Set to release her new EP ‘Closer’ in just over a week, and an album in January, quirky pop gem Rae Morris is currently on the road touring with George Ezra.
We caught up with Rae just before her set at the first show of Ezra’s tour in The Academy, Dublin for a quick chat…
You’re set to support George Ezra here in the Academy [Dublin] – are you looking forward to that?
Yeah I am, really excited. It’s our first gig of the tour which is super exciting.
Have you played in Ireland many times before?
A couple of times. The last time I actually did my own show here was in this venue but downstairs in the smaller one, the room at the very bottom, so it’s cool to be in the big one.
How has the reaction been with Irish crowds and fans for you then?
I think it’s been good, but to be honest I don’t think I’ve been here enough to know properly. Because I guess in England you start to see familiar faces so I think I need to start coming here more and start recognising people and stuff, that would be nice.
As a support act, how do you go about deciding your set list? Do you find it difficult knowing you sort of have to showcase the best of your material to people who may not have heard you before?
Yeah it’s true, it’s kind of weird ‘cause you’ve only got such a limited amount of time that you have to be precise about it. And it’s a shame ‘cause we’ve just come from doing a headline tour so only doing like six songs is a bit weird but yeah you just need to make sure you play the ones you want people to remember.
Do you find support slots a bit more pressurising in that way, because you’re essentially trying to win people over?
Yeah it’s weird ‘cause in some respects there is that, and you want to make sure that people are interested and maybe drawn to you in a way. Like, they’re not there specifically to see me but at the same time, then the pressure isn’t on me as well. It’s a different pressure to the headline show where people are there to have a great time because they’ve come to see you, so in a way, as long as they just enjoy it and me and the band have a good time then it’s usually all good.
Going back to where it all started for you, growing up in Blackpool – was was the scene like there, was there anyone who inspired you musically?
I guess at the time that I was starting out there were quite a few singer/songwriters and musicians that were doing their thing on the scene and I had a few really good friends who kind of taught me the ropes. And I think any town has that, but then you get to a certain point where there isn’t really the venue to play at that level and you need to kind of reach more people and stuff so I had to sort of grow out to Manchester and Liverpool and Leeds and do gigs around there. But I was lucky that that’s all so close, you know, they’re only an hour away.
Yeah definitely, it’s the same over here. Any artist starting out outside of Dublin realistically can only get so far until they need to just get in on the Dublin scene.
Exactly yeah!
Your EP ‘Closer’ will be coming out very soon – what can people expect from that?
Well basically the idea with these EPs is to release a single from the album and then make it into an EP so there’s more to give away. We recorded so many songs for the record that we’ve got a lot to give away as additional tracks. So there’s one song called ‘My God’, which is actually one of my favourites, and that will be on there, and there’s a remix by this producer called Redlight, so yeah it’s a mixture of different stuff.
I saw the official music video for ‘Closer’ and it’s casually ranked up over 70,000 views in a week! How does that feel?!
Yeah, it’s really good! It’s such a surprise because my other videos have been quite slow and gradually people have been aware of them and watching them, but this has been so different and it’s really good.
Do you have a big say in the ideas for your music videos?
Well I work really closely with the directors, but obviously I’m not one myself so I don’t really know how the technical side of it works, but for the creative side I do work closely with them. I did my last three with a lady and this time I’ve changed it up and worked with a guy called Zac Ella who’s really cool. So yeah, we just talk about it and make sure that everything’s right.
Finally, what’s your general goal or plan for the next year or so?
Well the album is coming out at the end of January so I’ll be doing a headline tour around then, hopefully there’ll be some Irish dates, I’d love that. And then just go forward from there, I just hope we can carry on touring after that. I guess we’ll have to see how it goes but yeah, up until the new year I’ll be going to Europe with George which is really cool.
Thank you so much for that interview Rae, really looking forward to your set.
Thank you, it was lovely to meet you.
Check out the music video for Rae’s new single ‘Closer’: