SPLENDOUR 2023

INTERVIEWS WITH THE ARTISTS PLAYING AT NOTTINGHAM’S SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL

Nottingham’s marquee music festival is returning this summer to Wollaton Hall for its 15th anniversary on the 22nd and 23rd of July. The line up this year is impressive with the likes of Madness, Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds, Rudimental, Sugababes and Confidence Man. As well as these household music names the line up also features a collection of upcoming musicians. Impact’s music writers interview Venbee, Lizzie Esau, Tom A. Smith and James Marriott to find out about their careers and what to expect from their Splendour sets.

VENBEE words by - Emily Campbell

I caught up with up-and-coming drum and bass artist Venbee, ahead of her summer festival calendar. Venbee is most known for her chart-topping songs low down and messy in heaven. Both received attention and praise, messy in heaven was a fan favourite, reaching number 3 in the UK charts.

First of all, I wanted to understand what initiated her desire to be a musician. She enthusiastically replied that “It’s all I’ve ever been good at. My family has always been musical, and I grew up in a house with music surrounding me. When I was 8 years old, I started writing poems and then I learned that I could be a songwriter and I’ve never stopped writing since. I’ve written a song a day since then!”

As a young musician in the industry Venbee has found the drum and bass scene to be welcoming. “I’ve found it amazing so far, and I love that I’ve found a community that has accepted me and welcomed me with open arms.”

Her songs have achieved significant hype from students. They cover real and relevant issues, but the beat and catchy lyrics means they can be played in clubs and at parties. Venbee describes her sound as “pop drum and bass with melodic toplines.

They’re usually sad songs that you can bop to! Mellow but hard at the same time.”

Her set at Splendour will feature a live band and live drum and bass. And most importantly, “jumping, a LOT of jumping.”

Due to the amount of energy she brings to the stage, you will see her catching her breath between songs because she “moves around too much”.

“As someone who used to be a personal trainer, you would think I would have better cardio but I don’t.” She has promised audience members are in for “a good f*cking time.”

If you can’t get enough of Venbee you’ll be pleased to hear that new music is coming very soon. “There is going to be a new single in June with a special feature on it and hopefully an EP at the end of the year! SLAY!”

Lizzie Esau

words by - Ellie-Mae Davies

Lizzie Esau and her band are currently touring, preparing for summer festivals and releasing new music. I asked about her music plans for the summer and beyond.

To kickstart the interview, I asked Lizzie how she would describe her sound: “definitely guitar music and live instruments [but] we like to blur the lines, some parts are electronic”. Lizzie stressed the importance of the band not putting themselves in a box since “we will branch out and we love so many different genres like rap or rock.” Lizzie described their current sound as “big sounding, indie, definitely alternative pop-rock.”

I followed up this discussion by asking Lizzie what her favourite song is that she has released so far in her career. Lizzie initially struggled to choose because her songs mean different things to her – “naturally you wanna go towards the one that people love the most. I think it would be Bleak Sublime in that case”. Lizzie also mentioned her song Stay on the Phone because “it means a lot to me and I’m glad we released it when we did.” Recently, Lizzie and her band were on tour supporting Modern Love. I asked her about the tour and she mentioned that they had recently performed in Nottingham. Lizzie explained how the band loves touring – “it’s really fun just to be on the road all the time.” Lizzie has recently signed a record deal with LAB records, expanding her creative connections.

We moved on to discuss Splendour. I asked Lizzie how her and the band are feeling about it –“we’re so excited. There’s crazy people in the line-up, people that we absolutely love… Noel Gallagher obviously, icon.” Lizzie also mentioned how much the band “love Nottingham” noting they’ve recorded a lot of their singles at the Metronome. Lizzie expressed that she “can’t wait for festivals in general, it’s gonna be a good one.”

Lizzie has been song writing from a young age, so I asked her what her favourite aspect of it is – “it’s a distraction from life sometimes… I’ve always got it to turn to.”

“I think it’s the fact that it’s something I can put these emotions into… something I really have fun doing, all on my own. So I feel lucky sometimes.”

To wrap up the interview, I asked Lizzie if there is anything else fans should be looking forward to – “We try and plan around when we’ve got lots of shows, so people have something else to go and look for and get excited about.” She also mentioned her excitement for her new song Killer which came out in April – “it’s one of my personal favourites.”

TOM A. SMITH words by - Amelia Brookes

Tom A. Smith is a nineteenyear-old singer songwriter from Sunderland - having recently dropped his song Little Bits, he’s preparing to perform at Splendour in Nottingham this year. When I asked what he’ll look forward to most about it, he replied- “the whole festival season in general, doing proper gig

TOPBOTTOM: TOM A. SMITH, LIZZIE ESAU, JA MES MAR RIOTT shows is the best part of the whole year. I’m looking forward to hanging around for the day and the whole atmosphere of the festival looks amazing.”

Tom has significant festival experience, having performed his first gig at eight years old, and since then has performed at Glastonbury, one of the biggest festivals in the UK. “Yes, I did Glastonbury last year, played onstage with Billy Bragg, on the Left Field Stage, which was unreal!”

However, his favourite place that he’s performed is somewhere closer to home… “We also opened Leeds Fest last year. There was a thousand people in this tent, all going mad, mosh-pitting, so… I think that to me is number one at the minute. Nothing’s beat that quite yet.”

I took a moment to ask him about his musical and artistic process and he revealed that he has varied his style slightly. “In the pandemic, I was just constantly writing songs, treating it like it was a nine to five job. I didn’t have anything to do at the time.” He told me that “It sort of became like a routine in a way - write the lyrics first.”

Moving on to more recent days, he informed me “now it changes all the time - every time I write a song I record a full demo, so I fully arrange and structure a song before I even think about writing the lyrics, or what it’s going to be about. It really varies how it goes.”

“Because I spent so long writing, I now have a Soundcloud with like five hundred songs on. There’s quite a lot to pick from on there!”

I decided to finish up by asking Tom what plans he had for the future, and what an audience could expect… “There’s hopefully going to be a lot of headline shows coming up this year which I hope will be announced soon, the festival season is rammed, I’m going to announce a new single in the next couple of months… and there’s another EP’s worth of music recorded as well, so plenty of new music coming out this year.”

It’s clear that his performance at Splendour is not the only interesting thing on the horizon for Tom, so make sure to keep a lookout for this rising star in the future!

JAMES MARRIOTT words by - Florence Keck James Marriott is an internet sensation and British alternative musician. I wanted to get to know more about James as an artist, so I asked him questions about his recent sold out ‘Bitter Tour’ and his 2022 EP ‘Bitter Tounges’. When asked about his most memorable fan experience, Marriott replied, “there’s been a fair few memorable ones! For me a few of the moments I’ve had with followers who are going through their own issues have been the most memorable. Feeling a mutual connection with others going through similar issues that I have is one of the predominant reasons I make music. To be able to not feel alone in my own struggles has now indirectly helped others not feel so alone in theirs. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

The discussion of his struggles led me to delve further into the topic: “Your EP ‘Bitter Tongues’ talks a lot about feelings of selfdoubt, especially in ‘where has everyone gone?’, how does your music help you deal with these feelings, if at all?”

He shared: “Ultimately, I think the catharsis with these feelings comes in writing about them. At least for me personally, music is the only thing I’ve found that has helped me voice my emotions and deal with them in an empathetic manner - be it from self-doubt, to internalised hatred or the affect others have had on my life. Music has become my answer.”

It’s clear that Marriott’s music carries such personal meaning that it allows him to create a body of work that can connect with thousands of people. This led me to ask what his most memorable concert moment has been thus far. “On tour we decided to let the crowds sing one of my songs, Car Lights, before we played it. In Glasgow the noise was incomprehensible, and it was an incredibly overwhelming experience. I burst into tears on stage (not for the first time). I’ll remember it forever.” Luckily for Marriott’s fans, he is set to appear at numerous festivals in 2023, including Splendour in Nottingham and Live at Leeds. He exclaims: “I am incredibly excited! My band and I have had such a hectic introduction to live music. From selling out our first tour to supporting Jake Bugg at the Royal Albert Hall. We’re ready for absolutely anything, we love playing live and love seeing everyone else have just as much fun as we do.”

Marriott and his band share a wonderful connection that results in high energy shows, and when asked what his favourite song to perform was, he replied: “we love playing our new song, So Long. It’s out over the next couple of months, around Live at Leeds actually so that’ll be a really fun one! It has a really powerful chorus and every time we finish playing it in rehearsal, we all look at each other mutually impressed. Really fun to play!”

To enjoy a music filled weekend with five stages of music to suit different tastes (as well as comedy, a funfair, silent disco and so much more) get your tickets at: https://www.splendourfestival. com.