Erin Bennett is an award-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist from Ft Worth, Texas but makes her home in Scotland.

Her first band Syren was formed with notable musicians Amada Smith-Skinner on bass and Jo Heeley on drums, which grew a following within its first year of touring. Unfortunately, in 2011, drummer and Erin’s wife, Jo Heeley was diagnosed with breast cancer which took her life in January 2012. 

Erin won Songwriter of the Year at the Scottish Music Awards in 2012 for the song ‘Never Give Up The Fight” which she wrote in Jo Heeley’s memory.

Syren (with a new line-up) played their final show in 2014, and in 2015 Erin released her debut album “ReFlowered” as a solo artist.

Erin Bennett built a new band, The EB Band, comprised of former members of Rockbitch and local talent to launch her new prog/rock album, ‘Post Sexy, Post Truth’ (release date November 2017).

On November 14, 2017,  Erin spoke to me about her new album, her tour, The EB Band, and women in Indie Music.

Congratulations on your new album, ‘Post Sexy, Post Truth’. Explain the story or concept behind it. 

 Thank you very much! Bit of a long answer, so here we go:

All of the songs on the album share the same general subject matter which is that of someone who is really fed up. I got to a point within myself where I was seeing how I was, who I was, how I reacted to different situations…how I always find myself in tense situations because of the decisions I’ve made. And I just got really sick of it. Sick of myself. I realised that it costs me nothing to change and be the person I wanted to be, rather than the person I had become due to my conditioning up until that point in my life. And within that, I realised that most of my perceptions of myself were born out of insecurity and feeling worthless and that’s just not a great place to be. So in the songs on the album, I’m literally talking to myself, or at least that half of myself that spends its time and energy reminding me how shit I am…and basically, I’m telling it to fuck off.

The album name ‘Post Sexy, Post Truth’ is the umbrella concept under which all of the songs sit.

We’ve wonderfully come to a place where people can be more sexually free than ever before, BUT, the act of expressing that sexual freedom is still looked at with suspicious eyes. Feminists seem to be chomping at the bit to flay a woman for being comfortable with her body. I get a lot of shit because of what I wear on stage and at the end of the day my attitude is this, ‘I’ve got big tits, I’ve got big thighs. They’d still be there if I wore jeans and t-shirts on stage, but I feel sexy wearing skirts and crop tops so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.’ True equality, (if that is even what people want anymore) is about everyone being able to be themselves and no one being ‘greater’ or ‘less’ than anyone else for doing so. So in some ways, in my opinion, hardcore feminism is creating the gap it supposedly works so hard to bridge.

And none of what’s being fed to them is the truth. You have two opposing political groups feeding their agendas into everything you see and hear and whoever screams the loudest wins the minds of the masses and look at where its landed us! No one thinks for themselves anymore, they wait to be told what to like, what to wear, what music to listen to… And when presented with a hard truth, an uncomfortable truth, it’s easier to ignore ignore ignore and then post selfies on facebook showing how ‘amazing my life is really is…’ What I’m expressing in my album is something true. Something real. This is REALLY what I’m going through and I KNOW I’m not the only one.

Wake up, basically.

You recently mentioned on Twitter that you are working on music videos and photo shoots. The music video for the new single ‘Tension’ really rocks! Who is producing your music videos? When will the new ones be released? Are the photo shoots only for the album or also for promotion?

Ah, yes! Tension was great fun to shoot. It was filmed and produced by Art Attack Films. I’ve worked with them for pretty much all of my videos even dating back to Syren days, simply because they work WITH me on the concepts for the videos. I give them my ideas and then they work their magic to make it happen. We’ll be filming the video to our next single ‘Two Folds the Pain’ within the next couple of months. I really look forward to that one because the song is so angsty and tense. It’s exciting to be able to put that across in the video.

We are doing a photo shoot for the album and I’m sure some of those will be used for promotion. We’ve been through a massive ‘re-brand’ as a band. Our sound has changed, our look has changed and our energy on stage is ramped up. We’re heavier…grittier… So it’d be great to get some studio shots that capture that.

You’ve just toured the UK to launch ‘Post Sexy, Post Truth’. What has the response been like?

The gigs have been great! It was more a ‘warm-up’ tour than a promo tour. But still, it’s been amazing. Our live set now is made primarily of songs from the new album. We released a few singles over the course of the last year to warm people up to our new sound and we’ve had really positive feedback from it.

Having said that, live, we’ve always been a bit heavier than on our records. So people are less surprised to hear the real ‘head down’ rock that we’re playing live nowadays. It’s the main reason for recording the new album the way we did. We recorded it live all in the same room together so that we could really capture that energy of a live performance. We really don’t want much of a difference between our recorded and live sounds. I guess so that people know exactly what they’re going to get when they come to a gig.

We’ve had a lot of press reaction in the UK off of the back of the gigs we’ve done so far and some pretty good gig offers have come through as well. So the band and I are all really pleased with the package of ‘Erin Bennett & The EB Band’ at the moment.

 You have an exciting new band for 2017 comprised of local talent and former members of MT-TV and Rockbitch. Can you tell us how that came about?

Indeed! Well, the band (who have affectionately named themselves ‘The EB Band’) have played with me since the beginning of recording ‘ReFlowered,’ except for Kittie who came into the fold last year. Officially upon getting all of them together, the record label was trying to push me as a solo artist and keep the musicians who played with me as more of a ‘backing band.’ But that’s a really difficult thing for me to want to try to stick to, not least of all because I’m spending every waking moment with these people; in rehearsal, in promotions, in the studio, on the road and they’re really family. The idea that I get on stage and never turn around and interact with them is just like betrayal almost. I love being in a band. And while they still push me to the front, the label folks are a lot less intense about it these days. So because of that, we were able to focus a bit more on the EB Band’s history as musicians. Some of the guys come from an incredible background, having been in Rockbitch back in the 90s. I mean, there’s nothing to prepare you for world touring and the pro’s and con’s of fame like being in a band like that.

Because they’ve been friends of mine for many years, recruiting them back in 2013 when I was in need of great musicians and real stability as a budding new artist, seemed the best possible move for me to make. Our drummer, Anna on the other hand…well, we nicked her from a University in Edinburgh when she was finishing her BA in Popular Music. Many people had their eye on her because she’s one of the most technically skilled drummers out there, but WE got her. mwah ha ha…

On your current tour, did you play any MT-TV and Rockbitch songs? If so, how did you decide which ones? If not, do you think you will in the future?

Unfortunately no. Not that I am against the idea at all. I’m a HUGE MT-TV/Rockbitch fan and know every song they’ve ever done by heart. But it boils down to the fact that I try to avoid covers where possible, period. Also, Julie of Rockbitch who’s now writing and touring with her EDM outfit, ‘Krow and The Electric Temple’ is one of my biggest influences as a singer and absolutely one of the best vocalists on the planet. I’m waiting for my feet to grow before I ever try to fill those shoes. 

When you play a show, what do you want to deliver to the audience? What do you want the audience to feel?

First of all, I want people to be sucked in by the music.

I want people to be able to forget about all the shit that’s going on at home or at work, or with their everyday lives and get lost in the layers of music, passion, show, and energy. I want to bring people back to when music was a refuge- a safe place…not just background noise whilst you check your email or update your bloody Twitter. Apart from that, I want the audience to feel free to be themselves and express it.

You’re an experienced road warrior having played an incredible 200-gigs-per-year tour in the US and Continental Europe in the past. Do you have any plans to tour extensively for this album?

Absolutely! We’re going to be doing an acoustic ‘in-store’ tour in music and record shops around the UK early in 2018 interspersed with full-band gigs at various festivals around the UK. There are talks of heading back to Europe but I pretty much just go when/where they tell me. I’d love to go back to The Netherlands. So *fingers crossed*

It would be nice to go back to the USA to tour again…but that takes a crapload more organization and funding so we’ll see where we go with that, but I think it’ll be something to aim for.

You’re booked to play at Planet Rock’s Winter’s End in February 2018 supporting The Amorettes. How exciting is this for you? Do you think you could be a headliner next year?

Playing Winter’s End is going to be awesome. I’m looking forward to it a great deal. The Amorettes are a really cool band from a town not far from where I live. I really like their in-your-face rock and I’m excited to see them live. JoanOvArc are another band I look forward to seeing. As for headlining, it would be nice, and of course, I would if asked. But all I really care about is playing music to people- the details of when don’t bother me too much.

 Your music trek has been from folk rock to pop/contemporary pop to the current hard rock/progressive sound with The EB Band.  Can you explain this evolution of your sound over the years? 

 Ha! Yeah, it’s kind of funny. With Syren back in the early 2000’s we were primarily folk/rock with a bit of country-ish, blues in there. That basically just happened because I was from Texas and that was how my songs always wound up sounding. Though I was and still am influenced by no end of different musical genres…think I’m a blues girl at heart. Jo and Mandy (in Syren) added their almost ‘prog-rock’ virtuosity which toughened the sound up a bit. It was that that made us appeal to the likes of 60s rock bands like Hawkwind.

In 2011 I worked with a couple of DJ/Producers for a re-working of an old Kosheen track called ‘Hide U’. We collaborated on a few songs and these guys (Darren Bailie and Ronen Dahan) sort of helped me understand the formatting of a ‘pop song.’ So I took that knowledge and added it to what I already knew, wrote hundreds of songs over the course of a year or two and got ‘ReFlowered.’

The label made it intentionally a little bit more ‘poppy’ than how it was written because, again, at the time I was meant to be a solo artist. And it was great! I’m very proud of that album.

But at the time I was suffering from severe depression and going through a bereavement and never felt that I put 110% of my potential into the songs- in terms of writing.

So in 2016 feeling finally like I had my head above water, I stepped right back and took in the bigger picture of myself, my music, and as I mentioned before, I got a little grumpy with myself. I felt there was a lot I missed because of the experience of depression and felt that it had affected the type of person I was and that was transmuted in the songs I was writing. When I stuck the 13 demos of the album songs together in a playlist it was shocking just how homogenized the sound was. They were all in the same vein of rock and I don’t think I’ve ever written an album this uniformed. For me, it seemed okay to let the music go down the rock route because live we’re always so much heavier. It made sense. For myself and the EB Band, it meant that we could get away with more musically than we had been able to in previous tours. We wrote some pretty expressive segues that tie each song together live and it helps to really paint a picture.

Explain your production process when you record in the studio.   

Well, it’s pretty routine. I’ll write a song on my own or with the band and record it after we’ve played it a million times. My producer Finn and I spend a great deal of time understanding the song as if it was like a little person, you know? Understanding what it’s saying, where it’s coming from and then thinking ahead to stuff like, ‘Well who is our demographic and who should we produce for?’ Once we’ve worked that out, he’ll come up with a draft and then we’ll massage it together from there. We work wonderfully together and he’s really helped me get used to being produced and letting my songs go. I mean, I’ve produced some songs myself before, but being the songwriter can sometimes cloud your judgment in a business sense. I used to struggle a lot with the loss of control…it felt like someone was taking a puppy I just birthed myself and was slicing it to bits right in front of me. haha…More often these days, we produce in rehearsal either as we write or as I’m presenting a new song to the band. And we don’t stop until its done.

When did you start playing guitar? Did you teach yourself? 

 I must have started properly when I was 13. I was given a guitar by a relative when I was 9 to shut me up because my sister was in lessons and I was jealous. haha But apart from an ‘A’ chord I couldn’t play it. My first instrument and love were the drums. I built myself a kit out of buckets (before it became trendy) and just loved every minute of it. Eventually got an actual drum kit and you couldn’t tear me away from it.

But already at 9 years old, I’d written my first songs. I’d memorize the melodies and words and just sing them acapella. The thought of adding music to them (apart from drums) seemed too far out of reach. So, I never got around to picking the guitar up for writing until 13. I got one of those books of chords and starting teaching myself rhythm and practiced changing from one chord to another until I was quick enough to throw three chords together into a tune and then write a melody over it.

I never bothered having lessons, mostly because my family couldn’t afford it and by the time I started working and earning my own money I’d come far enough in guitar that my songs were totally fine without me needing to know the difference between Phrygian and Mixolydian mode. I’ve sometimes regretted not having had lessons, thinking I’d be a better player but I’m not interested in being a guitar god\I’m interested in playing stuff I love.

Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with in the future?

There are lots of great artists both known and unknown that I’ve met and would love to work with. But if we’re talking ‘dream collaborations’ I’d absolutely LOVE to do some stuff with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. Even if we were just recording ‘Kumbaya’ for the Ultimate Campfire Compilation album…haha…To be able to watch those two work and be a part of the process would be a dream come true. 

An In Depth article from 2013 said women in their 20s were changing indie music by their dominance, especially in indie pop. It’s now 2017. What are your thoughts on this?

I’m not sure what its like over in the US at the moment, but it’s been a real uphill struggle for women in music in Britain. It seems the only place for women in music here is in pop. It is slowly changing though with all female or female fronted bands of other genres popping up all over the place. And yeah, I think women in rock, in particular, are unapologetically in your face. We have to be, otherwise, the British music press won’t listen. They don’t listen anyway, but they certainly won’t if you’re quiet and just waiting for Mr. Record Company to come to your gig.

Its one thing I miss about the USA is that every state has hundreds of radio stations, magazines, and clubs catering to music lovers of every genre. There’s more space in the US music industry. In Britain, the scene is so crowded. The biggest percentage of bands and artists in the industry is made up of headstrong boy bands struggling to be the next Biffy Clyro or Ed Sheeran. There’s no space for the smaller percentage of bands made up of females. Also, Music press in Britain seems to be in bed with the major record labels and if you don’t sound like someone they’re already reviewing or spinning, you just aren’t going to get a look in. AND if the public doesn’t hear from the major music press that they should listen to your music, they aren’t going to do it. People are too scared to take in something new. They’re too scared to invest in something they don’t know…It’s why its important for bands to stick together and support each other – share fans, share events and help each other up that hill.

A New York Times article said that women in indie music are making the best rock music today. What do you think? 

Yes, I read that article and listened to the 25 bands it listed. In my mind, indie and rock have always been two different things. But I don’t want to get into genre wars…you’re either good, or you’re not, right? I don’t believe that female ‘indie rock’ is necessarily the best rock. It’s just the style of rock that is gaining the most press. Right now, grungy, feminist, punk, pop is infinitely saleable because we live in a society where everyone’s a fucking feminist. So if the New York Times prints about feminist indie rock in their papers, everyone’s gonna buy it. But if you look at female ‘hard rock’ acts like The Amorettes, like JoanOvArc or The Courtesans (I could list a million) you will see a totally different side to rock that The Times isn’t looking at because this music exists for itself. Not to back an agenda.  Don’t get me wrong, some of those bands in that article are great! But if the New York Times says that purple trousers are what’s in, people are gonna suddenly start wearing purple trousers whether they look good or not.

DISCLAIMER: I am a HUGE advocate of women in music. I will always support women in music. I will always throw my weight behind a female band. But I won’t support someone just BECAUSE they’re female. That’s not fair. And I refuse to give in to this ‘Post Truth’ culture that suggests that these types of bands are shaping rock because the New York Times says so. They’re not. And in that statement, I don’t care if you’re female, male, gay, straight or from another fucking planet. If you write songs like ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Hotel California’, ‘Living on a Prayer’ or ‘Barracuda’ I’d say, you’re writing some of the best rock music today! If not, you aren’t the best rock artist. You’re another artist working to become the best. And I include myself in that.

(I need to get a less heavy soapbox to carry. haha)

How can women musicians in indie music be supported so they get more recognition?

Well, women in any genre outside of pop (where women are the preferred gender,) all need support. We need music press to stop looking at what its comfortable with and take some risks. We need music buyers to try something new. I remember back in the day when people would just trawl the internet looking for music they’d never heard before. No one seems to do that anymore. And we need women to really band together and support each other.

 I mean, there are 12.6 million women living in Texas. If every single one of them bought my record, I’d be set for the rest of my life. Puts it into perspective, doesn’t it?

You are from Texas but currently, live in Scotland. Is there something about the music scene that drew you there?

Oh good lord, no! haha. Whilst I do LOVE Scotland, I came here back in 2010 to mix an album I was working on with Syren. It was while I was here doing just that my civil partner and Syren drummer, Jo was diagnosed with and died of breast cancer. I had a strong group of friends here (some of whom would later join the EB Band) that really helped me through it and I think by this time I’d settled into living in the UK. As well, professionally I had a better chance musically here since Syren had been based in Europe for so long. So going back to the USA wasn’t really an option.

What was it like to win the Songwriter of the Year at the 2012 Scottish New Music Awards?

Really humbling. The song was ‘Never Give Up The Fight’ written in Jo’s memory. So it was a very personal song. And to win an award for something that was that close to my heart was very overwhelming. I get asked this question a lot and every time it’s almost like vertigo…’Oh my god, yeah! I won. Shit.’…haha…so it’s still new, even though it was 5 years ago.

What advice do you have for young girls and women who want to be musicians or are currently pursuing a music career?

Follow your heart and passion and don’t give up. Don’t give in to negativism. And don’t be afraid. Do your thing! And

Most importantly, support your fellow women musicians! You might meet new people and opportunities because of it, you might learn something you never knew. And that’s priceless.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview you.

No, Thank YOU for the opportunity to answer! I truly appreciate it and hope to see you at a show in the future!

 

Find upcoming tour information, music, and more on Erin’s website: www.erinbennetmusic.com

Follow Erin on Twitter @ebennettmusic and Facebook: ErinBennettMusic