q&a: secondhand heart

Describe your sound in five words or less.
Melancholic blues-infused pop rock

Was there a particular moment or artist that made you want to pursue music when you were growing up? Who were your early influences?
There was never really a particular moment. I’ve always wanted to pursue music, my dad’s a blues singer and I have memories of mum and dad playing together at night as I was growing up, I was very influenced by what they listened to – lots of Beatles, Finn brothers.

What are your other interests/passions?
Hula hooping, Languages, learning languages, photography, music festivals, music festivals in different countries like Japan’s Fuji rock – such a beautiful festival, pretty much anything creative.

Who do you most admire?
I can’t single out one person, I have such beautiful family and friends and they all have qualities and ideas I admire, my hero is definitely Jeff Buckley though.

Greatest achievement to date?
Personally – learning to speak French. Living a year in another country without knowing the language is one of the hardest but most rewarding things I’ve ever done, we’re in the process of recording one of our tracks in French ?

Musically – completing our debut EP in August and playing it to a sold out crowd. It was such a beautiful vibe, very heartwarming and humbling.

A song I wish I wrote is…
Anything by Radiohead or Jeff Buckley – more specifically Jeff Buckley’s ‘Lover you should have come over’ or Radiohead’s ‘Everything in it’s right place’.

I couldn’t live without…
My telecaster and my cat Dali.

The best advice I ever received was…
Look to those who inspire you and create your own path.

Do you think the music industry treats female musicians differently to male musicians? Do you think it’s more difficult for women to establish themselves?
I think not, it’s about the music that is created and how they perform that establishes a musician, not their sex.

Secondhand Heart have a residency at the Evelyn Hotel every Monday night in November – be sure to check out one of their remaining shows on the 21st or the 28th!