Emily Breeze: ‘I swear I am gonna quit every few years’

Bristol’s sultry singer-songwriter Emily Breeze has released a fresh new single, Hey Kidz, following up from her debut album Rituals from last year. An album that is filled with so much sarcasm, nihilism and glamour it felt a satire of the very music that it was.

Hey Kidz departs from this somewhat, showing a more emotional and confessional side. Recounting on a life of being a musician and the disillusionment that a lifetime of making music can do to you.

Don’t worry this isn’t a diary entry like Sun Kil Moon, the chorus chanting ‘I hate rock and roll’ in a rock and roll song still shows a level of sarcasm that hasn’t left Emily’s song writing. A truly promising single from this Bristol underground legend.

The first time I saw Emily was at music college. I had no idea how reputable she was and how well-loved she was by the city. Emily was one of my teachers in college, she was nothing but the ‘cool teacher’ to me. One day she presented her music, seeing her aggressive persona came as a shock to us.

Emily was one of those teachers that you hoped to see down the local, having a frank and open debate that would last a few hours. The kind that only five or six beers can fuel. This never happened, but I did, however, get the next best thing which was an interview with her.

The tone of your songwriting seems to be from an authority figure of a teacher, which I know you are. Was that the theme of the lyrics a teacher warning their students about being a musician, or is it more of a state of the nation address for all the arty kids who don’t have an audience? 

There is a saying “early success makes a bad teacher” and in this vein I spend a lot of time trying to warden young musicians away from the stupid mistakes I made and to instil a rigorous work ethic and realistic outlook. Sometimes it is challenging to strike the right balance between that and encouraging them to also explore their creativity with wild abandon and a total disregard for a diseased and dying industry but I do my best. I am confident that worrying about how many likes something is gonna get is a terrible place to start writing a song.

Some of that aspect of my life is reflected in Hey Kidz although everything I do takes on a sort of ridiculous cartoonish quality and the second verse urges them to “buy the ticket take the trip, climb aboard the mothership” whilst all us old rockers are “leaving the spotlight and hitting the dancefloor”. In many ways it is a love song to all of us, young and old who have been imprisoned in the tower of song. I swear I am gonna quit every few years and always end up with a new project thinking, maybe this time….. The line from The Godfather springs to mind: “Just when I thought I was out, then they pull me back in.”

With your previous projects there was a much harsher sound, now you have eased into a crooner style. Sort of Scott Walker in reverse, was this a conscious choice or just a natural one? 

Sometimes people say to me “you’ve changed” as if it shows a lack of authenticity to which I reply “yes I have, why haven’t you?”. I have been writing and playing for nearly 20 years now and I love too many styles of music not to luxuriate in them all. This lounge crooner phase was inspired by Exotica acts and faded club singers, there is a cinematic element which places the lyrics centre stage and softens some of the more caustic statements.

“Many aspects of the idea of rock and roll seem so redundant and irrelevant now,” says Emily Breeze. Photo by Jesse Wild.

Who’s playing on your latest single? 

On this track I have Rob Norbury – lead guitar, Andy Sutor – drums, Graham Dalzell – bass, Duncan Fleming – keys, Stew Jackson – studio magic and extra ear worms and me on rhythm guitar and vocals. The buck stops with me and I write most of the songs in my flat, although arguably the best songs are co-written with Rob (Limousines, Ego Death) and he is the first person I play new songs to.

How does the writing process work for you, do you allow others to input their own ideas or do you lead with an iron fist as it is all under your own name at the end of the day? 

We move sections around, trade chords and ideas and generally get the song in a headlock and pummel it into submission. Then we hit the rehearsal room and the band write their parts and inject new ideas, dynamics and a fresh perspective into the piece. This process is repeated again when we go into the studio with Stew. I consider myself very lucky to have so many great minds on the team. I am too smart to think I am the smartest person in the room and welcome any suggestion which improves the piece of work. I have missed the camaraderie of the rehearsal room and gigs during lockdown and nothing replaces playing loud with other human beings. Duncan has sadly left the band now to become a full time ventriloquist although we do have an exciting new keyboard player to unleash when we can finally play live again.

Hey Kidz seems more confessional than any track from your previous album Rituals. Have you mellowed over the last year, or are you just as cynical but playing with new ideas? 

To be honest, much as I try I don’t really have that much control over what I write. I only have the choice to decide if the idea is worth finishing and presenting to the world although I can be a bit allergic to earnest confessions and get a jolt of wicked glee when people say terrible things. I think I am trying to be brave and strike a balance between the two poles. As George Carlin said: “Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist”. We are the wounded innocents of the world. The cowards dressed in black, smoking ourselves to death at the back of the room who have to smother our childish hope with sarcasm and a false sense of superiority. It’s not such a good look when you are pushing 40.  So “have I mellowed?”, yes I have been spiritually cleansed inside and out and am only writing nice songs for nice people from now on. Heal the world, baby.

Do you genuinely hate rock and roll? And if so, do you find it hard to teach kids how to be musicians or do you see it like lemmings falling off cliffs? 

Many aspects of the idea of rock and roll seem so redundant and irrelevant now, you know like those golden sun gods from the 70s with lace up crotch jeans, glittery neck scarfs and sexist lyrics. Alternatively there are  lads, lads, lads, lager indie bands from the early 2000s but there are brilliant artists in every genre and era and I defy anyone to watch some early footage of Chuck Berry, Big Mama Thorton or Little Richard and not be struck down in awe by their majesty. I would love to say I hate rock n roll but I don’t. I love loud guitars,  sticky floors, the smell of roll ups and leather jackets, mock croc and leopard print, misfits and fuck ups, mouldy rehearsal rooms, stage lights and dry ice, I could go on…

One of the best things about teaching young musicians is that I get a daily reminder that there are so many new genres and ways of working and that they will go onto create new traditions to be torn down in the future and replaced by something we can’t even conceive of yet. Although many of them listen to and dress exactly like I did in the 90’s – it’s hilarious! Seeing a group of teenagers play Black Sabbath and throw themselves around a stage as if their life depends on it is simply one of the best things in the whole world.

The most rewarding part though is not about music. It is having some part in facilitating young people to explore their identity and figure out how to communicate with the world. The transformation in terms of confidence and self expression that can occur within a year is staggering and will serve them throughout their lives whether they become a megastar or a mum or a mortgage advisor.

Finally a personal one for me, was I a good student?  

You were a total shit, Mike. Only joking. I mean you were astonishingly rude and dismissive but you were also extremely talented and as hell bent on making enemies wherever you went as you were making totally uncompromising music. I once saw you reading Infinite Jest on the bus so that’s a distinction grade from me.

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Main photo by John Morgan