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Interview with Rozi Plain
Table of Contents
An introduction to Rozi Plain
From Rozi Plain’s 2008 Album Inside Over Here to the recent Prize Album alongside membership of This Is The Kit – Rozi Plain is something of a modest institution. Soundtracking the lives thousands of listeners for 15 years in some feat of expression and output. It was therefore an absolute privilege to put some of my questions to Rozi in the middle of her 2023 tour.
Having recently returned from Scotland and Norway, Rozi spoke with us on issues far removed from the hustle of singing or song writing, but to reflect on the context to which this writing and touring was taking place.
Remarking on Brexit challenges when travelling and the painful difficulty faced by those seeking asylum to the charms of west-coast Scotland and the essence of growth between 15 years of producing. Beyond insightful and worth a read.
Interview with Rozi Plain
Can you believe your first release is 15 years old?
Rozi Plain: I’ve got some nieces, and it’s such an obvious thing to say how striking it is that one of them is 15. 15 years ago for me it feels like my relatively recent adult life in a way. That’s their whole life. I think about my childhood to when I was 15 and that just feels like such a massively long time. A whole world. For my parents its just like a little bit of their life.
Do you see a difference in sound from your first album Inside Over Here and Prize?
Rozi Plain: Because Inside Over Here was the first album, I do think there is something uninhibited. You’ve never done one before. I didn’t know what I was doing at all. Just what I liked doing. There is a bit of freedom in not knowing what your aims are in something.
Now, it’s some sense of trying to go back to that. It’s not that I want to make the music or the same music. But I go back to it. There is a sort of real pureness in making things for the first time because. The making is just the interest of doing it.
Since then there has been a feeling of doing certain things or developing or being better but then its like I also just sort of understand what my capabilities are. I am more confident in my decisions and my own choices. And more confident in liking the stuff I like or how to do it or an idea of how I want recordings to be like or sound like. I have more confidence in having more control in it. I always did have confidence in it, but I understand more.
The setup changed since then i assume as well?
Rozi Plain: Yeah, i have a band now and my first project was very much a bedroom type project. There are similarities though.
Do you still have this space echo pedal you bought from money you found on the street?
Rozi Plain: How did you know about that?! Yeah I use it every day!!!
Is there any gigs you have upcoming that are of interest of you?
Rozi Plain: We are playing at Green Man Festival in Wales. Then we are headlining the Walled Garden Stage it’s a really good festival I really like it. We have just had a mad logistical week. We went to Lapland in Finland then the Isle of Egg on the west cost of Scotland down to Oslo in Norway then back again all in once chunk.
Have you seen any issues with travel since Brexit has happened?
Rozi Plain: Its very confusing and it’s the people setting the rules that don’t know what the rules are. No one is able to give you a clear answer. It’s ambiguous. It seems now that for a while people were doing these carnets that were very expensive. At our scale, you don’t need to do that. Its not totally clear. I was just talking to someone about it, actually. I think I do have a bit of a tendency to be like “oh it’ll be okay” but if you look at the rules the ones that are available on the government website are open to interpretation. If you reasonably interpret it, you don’t have to do it. The port of Dover is chaos, just horrible. I just hate it. I always find it so stressful and upsetting crossing a border. And I’m not even crossing a border for my life. I’m just going to do my stupid stuff. And you can be asked one question. Everything feels so suspicious out of context. ‘You are coming back from a different country, why are you doing that’ when you are speaking to customs agent. They do all these extra checks, it takes ages. Just ugh. Especially the port of Dover, obviously the staff have been given all this weird extra stuff to do, and they are trying to navigate it. It’s just horrible. I hate those types of environments, even though I love going on a ferry, it’s my favourite way to travel.
We were recently on a bus on our way to France. There were so many delays, we were thinking we weren’t sure if we would make the show. We said if we can’t make the show, there is no point of us getting on the ferry. This border lady came through, and she said you cannot leave this port. It was awful. It’s putting people in a really dangerous situation, all these people have missed their connecting things, and now they are going to have to travel with nowhere to stay and nowhere to be picked up and get there in the middle of the night. They said there was nothing we can do. We weren’t allowed to leave at all. That stuff makes people kick off and go mad. And when you feel this injustice, especially not being able to go anywhere. It’s dangerous. And again it’s like, it fine for me if I do or don’t have anywhere to stay. I’m not crossing the border with my whole family, its so gross. Doing this stupid paperwork and then when we….i’m sorry…i have went on a rant hahaha.
No no. please continue, it hasn't just been brexit artists have been dealing with but covid in the middle of all that.
Rozi Plain: Its not just mad for artists. It’s mad for everyone. The world is so insane and everyone is sort of trying to trot along as if wanting to do stuff. There is absolutely insanity. When will it happen that everyone will go – ‘we need to go live somewhere cause as little impact as possible’. We can’t keep acting like we can do everything we want and go wherever we want all the time. I do believe in the world being open to everyone. But it’s like we can’t just keep, at some point we cant keep plowing ahead with stuff. This is turning into quite a therapy session hahaha
Do you feel your music is a response to what you have just mentioned?
Rozi Plain: Yeah definitely, I’ve never, sort of particularly tackled subjects head on. But like everyone is responding to it. I’m in the world, so I’m responding to the world. I’m not directly writing songs about border controls and climate change, but it is effecting me and everyone and the questions and worries people have goes into your work directly and indirectly. Life is a response to life.
Is it a lot of work to push your work? -How much energy do you have to put into promoting a release.
Rozi Plain: We’ve been on tour since January, and that is like promotion for us. When the album comes out, we do lots of interviews. I enjoy being able to enjoy the album as it is because I can’t see it before it’s done. When you start talking to people, you learn what it actually is by expressing it to someone.
In terms of your creative process, is there meaning before you start creating your tracks or do you find deeper meaning after being questioned on it?
Rozi Plain: I think the tracks have a deeper meaning because a lot of the lyrics are prosaic not sure if it’s the right word, but I find it satisfying, that it kind of alludes to more and can be interpreted in different ways. That is an interesting way to make things. It’s part of my personality to not totally enjoy describing my work, but I also don’t want to slag my own stuff off or undermine it. It comes quite naturally to just say, “oh, it was about that”. One thing is to be really deep, but I sort of don’t like spelling things out for people. I like trying to make something somehow be understood without saying it. It feels relatable. It is sort of interesting, I don’t know how these songs come together. I haven’t mastered my technique of making stuff. It’s also sort of interesting people asking questions about it, and you find out stuff yourself in that process. Certain people will feel certain things from it. I do feel there is a thing sometime where I am like “oh what can i say about this song?” when really the song was the experience. The song was the response to the experience. It’s not me then… I didn’t have this aim like “oh good we did what I set out to do”. Recording the song is the experience. It’s thrilling to have this document of time. It changes too. Generally, it’s hard to talk about stuff often. I often don’t find it that interesting, people talking about how they made their records. It’s often not that interesting. “We went somewhere and did it”.
But it is really interesting hearing those people. I don’t feel you get much insight into a person from someone describing a piece of their work. You get so much more understanding what their life is like or what has happened or how they respond to something. Do you see what I mean? It’s sort of the nuts and bolts of how something got recorded.
It is interesting as well. I sound too negative and world-weary or something. But I just sort of love people asking about your life. I think you find out more about where the music comes from. I just think there is more expansive ways to talk about music than what a lyric means. I think you can sort of go deeper into it. It is interesting to see artists you are interested in, people make stuff, and I am interested in the nuts and bolts too.
What music do you listen to these days?
Rozi Plain: I have the radio on a lot. I have been listening a lot to the new bridget made power album. She’s an amazing singer from Ireland and yeah I sort of waft in and out. I have been in a reading patch at the moment. As I am not often in a reading patch, it’s really good. It’s so ridiculous how you forget. This is my experience, I forget what a hugely rewarding thing reading is. I’m too wound up or dont know the right time to do it is. It is such a profound experience. It’s a really active thing, you are making this thing go into your head. I think it affects so many areas of your life. I remember someone saying about life drawing. Life drawing is such an important thing and if affects so many areas of your life. This is not just trying to draw something accurately, it’s a really good thing to do.
Is there any artists you would wish to collaborate with.
Rozi Plain: I always get stressed with this questions. I don’t know!!! Too shy to say.
Do you have more projects coming soon?
Rozi Plain: I also play with the band This Is The Kit. We are touring from the middle of December. Europe, America then the UK. It’s like that until the end of 2023 and I would like to make new stuff soon. We are playing in Oostend soon too!
Is that a massive calendar on your wall?
Rozi Plain: This is the only way I can get my head around this all. I counted up all the time and i think it’s nearly 150 shows so far.
I take it you dont get to see much of those cities you are playing in?
Rozi Plain: I am conscious of the members of the band. It does do a weird thing where if there is a day or 2 off, everyone seems to get sick. We do try and run through it all. Like that set of travel from Lapland we went swimming and then to Eigg, the Scottish island, we were there for 2 extra days, and it was really good because I’m not very good at going on holiday.
What is this Isle of Eigg? I've never heard of it!
Rozi Plain: Off the West Coast there is the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides, Muck, Eigg, You are from the North of Ireland. You know The Giants Causeway? You can see Staffa that is next to Iona and Isle of Mull, and they are like not sort of too far from those islands I was on. I think Iona and Mull are Outer Hebrides. There are sort of a lit of bath salt similar landscapes there.
You had a gig out there?
Rozi Plain: There is a label out there called Lost Map, and they are based out there. But yeah its brilliant, and I’ve been there to do a residency and performed there, it really is amazing. Everyone has had this mad journey to get there, really sort of epic, then everyone is there!
Support Rozi Plain's Work
Upcoming shows
- MON 27 MAY Primavera a la Ciutat 2024 Barcelona, Spain
- SAT 6 JUL Timber Festival 2024 Feanedock, Swadlincote, UK
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