Nina Baker Interview

Singer/songwriter Nina Baker is best know for her piano-driven compositions which combine classical score with blues, pop, skiffle, rock, folk, jazz & country.

The softly-spoken English rose with lyrics like thorns will make you smile, make you cry, keep you hanging on every word.

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The singer-songwriter returned from her first U.S tour at the end of a year that saw her warming up for Robbie Williams and Monty Python at the London O2 and supporting Mark Morriss, Henrik Freischlader, Mick Flannery, Ella Eyre and Foxes on their UK and European tours.

Last year Nina’s debut track ‘Single Bed’ won ‘Best Song’ in the 2014 Best Of British Unsigned Awards, plus her single ‘Bruising’ has also received extensive global airplay, including BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music.

“MarkMeets loves supporting raw talent and Nina Naker has this in abundance”

Here is our our interview with Nina to find out more about the rising star

Hi Nina, how are you?

Very well thanks.

You have recently been performing the US, what was that like?

Very different to playing to a UK audience! When I arrived I was told that if they love you, they will go crazy for you, if they don’t like you, they will give you hell!

That focused the mind a little! Fortunately I did not have any of the latter, but the big, big difference that I noticed playing to a U.S crowd is that when you take to the stage the room goes icy quiet, to the point where I could hear my fingers on the keys and could count every breath I was taking. If anyone made a sound they were told to keep it down. This does not happen at home, you are always contending with talking and people ordering at the bar, which when you are a girl at a piano it is a constant battle.

In the States people specifically come out to watch music, everything else is secondary, going to watch music seems very much an event Stateside and perhaps we can learn from that in the UK. I am very much looking forward to going back.

Did you see, fear or feel any new inspirations to write music whilst you were there?

With a fairly hectic schedule there was not really any time to write, though obviously I spent an awful lot of time in the back of a car – A four hour journey for us is a trek, to those guys it is just around the corner! I am currently writing new material, a couple of which will be inspired by my time in the States. Without giving too much away “home” whilst I was there was Bay Ridge in New York, I was staying in a condo overlooking the Verrazano Bridge and the vibe in that neighbourhood, around Christmas time, was unlike anything that I have ever experienced before. It was like being in a Christmas movie, everyone was so welcoming, like we were family. There will be moments, people and places around Bay Ridge that I will never forget and they will be finding their way into a song.

Tell us what it felt like to record at Abbey road studios?

Steeped in history, you just need to look at the pictures on the walls, who has walked through their doors, but, and this is where I am going to spoil a lot of dreams, it was not my favourite place to be. It was too clean, too clinical, like a modern office block or a hospital, just rows and rows of corridors in light grey, functional, sterile and very corporate. I much preferred recording in some of the more “rustic” studios, such as Rockfield Studios in South Wales or the Church Studios in London, founded by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and whilst I was there owned by David Gray (who was recording his album in the upstairs studio whilst I was recording mine downstairs). These places have history and you can see the history in front of you as they have not changed in years. There are mics, amps, instruments that have been used by the greats, such as the piano that Freddie Mercury used on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which I had the privilege of playing. From the weather vane on top of the barn at Rockfield, which coined the line ‘Any way the wind blows’ of the old stone wall that Oasis sat on whilst writing ‘Wonderwall’ (a chunk of which is at home on my mantelpiece!) These studios look frozen in time, from the 70’s furniture to the tape machines in the corner and feel like a studio should, dark, musky, a place alien to the rest of the outside world, where inspiration (and a lot of hard work) takes place at very unsociable hours.

Elvis Presley is one of your musical influences, but if you had to record a cover of his, which one would you choose?

I think Elvis’ finest work was in his later years, especially around his comeback in 1970, he sang like a man with soul, who had taken the bumps and thumps that fame brings and had come out the other side. I was brought up with my parents record collection that included lots of Elvis, Motown, Fitzgerald, Simone, Sinatra, so I love that jazzy-soulful sound and for that reason if I had to cover any song it would be ‘In The Ghetto’. If you strip out the percussion and steel guitar this is a gospel song, one that can be sung in church with big voices. I would love to do this as a piano-vocal in front of a white grand piano and from the first chorus onwards to be accompanied by a gospel choir, that would be pretty spectacular.

On your rider, it states tea & scones (both tradityionally very english), what goods do you eat when on tour?

I eat really badly. And not just on tour. I eat like a horse. I have been given the nickname ‘Pac-Man’ by my crew! And I never go to the gym either, yet for some reason I never put on weight, I tend to lose weight more than put it on, I have been the same weight since I was 14. I try not to question it, I am clearly blessed, perhaps it is my ginger hair consuming all of the calories and converting them into an orangey glow!

What can we expect from you next year?

Much more touring, UK, Europe, U.S and if we can, out to Australia – I really want to get out to Australia! Keep an eye on my website to see when and where will be passing near you.

I also have to dip my toe into ‘the difficult second album’, though what form this will take I have not decided, it may be another full body of work, it could be an E.P, it could be a couple of singles, it may not even be a physical release. Now is a very interesting time for music in terms of releasing music, streaming and monetisation, it is likely that any new work could be stream only – You heard it here first!

Just quickly…When will we see original content on your youtube channel…we want more Nina xx

I am a staunch traditionalist, I am not a huge fan of music videos, as Metallica once said, I find them ‘lame’. I want people to find out about me organically, by stumbling across me at a festival, getting recommendations from a friend or reading good things about my shows in the press, rather than locked in their homes watching me on the internet. Everyone is doing that now, it is the norm, so perhaps to stand out you don’t need to do these things – Who knows?

But to appeal to the YouTube generation I am currently working on a couple of new videos which I hope to have out either side of Christmas, which should satisfy your need to see me on your computer screens. I will give you a sneaky hint on one of them…..Think South Park…… 🙂