Elles BAILEY HOPE

Springs Eternal

Bristol singer songwriter, bandleader, keyboard player Elles Bailey has made a huge impact on the British blues and roots scene in recent years. A lot has happened since she last spoke with Blues Matters in the lockdown months including becoming a mother and touring live again after so long away from her natural habitat, the stage. Her third album ‘Shining In The Half Light’ is released, ten original songs recorded in Devon in December 2020.

by Colin Campbell Images: Alan Dunkley (opening spread) & Rob Blackham

This sees her music evolve and showcases the talents of fellow band members Joe Wilkins on guitar, Jonny Henderson on keyboards, Matthew Waer on bass and Matthew Jones on drums.

Elles was driving home with her son Jasper when we started speaking, all is good in her life just now. We looked at highlights of the past year. “It’s been a pretty mega year considering no one quite expected 2021 to continue like the year 2020 had! Number one highlight is having a baby. Jasper is now eight months old; he’s crawling, he’s standing. I’m on my way back from my guitarist Joe’s place, where we were listening to the final test pressing of the new album. Joe’s done up his lovely house and Jasper was climbing onto the shelves and knocked over a plant, I was so mortified, there was mud all over the place!”

Making the new record is a highlight but this was made in 2020. “I was six and a half months pregnant when we made the album, I’m very proud of this album. Highlight three has been getting out on the road and getting through the dates, still three to go, touch wood they all go as planned. You never know, in this day and age!” Touring has been difficult, especially other countries, she had been asked via message when she was doing an America tour. “Going to America and concerts maybe not even happening, as an independent artist I can’t even think about that. Everything just now is on a wing and a prayer, I’m just thankful”.

So, motherhood and musical career, how it’s go- ing so far...” We’re still living with my parents. I won’t have Grandparents on tap as I have done. I struggle, as I run the label I am on. November has been the busiest touring schedule. I turned down a record deal. When I did this, I had to release this one myself. If the right deal came along, I would have taken it! I have to make this release chart eligible. It meant I had to build a new pre-order website. Looking at ways of getting the album fulfilled by a proper fulfillment company not just me, my husband and my mother-in-law. It’s been tricky, every night I’m not on the road I’ve worked late at night. Then you wake up and be a mum and when he sleeps, I work. November has been very hard but filled with many blessings as well!”

Elles never actually mentioned being on stage as work. “Physically, it is hard work and after not doing it for so long; growing a baby and having a baby, my core is shot to bits. Walking on stage I felt I’ve forgotten how to support my voice. It took a long time to get my stamina back. I did six dates in eight days and got through it! You have to try and sing safely. We were some of the lucky ones, we got to play in between lockdown 1 &2. October 2020, we played Southampton and Crawley. But after lockdown 3, was Love Rocks Festival in June. There was a multitude of emotions. Firstly, I live in the middle of nowhere in the country. The only people I see is when I go shopping in Waitrose, that’s the local supermarket, very middle class! Arriving at a music festival with a two-month baby having not played a note for four months and not being on stage for ten months, it was insane. To be honest, I was rub- bish. The band were so good and the audience so forgiving. I forgot all the words; it was a very emotional thing!”

We chatted about the successes she had putting live streams on during lockdown. “There’s still a place for live streams. The pandemic has highlighted how important it is to make music accessible”.

The title of the new album is ‘Shining In The Half Light. “What I loved was watching fans connect with each other, that I found inspiring. A fan of mine from Ireland became friends with someone in Amsterdam and they came to watch my show at The Garage in London, and it was the first time they met. Had the pandemic not happened they wouldn’t have met each other. We’ve got to cling on to the silver linings that’s how we’ll get through. That’s exactly what this album is all about, spreading hope in a time of hopelessness!” was the first time they met. Had the pandemic hope in a time of hopelessness!” a great sounding record. I wanted a producer to steer the ship. It was a ran- before Christmas as I was six

“I was due to make this record in Nashville in May 2020. That couldn’t happen. I knew playing-wise, I have a first-class band over here, I knew I could make a great sounding record. I wanted a producer to steer the ship. It was a random moment, someone recommended Dan Weller. He’d worked with an Engineer I knew for years so I reached out to Clint Murphy, I told him about Dan Weller who had produced - enter Shikari to produce my record. Dan was going through a busy period, I told him we had to get this done before Christmas as I was six and a half months pregnant. We finished tracking the band on the 23rd of December. I have a good working relationship with Dan. I felt the whole process was really beautiful, stress free, considering the time we made it in. We isolated for two weeks before. We got to make a record where we were not socially distanced, we could all be in the same room together and feel the music, it was a very special moment. The band were the only people I hugged other than my husband in a whole year”.

Here’s her take on the titles of the new release:

CHEATS AND LIARS:

“It’s the opening track and is about the folks in their ivory towers who made us feel like the Arts don’t really matter, and to go and retrain! “

THE GAME:

“The riff came first; it carries on through the song. It’s always good to have a catchy chorus. The one thing we wanted from this album is we didn’t want the backing singers to just be backing singing. That was going to be as important as the bass, the drums the organ and main vocal. Before I made Road I Call Home, I wanted the next one to be covered in Gospel vocals. Izo Fitzroy is an incredible artist, she put together an array of singers. There’s a lot of joy through the album”,

STONES:

“A dirty sounding song, my vocals are so gritty. We recorded this album to tape

I’ve never done this before.

To get the grit on my vocals, they ran my vocals through a Fender Champ and cranked everything else up to eleven. They did a mixture of the clean Nashville take and gritty sound through this amp.

For me the message is something particular. It’s very relatable to certain situations. If you live in a glasshouse…”

COLOURS START TO RUN:

“This is my, be careful what you wish for song. I wrote this in May 2019. I’d been touring for ages, from Czech Republic to Scotland. By the time we got there I was knackered. I wanted to spend some time with my husband. Then the world stopped a year later. This is a song where I can take a breath.”

DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE:

“Wrote this with Martin Harley. We finished this “virtually.” This is something you wouldn’t expect from either of us. This was the hardest song to record vocally. We did it on a day when Jasper was pummelling my diaphragm. It was so hard. With an Elles Bailey record I’m going to jump over all genres. It’s a sweet simple song and universal.”

WHO’S THAT:

I wrote this in 2018. It’s about fighting our demons and how you deal with them.”

SUNSHINE CITY:

“This is a fun song. It was written with Matt Owens of the band Noah And The Whale. It’s about my hometown Bristol and letting your hair down. Revelling in a bit of Hedonism. It was inspired by a night out with Tamara Stewart where I went to watch Phil King and Joe Wilkins play in Stokes Croft, and we had red wine, beer, and shots of Tequila. Tamara went home. I should have but couldn’t. Ended wakening in the dog’s bed at 4 am at home! Losing all my inhibitions that’s what the song is about.”

HALFWAY HOUSE:

“This is where the backing singing comes into its own. I’ll let the listener decide whether it’s about heartbreak or Brexit. Could you argue that they are the same thing! This song took a different turn. It’s based around the guitar sound and backing singers.”