24 Août INTERVIEW – Hannah Grae talks about her future, the industry and the daring Wednesday at Rock en Seine

Meet a very promising artist.

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Sound of Brit: You’re scheduled to perform today on a day when the spotlight is totally on female artists! That’s a very rare thing, so does it give you extra motivation? We’re well aware of your commitment to feminist issues.

Hannah Grae : It’s true that I’m a bit tired! Indeed, an all-female programme. I think that’s very strong, especially for a rock festival. It’s really cool. And it’s also great to see everyone supporting each other backstage.

SOB: You’ve been in Paris for a few days now, so you’ve had time to relax after this crazy summer, and tonight is your first date in France, isn’t it? How are you feeling? Stressed? Excited?

Hannah Grae : In fact, it’s the second! There was Cabaret Vert recently. It was great. Are you excited about being in Paris? Yes, I am. I’ve only been here once before and that was for Disneyland! So I’m delighted to see Paris.

SOB: In April you released the superb Hell Is A Teenage Girl, which we loved. Do you have any other releases planned for the future? Or a continuation of your tour with dates in theatres including France, for example?

Hannah Grae: I’ve got some new music coming out on Friday. It’s sort of the first single of the new era. I’m really looking forward to it. I think the next couple of months are going to be really busy and I’m really excited. So probably a mini album. And, after that, I hope there’ll be a proper album. And, obviously I love being on stage so I’m hoping for more dates yes.

SOB: You started your career very young, and we know how hard the music industry can be, especially for a young artist. Isn’t the pace too intense? Do you feel under pressure? Everything’s happening very fast for you…

Hannah Grae: Yes, that’s true. Everything moves very fast and I feel that sometimes I have to stop and take the time to digest everything. I’m grateful for how far I’ve come, but I have a very good circle of people around me and I feel that if I’m overwhelmed or stressed, I have people I can turn to. I think that’s changed a lot in the last two years. I think if you’re lucky, you have more time to make music. But there are places where you can go to talk about it.

SOB: How do you go about recording? Do you start by writing the lyrics? Your songwriting is reaching more and more people.

Hannah Grae: Oh, that’s a good question. I come to my producer with a subject, a theme. And he plays guitar for an hour. We find the right atmosphere, then I sit in silence for an hour and write the lyrics, then we build the song from there.

SOB: Could you tell us how many people tour with you? Musicians, technicians… We don’t always realise how many people there are!

Hannah Grae: Yes. There are seven or eight of us. But it’s a small team. There are four of us in the band. There are three musicians on stage with me. Then there’s my tour manager and my sound engineer.

SOB: Do you have any little rituals before you go on stage?

Hannah Grae: I like to have 20 minutes before I go on stage, in a room by myself, to prepare my voice. And I also take time to finish my crochet!

SOB: Do you have time to see other artists at festivals?

Hannah Grae: Yes, I love seeing other artists. I think I’m really lucky to be able to do it so regularly. Tonight there’s Billie, of course, who I’ve already seen because we’ve had several festivals together. There are artists I’ve seen several times, but I may never see them again.

SOB: We’re a website with a lot of small artists. Do you have any younger artists that you think should be given more consideration, that we could discover and talk about?

Hannah Grae: There are quite a few artists, I suppose the same age as me. I love Nieve Ella who’s playing tonight too. She’s incredible and deserves recognition. She’s brilliant.

You can read all about our first day at Rock en Seine just here.