If there are any English tabloids that make you ignore the kind of rebelious, post-hippie, glam-folk music that Beth Jeans Houghton creates and make you think of her as a barely grown-up girlfriend of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' leader's, it's because those tabloids only focus on the buzz that they are trying to create themselves. The young musician from Newcastle agreed to talk to us since she plays a show in Paris. Despite of the stereotypes, the communicative and open-minded singer told us about her love to Los Angeles and her band's debut album.
How do you feel now, a few hours before introducing Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose to the Paris audience?
All right! We played in France last year and it was great. Lately we've been seeing a lot of different people coming to our shows, it's very exciting to see how they react to the songs. Last July, we were warned before the concert - we were told that it might be difficult to please Parisian people and we could be easily booed, but it turned out to be the opposite. So we're not that scared about tonight. You know, if you go up on stage with a positive attitude, it's going to be okay.
Tonight's show is a part of the Les Femmes Festival. Is it important for you to participate in events that are about manifesting the women's presence in the world of music? Do you think it is harder to be a musician for a woman?
No, I actually think it's easier for women. If a girl thinks it will be harder for her than for a man, it will be that way. If she doesn't, it will all go well. Personally, I've never felt like a woman or a man on the inside. I don't mean that I feel like I'm a man, but it's just that sex has nothing to do with music. If you want to live your dreams, you should be above that. People come to see a band they like, not a girl or a boy. But you know, I live by that rule even when it comes to my friendships or business. I think sex does not affect me, but it's nice that there's this kind of events out there.
Is it easier for you to be in a group of men then?
Oh yes, I don't doubt it at all! It's funny, because for my whole live, I've always gotten along with guys better. High school was like hell, it was a bitchy environment full of people insulting others and suddenly I just stopped hanging out with guys, who never had anything to do with that. I changed because I bought a book that made me think of girls as nothing but guineafowls (laughs). I guess I should mention that I do have a few female friends. I just think it's easier to work with guys. I'm not an orderly person and I don't mind people burping around me. I also don't usually wear make up - I wear it near girls though because of being scared of not being able to fit in - so I can go jogging with them.
You released you first album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose this year. Can you tell us more about the title and what we can expect from it?
It's a collection of songs describing everything I've been through so far. One of the songs is more than 6 years old, while Franklin Benedict we wrote in the studio. I actually find all of these songs pretty old because we finished the album two years ago. They now have a whole new meaning because I've changed since I was sixteen, so I'm no longer interested in the things I used to be interested in. I wrote Veins when I was sixteen about my first real boyfriend. At the time, it seemed amazing and it always got me excited when I played it. Now when we play it, I think "Oh my God", but then I remember I was just a kid. When I'm on stage, I try to connect those old songs with the things I just saw, I try to see a bridge between my old feelings and actions and the present. I can't wait to release a new album and feel in tune with the songs I play.
So are you writing for your second album?
Yes, I write even now when we have enough material. I've been writing for it since June.
Will it come out faster than Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose?
Yes. But you know, we just released the album three months ago. If we hadn't had any technical problems - my manager being sick, me trying to record an album before signing a contract - it would have been released two years ago. I think it should go much faster with the second album.
For the last two years, the media have been following you. How do you explain that?
It's a complete mystery to me! I didn't do anything that would encourage people to talk about our group. We just kept focusing on our EP and writing for the new album. We traveled the U.S. and UK without making a big deal out of anything, so I really don't know why it is so.
Your gigs, just as your music videos, involve dressing up. Is it important to you?
Yes. I grew up listening to psychedelic music of the 60's, 70's. It was a time for experimenting and more artists like Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart started noticing that the visuals had been missing before. So I want to try to be a part of it.
When you talk about Los Angeles, you often say it's important to your music and to you. Can you tell us more?
It's quite funny because I never wanted to live in London. I thought it was too big, there were too many people. Los Angeles is five times bigger (laughs)! At first glance, it's the palm trees and the beach, the idyllic side of the city full of sun. But it is much more than that, it is a reduced model of the world. You can go to the sea or the mountains or the desert in less than two hours. The food is great, the music scene is fantastic. California is less than 200 years old and everything is new. Anything is possible. I also love that little retro-cheesy side of it, the motels, the diners. You can walk around and come across a movie set. This is a fantastic place where you can live your dreams. It's magical. And it's full of cracked people! Not as much as San Francisco that's totally insane, but there's a guy who thinks he is Jesus and spends his days on Sunset Boulevard (laughs)!
Would you and your band move to Los Angeles?
We would if we could. I was asked if I wanted to go there to take my career to a higher level, but even if I go there, it will not open me up to more possibilities. I love this city and I want to enjoy it with the people that I love. I need to enjoy my life first, and my career will follow me anywhere I go, so I want to do it for myself. We're considering recording the next album in Los Angeles.
Where did you get this constant need for creativity?
I am a child of the 90's, so growing up I felt a huge crative void. I was born in 1990 and when I started listening to music, I turned to the 60's and 80's and I decided that's what I wanted to do. Around me, there was only R&B and autotune. Depressing! In addition I grew in Newcastle. This is a great city for kids, I loved growing up there, but then you come to a point when you realize it's a small town, far away from everything. But it gave me the desire to escape, travel, see California. I'm not sure I would have wanted that if I had grown up in London or Manchester. Or in Los Angeles, because I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed that city in the same way. I'm happy to participate in anything that doesn't involve money. I can live frugally and I'm happy about it.
What can we then wish Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny?
All my musicians have their papers to work in the U.S., we can leave in November. We just want to continue our co-location, making new music and creating the second album. And we'd also like the produced we've chosen - who almost said yes - to agree to work with us.
How do you feel now, a few hours before introducing Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose to the Paris audience?
All right! We played in France last year and it was great. Lately we've been seeing a lot of different people coming to our shows, it's very exciting to see how they react to the songs. Last July, we were warned before the concert - we were told that it might be difficult to please Parisian people and we could be easily booed, but it turned out to be the opposite. So we're not that scared about tonight. You know, if you go up on stage with a positive attitude, it's going to be okay.
Tonight's show is a part of the Les Femmes Festival. Is it important for you to participate in events that are about manifesting the women's presence in the world of music? Do you think it is harder to be a musician for a woman?
No, I actually think it's easier for women. If a girl thinks it will be harder for her than for a man, it will be that way. If she doesn't, it will all go well. Personally, I've never felt like a woman or a man on the inside. I don't mean that I feel like I'm a man, but it's just that sex has nothing to do with music. If you want to live your dreams, you should be above that. People come to see a band they like, not a girl or a boy. But you know, I live by that rule even when it comes to my friendships or business. I think sex does not affect me, but it's nice that there's this kind of events out there.
Is it easier for you to be in a group of men then?
Oh yes, I don't doubt it at all! It's funny, because for my whole live, I've always gotten along with guys better. High school was like hell, it was a bitchy environment full of people insulting others and suddenly I just stopped hanging out with guys, who never had anything to do with that. I changed because I bought a book that made me think of girls as nothing but guineafowls (laughs). I guess I should mention that I do have a few female friends. I just think it's easier to work with guys. I'm not an orderly person and I don't mind people burping around me. I also don't usually wear make up - I wear it near girls though because of being scared of not being able to fit in - so I can go jogging with them.
You released you first album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose this year. Can you tell us more about the title and what we can expect from it?
It's a collection of songs describing everything I've been through so far. One of the songs is more than 6 years old, while Franklin Benedict we wrote in the studio. I actually find all of these songs pretty old because we finished the album two years ago. They now have a whole new meaning because I've changed since I was sixteen, so I'm no longer interested in the things I used to be interested in. I wrote Veins when I was sixteen about my first real boyfriend. At the time, it seemed amazing and it always got me excited when I played it. Now when we play it, I think "Oh my God", but then I remember I was just a kid. When I'm on stage, I try to connect those old songs with the things I just saw, I try to see a bridge between my old feelings and actions and the present. I can't wait to release a new album and feel in tune with the songs I play.
So are you writing for your second album?
Yes, I write even now when we have enough material. I've been writing for it since June.
Will it come out faster than Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose?
Yes. But you know, we just released the album three months ago. If we hadn't had any technical problems - my manager being sick, me trying to record an album before signing a contract - it would have been released two years ago. I think it should go much faster with the second album.
For the last two years, the media have been following you. How do you explain that?
It's a complete mystery to me! I didn't do anything that would encourage people to talk about our group. We just kept focusing on our EP and writing for the new album. We traveled the U.S. and UK without making a big deal out of anything, so I really don't know why it is so.
Your gigs, just as your music videos, involve dressing up. Is it important to you?
Yes. I grew up listening to psychedelic music of the 60's, 70's. It was a time for experimenting and more artists like Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart started noticing that the visuals had been missing before. So I want to try to be a part of it.
When you talk about Los Angeles, you often say it's important to your music and to you. Can you tell us more?
It's quite funny because I never wanted to live in London. I thought it was too big, there were too many people. Los Angeles is five times bigger (laughs)! At first glance, it's the palm trees and the beach, the idyllic side of the city full of sun. But it is much more than that, it is a reduced model of the world. You can go to the sea or the mountains or the desert in less than two hours. The food is great, the music scene is fantastic. California is less than 200 years old and everything is new. Anything is possible. I also love that little retro-cheesy side of it, the motels, the diners. You can walk around and come across a movie set. This is a fantastic place where you can live your dreams. It's magical. And it's full of cracked people! Not as much as San Francisco that's totally insane, but there's a guy who thinks he is Jesus and spends his days on Sunset Boulevard (laughs)!
Would you and your band move to Los Angeles?
We would if we could. I was asked if I wanted to go there to take my career to a higher level, but even if I go there, it will not open me up to more possibilities. I love this city and I want to enjoy it with the people that I love. I need to enjoy my life first, and my career will follow me anywhere I go, so I want to do it for myself. We're considering recording the next album in Los Angeles.
Where did you get this constant need for creativity?
I am a child of the 90's, so growing up I felt a huge crative void. I was born in 1990 and when I started listening to music, I turned to the 60's and 80's and I decided that's what I wanted to do. Around me, there was only R&B and autotune. Depressing! In addition I grew in Newcastle. This is a great city for kids, I loved growing up there, but then you come to a point when you realize it's a small town, far away from everything. But it gave me the desire to escape, travel, see California. I'm not sure I would have wanted that if I had grown up in London or Manchester. Or in Los Angeles, because I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed that city in the same way. I'm happy to participate in anything that doesn't involve money. I can live frugally and I'm happy about it.
What can we then wish Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny?
All my musicians have their papers to work in the U.S., we can leave in November. We just want to continue our co-location, making new music and creating the second album. And we'd also like the produced we've chosen - who almost said yes - to agree to work with us.
______________________________________________________________________
Consider the fact that English is not my mother language and neither is French. There may be a lot of serious mistakes.
Translation: bjhandthehoovesofdestiny; if you want to post the article on your website, remember to give me a credit and let me know
Author: Claire
Source: Sound Of Violence
Date: May 3, 2012
Original article: HERE
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