's really good for acoustic acts" (The Slaughtered
Lamb, Clerkemwell Road, Islington) "and they are really
stringent about people talking. People are there to watch the music.
It's really beautiful and comfortable and you will get told to 'shut up'
if you are at the bar yapping. The quality of the acts they get on is
really high."
On the subject of her highly anticipated debut album "It will be here
before the end of the year. I've written it. I know what
record I want to make. There's a couple of amazing people I've been
speaking to" about producing the album "But I don't know if I can tell
you..." she coyly tells us.
All Louise and The Pins releases so far
have been on Chess Club records. Fronted by Will Street, son of
legendary Blur producer
Stephen Street. He has a good eye for talent having signed
amongst others White Lies, and Grouplove.
Hull is full of praise for the
label "Chess Club were kind enough to
put out our first two singles so far. Those first few little helps in
the right direction are worth their
weight in gold" But with the success of previous Chess Club singles and
rumours of major labels waiting in the wings it seems unlikely that
Louise and The Pins will remain on any Indie label for much longer.
