I sat down with Birmingham’s answer to Banks to talk about finding her sound, going to LA and what she owes to Labrinth.
Hi Camden, how’s 2015 been for you so far?
It’s been a big one for me. It’s all been kind of been leading up to this year really. I signed my publishing deal, which is what I’d been working towards and I’m hoping that the record deal comes before the end of 2015, which would make this year even more huge.
What’s your earliest musical memory? Do you come from a musical background?
I remember dancing to Enya when I was really tiny and I think always knew I wanted to be a singer of some kind. I’d thought about doing theatre or even classical but I grew up with my Mum blasting Drum & Bass and House music at home and my Dad used to drum, so going to watch him at gigs really inspired me. As I got older I realised electronic/bass music was what really spoke to me, but I still wanted to keep it quite commercial.
You’re currently being managed by 37 Adventures. How did that relationship come about?
There was a point when I was really trying to establish my sound and always knew deep down that I wanted it to be some kind of crossover between Garage, a bit of Drum & Bass, quite Poppy but still sounding very authentic. I didn’t want it to sound like a manufactured pop song, I wanted it to have grit. For a long time I was working with producers, seeing if they could grasp that sound for me when I was shown some music from a guy called Great Skies. I instantly thought “wow this is it, I have to work with him”. His manager turned out to be Lauren, who was able to get me in a session with him quite quickly and we wrote a really cool song together. After that Lauren and the 37 team decided to take me on too, which has been amazing.
How do you approach songwriting?
About four years ago I was about to go off and sing on a cruise ship when I had a massive change of heart — I decided that I had too many of my own stories to tell and that I wanted to write. I owe a lot to meeting Labrinth, who gave me a lot of pointers on how to go about the process. I started off by writing lyrics and poems to try and see if I could convert them into a song, and he helped strip it all back to something raw.
Tell me a bit about the track you wrote with 30 Ducks
I find I get my best melodies from vibing off the drum beats and synths. I didn’t come to the session with 30 Ducks with the concept already there but the words “running out of reasons not to” had kept popping into my head for some reason and in the end we decided to go with it. The track’s about trying to weigh up reasons whether or not you should be with someone and ultimately about taking the risk and just going for it.
Have you had any moments where you’ve really had to pinch yourself?
Definitely. I’ve had them almost every day for the last few months. The music’s just completely come together now; everybody that I’m working with and everything that I’m coming up with are exactly how I envisioned them to be. I’m in a position where it’s becoming a job now, which is what I always dreamed of. I just want to immerse myself in it 100% without having to have any other committments. Then obviously the LA trip is coming up and I’m just absolutely buzzing.
Yes, LA is going to be incredible! What are you most excited about?
Sunbathing! No, I’m just really looking forward to being around people that have the same passion as me and being able to live and breathe music for two weeks straight.
Any future projects that you’re working on at the moment you can tell us about?
I just want to get this record deal signed and then I’ll be free to announce some stuff. At the moment it’s all a bit under wraps, we’re trying to figure out how to move forward with that and the new team. It’s all looking really positive and exciting though.
It definitely is. Thanks Camden.
