Hiya Judas Goat & the Bellwether, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today, grab a brew and take a seat.
Introduce us to you all and your musical history.
Sara Vian is a singer/songwriter currently living in the arty town of Frome in Somerset. She studied Access to Music in Bristol and released her debut EP in 2016 followed by her debut album in 2017.
Pete Vincent is a guitarist, bassist and composer living in Yeovil who has been playing in bands since 1990. His biggest claim to fame was being in the band “Christmas” with Rob Ellis, drummer and co-producer on a number of PJ Harvey albums.
Sash (electric guitar/shrewti) is currently living in Westbury, Wiltshire and Scrivo (bass) is in Trowbridge, Wilts; they have been working together for about 25 years on different projects!
We met Stefan (drums), who is currently living in Bath, at The Climates Film Fest where he was supporting the winner, Scott O’Hara and jumped in to support us last minute too as our drummer wasn’t free!
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
“I was working in telesales in Bristol and my life became so soulless I started reading lots of self-help books to find a way out and they enabled me to identify that my passion was/is music, so after losing my sister in a car accident at age 23 and realising I spend 5/7ths of my life at work, I decided life was too short and took a risk on focussing on my dreams, joined a band and headed off to music college.” – Sara
What’s the live music scene like in Frome and Yeovil right now?
Lots of people in bands in Frome; Yeovil could do better culturally but there are lots of open mics starting up now.
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you of course)
Jacob Harley is the former frontman of Swindon band, Concord Drive and is now signed to Long Tale Recordings who are managing him and he’s set to release some new music very soon; he also opened for Afro Celt Sound System in Exeter in October!
Sue Harding is a rising folk singer on the circuit. Her new album is coming out in May 2025.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. Whats your view on the industry?
“After finishing college and releasing my debut album in 2017, I became aware of the oversubscribed poverty in the industry unless you’re signed by a commercial label, so decided to put music on the backburner whilst focussing on my day job (personal assistant), which luckily ended up flowing into the music industry this last year or so, supporting Sue Harding with her album launch and managing the office for a music publisher.
I then went on to study an “Artists on Mission” course which helped me reframe things and align my art with good causes and social justice, which has given me more meaning and value rather than being just another artist in an ocean of artists getting paid a pittance.” – Sara Vian
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
Emerging indie artists.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you.
Sara has a cat called Timothy and jammed with Peewee Ellis; Pete has a silver medal in clay pigeon shooting.
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture?
No comment! People might take it the wrong way…
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not why not?
No. We choose trust instead of fear.
What was your best experience on stage?
“My most enjoyable performance so far was at my debut album launch party in 2017; filling the room with a large live studio audience and broadcast on Frome FM. I had a full band and the sound was exquisite, thanks to local legend Will Angeloro, which enabled my voice to soar.” – Sara
“My favourite memory is of playing at The Croft in Bristol with a previous band, Spidireen; the sound was exquisite from a legendary sound engineer whose name I can’t remember unfortunately.” – Pete
What was your worst experience on stage?
“I played at a friend’s wedding and my trousers split mid-song!” – Pete
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Sara is in a PJ Harvey tribute band with Sash and Scrivo. Pete went to the same college as PJ Harvey. Scrivo was a roadie for the Subhumans.
What are the next steps you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?
“Next level? Hmmm not sure but we do have another single ready to go which we’re aiming to release at the beginning of December” – Sara
I hear you have new music; what can you tell us about it.
“Ghosts in the Sand” was released on to all streaming platforms on 1st November 2024. Recorded at Goldcroft Studios in Yeovil, Somerset and co-produced by Vincent and Vian, it’s a captivating track exploring the haunting theme of purgatory, weaving together strangely attractive melodies and poetic lyrics which delve into the liminal space between life and the afterlife.
What was the recording process like?
“Recording at Pete’s home studio was divine; he accidentally created the right conditions for my vocals to fly and so when we tried to record it professionally we couldn’t recreate the same conditions so we ended up going with the demo version and poor old Pete had to learn the art of the mixing and mastering before the release date!” – Sara
“The recording process itself was very relaxed and natural because at the time it was just a first recording of the rough structure with guitars and vocals that we had literally just worked out in the back garden 5 minutes prior to so there was none of the usual red-light fever and worrying about the meter running on studio and engineer time. Then it was just a case of laying down the bass, harmonies and piano parts.
As far as mixing and mastering goes the vocals required very little treatment; only a case of balancing the volume of main and harmony tracks and applying reverb/compression to smooth out the peaks (No autotune or EQ required here).
I wouldn’t say I am that happy with the guitar sound and the overall mix all the way through, but due to the timescales and lack of knowledge of the whole mixing and mastering process, it kind of had to be what it was and at the end of the day the vocals and the end section were sounding great to our ears (although am regretting the amount of reverb on the last line of the chorus leading into the playout).
All in all it’s been a learning experience and I realise now that my next investment should be a pair of decent neutral monitoring speakers and a good book on the art of mixing and mastering!” – Pete
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
“It’s been pretty easy as far as composition and lyrics are concerned as we tend to harmonise pretty well; it was more challenging during the mixing and mastering process as mentioned above.” – Sara
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
We hope you love/buy our music and want to come to our gigs!
FOLLOW THEM HERE
MORE RGM NEWS HERE
📸 CREDIT – JASPER IMPEY