Interview: Natalie McCool

I am not alone here today. It's my pleasure to post an interview with Natalie McCool. She is talking about her journey to music and her point of view about social networking. I had fun! I hope you'll like it too. :)

Long-Distance Q&A

LOMW: It’s my honour to have you answering this Q&A for LOMW. To make things

clear, I am asking from Greece and you are answering from where exactly?

NATALIE: Hello! I am answering from Liverpool, NorthWest UK!

LOMW: On April 15th you had the release of your debut album, which is going out
under what name?

NATALIE: The album is eponymously titled, so that means it is just titled by my name

‘Natalie McCool’.

LOMW: After I liked your page on Facebook, I've noticed that as your Hometown

you have “London/Liverpool/The World”. Why have you filled it like that?

NATALIE: Because I am based between Liverpool (my ‘home’) and London, and also

because of the internet and social media I can reach out into ‘The World’
too!

LOMW: YouTube is a huge community and you have there your own channel. I

couldn’t help but notice the great sidebar with links that lead to your own
stuff. Do you believe that people are familiar enough with these things?

NATALIE: Yes I think it’s really easy for people to find other videos you have on

YouTube, if someone likes a video, they can then find out about / watch
more.

LOMW: Since I see how many URLs relate with you and your personal information,

I have to ask, do you think that the music-world is a better place with
internet?

NATALIE: Yes I do because people really idolise their favourite bands and artists, and

the internet has created a direct channel between the two. You can
communicate direct with people, your fans can find out all about you and
your music. I like to read up everything I can on artists / bands I love, and
the internet has made this possible!
Also I think you can really give something back to your fans if you have
your own Website, Twitter, Facebook, a mailing list – you can give fans
advance listens of new material, extra material like photos / lyrics etc. I
think it’s great.

LOMW: 

How easy is to begin your own journey to music from scratch?

NATALIE: Well my dad used to play blues guitar when I was young, and from having

lots of guitars around the house I just started to pick them up and play. Then
I played guitar all the way through school and college, and got into
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) with guitar as my first
instrument. So before I started singing and writing songs, I played guitar,
which I think inspires my songwriting a lot.

LOMW: After you finished your studies at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts

you made it to the BBC. How cool is that?

NATALIE: Yes I did a live interview at the BBC Radio 2 studios in London. That was

when I released ‘Fortune’ which is a track from my debut album. It was an
amazing experience, talking live on the radio and then listening to myself
back was surreal!

LOMW: What kind of hints would you give to other musicians like you in order to

have success?

NATALIE: Be really good! Perform in front of people as much as you can, practice a

lot, write lots of songs…those are the things I would start out doing.

LOMW: Under a more personal note, what thing does inspire you the most and get

you into song writing right away?

NATALIE: I like to write about relationships between people most of all, and I like to

challenge people. The songs I am most proud of writing are the ones I wrote
when going through some sort of emotional catalyst. I also think it helps you
creatively when you’re going through a really hard time, I never want to
write when I’m really happy; and I think that is true for most
artists/songwriters.

LOMW: Recently, I’ve listened to Daughter, covering Daft Punks’ “Get Lucky”. The

outcome is like from outer space. Why do you think musicians like to cover
songs?

NATALIE: Haha! I think musicians are inspired by so many different types of music,

not necessary the music they make, and it’s good to take a song you love
which may not originally be in your style, but to then make it your style.
My band & I did this with 2 tracks from the Drive movie OST – ‘Nightcall’
by Kavinsky and ‘A Real Hero’ by College feat. Electric Youth. A link to
the video on Youtube is below:
http://youtu.be/RtpAVTPJaJQ

LOMW: Which song would you like to cover the most, why and how would you

cover it?

NATALIE: That’s a hard one – we really love our cover of ‘Nightcall’!

I did a cover of ‘Wondrous Place’ by Billy Fury – who was a singer from
Liverpool in the 1950s / 60s, which I changed the feel of a lot. I used a delay
pedal with a warp effect to get a ‘drone’ on the root note, and then sang the
whole song over the one drone. Here’s a link to the video on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/iIrMtzqgCnQ

LOMW: This was my first interview ever. It felt really good for me! I hope it did the

same for you too. Before we call it a wrap, I’d like you to salute the Greek
audience by using a Greek word...(Google-Translate is allowed and “Copy-
Paste” too).

NATALIE: 

Σας ευχαριστούμε Όμορφοι άνθρωποι!

Natalie McCool-Dust and Coal

You're the star and I watch you burn
I'm the moon on a different turn
You're so full but I feel so old
You can't spark desire upon dust and coal

Slowly turn separate ways
Fitful night, comes each day
And as we dissolve, there comes a crack in the wall
Take hold of my hand, and pull me through the shame of it all

I'd rather never see you again
Set fire to the ship than let you be my friend 

You're the star and I watch you burn
I'm the moon on a different turn
You're so full but I feel so old
You can't spark desire upon dust and coal

I won't be carved in stone
Beautiful flesh and bone
I can't stand looking at you through a veil
Let go of my hand, can't you see we're top and tail

I'd rather never see you again
Set fire to the ship than let you be my friend

Than let you be my friend

You're the star and I watch you burn
I'm the moon on a different turn
You're so full but I feel so old
You can't spark desire upon dust and coal 


Here are some of her links:
Buy Physical CD Album:
http://hubrisrecords.greedbag.com
Buy iTunes Album:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/natalie-mccool/id616675909
Natalie McCool Official Site: http://www.nataliemccool.co.uk
Like Natalie McCool on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nataliemccoolofficial
Follow Natalie McCool on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nataliemccool
Watch Natalie McCool videos on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/nataliemccoolmusic