Interview with Emma Moore
Last week we posted a review of Emma Moore’s brilliant new album ‘Pilot’ (read it here) and today is the release day! To mark the release, we had a chat with Emma yesterday, asking her about the album.
Hi Emma, How exciting was it to head into the studio and record an album?
It was mind-blowing. To hear these incredible musicians playing songs I’d written in such an amazing room was everything. You can’t walk into the live room at Parr Street Studios and not get shivers, the musical history seems to hang in the air and it’s incredibly inspiring. It was a very special two days that I’ll never forget.
Tell us something about the writing of ‘Pilot’. Are all the songs new ones, or are there some which you’ve been dying to put on a record?
There’s a good mix actually. ‘Tired’ is the oldest track on the record, followed by ‘I Don’t Know’ and ‘Alone’ and those last two are some of my favourites. ‘Tired’ was about a year old when we recorded it, and then you have a track like ‘The Bottom Of The Bottle’ which was written three days before we got in the studio! We had plenty of songs, but when I’d written it I loved it straight away and when I sent it to Justin (Johnson, my amazing producer) he agreed straight away it should be on the album. Eight out of the ten songs were written by myself, and I had the pleasure of co-writing with another Belles and Gals favourite, Liv Austen on a track called ‘I Will Say Yes’. The last track on the album ‘Why Don’t We Lie’ is the only track I had no hand in writing, it was written by the super talented Gary Thomas and Amy Westney.
The album launch party was on Wednesday night. How did that go?
I’m still getting over it! I had the absolute best night of my life, and I’m so grateful to everyone who was a part of it. The audience were phenomenal, even demanding a completely unprepared encore! (A solo, acoustic rendition of my first single ‘Girls Should Do’.) The band were sensational despite having barely any rehearsal and I had three brilliant artists starting the night for me – Lauren Davenport, Thorne Hill and Gary Quinn. The crowds reactions to the songs just got bigger and better throughout the night, and in the two stripped back acoustic numbers you could hear a pin drop. I’m getting shivers just thinking about it.
The first time we came across you was when you posted a YouTube clip of ‘Paper Roses’ on Twitter, a song you had written just the day before. How surreal is it that the song is now on the album?
It’s honestly a little bit crazy! I really like that the album track isn’t totally different from that original demo too. It’s such a beautiful story, and I’m glad it was one of the songs we decided to keep stripped back.
The team at Belles and Gals absolutely love the song ‘Alone’. Talk us through that song!
I went through a time of hating sleeping because I would constantly dream about people I missed from earlier times in my life, and as I started writing I found that really sad. I’d also had the opening lyrics (It’s no surprise that I dreamt of you last night ’cause I fell asleep playing our song.) written down in my trusty notepad for a while and the two ideas naturally became a break up song. It’s been a popular song since I started playing it live last year so I’m really glad it made the album.
We’ve heard there’s been some confusion about the title. Can you let us in on why you named it ‘Pilot’?
Absolutely. I’ve had so many pilots and aviation companies follow me on Twitter and Instagram – it’s hilarious! It genuinely smile every time it happens though. The title track almost a homage to my love of T.V. dramas. I’m a complete binge watcher and Grey’s Anatomy in particular has seen me through a lot of things! I love that every show starts with a pilot episode, and when it’s made no one has any idea if it will get picked up, run for one season or ten. No matter how long it lasts, or what happens in it they all start the same and have the possibility to end anywhere, just like a new relationship. As soon as we’d decided to record that track I knew it was the perfect title for my first album, my pilot episode if you will.
Tell us where we can download or buy ‘Pilot’?
