Sam Millne caught up with Hannah Weedall ahead of her appearance on the Mersey Music stage at the Big Condo Weekender.
When did you start playing/singing music?
Well, as soon as I could talk singing came with it pretty much.
I’ve always loved performing and singing but guitar didn’t come until I was about 14 years old. My older brother taught himself guitar and began performing and I thought it was the coolest thing.
So, I would sneak his guitar and began teaching myself. Once I was half decent I got into gigging by performing on my brother’s breaks at his gigs to build confidence, which was great.
What/who got you into music?
Honestly, I feel like I’ve always been into music. I couldn’t imagine my life without it. Singing has always been what I love to do.
I grew up with such a random collection of favourite artists.
When I was a little kid my favourite songs would bounce from Kylie Minogue to the Jackson 5 to Oasis. So yeah, my music taste has always been quite sporadic.
But, I think that has always stuck with me because, to this day, I go through phases of listening to so many different artists which keeps my mind open to all genres of music.
Who do you think are your biggest music influences?
I have sooo many musical influences that it’s hard to pinpoint.
To name a few, I’d say Catfish and the Bottlemen have been a massive influence on the music I write, probably because I spent so many years obsessed with them.
I also love The Snuts, Sam Fender and spent a lot of my teenage years listening to the likes of Oasis and The Kooks.
I think due to the influence of artists/bands like these, that’s where the indie vibe comes through in my music.
I also love pop music. I listen to artists like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, HAIM and Little Mix daily so it doesn’t surprise me that the music I write ends up with a dominant pop element too.
How would you describe the style of music you write and what is your songwriting process like?
I’d say the style of music I write falls mostly under indie-pop vibes.
I don’t necessarily know how a song will turn out until it’s written, but they always do end up with a catchy indie-pop feel to it.
I’m more of a spur-of-the-moment songwriter. More often than not I’ll write a song in the space of 10 minutes, kind of like regurgitating it onto a page for a lack of a better term, and then go back to it later to tweak it and refine it.
I find that a lot of my favourite songs I’ve written have come about this way. One thing I do love is live music and hearing instruments come through a song.
So, even though all of my songs start off written acoustically, I can always hear drums, lead guitar and bass in my head because, for me, that’s the type of music I love listening to.
It’s so cool how a song can be great as an acoustic, but bringing in other elements and instruments can elevate it to something else entirely
Are you looking forward to playing the Weekender?
I’m really looking forward to playing at the Weekender.
For me, this is the first time I will be performing a full set of my own songs as an artist so I’m excited to put more of my own music out there.
I’ve been writing songs for a long time and to finally be able to perform them and put them out is a great feeling.
I released my debut single, ‘Keep That To Me’ a couple of months ago and I’ve loved the process of doing that, and it’s been great to see how supportive people are considering I’m a new independent artist.
The whole experience has only heightened my love for music and desire to write new material.
I’m in the process of recording more original material to release across this year too, so to be able to play these songs for a live audience for the first time is going to be a great experience, I can’t wait.
You can follow Hannah Weedall here and get tickets from them.
The Big Condo Weekender takes place on the beginning starting June 2.
Mersey Music 