Carrianne Hayden is one of the many musicians/actors that have made Liverpool their home after finishing at L.I.P.A. She has contributed to the ever burgeoning and diverse music scene in Liverpool and has a distinctive voice that has the ability to send appreciative shivers up and down the spine as each note she plays grabs the listener in ways they never thought of.
Hailing from the Worcestershire town of Bewdley, Carrianne spent time abroad recently in which to stock of what she had achieved and where she was going musically. Now back in Liverpool it seems there is no stopping this talented and friendly musician. I was able to catch up with her at the University of Liverpool radio station as she prepared to perform a number of songs including the incredible Run Rabbit Run.
Hi Carrianne, are you enjoying the year so far?
“It’s been lovely, a bit hectic but in a good way. I am much happier being busy.”
If we jump straight into the year ahead, you have a very busy February coming up with the night at Camp and Furnace.
“Yes it is another of our Village Nights which I run with Greta Bech of Clean Cut Kid amongst others things and we set it up last year basically in an attempt to embrace all the independent industries going on in Liverpool as well as music obviously. We didn’t want it to be just solely a music night, we wanted to encourage the independent traders in Liverpool because there is an abundance of them at the moment and they are all wonderful people so that was the idea behind it.
Camp and Furnace is this wonderful independent business as well and they have been fabulous and they have just embraced the idea and encouraged us to put it on and have now booked us through to the end of the summer. This particular night is on the 16th February.”
You went away for a little while, how do you find the music scene in Liverpool since you have been back?
“There seems to be a lot more of a buzz about the music scene in the city at the moment, it seems to be taken a little bit more seriously. I think that may be down to a few bands which have been making it onto Six Music recently all at once, so you have got Stealing Sheep and All We Are are doing something a bit different. Stealing Sheep are all lovely girls and I just adore All We Are, I adore them as people and I love what they are doing musically and I love their videos. In fact I am about to appear with some of their friends in their next video. The video for Trainspotting with its Film Noir is perfect and they have done another one since then for the song Card House which is a very catchy song. They have just got a very laid back style, very catchy songs.”
How would you describe your own music these days?
“Oh you know, (laughs) I guess Indie-Pop-Blues if I have to pick genres but I always think it is quite hard when you are writing songs to put yourself in a specific genre because I just write what I feel at the time which can be very different. My influences are a massive spectrum of music so I can’t really ever stick to one genre really.”
When I saw you support All We Are at St. Brides Church in 2012 you seemed to have evolved quite dramatically in the space of a couple of years as singer/songwriter from those first times I saw you live.
“Yes, I think that’s down an awful lot to confidence because when it is just you and a guitar, which I made the decision I had to be prepared to do and not always rely on a band being there, it’s quite an intimidating experience especially when you are writing songs that are very personal to you and I think I really struggled to present myself…I am not a person that goes look at me I am amazing (laughs), I don’t really ever feel that in myself. It is quite a challenge for me to present myself with confidence but I gave myself a bit a kick up the arse and said if this is what you are wanting to do then you had better get doing it. That I think is the main difference, that and having a bit of a break musically definitely helped as it made me step back and look objectively at everything.”
This is when you went travelling abroad?
“Yes, I did that thing that everyone does (laughs). I went down the West Coast of America to begin with, mainly because I have friends there and also all the national parks, nature and great music scene in their cities and then went onto Central America which was just another world entirely, third world countries really and it really does make you appreciate what you have got. I cannot think of a better way of saying it, it really does make you appreciate it. I travelled into Mexico and through Central America and into Panama. After spending the last couple of months before getting to Panama in places like Guatemala, Panama feels more developed but it felt more intense for me, it was like a big dirty city but after being in places like the Caribbean Islands it was a bit of a wake-up call. It was an experience because you walk across a lot of land borders and as a girl it was a bit of scary experience. If I could choose a place to go to right now, I would head straight to New Zealand.”
Do you think that experience changed you in anyway?
“Absolutely! For one it made me realise I’m a person who is surrounded by amazing people and live in a country which you can achieve what you want to achieve, it’s very open minded. Just as a woman actually the fact that I have a say in anything compared to that part of the world made me realise that was the case here 50 years ago. Not that extreme you know but the difference is amazing. The fact that I can play music for a living is just…well I am very lucky to do that. It made me look at my life differently and made me realise I missed things whilst I was away and that I have a good life to lead. If I just wanted to keep running away I would be a little bit more concerned. First of all it re-kindled my love of Liverpool, I do love this city but I had kind of forgotten why I loved it. I just felt as though I was chasing something all the time and really forget why I loved playing music all the time.”
What got you into music in the first place?
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t into music. I was just always singing as a kid, dancing around and well…annoying people (laughs) and then I started writing songs when I was about 14 but didn’t tell anyone because I thought it might be seen as a really embarrassing thing to want to do. You know if I was like I want to be a pop star (laughs) and people would go that’s silly.”
What is up next for you?
“Well…whoever really knows, especially in music but in the immediate future I have gigs coming up supporting The Dutch Uncles on the 8th February at the Kazimier which will be a lot of fun and their new album Out of Touch in the Wild has been released and that really is good fun to listen too. It is a full band gig for us in a stripped back set.
Ian D. Hall