Before she took to the stage as part of ‘Sheffield supergroup’ for the Dorothy Pax TRACKS fundraiser earlier this month, we caught up with Rhiannon Scutt to take a stroll down her musical memory lane…
The first record I bought…
Listen, it was B*witched by B*witched, alright? I was exactly nine years old and a prime audience for bangers such as ‘C’est La Vie’ and ‘Blame It on the Weatherman’. Essential listening. When you’re nine.
My first gig…
My parents took me to see The Corrs at Sheffield Arena for what I think was my 11th birthday; I only had eyes for Caroline. The last time I was at the arena was for the MOBOs this February just past with the young people from Tracks, lightyears away in terms of time (and cool) from what these questions are clearly revealing to me as my Irish-pop roots.
The first song I performed…
Being in the wind band was truthfully a highlight of my school week, and the one place where I had any social standing, real or imagined. But I won’t count an ill-advised alto sax rendition of the Braveheart theme. I’ll opt for the time I dragged my family – or they dragged me – to the local folk club. I knew nothing of the turn-taking format of these nights and was horrified to realise no-one was skipping. I ended up crashing my way through Lisa Hannigan’s ‘I Remember’ – still one of my favourite songs to sing and play.
A song I wish I’d wrote…
There are so many lines I wish I’d written, and when I think of them now, they are largely around the theme of family. I often struggle to articulate my feelings around my loved ones, yet songwriting is an effective method to try. So when I hear a masterpiece like Big Thief’s ‘Mythological Beauty’, it feels like it’s speaking directly to the things I want to say.
I first fell in love with music when…
Music was, and is, one of the biggest shared joys in my family. I don’t really have any memories that aren’t accompanied by a soundtrack. Growing up there was rarely a moment when Thin Lizzy (Dad) or Neil Young (Mum) wasn’t blasting out the hi-fi. Neither parent is a musician, but both huge music appreciators. Some of my fondest memories are dancing around the living room to the likes of Guns N’ Roses and Fleetwood Mac, pretending to be Axl Rose and Stevie Nicks. Bandana and lace shawls included.
A song I can’t get out of my head at the minute…
The young people that I work with at Tracks often come up with the hookiest, most devastatingly catchy top lines that will never stop haunting me. One such track is ‘Changes’ by one of our girl bands, Maychix, and this tune is in the set we’re performing on April 7th at The Dorothy Pax. Us mentors are performing to raise funds for the Tracks programme, enabling more young people in Sheffield to access musical education. I dare you to come and be forever infected with this chorus. It’s a corker.
A record which reminds me a specific time and place…
Erin McKeown’s As Fast As I Can was served up to me by the algorithms, and it instantly landed me in my dorm room in my first year of Uni. There’s something about the song that is at once wistful, melancholic, yet hopeful. Whatever it is grabbed me back then and I couldn’t stop listening. That year was the first moment I was to discover my own music tastes.
Music allows me to…
Feel, I suppose. From joy to despair, music is often the vehicle through which I best feel emotion. It’s also been my route to performing, something that’s taken me a long time to realise I absolutely thrive on. Whether playing sax for Franz Von, pretending to be Mark Mothersbaugh in We Are Not Devo, drumming for Neighbourhood Voices, or performing my own music with my band, I adore being on stage. Thinking back to the impossibly shy introvert I once was, I have a lot to thank music for. We’ve been through a fair bit together.
