August 21, 2024 • 50 mins
Taken straight from her bio, "Sarah McQuaid’s lush, chocolatey voice combines with her engaging personality, “subtle mastery onstage” (Huffington Post) and “brilliant musicianship” (fRoots) on acoustic and electric guitars, piano and (occasionally) drum to create a truly immersive experience.
Born in Spain, raised in Chicago, holding dual Irish and American citizenship and now settled in rural England, she brings the eclecticism of her background to her “captivating, unorthodox songwriting” (PopMatters) and choice of material, spanning genres and defying categorisation.
All this is abundantly demonstrated by her new live album and video series The St Buryan Sessions — but needs to be savoured in person to be fully appreciated."
I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful conversation with Sarah about her song, "Last Song", her record, "St. Buryan Session", and anything else we could think of.
Please look her up and show her support wherever you live, but particularly so if she's coming to a city near you on her Fall 2024 tour of the United States.
https://www.sarahmcquaid.com
#SarahMcQuaid #LastSong #StBuryanSessions #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
Born in Spain, raised in Chicago, holding dual Irish and American citizenship and now settled in rural England, she brings the eclecticism of her background to her “captivating, unorthodox songwriting” (PopMatters) and choice of material, spanning genres and defying categorisation.
All this is abundantly demonstrated by her new live album and video series The St Buryan Sessions — but needs to be savoured in person to be fully appreciated."
I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful conversation with Sarah about her song, "Last Song", her record, "St. Buryan Session", and anything else we could think of.
Please look her up and show her support wherever you live, but particularly so if she's coming to a city near you on her Fall 2024 tour of the United States.
https://www.sarahmcquaid.com
#SarahMcQuaid #LastSong #StBuryanSessions #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Free TROS B Side Breakdown.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey everyone, welcome to the B Side Breakdown. My name
is Brett Johnson and I am your host. This is
episode twenty three of a podcast where I talk with
other artists, musicians and songwriters about a song they've written
that's meaningful to them, where we can have a chat
and get deep into the why behind it. They also
need to be able to give me permission to play
the song and its entirety on the episode so you all.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Can hear it, which I'm pretty stoked about.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Today, I'm going to be talking to Sarah McQuaid, who's
a singer songwriter that hails from Cornwall, England, about her
song called Last Song. So let's get into it. Here
is Last Song by Sarah McQuaid.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
When I was a little girl, to dim my bed and.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Have the dark Ractopa and I'd watch the Tad of
Flight listen to my mond as she played her Orchetarle'd say,
do froggy wand the corton for the next one. She'd say,
(01:37):
all right.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But now this has to be the last song. I
used to go to sleep child. The sun is down
Your say.
Speaker 6 (02:01):
So sad is honest, way tidy, clothes, Yes, trying to
be quiet to you.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Wacome in morning.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
Start another day?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Years passed.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Now I'm trying to learn self sweet too.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
In the hall, I've got clid on so it shines
into your.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
Room and you talk into your teddy place and play
with your dolls.
Speaker 8 (03:03):
You should have been asleep, benour go thinking.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Is it my mother's voice? A month that I hear
A scared how you stay good? To sleep?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Char the sun is don say sound? The Sandman's on
his way.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Honey, come Sis, time.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Be quiet till you wake up? Hi, morning.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Start Another day.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
She left this world to serve to Heaven.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Know she never got to see your little face.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
And I wish with all her heart she.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Lived long enough to hold you, long enough to kiss
your cheek and stroke your head and said, I stir.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Go sleep chumped, sun is down. You say that sound?
Saman on his way?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Handy clothes, Sis.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Time to be quiet.
Speaker 9 (05:24):
To you?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Wake up in morning start another time?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
Another turn, Fuck you and a chord.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Fuck you and a chord Sam stop.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
All right, And that was last song by Sarah McQuaid.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
We're gonna take a quick break and then we're gonna
come back and talk with Sarah about the song and
to find out more about what she's working on next.
Stay with us, all right, and we're back. Let's bring
and Sarah to find out more about last song and
what she's got going on now. Hey, Sarah, thank you
so much for taking some time to talk with me today.
Speaker 9 (07:06):
Ah, thank you, Brett. Thanks for having me on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Absolutely absolutely, I have so many questions for you, just
having listened to it and reading the background on the record,
but I'd.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Love to kind of hear from your perspective. First. Why
is it that you wanted to talk about that song specifically.
Speaker 9 (07:26):
Well, it's kind of a special song for me. It's
when I wrote a long, long time ago, back when
my kids were a little and then I decided to
reprise it when I made my recent live album the
same Bury in Sessions, and I guess it's you know,
it's it's it's a it's a song about you know,
(07:48):
generations and children and parents and everything, which is very
much It's always on my mind, especially since my my
my own kids are college aged now and I've just
sent them both back to university, so I'm an empty
nestern house to things like things like parents and children
are even more on my mind than they would have
(08:11):
been anyway. It's just it's just been a constant in
my life for well for the past twenty years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Sure, no, it makes sense, and it's yeah, it's it's
a it's a gorgeous song. And and I love the
the production of it, the way you're singing it, how
it's was recorded, all of it.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's just got such a beautiful.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Vulnerability to it that that really grabbed me. And then
when it kind of gets into the next part where it's, oh, wow,
you're talking about how your mother didn't get to see
your your grandchild or her grandchild, right, I mean, that's
that's what I grabbed from that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Was that Am I kind of on point with that?
Or am I way out here?
Speaker 9 (08:51):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah. She never got to see the youngest one,
and she died six months after my first child was born,
so so yeah, And neither of them ever knew their grandmother,
which is so sad because my grandmother was a huge
part of my life and I feel so lucky to
(09:11):
have to have had that, and I I feel kind
of sad for them, but they that they didn't have
the same thing. I mean, they did get to meet
their grandmother on their father's side, but they don't. Again,
they don't see much of her now because she's in
Ireland and we're in England. So yeah, it's it's it's
(09:32):
just kind of again, I just feel that I was
tremendously lucky to have grown up with my grandmother being
a huge part of my life and being able to,
you know, spend whole weekends and whole summers with her,
and and I feel sort of sad that I couldn't
pass that on to the next generation. And you know,
(09:53):
and I and I think we all need to remember,
you know, if we do have our parents with the
how fortunately are.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yes agreed, And you know, your gratitude around that relationship
with your with your grandmothers is wonderful to hear. And
it's such a stark reminder for me of my relationship
with my grandmother because that relationship too similar. She lived
you know, I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she lived
up in Lake Park, Minnesota, which is kind of the
(10:24):
northwest corner of the state, sort of by.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Farging North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But so she was a few hours away, but the
same idea, like I got to go up and spend
weekends with her and spends you know, multiple weeks in
the summer with her in between school and things like that.
But you know, and she passed when I was in
my twenties, and you know, looking back on that, yeah,
and I know, you know friends of mine who never
knew their grandparents, right, And it's just one of those
(10:48):
that's such a It was such a tremendously important relationship
to me too, and uh, and I just appreciate the
reminder of that.
Speaker 9 (10:56):
Oh, thank you. And that's lovely to think of you
getting to spend your your weekends and big chunks of
your summer because I remember that was such a big
thing for me. I mean, it's funny in hindsight when
I think of it now, I think of it more
from my mother's point of view. And my mother was
a single mother, and my grandmother used to come and
(11:17):
pick me up from school every Friday afternoon and drive
me out to her farm in Indiana. I grew up
in Chicago, and my grandmother would pick me up, drive
me out to the farm, and I'd spend the weekend
on the farm, and then my mother would drive out
on Sunday and pick me up and bring me back
to Chicago again. And I thought I was the luckiest
kid in the world because I got to spend all
my weekends on the farm. And it was only years later,
(11:40):
you know, when I was kind of grown up and
had little kids, and I thought, wow, my mother got
every weekend free.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yep, Oh that's funny, No, I hear that.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, my son he's thirty three now and he lives
out in Portlandland, Oregon. And but it's I'm just thinking
of that too, like when you know, growing up just right,
having that ability to have some free time in there,
it's pretty pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Oh yeah, yeah, well that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And so I'd love to talk about the record this
comes from. So this is am I saying it right.
It's the Saint Burian Sessions.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
Is that right, Saint Buryan Sessions. Yeah, Saint Burien is
the nearest village to where I live. I live way
down in the far southwest corner of England. I'm between
Penzance and Land's End, so quite quite near to the
westernmost point of England, about as close to the USA
as you can get, gotcha. And so yeah, when when
(12:48):
when lockdown hit Back in March of twenty twenty. I
was on tour at the time, as I was on
tour in Germany and we had to dash home before
the orders closed. I was I was two weeks into
a tour of Germany and the Netherlands and expecting to
be on the road for another four weeks and had
(13:08):
to had to high tail it back to England. And then,
you know, the sort of realization hit that it was
going to be a long time before I was going
to be able to do concerts and tours again. And
myself and my wonderful manager, Martin Stansbury, who's also my
sound engineer, has been the last fifteen years. He and
(13:30):
I were talking about, oh gosh, what can we do?
What can we do? And I really didn't want to
do the whole live streaming thing, sure, because there's there's
just something about, you know, even speaking to you now,
I'm speaking to a screen right, a human being, and
I really didn't want to get into performing to a screen.
(13:52):
But but I also knew that I needed if I
was going to maintain contact with, you know, people who
like my music, I needed some kind of some kind
of you know, online content that I could put out.
And Martin said, well, tell you what, why don't we
make that live album we've always wanted to make, But
(14:13):
we'll make it without an audience. So we waited until
we got to the point where you were allowed to
have six people in England the way it was anyway,
you were allowed six people working in one space together,
but no more than that, and it had to be
for work, you know, it couldn't be a social gathering.
But we were allowed six people and that was just
(14:33):
enough to have met myself and Martin and a two
man film crew go into this beautiful church and make
a live album. And I didn't have an audience, but
I because I was performing, you know, in a church
with that whole lovely atmosphere on, and I had Martin
and the other two guys there, you know, so I
was with other human beings and that was enough for
(14:57):
me to be able to actually perform the way I
knew I was ever going to be able to perform,
you know, just sitting in front of an iPhone at home.
So yeah, we recorded this whole live album with no audience,
and we filmed the whole thing as we were recording
it live. And because we didn't have an audience, we
were able to do stuff like the guys were able
(15:18):
to lay down track in front of me and roll
great big cameras back and forth, you know, in front
of my face while I was singing, which she couldn't
really have done if you if you were in a concert.
So it was kind of the best of both worlds
because it captured the live performance and the whole atmosphere
and the magic of the place. But then the whole
thing was on video. And what I did through the
(15:43):
whole remainder of that year was every time Maugan Lewis,
the Cornish filmmaker who was in charge of the video project.
It takes ages to edit video, and so he would
he was able to get about, you know, one song
ready and ready to be you know, put out there
(16:05):
every every month or two. And so I just kept
up putting out the songs on the album as individual
video premieres on YouTube. Sure, and you know, we do
the live premiere thing and people would post comments and
everything like that, and I'd have a little chat with people,
and that gave me a chance to kind of feel
connected with people again, even though I couldn't go out
(16:26):
and perform live. And then when I was ready to
go out and tour again. I had a new album
and it was a new live album on the Saint
Burian Sessions, So it was it was you know, it
was one good thing that came out of that whole
dark time.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
No, that's wonderful to hear that sounds so yeah, I
just visualize that as you describe it, and that, right,
what a wonderful opportunity to be able to kind of
right capitalize on an opportunity that otherwise you might not
have been able to have, and just to be able
to kind of create that whole not only the live record, but.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
The video as well. So is the is all that
of where where can people go find that?
Speaker 9 (17:08):
Is?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I mean, I know your music's out on streaming services
and band camp and things, but as well as you
know Sarah McQuaid dot com. But is there a specific
spot people should go to find the video as well?
Speaker 9 (17:21):
Yeah, you can just go to my YouTube channel.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Okay.
Speaker 9 (17:24):
You know I thought about, you know, putting up because
I'm selling the album obviously, I thought about, you know,
not making all of it available, and I thought, no,
you know what, I'm just going to make it all
available on my YouTube channel, so people can actually go
to my YouTube channel and watch the entire album and
listen to it. I've put it up as a playlist
(17:47):
and and you know, and then if they like it,
if they if they didn't buy the album, it would
be really nice. Absolutely on vinyl as well. It's a
double double vinyl LP and blue vinyl limited Edition and
all that good stuff. But yeah, if you're just curious
about it, you can go to my YouTube channel, which
is YouTube dot com Stoke Sarah McQuaid or Slash Sarah McQuaid.
(18:11):
It depends on which country you're in. Slash a stroke
and and then you can just watch the entire album
with me, you know, with it being filmed as I
was recording it live.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Got it. No, that's wonderful and I look forward to
seeing that myself. I've not seen that yet.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And so one thing I wanted to ask you, so
in the instrumentation of last song to me, my ears
perked up because I thought I heard bass. I'm like, oh,
is there additional instrumentation here? Is it just you on
guitar and vocals?
Speaker 9 (18:42):
Or as long as we're listening to the Saint Buryan
Sessions version, it's just me on guitar.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Wild, okay cool.
Speaker 9 (18:48):
There are two versions of the song out there. There's
the version that I record on my recorded on my
two thousand and eight album I Won't Go Home Till Morning.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Oh kidding, Yes, you probably hear mine too.
Speaker 9 (19:03):
Well, Yeah, there's the I recorded that song originally way
back in two thousand and eight for my album I
Won't Go Home Till Morning, And that version of the
song does have bas on it. But if you're listening
to the last song that's on the sat Bury In sessions,
that's that's the live version, and there's there's just that's
(19:24):
just me and my acoustic guitar.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Oh cool, cool.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm gonna have to, yeah, pay closer to attention to that, because, right,
it's the version you sent me, and in the version
that I'm playing for everyone here from the same Purian sessions.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
But I thought, yeah, when I was listening.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
To it earlier, I was like, am I hearing additional instrumentation?
I was, I don't know if my mind was playing
tricks on me or my ears were, But that's that's
really cool. So I look forward to digging deeper into
the record and in consuming all the live video and
it's awesome that you have, you know, a double live
album on blue vinyl out there.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
That's so great. So I hope everybody everybody goes to
your your website and buys it.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I also see that you have some other dates coming up.
It looks like you're kind of going on sort of
mini tours or segments of tours. I know you have
several dates that looks like it starts on Friday, yeah,
in the UK. And then so is that is that
all kind of regional to where you are or is
that sort of all over the place or is just
being in the UK period?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Is that regional?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
I've got a really short ten day tour. It's hardly
even worth calling a tour, okay, starting this Friday, and
that is it's all around the southern part of England.
So it's not really it's not exactly which.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
It looks like.
Speaker 9 (20:39):
Oh, you know, I go I go right over to
the you know, to the other side, you know, the
east side of the country. But I don't go way
up north. I just go a little bit north. I
go as far as Gloucestershire to the north. And is
there a gig in Winster? Sure as well. I can't
remember anyway. It's it's all in the southern half of
(20:59):
England and it's a really short little tour and it's
kind of a warm up for the rest of the year.
You know. I'll be trying out some material that I
haven't played live in years and years, and you know,
maybe some new material as well. So it's, as I say,
this is my start of the year. And then I'll
be doing a five week tour in the Netherlands and
(21:22):
Germany in February and March, and then in April I'll
be heading over to Ireland for a couple of weeks,
and then i'll be doing a whole UK wide tour
including you know, Wales and the far north of England
and so on. In May. I've got a couple of
festivals over the summer and then a few more UK
(21:45):
another UK tour in September, and then in October and
November I'll be coming over to year part of the
world and doing the USA tour in the months of
October and November, and that'll finish out my year.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Oh wonderful, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I'm glad you're coming over here, because I don't know
that I'm going to be able to get over there
to you. But that's why you're coming here because then
I can. So that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Do you have those dates? Is everything confirmed? Is it
announced yet? Or are the US States still kind of
under wraps?
Speaker 9 (22:10):
Oh? The US States, I've barely started booking. Sure, you
know I've got I've only got about five gigs confirmed
and I need about forty to make the tour words. Sure,
I'm still I'm still working on that, but I got
a little bit of time to get it all filled in.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Well, I sure look forward to hopefully catching a performance,
and it would be lovely to say hello in person
if that's an opportunity when you're here, I look forward to. Yeah,
this is this is wonderful. I'm glad you're able to
kind of pick up sort of where you left off.
It sounds like on touring. Have you toured since COVID
then since your last tour kind of got cut short?
Is this picking back up where you left off? Or
(22:49):
have you toured already? Have you already been back to
Germany and the Netherlands since then?
Speaker 9 (22:55):
Last year twenty twenty three was my first full year
of touring. It was the first year since COVID that
I actually got over to the Netherlands, in Germany and
Denmark as well, and over to the USA as well.
I did a US tour in the last autumn, which
is my first time in the US since COVID. So like, yeah,
last year was intense. I did over one hundred and
(23:17):
twenty shows last year. Wow, so and in all the country,
you know, in Ireland and Ireland, England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
and the USA, which was fantastic. It was the you know,
it was it was so good to be back doing
(23:37):
proper touring again because I was It's been such a
huge part of my life for so long, I mean
ever since, ever since two thousand and nine basically was
when I started really touring intensively and touring in you know,
multiple countries, and I was kind of used to doing
that every year, and so it was and I when
(24:00):
I suddenly couldn't do it, I almost felt like a
part of myself was missing, you know, I felt like,
because there's it's funny. I was chatting to another musician
about this. Have you come across a wonderful songwriter and
performer called Zoey Moulford.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
No, I have not, but I read about her how
you and her met? I think? Is that right?
Speaker 9 (24:24):
Zoey Pollocks? Sorry, yeah, moord is. Zoey Pollock is an
English singing songwriter. I've made an album with over here
that's thinking of that. Soey Molford is. She's a songwriter
from Pennsylvania. Originally lives in England now but still tours
(24:45):
in both the US and and But the reason I
mentioned her is that she and I were both playing
at a festival just outside Chicago in just at the
beginning of September, the Fox Valley Folk Festival outside Chicago,
and we were staying in the same hotel as we're
(25:06):
all of the artists pretty much we were playing, We're
staying in the same hotel, and we got chatting in
the hotel restaurant and we were talking about how when
we couldn't perform, how there's this there's this part of
you that only really comes out when you're on stage,
that that's kind of your your performance person. And it's
(25:27):
almost like there's a different side of you that comes
out when you're performing that you just can't get access
to when you're off stage. And then when so when
you can't go out and perform, it's like that part
of you isn't there, and you just feel like only
half a person. And you know, she she she said
she felt the same way. And I was really glad
(25:48):
to hear that because I thought it was just me
and maybe there was something wrong with me. But I
think she said, she you know that that she reckoned.
There was an element of that with pretty much anyone
who's who's a performer, that you almost have to, you know,
show a slightly different side of yourself than you get
(26:09):
up on stage. And then when you when you can't
do that and you just can't get at that person,
you know. I mean, it would be every bit as
bad as I couldn't get at my off stage self either. Sure, absolutely,
(26:30):
but yeah, it was a really tough time.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, I certainly identify and relate to that. I did
a lot of the touring that happened for me happened
between nineteen ninety eight and two thousand and eight, and
a lot of it was United States, and then in
the mid two thousands it was more kind of globally
in doing the multiple country thing, and that was super
(26:53):
amazing and really fun and I've performed so in many
different kind of genres and many different capacities, and I
hear you, I mean completely that there's this other part.
I used to funny, I was talking to someone else recently.
When I was younger, I really hated performing. I wanted
to get off stage as quickly as I could because
it was really uncomfortable and it was just for me.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I had to work out what is my intention here?
What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
You know, If I'm trying to just be on display
and that's my motivation, well then I'm uncomfortable doing that
because why do I want you just to you know,
view me.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
That's not the point.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
My point is that once I've realized and internalized for me,
there's a significant spiritual component to performing and the common
experience that happens between the performing and the audience there
where it's kind of one experience together like that, to
me is really the beautiful part of it. And that's
where I access what I hear you talking about, sort
of that other part of me that comes out in
(27:50):
performing and having, you know, stop touring in two thousand
and eight myself primarily, and it's mostly just been kind
of ad hot gigs when I get them with, you know,
either old bands that are doing reunion tours or new
bands that I'm in and we're starting some you know,
regional sort of gig thing, and or even you know,
tribute bands that I've performed with. It's, you know, it's
(28:14):
wonderful to get back on stage and kind of just
settle back into that old It's like, oh, there you are.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's like one of those things where I get to
kind of find myself in that space again. And yeah,
when COVID happened and all the projects I was working
on right all stopped from a performance perspective, we hardly
could even get in the space and practice. It was very,
very challenging and very disjointed. And I felt like, right,
there's parts of me that I'm missing that I'm not
(28:40):
able to express and explore and continue to kind of
fill my spiritual wells with with that aspect and component
of who I am, you know. And so now that
that's past, it's just wonderful to hear, you know, with
your example, that you're able to tour you know, two
one hundred and twenty gigs last year, and that you
got a fold to or of you know, both sides
(29:02):
of the ocean happening, and that's amazing. It's just wonderful
to hear that you're able to kind of pick it
up and keep going.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
And I can totally relate to what you're saying about
the spiritual element and the kind of magic that happens
between artists and performer. That's something I've talked about a
few times actually in interviews and so on. It's something
I talked about on stage. I remember when I when
I first started performing again after COVID, I cried, cried
(29:35):
on stage because I was just so overwhelmed by that
thing of finally getting to share music. It doesn't even
matter that's my music, but to share the experience of
music with other people.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yes, yeah, it well said, right, Yeah, it didn't have
to be Oh, I know, but I wrote this, you know.
It's it's it's like this decentral lizing of my ego thing.
It's like, I don't it doesn't have to be about
me at all. It's just that I get to be
this sort of vessel to help communicate it and share
it with everybody else and we all get to kind
of experience this.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Like, to me, that's that's what I love about it.
Speaker 9 (30:14):
Yeah, I mean I sang with the Chicago Children's Choir
for many years as a kid, and we toured all
over the place. Sure, and I still sing in choirs now.
I was doing tons of choral music all through the
month of December when I was at home, kind of
jumped straight into singing choirs again. And that's really magical too,
(30:37):
when you are part of this giant hole, you know,
and your voice is just one element in this huge
vocal sound.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Ye.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
And that's that's always been, you know. I think. I
think even if I couldn't for some reason, if I
couldn't go out and perform solo anymore, I'd still love
to sing with choirs, you know. That's that's just it's
so magical.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
That is, Yeah, And thank you for that reminder.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
It's I can kind of squirrel pretty quickly. It's like like, oh,
I have this idea, and then I should do this
and do this, and then all of a sudden it's
like wait, wa, wait what am I focusing on? And
then I'm spreadway too thin and I have too many
things happening and don't want to continue doing that.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
But one of the things I've always wanted to do.
Kittie is is singing.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's my cat does exact things. She says on my
side my door and sings at me while I'm talking.
But I've always wanted to get back into singing in
choires myself. It's something I love doing as a kid,
and it's something I did as a teenager and kind
of always meant to really find that.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
View or avenue again.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
And by the nature of my life, I've moved around
so much over the past, you know, fifteen years, that
I've never really been in one place long enough to
dig in long enough to find out. Okay, wait, wait, wait,
if I'm going to get into a choir, which where
where am I looking for that? So that's just this
thank you for the reminder, because I'm going to go
look for that and see if I can find one.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah doo.
Speaker 9 (32:08):
I mean it's meant to be really good for both
your physical and your mental health singing with choirs. Studies
have shown. There's an article in The Guardian, one of
the newspapers here and recently, which which immediately did the
rounds of all the political choirs around here. Everybody is
reposting it and sharing it on Facebook and stuff, you
(32:29):
know that apparently choral singing is just really really good
for you.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
No, I will take their word for it, because I
remember it being a very you know, just calming and
centering and therapeutic experience anyway, and just that also that
for me, it's also just a great opportunity to kind
of keep practicing also singing with other people on a
regular basis, because since again, since COVID one of my
(32:54):
favorite bands.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
This is I'm diverting back. A long time ago, I was.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
In a band where we there was a four piece
band and all four of us saying, and we had
a lead singer, but we would do a lot of
four part harmonies. Were super influenced by you know, bands
like Queen and things like that, and just love to
wanted to emulate, like how can we, I mean, we
don't have their vocal ranges or their ability necessarily, but
let's do us and let's figure out how we can
(33:18):
do that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And we just it was so fun.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I mean, singing those harmonies was one of the most
fun moments I recall, just being in a practice space
and writing with other musicians. But since really, since COVID
and you know, the inability to be in a practice
space with others or.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Not having kind of that dynamic.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Also, I would just imagine regularly practicing and singing in
a choir would be really exceptional for keep keeping my
chops up.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
As a vocalist, as well as just really that.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Whole listening component that has to happen when you're singing
with others in harmony, you know.
Speaker 9 (33:53):
Oh yeah, it's lovely. There's nothing like it. I mean,
I sing with my local church choir. I also sing
with the community choir called the Pipers Choir here in Cornwall.
And then there's a choir, a kind of an ad
hoc choir that gets together every year in Cornwall. We
(34:16):
call ourselves the Duchy Singers and we're mostly all members
of different choirs around the around the county, but we
do a performance of Handles Messiah for charity every year
and so and that's fantastic. I mean, the singers in
the pipe, the singers in the both the church choir
(34:37):
and the pipe pipers choir, it's kind of you know,
we all enjoy singing together. But there's there's a whole
lot of different levels you know of you know, it's
it's it's not it's not a high they're not high
powered choirs, whereas the Duchy Singers is a high powered choir.
Everybody in there, you know, can sing at a professional
level basically. And oh man, that is just so amazing
(35:01):
when when we when we do that that piece, we
just do that one piece of music every winter and
it's always packed, and it always raises money for a
different charity every year, and it's it's just a fantastic
thing to be able to do.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
It sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And any chance that's been recorded and released in some
capacity where the proceeds going to charity, that oh shocks.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Okay, that's hopeful. Now, that's that's that's wonderful. Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Well, so question on your on your upcoming tour. One
thing I want to circle back on with that is
and just kind of the touring you're going to do
this year.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Is this all solo acoustic or is this a with
a band or other instrumentation.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
It's all solo, but I play a bunch of different instruments,
you know, Okay, an acoustic guitars and keyboard and or
a piano. If there is one, I'm always happy there's
a real piano in the in the venue, and and
and I play a little bit of drum as well.
I'm bringing tom with me or a ractom in the USA,
and and and play play that a drum as well.
(36:07):
So I'm a solo performer, and I like it that
way because I think I think when you're performing solo,
you really really get that connection with an audience where yeah,
the energy is just all going back and forth between
you on stage and the audience in front of you,
Whereas if you're with a band, I mean that's there's
joy in that too, but but the energy is kind
(36:28):
of it's it's circulating around on the stage, and the
audience are more spectators, whereas I always feel like when
I'm doing the solo gig, the audience are really kind
of active participants in some sense. They're not just spectators.
They're necessary to the whole thing. I'm useless without them,
you know. So, Yeah, there's there's something really good about
(36:50):
about performing solo, which is why I've been doing I've
been performing solo for the last fifteen years now. And
I'm tour with my manager and sound engineer who's kind
of he's kind of like a band member who operates
from behind the sound desk. He's an essential part of
the process as well, and the whole you know. The
(37:13):
Saintbury and Sessions was all his idea, and he contributed
in a big way. That sounded that in the sense
that he was the one had the idea of doing
it in the church and putting putting microphones all around
the space of the sanctuary and and to really capture
the natural acoustic of the building. So one of the
reviewers wrote that the Saintbury in Sessions, it's kind of
a duet between me and the church, which I liked.
(37:37):
So that was lovely. That was lovely too. But yeah, yeah, no,
I always tour.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Solo, got it, And so having not again not seen
a performance and not knowing how you you pull that off. Solo?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Is it one instrument at a time or in for example,
I've played and toured with other artists where they're a
solo performer on stage, but they may be playing an
instrument and have some kind of not necessarily like the
rest of the band backing track, but another sort of
instrument or sampling kind of scenario where they can play
(38:14):
other sounds while that support what they're doing with their
instrument and their voice or is it just you're creating
it all kind of I mean analog, meaning just real
time you and the instruments you're using at the time
you're doing it.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
Well, we don't use anything pre recorded. I do a
little bit with live looping, okay, which which again Martin
controls from the desk end. But like, for example, I
do one song that has a delay effect that allows
me to basically sing a three part round with myself.
(38:51):
Nice where I start singing this song and then as
I'm singing it, Martin starts looping my vocal. It's no,
it's not a loop. It's a delay. I tell you,
it's not a loop. It's a delay, he starts. He
does uses a tap delay on my vocals so that
my voice repeats in time to what I am singing,
(39:14):
which produces the effect of a round or cannon. And
then there's another song where I actually set up a
drum beat and then play along with that. I play
a little bit of drum and he loops that, and
then I start playing the guitar again in time to
the Drum's great that I've just played. But it's all
done live.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
There's nothing pre recorded, nothing pre recorded? Cool? Good, good good.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Well, is there anything more specifically you wanted to talk
about that we haven't touched on related to last song?
Speaker 3 (39:49):
No, No, I think you know.
Speaker 9 (39:51):
I mean, it's funny we've gone all over the place
we started. We took the song with a starting point,
went everywhere, which I think is kind of good. I mean,
that's the whole ethos of your your podcast, isn't it
kind of take a song at the starting point and
see where that takes us. And I think we've done that,
which is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Cool, Well, then let's take a quick break and we'll
come right back to find out what you're working on
next and what you have beyond your upcoming tour.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Sound good?
Speaker 9 (40:19):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
All right, cool, everybody stay with us. Thanks, all right,
and we're back with Sarah McQuaid. We listened to her
song last song, and we've been talking about all kinds
of stuff for the past bit and now I want
to turn it back to you to Sarah Sarah, to
find out.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
What else do you have coming up besides.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I mean, I know you have an extensive tour booked,
you know from between the UK and Germany, Netherlands and
et cetera, and then into the US in twenty twenty four.
But is there are you working on a new record?
Is there something else creatively you're working on? I've seen
in the past. I think you've done some you know,
literary publishing maybe and or some writing in that space.
Is there any other kind of endeavors you're working on.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
Well, I'm working on writing some new songs and I
would like to make another album. What I'd really like
to do, and this is going to be my next
big project. Is I've been I've got this great, big
derelict garage or garage depending on what, next to my house,
and it's a wonderful It's a big, huge space and
(41:23):
contrary to a lot of garages or garages, it's got
a it's got a high ceiling with a pitched roof
at a skylight. And I when I look around that space,
I think it would make the most amazing recording studio.
And I really love the idea of having a studio
next to my house that I could just walk into
(41:44):
and record and use that it's kind of working space
to work on music as well, you know, and have
you know, especially if I could kind of you know,
have PA set up and recording equipment set up so
I could go in and play things like keyboard and
electric guitar and you know, and to hear them how
they're gonna sound when I'm playing them on stage, and
(42:07):
really rehearse stuff, and also write the material and write
them material using different instruments, and and maybe you know,
who knows, maybe even be able to do the odd podcasts,
you know. And I also I also started during lockdown,
I started making some instructional videos, you know, how to play,
teaching people how to play stuff. Because one thing we
(42:29):
haven't touched on. I use this tuning all the time
on the guitar, both acoustic and electric guitars that I
play all the time, and the dad GAD tuning the
D A D G A D instead of the A
G G B E, which is it's alternative tuning. And
and I started making these how to play videos during lockdown,
but it was really tough to try and get everybody
(42:50):
in the house to be quiet. I think the cat
made her away onto a couple of years. So so yeah,
I just have the stream of having my own recording space.
But the first thing I got to do is clear
everything that's in there out, which is which is not easy.
(43:10):
And and then I'm going to have to do it's
going to need a new roof because the roof leaks,
so that's going to necessitate some kind of a big
crowdfunder project. So so that's my next So it may
take a while to get it going, but I have
been sort of gradually working on a few new songs,
and I don't really like to push songwriting too hard
(43:34):
because what I found with my last two albums, my
last two albums of new material to the dig Any
Deeper album and Walking to White with both of those albums,
because I've been touring like crazy before before making the albums.
At the point when I actually booked the studio time,
(43:55):
I had a whole load of half written songs and
nothing finished. And then I went, okay, right, got to
finish songs, and I sat down, you know, gave myself
kind of a couple of months to sit down and
finish all those songs. And with both of those albums,
what I wound up with was a really coherent body
of songs that worked really well together. In fact, I
(44:16):
felt like they were almost kind of song cycles both
of those albums and was walking into White. What I
did actually was I went out and played the album
live for the first half of every gig for a
while after I had recorded it, because I just loved
the way all the songs worked together and and kind
of had a trajectory of their own. So so for
(44:37):
that reason, even though I've I've got you know, a
whole all these voice memos, written songs and notes with lyrics,
I haven't worked too hard on trying to make sure
that sure they're you know, on trying to round them
out in flash Mountain to finish songs, because I want
to do that. I want to give them time to
(45:00):
kind of just take properly and then sit down and
finish them all all together so I can write each
song with with reference to the others and think about
how they were going to work together as an album.
And gosh, it would be so much easier to do
that if I had that recorded recording space ready. So
so lots of lots to think about and organized, but
(45:22):
it's it's And I also want to do some co
writing as well. I did some well, you know, I
made a whole album co written songs that I co
wrote with with Zoe who you've alluded to previously. English
kind of she had a hit, massive hit single years
and years ago, which you know, it was like, it
(45:43):
was like a top top five chart hit. Every time
I mentioned every time I mentioned it on stage in England,
everybody goes, ah, I'll remember it, not so much in
the States that she she she did tour in the US,
I think, but not she wasn't a massive hit there
the way she was here. But anyway, I really love
(46:05):
co writing. And I've also co written with a wonderful
Irish singer songwriter called Jerry Byrne, and I'm hoping to
meet up with Jerry when I go over to Ireland
on tour in April and maybe sit down and do
some co writing with him as well, because I find
I find there's something about co writing with somebody else
that it kind of, I don't know, it kind of
(46:25):
becomes a sum is greater than the parts kind of thing,
where where ideas come to you both that you may
be that would have would never have come to you separately.
So I'm really excited about doing that as well. And
and uh oh, I've just I've just recorded some backing
(46:46):
vocals for a friend of mine's album, so that's that's
fun too, and I'll be I'll be really happy when
that comes out. So yeah, all kinds of things in
the pipeline, but mostly I'm just looking forward to getting
out and touring good.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah, absolutely, no, that's great, And thank you for mentioning
the dad gad tuning. That's near and dear to many
of my friend's hearts. They use that often. I stumbled
upon a different alternate tuning that I just figured i'd
share with you that I thought. I found it kind
of an accident, and it turned out to be really cool,
even though it doesn't sound like it would be, but
(47:21):
it was d G d G B E, so it's
dropped D and then I dropped the A to G
and then the voicings of the chords that come out
of that to me were it was like what is this?
And it just kind of That's what I love about
playing in alternate tunings, is that also just sort of
transforms like ooh, this is a whole new instrument now,
you know, and I have to kind of refigure out
(47:41):
how some things are and find these new voicings of
things and it's really fun.
Speaker 9 (47:45):
But I just check it out and again, because you've
got all those d's and g's, you're gonna have a
lot of what you have in Dadgad, which is the
whole sympathetic resonance thing. Yes, yes, you know with the
d that there's there's there's tons of skull for all
kinds of nice little accidental harmonics to come at music
there and you get this big, rich sound, So I
(48:07):
can imagine that must be lovely.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yeah, yep, you know it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
But Sarah, thank you so much for coming along again
to talk about the song, last song and everything you've
shared about what you're working on, what's coming up next,
and all the things you're involved in. It's been wonderful
chatting with you. I wish you the best on your
upcoming tour that you have booked and look forward to
catching you, you know, somewhere in the United States when
you come here next fall.
Speaker 9 (48:32):
Thank you so much, Brett. It's been really lovely chatting
to you, and I hope you meet in person in
these days.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Sarah free Crows Sad Breakdown.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
All right, and that up another episode of the B
Side Breakdown.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
I want to thank Sarah McQuaid for coming on to
talk about her song Last Song. I also want to
thank the AMB team for the music you're hearing in
the background called Chin Ramp two that comes from the
legendary scape video search for Animal Chin. Thank you Powell
Peralta for giving me permission to play this on this episode.
I also want to thank Adam Coolong and Carry Bosel
for helping me put together the jingle you hear at
(49:23):
the beginning and the end of this episode. Up next,
we have Adam Woods from the band Oakview talking about
the song Blossom. I'll give you a sample of that
here in just a minute. Please subscribe to this podcast
wherever you get your podcasts. Stay safe out there, and
we'll catch up on the next one.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Thanks.
Free TROS B Side Breakdown.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey everyone, welcome to the B Side Breakdown. My name
is Brett Johnson and I am your host. This is
episode twenty three of a podcast where I talk with
other artists, musicians and songwriters about a song they've written
that's meaningful to them, where we can have a chat
and get deep into the why behind it. They also
need to be able to give me permission to play
the song and its entirety on the episode so you all.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Can hear it, which I'm pretty stoked about.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Today, I'm going to be talking to Sarah McQuaid, who's
a singer songwriter that hails from Cornwall, England, about her
song called Last Song. So let's get into it. Here
is Last Song by Sarah McQuaid.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
When I was a little girl, to dim my bed and.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Have the dark Ractopa and I'd watch the Tad of
Flight listen to my mond as she played her Orchetarle'd say,
do froggy wand the corton for the next one. She'd say,
(01:37):
all right.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But now this has to be the last song. I
used to go to sleep child. The sun is down
Your say.
Speaker 6 (02:01):
So sad is honest, way tidy, clothes, Yes, trying to
be quiet to you.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Wacome in morning.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
Start another day?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Years passed.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Now I'm trying to learn self sweet too.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
In the hall, I've got clid on so it shines
into your.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
Room and you talk into your teddy place and play
with your dolls.
Speaker 8 (03:03):
You should have been asleep, benour go thinking.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Is it my mother's voice? A month that I hear
A scared how you stay good? To sleep?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Char the sun is don say sound? The Sandman's on
his way.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Honey, come Sis, time.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Be quiet till you wake up? Hi, morning.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Start Another day.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
She left this world to serve to Heaven.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Know she never got to see your little face.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
And I wish with all her heart she.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Lived long enough to hold you, long enough to kiss
your cheek and stroke your head and said, I stir.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Go sleep chumped, sun is down. You say that sound?
Saman on his way?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Handy clothes, Sis.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Time to be quiet.
Speaker 9 (05:24):
To you?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Wake up in morning start another time?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
Another turn, Fuck you and a chord.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Fuck you and a chord Sam stop.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
All right, And that was last song by Sarah McQuaid.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
We're gonna take a quick break and then we're gonna
come back and talk with Sarah about the song and
to find out more about what she's working on next.
Stay with us, all right, and we're back. Let's bring
and Sarah to find out more about last song and
what she's got going on now. Hey, Sarah, thank you
so much for taking some time to talk with me today.
Speaker 9 (07:06):
Ah, thank you, Brett. Thanks for having me on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Absolutely absolutely, I have so many questions for you, just
having listened to it and reading the background on the record,
but I'd.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Love to kind of hear from your perspective. First. Why
is it that you wanted to talk about that song specifically.
Speaker 9 (07:26):
Well, it's kind of a special song for me. It's
when I wrote a long, long time ago, back when
my kids were a little and then I decided to
reprise it when I made my recent live album the
same Bury in Sessions, and I guess it's you know,
it's it's it's a it's a song about you know,
(07:48):
generations and children and parents and everything, which is very
much It's always on my mind, especially since my my
my own kids are college aged now and I've just
sent them both back to university, so I'm an empty
nestern house to things like things like parents and children
are even more on my mind than they would have
(08:11):
been anyway. It's just it's just been a constant in
my life for well for the past twenty years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Sure, no, it makes sense, and it's yeah, it's it's
a it's a gorgeous song. And and I love the
the production of it, the way you're singing it, how
it's was recorded, all of it.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's just got such a beautiful.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Vulnerability to it that that really grabbed me. And then
when it kind of gets into the next part where it's, oh, wow,
you're talking about how your mother didn't get to see
your your grandchild or her grandchild, right, I mean, that's
that's what I grabbed from that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Was that Am I kind of on point with that?
Or am I way out here?
Speaker 9 (08:51):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah. She never got to see the youngest one,
and she died six months after my first child was born,
so so yeah, And neither of them ever knew their grandmother,
which is so sad because my grandmother was a huge
part of my life and I feel so lucky to
(09:11):
have to have had that, and I I feel kind
of sad for them, but they that they didn't have
the same thing. I mean, they did get to meet
their grandmother on their father's side, but they don't. Again,
they don't see much of her now because she's in
Ireland and we're in England. So yeah, it's it's it's
(09:32):
just kind of again, I just feel that I was
tremendously lucky to have grown up with my grandmother being
a huge part of my life and being able to,
you know, spend whole weekends and whole summers with her,
and and I feel sort of sad that I couldn't
pass that on to the next generation. And you know,
(09:53):
and I and I think we all need to remember,
you know, if we do have our parents with the
how fortunately are.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yes agreed, And you know, your gratitude around that relationship
with your with your grandmothers is wonderful to hear. And
it's such a stark reminder for me of my relationship
with my grandmother because that relationship too similar. She lived
you know, I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she lived
up in Lake Park, Minnesota, which is kind of the
(10:24):
northwest corner of the state, sort of by.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Farging North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But so she was a few hours away, but the
same idea, like I got to go up and spend
weekends with her and spends you know, multiple weeks in
the summer with her in between school and things like that.
But you know, and she passed when I was in
my twenties, and you know, looking back on that, yeah,
and I know, you know friends of mine who never
knew their grandparents, right, And it's just one of those
(10:48):
that's such a It was such a tremendously important relationship
to me too, and uh, and I just appreciate the
reminder of that.
Speaker 9 (10:56):
Oh, thank you. And that's lovely to think of you
getting to spend your your weekends and big chunks of
your summer because I remember that was such a big
thing for me. I mean, it's funny in hindsight when
I think of it now, I think of it more
from my mother's point of view. And my mother was
a single mother, and my grandmother used to come and
(11:17):
pick me up from school every Friday afternoon and drive
me out to her farm in Indiana. I grew up
in Chicago, and my grandmother would pick me up, drive
me out to the farm, and I'd spend the weekend
on the farm, and then my mother would drive out
on Sunday and pick me up and bring me back
to Chicago again. And I thought I was the luckiest
kid in the world because I got to spend all
my weekends on the farm. And it was only years later,
(11:40):
you know, when I was kind of grown up and
had little kids, and I thought, wow, my mother got
every weekend free.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yep, Oh that's funny, No, I hear that.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, my son he's thirty three now and he lives
out in Portlandland, Oregon. And but it's I'm just thinking
of that too, like when you know, growing up just right,
having that ability to have some free time in there,
it's pretty pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Oh yeah, yeah, well that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And so I'd love to talk about the record this
comes from. So this is am I saying it right.
It's the Saint Burian Sessions.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
Is that right, Saint Buryan Sessions. Yeah, Saint Burien is
the nearest village to where I live. I live way
down in the far southwest corner of England. I'm between
Penzance and Land's End, so quite quite near to the
westernmost point of England, about as close to the USA
as you can get, gotcha. And so yeah, when when
(12:48):
when lockdown hit Back in March of twenty twenty. I
was on tour at the time, as I was on
tour in Germany and we had to dash home before
the orders closed. I was I was two weeks into
a tour of Germany and the Netherlands and expecting to
be on the road for another four weeks and had
(13:08):
to had to high tail it back to England. And then,
you know, the sort of realization hit that it was
going to be a long time before I was going
to be able to do concerts and tours again. And
myself and my wonderful manager, Martin Stansbury, who's also my
sound engineer, has been the last fifteen years. He and
(13:30):
I were talking about, oh gosh, what can we do?
What can we do? And I really didn't want to
do the whole live streaming thing, sure, because there's there's
just something about, you know, even speaking to you now,
I'm speaking to a screen right, a human being, and
I really didn't want to get into performing to a screen.
(13:52):
But but I also knew that I needed if I
was going to maintain contact with, you know, people who
like my music, I needed some kind of some kind
of you know, online content that I could put out.
And Martin said, well, tell you what, why don't we
make that live album we've always wanted to make, But
(14:13):
we'll make it without an audience. So we waited until
we got to the point where you were allowed to
have six people in England the way it was anyway,
you were allowed six people working in one space together,
but no more than that, and it had to be
for work, you know, it couldn't be a social gathering.
But we were allowed six people and that was just
(14:33):
enough to have met myself and Martin and a two
man film crew go into this beautiful church and make
a live album. And I didn't have an audience, but
I because I was performing, you know, in a church
with that whole lovely atmosphere on, and I had Martin
and the other two guys there, you know, so I
was with other human beings and that was enough for
(14:57):
me to be able to actually perform the way I
knew I was ever going to be able to perform,
you know, just sitting in front of an iPhone at home.
So yeah, we recorded this whole live album with no audience,
and we filmed the whole thing as we were recording
it live. And because we didn't have an audience, we
were able to do stuff like the guys were able
(15:18):
to lay down track in front of me and roll
great big cameras back and forth, you know, in front
of my face while I was singing, which she couldn't
really have done if you if you were in a concert.
So it was kind of the best of both worlds
because it captured the live performance and the whole atmosphere
and the magic of the place. But then the whole
thing was on video. And what I did through the
(15:43):
whole remainder of that year was every time Maugan Lewis,
the Cornish filmmaker who was in charge of the video project.
It takes ages to edit video, and so he would
he was able to get about, you know, one song
ready and ready to be you know, put out there
(16:05):
every every month or two. And so I just kept
up putting out the songs on the album as individual
video premieres on YouTube. Sure, and you know, we do
the live premiere thing and people would post comments and
everything like that, and I'd have a little chat with people,
and that gave me a chance to kind of feel
connected with people again, even though I couldn't go out
(16:26):
and perform live. And then when I was ready to
go out and tour again. I had a new album
and it was a new live album on the Saint
Burian Sessions, So it was it was you know, it
was one good thing that came out of that whole
dark time.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
No, that's wonderful to hear that sounds so yeah, I
just visualize that as you describe it, and that, right,
what a wonderful opportunity to be able to kind of
right capitalize on an opportunity that otherwise you might not
have been able to have, and just to be able
to kind of create that whole not only the live record, but.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
The video as well. So is the is all that
of where where can people go find that?
Speaker 9 (17:08):
Is?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I mean, I know your music's out on streaming services
and band camp and things, but as well as you
know Sarah McQuaid dot com. But is there a specific
spot people should go to find the video as well?
Speaker 9 (17:21):
Yeah, you can just go to my YouTube channel.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Okay.
Speaker 9 (17:24):
You know I thought about, you know, putting up because
I'm selling the album obviously, I thought about, you know,
not making all of it available, and I thought, no,
you know what, I'm just going to make it all
available on my YouTube channel, so people can actually go
to my YouTube channel and watch the entire album and
listen to it. I've put it up as a playlist
(17:47):
and and you know, and then if they like it,
if they if they didn't buy the album, it would
be really nice. Absolutely on vinyl as well. It's a
double double vinyl LP and blue vinyl limited Edition and
all that good stuff. But yeah, if you're just curious
about it, you can go to my YouTube channel, which
is YouTube dot com Stoke Sarah McQuaid or Slash Sarah McQuaid.
(18:11):
It depends on which country you're in. Slash a stroke
and and then you can just watch the entire album
with me, you know, with it being filmed as I
was recording it live.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Got it. No, that's wonderful and I look forward to
seeing that myself. I've not seen that yet.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And so one thing I wanted to ask you, so
in the instrumentation of last song to me, my ears
perked up because I thought I heard bass. I'm like, oh,
is there additional instrumentation here? Is it just you on
guitar and vocals?
Speaker 9 (18:42):
Or as long as we're listening to the Saint Buryan
Sessions version, it's just me on guitar.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Wild, okay cool.
Speaker 9 (18:48):
There are two versions of the song out there. There's
the version that I record on my recorded on my
two thousand and eight album I Won't Go Home Till Morning.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Oh kidding, Yes, you probably hear mine too.
Speaker 9 (19:03):
Well, Yeah, there's the I recorded that song originally way
back in two thousand and eight for my album I
Won't Go Home Till Morning, And that version of the
song does have bas on it. But if you're listening
to the last song that's on the sat Bury In sessions,
that's that's the live version, and there's there's just that's
(19:24):
just me and my acoustic guitar.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Oh cool, cool.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm gonna have to, yeah, pay closer to attention to that, because, right,
it's the version you sent me, and in the version
that I'm playing for everyone here from the same Purian sessions.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
But I thought, yeah, when I was listening.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
To it earlier, I was like, am I hearing additional instrumentation?
I was, I don't know if my mind was playing
tricks on me or my ears were, But that's that's
really cool. So I look forward to digging deeper into
the record and in consuming all the live video and
it's awesome that you have, you know, a double live
album on blue vinyl out there.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
That's so great. So I hope everybody everybody goes to
your your website and buys it.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I also see that you have some other dates coming up.
It looks like you're kind of going on sort of
mini tours or segments of tours. I know you have
several dates that looks like it starts on Friday, yeah,
in the UK. And then so is that is that
all kind of regional to where you are or is
that sort of all over the place or is just
being in the UK period?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Is that regional?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
I've got a really short ten day tour. It's hardly
even worth calling a tour, okay, starting this Friday, and
that is it's all around the southern part of England.
So it's not really it's not exactly which.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
It looks like.
Speaker 9 (20:39):
Oh, you know, I go I go right over to
the you know, to the other side, you know, the
east side of the country. But I don't go way
up north. I just go a little bit north. I
go as far as Gloucestershire to the north. And is
there a gig in Winster? Sure as well. I can't
remember anyway. It's it's all in the southern half of
(20:59):
England and it's a really short little tour and it's
kind of a warm up for the rest of the year.
You know. I'll be trying out some material that I
haven't played live in years and years, and you know,
maybe some new material as well. So it's, as I say,
this is my start of the year. And then I'll
be doing a five week tour in the Netherlands and
(21:22):
Germany in February and March, and then in April I'll
be heading over to Ireland for a couple of weeks,
and then i'll be doing a whole UK wide tour
including you know, Wales and the far north of England
and so on. In May. I've got a couple of
festivals over the summer and then a few more UK
(21:45):
another UK tour in September, and then in October and
November I'll be coming over to year part of the
world and doing the USA tour in the months of
October and November, and that'll finish out my year.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Oh wonderful, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I'm glad you're coming over here, because I don't know
that I'm going to be able to get over there
to you. But that's why you're coming here because then
I can. So that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Do you have those dates? Is everything confirmed? Is it
announced yet? Or are the US States still kind of
under wraps?
Speaker 9 (22:10):
Oh? The US States, I've barely started booking. Sure, you
know I've got I've only got about five gigs confirmed
and I need about forty to make the tour words. Sure,
I'm still I'm still working on that, but I got
a little bit of time to get it all filled in.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Well, I sure look forward to hopefully catching a performance,
and it would be lovely to say hello in person
if that's an opportunity when you're here, I look forward to. Yeah,
this is this is wonderful. I'm glad you're able to
kind of pick up sort of where you left off.
It sounds like on touring. Have you toured since COVID
then since your last tour kind of got cut short?
Is this picking back up where you left off? Or
(22:49):
have you toured already? Have you already been back to
Germany and the Netherlands since then?
Speaker 9 (22:55):
Last year twenty twenty three was my first full year
of touring. It was the first year since COVID that
I actually got over to the Netherlands, in Germany and
Denmark as well, and over to the USA as well.
I did a US tour in the last autumn, which
is my first time in the US since COVID. So like, yeah,
last year was intense. I did over one hundred and
(23:17):
twenty shows last year. Wow, so and in all the country,
you know, in Ireland and Ireland, England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
and the USA, which was fantastic. It was the you know,
it was it was so good to be back doing
(23:37):
proper touring again because I was It's been such a
huge part of my life for so long, I mean
ever since, ever since two thousand and nine basically was
when I started really touring intensively and touring in you know,
multiple countries, and I was kind of used to doing
that every year, and so it was and I when
(24:00):
I suddenly couldn't do it, I almost felt like a
part of myself was missing, you know, I felt like,
because there's it's funny. I was chatting to another musician
about this. Have you come across a wonderful songwriter and
performer called Zoey Moulford.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
No, I have not, but I read about her how
you and her met? I think? Is that right?
Speaker 9 (24:24):
Zoey Pollocks? Sorry, yeah, moord is. Zoey Pollock is an
English singing songwriter. I've made an album with over here
that's thinking of that. Soey Molford is. She's a songwriter
from Pennsylvania. Originally lives in England now but still tours
(24:45):
in both the US and and But the reason I
mentioned her is that she and I were both playing
at a festival just outside Chicago in just at the
beginning of September, the Fox Valley Folk Festival outside Chicago,
and we were staying in the same hotel as we're
(25:06):
all of the artists pretty much we were playing, We're
staying in the same hotel, and we got chatting in
the hotel restaurant and we were talking about how when
we couldn't perform, how there's this there's this part of
you that only really comes out when you're on stage,
that that's kind of your your performance person. And it's
(25:27):
almost like there's a different side of you that comes
out when you're performing that you just can't get access
to when you're off stage. And then when so when
you can't go out and perform, it's like that part
of you isn't there, and you just feel like only
half a person. And you know, she she she said
she felt the same way. And I was really glad
(25:48):
to hear that because I thought it was just me
and maybe there was something wrong with me. But I
think she said, she you know that that she reckoned.
There was an element of that with pretty much anyone
who's who's a performer, that you almost have to, you know,
show a slightly different side of yourself than you get
(26:09):
up on stage. And then when you when you can't
do that and you just can't get at that person,
you know. I mean, it would be every bit as
bad as I couldn't get at my off stage self either. Sure, absolutely,
(26:30):
but yeah, it was a really tough time.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, I certainly identify and relate to that. I did
a lot of the touring that happened for me happened
between nineteen ninety eight and two thousand and eight, and
a lot of it was United States, and then in
the mid two thousands it was more kind of globally
in doing the multiple country thing, and that was super
(26:53):
amazing and really fun and I've performed so in many
different kind of genres and many different capacities, and I
hear you, I mean completely that there's this other part.
I used to funny, I was talking to someone else recently.
When I was younger, I really hated performing. I wanted
to get off stage as quickly as I could because
it was really uncomfortable and it was just for me.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I had to work out what is my intention here?
What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
You know, If I'm trying to just be on display
and that's my motivation, well then I'm uncomfortable doing that
because why do I want you just to you know,
view me.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
That's not the point.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
My point is that once I've realized and internalized for me,
there's a significant spiritual component to performing and the common
experience that happens between the performing and the audience there
where it's kind of one experience together like that, to
me is really the beautiful part of it. And that's
where I access what I hear you talking about, sort
of that other part of me that comes out in
(27:50):
performing and having, you know, stop touring in two thousand
and eight myself primarily, and it's mostly just been kind
of ad hot gigs when I get them with, you know,
either old bands that are doing reunion tours or new
bands that I'm in and we're starting some you know,
regional sort of gig thing, and or even you know,
tribute bands that I've performed with. It's, you know, it's
(28:14):
wonderful to get back on stage and kind of just
settle back into that old It's like, oh, there you are.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's like one of those things where I get to
kind of find myself in that space again. And yeah,
when COVID happened and all the projects I was working
on right all stopped from a performance perspective, we hardly
could even get in the space and practice. It was very,
very challenging and very disjointed. And I felt like, right,
there's parts of me that I'm missing that I'm not
(28:40):
able to express and explore and continue to kind of
fill my spiritual wells with with that aspect and component
of who I am, you know. And so now that
that's past, it's just wonderful to hear, you know, with
your example, that you're able to tour you know, two
one hundred and twenty gigs last year, and that you
got a fold to or of you know, both sides
(29:02):
of the ocean happening, and that's amazing. It's just wonderful
to hear that you're able to kind of pick it
up and keep going.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
And I can totally relate to what you're saying about
the spiritual element and the kind of magic that happens
between artists and performer. That's something I've talked about a
few times actually in interviews and so on. It's something
I talked about on stage. I remember when I when
I first started performing again after COVID, I cried, cried
(29:35):
on stage because I was just so overwhelmed by that
thing of finally getting to share music. It doesn't even
matter that's my music, but to share the experience of
music with other people.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yes, yeah, it well said, right, Yeah, it didn't have
to be Oh, I know, but I wrote this, you know.
It's it's it's like this decentral lizing of my ego thing.
It's like, I don't it doesn't have to be about
me at all. It's just that I get to be
this sort of vessel to help communicate it and share
it with everybody else and we all get to kind
of experience this.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Like, to me, that's that's what I love about it.
Speaker 9 (30:14):
Yeah, I mean I sang with the Chicago Children's Choir
for many years as a kid, and we toured all
over the place. Sure, and I still sing in choirs now.
I was doing tons of choral music all through the
month of December when I was at home, kind of
jumped straight into singing choirs again. And that's really magical too,
(30:37):
when you are part of this giant hole, you know,
and your voice is just one element in this huge
vocal sound.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Ye.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
And that's that's always been, you know. I think. I
think even if I couldn't for some reason, if I
couldn't go out and perform solo anymore, I'd still love
to sing with choirs, you know. That's that's just it's
so magical.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
That is, Yeah, And thank you for that reminder.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
It's I can kind of squirrel pretty quickly. It's like like, oh,
I have this idea, and then I should do this
and do this, and then all of a sudden it's
like wait, wa, wait what am I focusing on? And
then I'm spreadway too thin and I have too many
things happening and don't want to continue doing that.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
But one of the things I've always wanted to do.
Kittie is is singing.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's my cat does exact things. She says on my
side my door and sings at me while I'm talking.
But I've always wanted to get back into singing in
choires myself. It's something I love doing as a kid,
and it's something I did as a teenager and kind
of always meant to really find that.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
View or avenue again.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
And by the nature of my life, I've moved around
so much over the past, you know, fifteen years, that
I've never really been in one place long enough to
dig in long enough to find out. Okay, wait, wait, wait,
if I'm going to get into a choir, which where
where am I looking for that? So that's just this
thank you for the reminder, because I'm going to go
look for that and see if I can find one.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah doo.
Speaker 9 (32:08):
I mean it's meant to be really good for both
your physical and your mental health singing with choirs. Studies
have shown. There's an article in The Guardian, one of
the newspapers here and recently, which which immediately did the
rounds of all the political choirs around here. Everybody is
reposting it and sharing it on Facebook and stuff, you
(32:29):
know that apparently choral singing is just really really good
for you.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
No, I will take their word for it, because I
remember it being a very you know, just calming and
centering and therapeutic experience anyway, and just that also that
for me, it's also just a great opportunity to kind
of keep practicing also singing with other people on a
regular basis, because since again, since COVID one of my
(32:54):
favorite bands.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
This is I'm diverting back. A long time ago, I was.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
In a band where we there was a four piece
band and all four of us saying, and we had
a lead singer, but we would do a lot of
four part harmonies. Were super influenced by you know, bands
like Queen and things like that, and just love to
wanted to emulate, like how can we, I mean, we
don't have their vocal ranges or their ability necessarily, but
let's do us and let's figure out how we can
(33:18):
do that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And we just it was so fun.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I mean, singing those harmonies was one of the most
fun moments I recall, just being in a practice space
and writing with other musicians. But since really, since COVID
and you know, the inability to be in a practice
space with others or.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Not having kind of that dynamic.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Also, I would just imagine regularly practicing and singing in
a choir would be really exceptional for keep keeping my
chops up.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
As a vocalist, as well as just really that.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Whole listening component that has to happen when you're singing
with others in harmony, you know.
Speaker 9 (33:53):
Oh yeah, it's lovely. There's nothing like it. I mean,
I sing with my local church choir. I also sing
with the community choir called the Pipers Choir here in Cornwall.
And then there's a choir, a kind of an ad
hoc choir that gets together every year in Cornwall. We
(34:16):
call ourselves the Duchy Singers and we're mostly all members
of different choirs around the around the county, but we
do a performance of Handles Messiah for charity every year
and so and that's fantastic. I mean, the singers in
the pipe, the singers in the both the church choir
(34:37):
and the pipe pipers choir, it's kind of you know,
we all enjoy singing together. But there's there's a whole
lot of different levels you know of you know, it's
it's it's not it's not a high they're not high
powered choirs, whereas the Duchy Singers is a high powered choir.
Everybody in there, you know, can sing at a professional
level basically. And oh man, that is just so amazing
(35:01):
when when we when we do that that piece, we
just do that one piece of music every winter and
it's always packed, and it always raises money for a
different charity every year, and it's it's just a fantastic
thing to be able to do.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
It sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And any chance that's been recorded and released in some
capacity where the proceeds going to charity, that oh shocks.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Okay, that's hopeful. Now, that's that's that's wonderful. Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Well, so question on your on your upcoming tour. One
thing I want to circle back on with that is
and just kind of the touring you're going to do
this year.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Is this all solo acoustic or is this a with
a band or other instrumentation.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
It's all solo, but I play a bunch of different instruments,
you know, Okay, an acoustic guitars and keyboard and or
a piano. If there is one, I'm always happy there's
a real piano in the in the venue, and and
and I play a little bit of drum as well.
I'm bringing tom with me or a ractom in the USA,
and and and play play that a drum as well.
(36:07):
So I'm a solo performer, and I like it that
way because I think I think when you're performing solo,
you really really get that connection with an audience where yeah,
the energy is just all going back and forth between
you on stage and the audience in front of you,
Whereas if you're with a band, I mean that's there's
joy in that too, but but the energy is kind
(36:28):
of it's it's circulating around on the stage, and the
audience are more spectators, whereas I always feel like when
I'm doing the solo gig, the audience are really kind
of active participants in some sense. They're not just spectators.
They're necessary to the whole thing. I'm useless without them,
you know. So, Yeah, there's there's something really good about
(36:50):
about performing solo, which is why I've been doing I've
been performing solo for the last fifteen years now. And
I'm tour with my manager and sound engineer who's kind
of he's kind of like a band member who operates
from behind the sound desk. He's an essential part of
the process as well, and the whole you know. The
(37:13):
Saintbury and Sessions was all his idea, and he contributed
in a big way. That sounded that in the sense
that he was the one had the idea of doing
it in the church and putting putting microphones all around
the space of the sanctuary and and to really capture
the natural acoustic of the building. So one of the
reviewers wrote that the Saintbury in Sessions, it's kind of
a duet between me and the church, which I liked.
(37:37):
So that was lovely. That was lovely too. But yeah, yeah, no,
I always tour.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Solo, got it, And so having not again not seen
a performance and not knowing how you you pull that off. Solo?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Is it one instrument at a time or in for example,
I've played and toured with other artists where they're a
solo performer on stage, but they may be playing an
instrument and have some kind of not necessarily like the
rest of the band backing track, but another sort of
instrument or sampling kind of scenario where they can play
(38:14):
other sounds while that support what they're doing with their
instrument and their voice or is it just you're creating
it all kind of I mean analog, meaning just real
time you and the instruments you're using at the time
you're doing it.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
Well, we don't use anything pre recorded. I do a
little bit with live looping, okay, which which again Martin
controls from the desk end. But like, for example, I
do one song that has a delay effect that allows
me to basically sing a three part round with myself.
(38:51):
Nice where I start singing this song and then as
I'm singing it, Martin starts looping my vocal. It's no,
it's not a loop. It's a delay. I tell you,
it's not a loop. It's a delay, he starts. He
does uses a tap delay on my vocals so that
my voice repeats in time to what I am singing,
(39:14):
which produces the effect of a round or cannon. And
then there's another song where I actually set up a
drum beat and then play along with that. I play
a little bit of drum and he loops that, and
then I start playing the guitar again in time to
the Drum's great that I've just played. But it's all
done live.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
There's nothing pre recorded, nothing pre recorded? Cool? Good, good good.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Well, is there anything more specifically you wanted to talk
about that we haven't touched on related to last song?
Speaker 3 (39:49):
No, No, I think you know.
Speaker 9 (39:51):
I mean, it's funny we've gone all over the place
we started. We took the song with a starting point,
went everywhere, which I think is kind of good. I mean,
that's the whole ethos of your your podcast, isn't it
kind of take a song at the starting point and
see where that takes us. And I think we've done that,
which is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Cool, Well, then let's take a quick break and we'll
come right back to find out what you're working on
next and what you have beyond your upcoming tour.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Sound good?
Speaker 9 (40:19):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
All right, cool, everybody stay with us. Thanks, all right,
and we're back with Sarah McQuaid. We listened to her
song last song, and we've been talking about all kinds
of stuff for the past bit and now I want
to turn it back to you to Sarah Sarah, to
find out.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
What else do you have coming up besides.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I mean, I know you have an extensive tour booked,
you know from between the UK and Germany, Netherlands and
et cetera, and then into the US in twenty twenty four.
But is there are you working on a new record?
Is there something else creatively you're working on? I've seen
in the past. I think you've done some you know,
literary publishing maybe and or some writing in that space.
Is there any other kind of endeavors you're working on.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
Well, I'm working on writing some new songs and I
would like to make another album. What I'd really like
to do, and this is going to be my next
big project. Is I've been I've got this great, big
derelict garage or garage depending on what, next to my house,
and it's a wonderful It's a big, huge space and
(41:23):
contrary to a lot of garages or garages, it's got
a it's got a high ceiling with a pitched roof
at a skylight. And I when I look around that space,
I think it would make the most amazing recording studio.
And I really love the idea of having a studio
next to my house that I could just walk into
(41:44):
and record and use that it's kind of working space
to work on music as well, you know, and have
you know, especially if I could kind of you know,
have PA set up and recording equipment set up so
I could go in and play things like keyboard and
electric guitar and you know, and to hear them how
they're gonna sound when I'm playing them on stage, and
(42:07):
really rehearse stuff, and also write the material and write
them material using different instruments, and and maybe you know,
who knows, maybe even be able to do the odd podcasts,
you know. And I also I also started during lockdown,
I started making some instructional videos, you know, how to play,
teaching people how to play stuff. Because one thing we
(42:29):
haven't touched on. I use this tuning all the time
on the guitar, both acoustic and electric guitars that I
play all the time, and the dad GAD tuning the
D A D G A D instead of the A
G G B E, which is it's alternative tuning. And
and I started making these how to play videos during lockdown,
but it was really tough to try and get everybody
(42:50):
in the house to be quiet. I think the cat
made her away onto a couple of years. So so yeah,
I just have the stream of having my own recording space.
But the first thing I got to do is clear
everything that's in there out, which is which is not easy.
(43:10):
And and then I'm going to have to do it's
going to need a new roof because the roof leaks,
so that's going to necessitate some kind of a big
crowdfunder project. So so that's my next So it may
take a while to get it going, but I have
been sort of gradually working on a few new songs,
and I don't really like to push songwriting too hard
(43:34):
because what I found with my last two albums, my
last two albums of new material to the dig Any
Deeper album and Walking to White with both of those albums,
because I've been touring like crazy before before making the albums.
At the point when I actually booked the studio time,
(43:55):
I had a whole load of half written songs and
nothing finished. And then I went, okay, right, got to
finish songs, and I sat down, you know, gave myself
kind of a couple of months to sit down and
finish all those songs. And with both of those albums,
what I wound up with was a really coherent body
of songs that worked really well together. In fact, I
(44:16):
felt like they were almost kind of song cycles both
of those albums and was walking into White. What I
did actually was I went out and played the album
live for the first half of every gig for a
while after I had recorded it, because I just loved
the way all the songs worked together and and kind
of had a trajectory of their own. So so for
(44:37):
that reason, even though I've I've got you know, a
whole all these voice memos, written songs and notes with lyrics,
I haven't worked too hard on trying to make sure
that sure they're you know, on trying to round them
out in flash Mountain to finish songs, because I want
to do that. I want to give them time to
(45:00):
kind of just take properly and then sit down and
finish them all all together so I can write each
song with with reference to the others and think about
how they were going to work together as an album.
And gosh, it would be so much easier to do
that if I had that recorded recording space ready. So
so lots of lots to think about and organized, but
(45:22):
it's it's And I also want to do some co
writing as well. I did some well, you know, I
made a whole album co written songs that I co
wrote with with Zoe who you've alluded to previously. English
kind of she had a hit, massive hit single years
and years ago, which you know, it was like, it
(45:43):
was like a top top five chart hit. Every time
I mentioned every time I mentioned it on stage in England,
everybody goes, ah, I'll remember it, not so much in
the States that she she she did tour in the US,
I think, but not she wasn't a massive hit there
the way she was here. But anyway, I really love
(46:05):
co writing. And I've also co written with a wonderful
Irish singer songwriter called Jerry Byrne, and I'm hoping to
meet up with Jerry when I go over to Ireland
on tour in April and maybe sit down and do
some co writing with him as well, because I find
I find there's something about co writing with somebody else
that it kind of, I don't know, it kind of
(46:25):
becomes a sum is greater than the parts kind of thing,
where where ideas come to you both that you may
be that would have would never have come to you separately.
So I'm really excited about doing that as well. And
and uh oh, I've just I've just recorded some backing
(46:46):
vocals for a friend of mine's album, so that's that's
fun too, and I'll be I'll be really happy when
that comes out. So yeah, all kinds of things in
the pipeline, but mostly I'm just looking forward to getting
out and touring good.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah, absolutely, no, that's great, And thank you for mentioning
the dad gad tuning. That's near and dear to many
of my friend's hearts. They use that often. I stumbled
upon a different alternate tuning that I just figured i'd
share with you that I thought. I found it kind
of an accident, and it turned out to be really cool,
even though it doesn't sound like it would be, but
(47:21):
it was d G d G B E, so it's
dropped D and then I dropped the A to G
and then the voicings of the chords that come out
of that to me were it was like what is this?
And it just kind of That's what I love about
playing in alternate tunings, is that also just sort of
transforms like ooh, this is a whole new instrument now,
you know, and I have to kind of refigure out
(47:41):
how some things are and find these new voicings of
things and it's really fun.
Speaker 9 (47:45):
But I just check it out and again, because you've
got all those d's and g's, you're gonna have a
lot of what you have in Dadgad, which is the
whole sympathetic resonance thing. Yes, yes, you know with the
d that there's there's there's tons of skull for all
kinds of nice little accidental harmonics to come at music
there and you get this big, rich sound, So I
(48:07):
can imagine that must be lovely.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yeah, yep, you know it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
But Sarah, thank you so much for coming along again
to talk about the song, last song and everything you've
shared about what you're working on, what's coming up next,
and all the things you're involved in. It's been wonderful
chatting with you. I wish you the best on your
upcoming tour that you have booked and look forward to
catching you, you know, somewhere in the United States when
you come here next fall.
Speaker 9 (48:32):
Thank you so much, Brett. It's been really lovely chatting
to you, and I hope you meet in person in
these days.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Sarah free Crows Sad Breakdown.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
All right, and that up another episode of the B
Side Breakdown.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
I want to thank Sarah McQuaid for coming on to
talk about her song Last Song. I also want to
thank the AMB team for the music you're hearing in
the background called Chin Ramp two that comes from the
legendary scape video search for Animal Chin. Thank you Powell
Peralta for giving me permission to play this on this episode.
I also want to thank Adam Coolong and Carry Bosel
for helping me put together the jingle you hear at
(49:23):
the beginning and the end of this episode. Up next,
we have Adam Woods from the band Oakview talking about
the song Blossom. I'll give you a sample of that
here in just a minute. Please subscribe to this podcast
wherever you get your podcasts. Stay safe out there, and
we'll catch up on the next one.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Thanks.
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