Hiya Sophia Garvey, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
I’m from near Manchester originally but grew up in Dubai and Singapore. The first time I ever thought about doing music was after saving up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers greatest hits album and begging my dad for a guitar. I’d been singing in a school band and the teacher bloody loved em. The passion was there, the first thing I ever wrote tho, was awful. It was summat about the birds and trees and the world crying while really it was the guitar I couldn’t seem to play. I was feeling edgy at the time so the guitar was this massive glossy black one from amazon, which an ex annoyingly later took. I absolutely love playing guitar now and I’d like to hope I’m a lot better.
What’s the biggest thing you hate having to do to showcase your music?
Nothing; I love it all- the chaos, the late nights and highs and lows. I find comfort in the excitement of it all. One day I’m in the studio with a legend, the next I’m licking milk from a bowl filming a video, so cheeky and so worth it. The nights you roll out of band rehearsals and meet new friends, who become fans of what you’re creating together, that feels consequential. I do have some more questionable moments in music that are as equally gross as they are appealing. I won’t lie, scranning a rotisserie chicken, lemons n loads of bananas on a music video shoot wasn’t easy. The chicken was cold n dry, and all my wonderful extras fought their way through in the name of music. Gosh what a day that was. If you haven’t seen it, treat yourself to the music video for Too Hot to Leave by er, me of course 😉
What are your ambitions for your career?
Is world domination too cheeky to say… And also a brand deal with Adidas if it’s not too much to ask 😉
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
It looks like they r ready for me.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Celebrate every win, no matter how big or small, and don’t forget where you came from.
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, The Entitled Sons, Black Honey, black honey, and of course The Happy Mondays- how can I not be listening to Shaun! He’s on my new track… oh so cheeky
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
I tried to throw some of my tattoos into the crowd once at my gig at the O2 academy in islington, and I really missed. PE was never my strong suit. After days of prep, and trekking around East London looking for tattoo paper, I spent ages carefully printing n cutting them out, a proper labour of love and I couldn’t wait to give them away.
Ready to unleash them on the world, on stage, it turned out I was too far away from my darlings for it to ever have gone well, alas I tried. The tattoos left my hands and flew with such a force I felt a flicker of hope before they dropped so quickly to my feet. Diabolical really. I giggled though and said “well I guess you’ll be seeing these later.” I mean, I was almost cool for at least one second. The gig was insane tho. Such a good turnout. I was wearing my corset n leopard print boots, the drinks were flowing and the crowd was loving it. A night to remember for sure.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
Omg yes! My new track – Ur Just a Man, has just been released. And i’m so proud of it.
A couple of months ago I decided to email Shaun Ryder’s management and offered him a deal, so generous how could one say no?
Chips n steak, a vape (flavour of his choice) and a stella (or two) if he was lucky. He said yes. We then spent a day in airtight studios in Manchester getting the vocal down with Saedna and I was loving every second of it.
The song itself is ferocious. It’s cheeky and volatile and oh so catchy. I feel like I was writing a mantra because after all … he’s just a man. Its 3 minutes and 18 seconds of pure filth, tongue n cheek humour and Shaun Ryder demanding a Stella.
BBC introducing said “it’s got the pace and power of an early arctic monkeys track” and tbh i’m still sitting here smiling and kicking my feet in happiness. What a compliment.
It’s also part of a series taken from a snapshot in time. I’ve written about heartbreak, desire and people who stab you in the back and yet somehow you still have love for them. I perhaps overshare but at least you can’t call me a Coward 😉 (Coward is the next single btw!)
I wrote Ur Just a man about the types of men you’d really call boys. The ones who behave like grown men should know better, but somehow still manage to leave you questioning whether ur dealing with a man or a particularly badly behaved child. The ones who watch the manosphere documentary and Take notes.
You mention the manosphere. Whats been your experience with it?
Ur just a man is a song about my experience with it but I’m not preaching, I’m taking the piss. It’s a 3 minute takedown of the male ego- funny filthy and aware of how much trouble it’s causing. If if offends you then you are what I’ve written about. The manosphere was always going to be an interesting topic for me. I wanted to see how quickly the ego reacts when poked with a stick.
In the run-up to the release, i decided to turn my social media into summat of a social experiment. I was deliberately playing with the male ego to see how quickly a joke, statistic or deliberately provocative post about male behavior could turn into a full-blown debate. The reaction was exactly as expected: outrage, arguments, threats and a lot of angry men with misguided anger. It’s not all men tho, and that point was proved too with some men agreeing and jumping to my defense- live laugh, loved it
So you offered Shaun Ryder chips and steak, a vape (any flavour) and a stella… but which flavour did he pick?
Tobacco. I said, “not even a cherry ice?”
Whats coming next?
I’ve got a cheeky single coming soon… it’s called Coward. It’s a confrontation, with a kiss.
We all love to hate, why hate to love? There’s a cheeky music video too. Think chaos on the M11, kidnap n feral behaviour. We couldn’t have picked a worse day to film it tho. I think it was the hottest recorded day ever and we kept going between a hotel room and a little red car. Big up Lotti for driving up and down all day. Honestly had such a silly time filming it and some great outfits- corset island never lets me down!!
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