Josephine Sillars- Interview International Woman's Day #6

Words by Craig Carrington-Porter

To cap off the week for International Woman's Day, I sat down with our very own Joesphine Sillars and spoke to her about moving to Leeds, her week in perspective talking to other female artists and what she has planned for the future.

Q:2019 was a big year, with your songs gathering more than 13,000 streams on Spotify and over 30,000 streams for your song Skeleton. How does it feel to have so many people listening to your music?

A:It’s a weird feeling! It’s very humbling and nice to see. I think the reason that Skeleton did so well is that it actually got a reddit thread dedicated to it after someone complained about me being booked for Belladrum last year! They made comments on Belladrum’s facebook page about not wanting a feminist musician to play and then the internet came to my aid and supported me via reddit and twitter. So yeah, that was really, really lovely and I’m glad people are enjoying the tune.

Q:You've recently moved to Leeds, how does the music scene compare to that of Glasgow or Edinburgh?

A:Leeds is honestly very similar to Glasgow in many ways. Lots of venues, lots of things happening and there’s a really good attitude surrounding the music scene here.

Q:With International Woman's day having come and past, what did you do for the day itself?

A:I was working actually! Yeah, sorry to be boring but I wasn’t able to do anything in particular to celebrate - other than getting the interview questions ready for the wonderful musician’s we’ve been speaking to this week at Undercurrent HQ.

Q:What words of encouragement could you give to other female artist wanting to get a foot hold in the British music scene?

A:Just! Get! Out! And! Play! I feel like a lot of female musicians feel the need to be absolutely perfect and 100% at the top of their game before they start playing - and while there’s a lot to be said for dedicated hard work, I feel like a lot of male musicians feel entitled to live spaces even when they’re not necessarily at their best. Women should be in those spaces too because we need more representation to encourage younger generations. Women should also be able to make mistakes in music without feeling like their entire career is over. So my words of encouragement are just to get out there and play, even if you don’t feel ready. Chances are, you will be and who cares if you're not.

Q:Speaking about the music industry in the UK, what do you think could be changed to better promote gender equality in the industry?

A:I think that the people at the top of the industry, promoters, bookers etc need to be the ones to make the most change. It comes down to an unconscious bias a lot of the time unfortunately - men at the top of the music industry just aren’t thinking about women and about other gender identities. They’re not being purposely sexist, they just don’t have the ability to think about the larger social issues because of their own social contexts. Take Geoff Ellis’ comments surrounding TRNSMT about there simply not being enough women for them to book. I honestly think the reason he said that is because he literally isn’t seeing any women in his immediate circle. It’s a dominant culture in favour of men in the music industry and I think a major was to better promote gender equality in the industry is to have more women in industry positions. Having another perspective in the key roles that can make or break bands is vital in promoting gender equality.

Q:What have you got planned for the upcoming year?

A:I have a few things coming up! I am recording in April and planning to have some new music out in June. I’m writing a lot at the moment, and hopefully by the summer I’ll have enough new music for an EP and an album underway by the end of year. Writing wise, I’m very excited about my new music but recording is going to be very much dependant on funding, so watch this space! Either way, I’ve dropped my band name as well - The Manic Pixies are no more. This decision came with my moving to Leeds. I feel like the Manic Pixie Dreams very much encapsulated my sound while I was living in Glasgow and with my music developing, I’m going back to just ‘Josephine Sillars’ to focus on a new sound. I have so much love for all the musicians I played with in my time in Glasgow, but I feel its best to leave the name in the past and go back to just my name for the time being. So yeah, new tunes coming soon!