Caitlyn Eve is an exceptionally talented vocalist from Liverpool and is now writing her own music. Sam Millne caught up with her to find out more…
When did you start playing music?
I started singing when I was young, around six or seven years old, so I’ve always sung.
Before I played any instruments I used to sing to backing tracks, I’m literally constantly singing and if I’m not singing I’m talking because I never shut up!
I picked up a bit of piano when I started college as I was studying music performance at LMA (Liverpool Media Academy), I was about 16.
I wasn’t gigging much then, just playing, writing and learning different songs in my room. I had a mate in college who I used to always jam with and play stuff like Paolo (Nutini), Arctic Monkeys, Viola Beach, Seafret M60 and Retro Video club, so he sort of got me into the acoustic setting.
Then, about 2 years ago, I started playing guitar for myself. My voice is definitely my first instrument although I love playing. Sometimes I sort of just like to flow and vibe whilst singing instead of playing so I sometimes perform with a guitarist, instead of me constantly playing.
Who are your musical inspirations and influences when writing?
So I’d say my inspiration and main at the minute influences are Mazzy Star, Girl in Red, Fleetwood Mac. However, I grew up on a lot of different genres such as rock, country, folk, indie, pop etc.
Artists from the 60s, such as Del Shannon, The Moody Blues, Dion & The Belmonts have definitely influenced me as an artist – I love the feel and sound of the music. I also love acoustic stuff and I prefer to listen to acoustic versions of songs. Half of the time I won’t like a song until I hear it acoustic, I don’t know why, I’ve sort of just always been like that.
When did you start writing songs?
I think I actually wrote my first song when I was about eight or nine years old. It definitely wasn’t amazing, just a melody and lyrics sort of thing.
When I was younger, I’d sort of just use random backing tracks off the internet and sing different melodies to them. It wasn’t until I was about 13 or 14 years old that I took a proper interest in writing.
I’d say over the past 5 years I’ve properly got into it, I used to write more on a piano but I mostly write on the guitar now but I still go back to the keys now and again to get a bit of a different sound to my songs.
I usually play around with a few chords and think of a melody then some lyrics, but lately I’ve sort of just been having random ideas for melody lines or different lyrics and even themes pop into my head, so I’ve sort of just been recording little snippets on the sly then coming back to then when I’m with my guitar.
I find writing songs is soul-soothing, I can be in the worst mood and then pick up my guitar and start playing or singing an idea and suddenly feel better. Since starting to write properly, I’ve never really stopped, I just constantly play in any spare time that I have!
How would you describe your style?
I’d say my style is a mix of folk, rock and indie genres. A lot of people say my voice is quite folky and they get a country vibe from me but I’ve actually never properly been into any country artists.
I’ve been told my voice resembles artists such as Mazzy Star, Stevie Nicks and Patsy Cline. I can never really see the Pasty Cline one but I used one of her songs ‘Crazy’ as a cover for my final performance in uni because my tutor bugged me for about a year that he wanted to hear me sing, and I actually loved performing it – it felt quite natural for me to sing.
I’d say my voice is quite strong, I use a lot of vibrato and a lot of grunting when hitting high notes and find it easy to flip into my head voice from chest smoothly.
As for my style of writing, it sort of doesn’t fit into one genre, a lot of my songs range from indie to folk to rock, just depending on what mood I’m in I suppose when I write them.
What’s next?
Hopefully, I’ll be releasing some tunes within the next few months and definitely gigging with my band in the new year, and obviously just keeping up with the writing constantly.
You can follow Caitlyn here
Mersey Music 