What is your name?
Bethany Ferrie
What is your genre of music?
Pop, Indie/Pop
Give us a little bio about you.
I’m a 22 year old singer/songwriter from Glasgow. Since starting my music career in 2019 I have since been shortlisted for the BBC Radio Scotland Singer/Songwriter Award, played at King Tuts and set to play the 2020 Country 2 Country Musical Festival. My indie pop style has hints of Fleetwood Mac and Lewis Capaldi setting me apart from my contemporaries.
What made you go into music?
I picked a guitar up at the age of ten after becoming obsessed with the Jonas Brothers and my dad always had one lying around. I didn’t start singing until I hit high school. I was the ‘musical type’ from the start and one of my friend’s asked if I could sing. I ended up sending her little voice notes and that turned into posting a video on YouTube. It went around school and the music teachers picked up on it and asked me to be in their talent shows and Christmas concerts. Looking back on the videos, I don’t think I was very good, and I still don’t really know why people thought I was. I tried my hand at songwriting and performed an original for the first time at one of the talent shows. That was one of the first times I even considered music as a career path. It took a backseat throughout high school though and it’s only when I started university that I threw myself into it. And this whole thing started with releasing music because of a university project in my second year.
Are you a signed?
Not at the moment.
You released your new single ‘Stayed’, tell us more about the single.
I tend to flip between writing on my laptop and physically writing in a notebook and the line ‘we were living in the moment’ was sitting in one for months. I had no idea where I wanted to go with it but one day I sat down and the chorus ended up being written in about 10 minutes. But I kind of hit a block with it and it took me another couple of months to come back to it. That’s when the lines ‘I know it always ends the same but I just wish you would’ve stayed’ were written and the song took its full shape.
I was going through a really rough patch and had nobody to talk to. I had just finished school and hadn’t started university yet and I just wished things would’ve slowed down for a little while. Those people you had in your life when you were younger don’t always stick around, that image you had in your image doesn’t always work out. And it’s something you have to deal with.
What is the meaning behind ‘Stayed’?
To me it’s really going about your day and then you see something or hear a song that takes you back to a time or a person. It takes that split second to send you back. It’s an ‘I miss you’ to the good times.
Describe the track in two words.
Nostalgic heartbreak
Will we see a music video for the track?
There is a plan for a music video but with everything going on at the moment it’s hard to judge when that will be.
Will we see an EP or Album this year?
Hopefully within the next I’ll have had a few more singles out and an EP on the way.
Do you have any shows coming up?
There’s a whole load of reschedules happening at the moment so hopefully a few coming up.
If so where will you be heading?
I’ll be playing at Gig in the Goil and Country 2 Country Music Festival.
What else can we expect in Early 2020?
More music.
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
I don’t at the moment but I have started writing for other people recently.
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
I would love to collaborate with other musicians. I think it’s good to have someone to bounce off when you get too in your head about things. And I love incorporating someone else’s style in my own writing. They can reach out to me on any of my social medias
Do you play any instruments?
I play guitar and when I’m doing shows it’s just me and my acoustic guitar. I know chords but I wouldn’t say I knew how to play piano and I’m better at programming drums than playing them.
Who are your influences?
I love pop music. My own sound can change depending on who I’m listening to nut I’m always trying to craft around that simplicity and have hooks scattered around. I love conversations in songs where it feels like the artist is speaking right at you. Taylor Swift and Julia Michaels are some songwriters that I’m constantly referring back to. I also just found JP Saxe, his sound is like jazzy pop in one stream of consciousness that I thought was amazing. I love hearing a guitar in the mix so I’m always taking influence from artists like Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
I used to wait until it hit me in that whole cliché way that it’ll just happen. Now, sometimes sit down with my guitar or at the piano and run melodies off the top of my head. Sometimes I’ll record them on my phone and other times I’ll run with them right then. I have about 600 voice notes sitting on my phone and I’ll go through some of them if I get really stuck. Other times, it all starts with lyrics and there’s no concept around it but I just really love the line. It can be hard to do sometimes because you don’t want to write anything that’ll ruin it.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Writing music. I don’t think I’m very good at anything else other than music.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
University – even though I am studying Commercial Music. I read quite a bit and I’m trying to work my way through the classic selection of books that you would get for your English class in high school. I’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird too many times to count.
I’m trying to get into film photography this summer.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
When Lewis Capaldi was still pretty small in the music scene and his single ‘Bruises’ blew up. That was a pretty big deal when you’re from around the same place as someone. It also helps that it’s such a great song.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
Think of it as digging for gold; you dig and dig and at the point of giving up you’re only that next dig away.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
Put yourself out there. I was singing in my bedroom for the longest time and just hoped something would happen but it wasn’t until I started releasing music that anyone took notice.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
What’s for you won’t go by you I think it’s important to put the work in. But if something you were really, really hoping for doesn’t work out the way you thought that you have to let that go. Don’t let it dishearten you.
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
I’m the worst tourist in Glasgow. But Ashton Lane is always nice, especially during the summer.
You’re coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first? Home, I’d need my own bed.
2/ Who do you see first? My mum would most likely be on tour with me or else I would say her so it would have to be my dog.
3/ What do you eat first? Something homecooked and easy, no one can be bothered
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
My guitar.
All the little extra bits like strap, capo, tuner, etc.
A copy of the setlist because I always forget what I’m doing next.
I wear two necklaces that I cannot leave the house without.
And a set of earphones so I can listen to music on the way there so psych myself up.
All the little extra bits like strap, capo, tuner, etc.
A copy of the setlist because I always forget what I’m doing next.
I wear two necklaces that I cannot leave the house without.
And a set of earphones so I can listen to music on the way there so psych myself up.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
