In preparation for supporting Ellie Goulding on her European tour, Chloe Howl gigged at three small venues in England.
We caught up with her at The Joiners in Southampton.
Hey Chloe, how’s it going?
I’m great thanks!
Is this the first time you’ve been to Southampton to gig?
No, I remember the exact day, it was April 12th last year – it was my first ever gig as ‘Chloe Howl’. It was at Unit.
And this is the final of the three warm up gigs?
Yeah, I played in Manchester on Wednesday and Nottingham yesterday.
You are off to support Ellie Goulding on her European tour next week; you must be excited?
Yeah, I don’t know, it’s quite weird because I’ve had a band change so I’m a bit nervous. They will be the biggest shows I’ve ever played, so I’m a bit scared.
Have you met Ellie before?
I briefly met her the other day at the Brits nominations launch. I shouldn’t be allowed at these things because I just cause trouble. It was being filmed live and I was just getting in the way of the cameras and blocking everyone’s exit and entrance. I met her as I was being pushed through a door.
You have also supported Bastille and John Newman; that must have been pretty cool?
Yeah, at the time the Bastille shows were the biggest shows at academies and stuff so that was pretty mad. They have crazy fans, so adoring. John’s just really cool, it was a really fun tour. Really long drives though, some 12-hour drives and I’m the worst at sleeping on transport.
What has been the highlight of your musical career so far?
I think, maybe going on tour with John because it was my first proper touring experience so it was really fun. I kind of got better as I did the shows.
I read somewhere that you had been compared to Lily Allen, what do you have to say about that?
Yeah, I get the whole Lily Allen thing a lot, I think I’m less controversial than her.
Is she an influence for you?
No, I think because I sing in an English accent and I’m quite frank about things people just assume that I want to be like Lily Allen. I never really listened to her growing up and the English accent thing is purely because I can’t do an American accent.
So, who are you biggest influences?
I listened to a lot of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Frank’ album when I was younger and that was an influence lyrically, but I don’t really have any specific influences. When I was writing the album I didn’t really know anything because I was 16 so I was being introduced to so much new music.
How would you describe the sound of your music in three words?
Electronic British pop, maybe I should stick in a random word like chairs, just to make it seem deeper!
You are only 18 now, how long have you been making music?
I’ve been singing since I was 10, then when I got to about 13 I started song-writing, and that’s when I started properly working on this stuff.
Did it have an effect on your education?
Only in the sense that it almost felt that there was no point in me being there, so I just saw it as hanging out with my friends. I didn’t do any work at school; I just always knew that this is what I wanted to do.
When was the breakthrough moment for you and you know music was going to be a career?
It’s weird, I think ever since I was tiny I knew this was where I was going, not in a cocky way, just that I would have been involved in the music industry in some way. Had I not become an artist I probably would have either gone down the song-writing route or music journalism. But this side of it was always top choice.
You have four days before you head off on tour, what have you got planned?
I’m actually moving out while I’m on tour so the moving in day is actually while I’m away, so I don’t really know how I’m going to do it. I need to pack up all my stuff now and hope somebody will move it all for me.
Chlöe Howl – Rumour on MUZU.TV.
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