C2C Interview with Clara Bond
Clara Bond is one of our most featured artists here at Belles and Gals and it was fantastic to see her return to C2C this year. We caught up with Clara this weekend for a chat!
We’d like to start by congratulating you on being invited back to C2C after your performance last year. How did you feel when you got the call/e-mail to say you’d be playing again?
We got an email just before Christmas. I was really surprised actually. I kinda thought last year we just got really lucky, but I’ve been so excited and have been really looking forward to it for the last few months. The first day hasn’t disappointed!
Last year was a busy one for you, building on your success of your ‘Out of Towners’ E.P. You must look back at that release with great pride?
Yeah I do actually. I guess like every artist, I have things that I would have changed about it, different things I would have done with production or a different vocal performance. But I am so proud of it, because it was such a labour of love, everyone involved in the E.P. is someone that I love. Everything was recorded in like sheds, bedrooms and boat houses, anywhere we could find. We made something we’re really proud of and I know everyone who worked on it was really proud too.
We saw you tour last year with Wildwood Kin as well as support slots with the likes of Lindsay Ell. They must have been great experiences?
Absolutely amazing! That month for us was so utterly busy, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way. We went from supporting Wildwood Kin and we had to say, ‘Can you just drop us off in London?’. The Wildwood Kin girls are just the nicest girls, I mean, they are some of my best friends. Getting to do that and to see how far they’ve come and also be a part of it and support them was just the best experience! Lindsay Ell is just amazing and she’s a sweetheart, which was another amazing experience.
How did it all start for Clara Bond? Have you always wanted to be a singer?
I’ve definitely always wanted to be a singer. I remember my brother, whose a couple of years older than me, coming home and saying ‘Oh god, you’re singing, I can hear you from the gates. Shut up!’ I even applied to Stars in their Eyes when I was like six!
As who?
Leanne Rimes (laughs) Yeah, that happened! Didn’t get in. I’ve always wanted to be a singer but I didn’t think it was something I could do, I just thought it was a pipe dream. I went to a school to study something else that would have put me behind a desk, but I didn’t want that. I thought I’m just gonna give it a go – I don’t to ever be sitting around thinking I didn’t try. Yeah I want to be a singer, I don’t to be an astronaut!
If you could go back in time and give your 16 year old self some advice, what would you tell young Clara Bond?
Stop dying your hair black! I would say drink more water, do some more lunges and don’t let people take advantage of you.
If you had to pick a highlight moment of your career so far, what would it be?
I think honestly it’s a combination of C2C last year, the tour with Wildwood Kin and playing with Lindsay Ell. I couldn’t put one above the other. I don’t see it as one individual event, I see it as a big movement in my career. And one of the best things that has happened to me honestly, is meeting the guys in my band. It really feels like it’s not manufactured music, we get together and just play what comes up. I’m a massive fan of music that was made in the 70’s and 80’s, the way that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers made their music – that’s how I want to make mine. I don’t want to sit in front of a laptop – I want to sit therewith a guitar and play it terribly. And see what comes up!
You’re hosting a fantasy dinner party, which three celebrities do you invite?
Dave Grohl and Tom Petty. As a good host you have to invite people who all know the same topic. So they all have to be musicians and we need a girl – Maren Morris! She’d get the good Tequila!
Interview conducted by Nick Cantwell (twitter.com/nickbelles_gals)
