RIANNE DOWNEY CHATS MUSIC, PAUL HEATON AND CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS | BY ANNE KELLY
Set the scene. It’s Hogmanay, you’ve just settled into a comfy seat with a wee half in front of the telly ready for the bells. The patriotic sound of a lone piper kicks in as the countdown to New Year commences. The bells ring out, you raise your glass before Jackie Bird hands over to Scotland’s new sweetheart Rianne Downey for her rendition of Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia.
“That’s the dream! See if I got to sing for Jackie Bird on Hogmanay then I could die happy“ says Rianne whilst getting ready for her biggest headline show to date.
Okay, so Jackie handed the Hogmanay torch a few years ago now but the sentiment remains the same. Sincerely talented beyond her years, Bellshill born Rianne Downey ignites a sense of pure joy and Scottish patriotism – both of which she intends to deliver to 1000 fans on her biggest homecoming yet.
Before the magic of the evening commences, I was invited to join Rianne in her dressing room as she prepares for what she would later claim as ‘probably the best night of my life’.
“Do you want a wee drink?“ Rianne asks me as she sips away on an Aperol Spritz. Not one to need much encouragement, I join her with a prosecco. Whilst the rest of her band take some down time before the excitement kicks off, Rianne and I sit down for a much awaited chat.
Congratulations on this big show tonight! Is it a sell out?
I think we’re basically on a sell out, we’ve not had the confirmation yet but I think there were like 10/20 tickets left the last I heard. The last time I headlined Glasgow it was to 300 people at King Tuts and now we have more than tripled that! It was supposed to be the in the warehouse, which is like 500 people and I was worried about selling that out, never mind an upgrade.
But it nearly didn’t happen – you lost your voice! How are you feeling now?
I’m feeling good now but I’m still definitely taking precautions. That said, I’m trying to stay chilled tonight and let myself enjoy it as well. I’ve been doing my warm-ups throughout the day and basically just living off tea and vocalzone’s.
Did you have to cancel quite a few shows?
Yeah, we had to cancel five unfortunately! But we’ve rescheduled them all so we’ve got like a mini tour going in April now which will be lovely and the weather will be a bit warmer too.
METHOD TO MY MADNESS
This year, Rianne released not one, but two four-track EP’s. In February Come What May was released featuring singles Home and Hard, then in June Method To My Madness. With tracks such as Songbird and Dancing in The Rain, the second EP reflected a maturity and confidence that hadn’t been portrayed so genuine before. Asking Rianne about Method To My Madness we discussed the inspiration behind the cover art.
“It’s based on a painting I love called The Two Frida’s. Frida’s (Kahlo) painting was about her before and after heartbreak and I love the concept of that. I felt that for the cover of Method To My Madness I wanted to signify the change in me from the start of my journey to now. But the holding of the hands is still that Rianne is still there. It’s quite playful as well, I wanted people to take what they wanted to take from it. It’s a play on masculine and feminine or mischievous and angelic, like an angel on your shoulder kind of thing.“
Your musical style is not really just one sort of genre, you have folk, pop, country, rock and even a bit of soul going on so who would you claim as your musical influences growing up?
I listened to so much music growing up so I think that’s why there is so much versatility. I don’t think I can really be pigeon holed so to speak but I think that’s a good thing as well but sometimes it’s hard and makes it difficult to try and figure out where I want to take things but I guess that’s just trying to make a fusion of everything I love. I definitely loved Johnny Cash, he was a massive inspiration for me. Dolly Parton as well, and especially like Simon and Garfunkel then Fleetwood Mac. Ska was a massive influence for me as well – you don’t really hear that in my music – but I discovered Ska through Amy Winehouse and her covers of The Specials – I think that’s kind of where the jazz side comes from. I just want to take everything I love and turn it into this commercial thing. This Country/Folk/Pop thing which could be from anytime.
Do you feel there is any particular song on those two combined EP’s which suggest where you’re going next?
I definitely think that compared to the first EP I released in the year that it was a lot more mature. With Method I feel I came into my own and I was more focused on releasing music that I loved myself rather than thinking that everybody must like this as well. So I think with Method it was more raw compared to the last EP as well.
HEATONGRAD
As if releasing two EP’s within 4 months of each other wasn’t enough excitement for one year, in May Rianne would be invited to join legendary musician Paul Heaton across some of the UK’s largest festival audiences this summer. The Housemartins and Beautiful South founder was due to tour alongside long term musical collaborative partner Jacqui Abbott, however, when Jacqui – who sang hits such as Don’t Marry Her and Rotterdam with The Beautiful South – was forced to pull out of the upcoming festival dates, Paul would turn to Rianne to offer her the opportunity of a lifetime. She tells us;
Yeah, so it’s been a bit of a bucket list year, if you can say that. It (Paul Heaton tour) was a dream come true. It was one of those things which I never even realised was a dream because you would never think that’s going to be a possibility. So the fact that I got to tour the UK with one of my heroes was incredible.
But how does a 23 year old from Glasgow end up on the radar of one of Britain’s most established music personalities?
It’s funny that actually, I uploaded a video of me singing Rotterdam during lockdown and Paul liked and commented on it, so I had basically been on his radar ever since. I got the call from his team to my team to say that Paul wanted me to join him on tour. The first one I did – just a wee one – was headlining Neighborhood Weekender in Manchester. We done TRNSMT as well, what a homecoming that was – it was just mental.
Life must be so surreal for you right now?
It really is and I am constantly pinching myself. It’s one of those where I keep thinking I’m going to wake up. I keep saying to my manager that I’m living the dream and he tells me that you’re not living the dream, you’re living your life now – as cheesy as that is.
GLASGOW HOMECOMING
Continuing as Paul’s special guest for the remainder of the summer, Rianne’s reach would naturally grow to new heights. That fan diversity would be witnessed at her biggest solo headline at Glasgow’s SWG3 TV Studio earlier this month with generations of listeners all coming together in celebration of Rianne. It was a homecoming that everybody could feel part of and lays proof that Rianne will continue to thrive.
So as a Glasgow girl, tonight is the homecoming – do you have lots of family and friends coming along tonight?
I have heard that there’s a bus running which is amazing! Every time I play a gig and it gets bigger then more and more people come. Every gig I’ve played has been dead special so more people are hearing about it and thinking ‘now I wanna come’ and have a bit of FOMO.
But you don’t live in Glasgow anymore – do you?
No, so I’m based in Liverpool. I always wanted to get out of Scotland for a wee while, just to see beyond the horizon and I always thought Liverpool is a brilliant city. It’s the music city. I ended up recording a lot down there, my label is based down there and the band who I ended up playing with are all based down there so it just felt that everything was pointing to Liverpool being the place to be.
Would you come back to Glasgow?
I would love to come back. Not quite yet though. I spend a lot of my time in Manchester rehearsing with Paul and rehearsing with my own band in Liverpool so I don’t think I could afford the train fare or the petrol.
So this is the last show of the tour tonight -least for now until April – what’s the plans for the rest of the year?
I guess it’s kind of down time but we’re still gonna be rehearsing, writing and preparing myself for going into the studio again in the new year to create another body of work.
Christmas is coming though! Where will you be spending it?
I’ll be in Scotland for Christmas. I wouldn’t spend it anywhere else. I’m too patriotic for that – Christmas and Hogmanay I’ve got to be in Scotland.
I could just see you performing on one of those Hogmanay shows though!
That’s the dream! See if I got to sing for Jackie Bird on Hogmanay then I could die happy. Singing out Caledonia or something.
Do you have any Christmas traditions at home that you look forward to?
Do you know, I just love being around the family but every Christmas Eve we go around to my aunties house and we do carol singing. It’s the only night of the year that everybody’s not fighting for me to sing and it’s everybody fighting to sing Five Gold Rings The Twelve Days of Christmas. It’s nice just nice to sit back and listen to everybody sing songs together – it’s just lovely.
Do they often just hand you a guitar then or try and get you to sing?
I’ve brought my guitar a couple of times and do Fairytale of New York or that sort of thing but they have started to give me a bit of a break and let me have my night off because I do it so often now.
Since I first met Rianne before her appearance at last years Tenement Trail, her confidence is now flourishing. Still a humble Glasgow girl fighting imposter syndrome, but her personality is continuing to shine through the nerves. What is apparent though is that Rianne is genuinely loving life right now. Her smile and coy giggles are endearingly infectious and watching her wee stature fill with pride on stage is nothing short of inspiring. Speaking retrospectively after her last gig of the year, Rianne claims that the night was ‘probably the best night of my life’. Before heading on stage, she tells me;
I feel like tonight that it’s the homecoming, isn’t it? It’s not just a celebration of the tunes but it’s a celebration of everybody’s home in Scotland. Everybody is coming together to be part of something and I hope that people feel that and they get to have a good sing song. I’ve done up the stage all nice and I’ve got my proper cowboy outfit on. It’s just going to be a room full of people who can sing about our love for each other, where we come from and feel part of something. Forgetting the world outside for a few hours, music really does heal, it distracts and reminds you for a wee moment that everything will be fine.
You can read all about the much anticipated homecoming show in our full review here.
Limited tickets still remain for Rianne’s rescheduled tour dates in the Spring with more to no doubt follow throughout 2024.
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