invernessGiGs catches up with Laura Dixon, who hails from Inverness, who has recently released her E.P., Out of Reach.
So who is Laura Dixon?
I have been writing and performing in bands for years however this year I decided to produce an e.p promoting myself as a songwriter and once complete could send to publishers
Where do your influences lie?
My influences as a songwriter would be people like Damien Rice, Ryan Adams and a very unknown American band called The Rescues.
Can you tell us about the E.P.?
I started writing the E.P back in September last year and after a few months of writing I was ready to get together a band to start arranging the songs for full band. I have just finished me degree in music in Edinburgh and therefore was lucky enough to have a lot of very talented musician friends that I was able to work with. The musicians involved in the E.P are
Rhoda Welsh – Vocals
Graham Bell – Electric Guitar
Alasdair McLachlan – Bass, Piano and backing vocals
Lisa Wicksted – Drums
Acoustic Guitar/songwriter – myself.
Why did you avoid the temptation to sing on the E.P?
I wrote the E.P to promote myself as a songwriter and will be sending it to publisher etc. so wanted to have my name on the front (we did try to come up with a band name but after months of suggestions and nothing really standing out to us we decided to just go with Laura Dixon) I wanted the E.P to sound as good as it could and although I can sing I felt I didn’t have a strong enough voice to hold some of the bigger melodies so decided to get my very talented friend Rhoda Welsh to sing the tracks. Rhoda sounds amazing on the E.P and I am definitely happy I asked her to be involved in it!
So after a view months of arranging the tracks for full band we were ready to recorded. I choose to recorded at the stunning Watercolour studio in Ardgour with producer Nick Turner! This was a great experience and working with Nick was amazing. He’s done a great job and I’m really happy with the final result. We went up there for 3 days. 2 days recording and 1 day mixing.
Where can we get the E.P.?
The E.P will be released this Monday (18th June)
It will be available to buy in HMV Inverness and HMV Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird and as a digital download on Itunes. It can also be bought from my website!
It will cost £4.00
So what’s next?
The aim is to keep promoting the E.P and promoting myself as a songwriter. It’s already going well as I have been accepted to do a masters in song writing down in Bath Spa Uni. It’s the only place in the UK that offer a masters in song writing and I’m really happy I got offered a place. I look forward to the experiences and opportunities doing this course will bring.
