Interview
Interview Part 1
Begining - September 2005
Emma Lock is an artist using singing and songwriting to express her creativity. Now in her mid-twenties, she has written poetry and songs from an early age, having taught herself to play the guitar when she was eight. Emma is Cornish, of Gypsy heritage, and lives in Perranporth, on the wild, north coast of Cornwall.Her compositions are quite unique and difficult to categorise, drawing on the environment, wildlife, seasons - making an emotional response to relate to human relationships. (Reviewers have compared her to Alanis Morrisette, Sinead OConnor, Bjork and Joni Mitchell.) To Emma a sense of place and space is important.
Perranporth is a spiritual place - the beach and dunes are carved by memories - a history of saints and pirates.
Emma's experiences of being bullied at school, and the ways in which she has overcome her dyslexia have also informed her work. At eight she was encouraged to sing in public by her primary school headteacher. Taking the part of the lonely jaguar in the environmental musical, Yanamano, she made a personal connection with the part, gaining immediate respect for the power of her voice and for the portrayal.
I changed as a person- I became a jaguar. It made me feel things a lot of people dont see - this made me into what I am today.
After this she was always picked for singing parts. She even remembers singing My Favourite Things to an underwater theme. At secondary school other children continued to bully her - seemingly for being poor, being spiritual, into nature and for being a Gypsy. Remembering the lonely jaguar helped her deal with this - and at the age of 12 she started writing her own poetry and songs. Crossfade dates from this time.
It symbolises the struggles of Cornwall - turning from Summer to Winter - the changes in people and the weather. It can be a world away - a forgotten place. People can see through this and become a part of it through the music - become like a rainbow.
She continues,
I tried to stick up for what I was but I didnt really know much about my background until later. Singing and songwriting became a form of escapism. I was hampered by my dyslexia - I was chasing my tail and treading dirt . It is really hard to process anything - talking on the telephone and written material still holds me back.I seemed to put masses of effort in compared to other students and yet I never got anywhere. I went back to my guitar to express my stress - it was a lonely place. It has made interacting with people difficult - so I connect myself back to nature. It is still hard to talk about my music for promotional purposes. I feel protective about my songs - my little gems.
Emma was encouraged by her grandmother, Frances, who inspired her to carry on. Her mother, Racheal, scraped together some funds to pay for lessons with an opera singer in Blue Hills, St Agnes. The lyrics in Emmas songs are not necessarily biographical - some might include her own experiences but others are just inspiration with which she happens to connect at the right time. Influences have been varied. I was force-fed on the two Bobs - Dylan and Marley - from an early age. Pink Floyd, Whitney Houston, the first Bon Jovi albums, and more recently, Dido and K D Tunstall, have all played a part. I am inspired by really good love songs but I most enjoy listening to my own.
The next important song was Galaxy written at age 17. During this time she met a band on the beach and was asked to join them to do gigs on the Isles of Scilly.
I wasnt prepared to be pushed in at the deep end. It was a horrible experience. I didnt know anything. It knocked my confidence. No-one really listened. I didnt feel ready to expose my songs. A friend looked after me at this time which really helped.
After this Emma went away, moved around a lot and continued writing. Then, back in Cornwall and aged 19, Emma became involved with the Princes Trust and was nominated to go on a Sound Live course where she had lessons with Diana Rosss singing coach, met other musicians, and built up confidence.
I have been encouraged and supported through several community arts initiatives and government schemes.
At various times she has benefitted from the support of New Deal for musicians and business, Community Champions/ South West Forum, Cornwall Action Team, Arts Centre Trust, Mental Health Team to promote well-being, and the Princes Trust award scheme. Through these she has, at various times, been able to set up a band, purchase equipment and organise jamming workshops for other musicians. In 2000, Emma and her band Siem Engaged, were sponsored by Swan Promotions to perform at the Rip Curl Event at Newquay. There followed successful gigs at The Pirate and Jacobs Ladder in Falmouth (Pathway to the Light). After the band split up, Emma formed a partnership with the violinist, Simon Heyes, as 2 Venus. Working with DJs they recorded her first album 31 at St Austell College. This was followed by the 2001 Rip Curl Festival, sponsored by Blackthorne Cider and The Guardian, and the band were featured on TV and in the press. Later Emma decided to go solo as Xana (stage names seemed like a good idea at the time). Gwithian Birchall of G-forces helped her set up a web site and she purchased the equipment she needed to produce her own album 8th Ball, which she promoted to record companies. There were some positive responses but she felt she was not being taken seriously. After deciding to sing covers at club gigs Emma contacted entertainment agencies. It was in this way that she met Gary Williams who agreed to work with her on the single, Galaxy. Instead of taking on the gigs she worked with Gary on the fully fledged album, Stepping Stones, which was produced in 2005.
Working with someone of Garys experience has been inspiring and it has been great to have the benefit of his hi-tech equipment. He probably underestimates how influencial he has been to me and how grateful I am that he took my songs seriously and realised my potential. I feel privileged to have worked with both him and the sessional musician, Chris Morris (ex Paper Lace), who has also been such a great support.
Emma's website, now in her own name, has continued to be updated by G-forces, with photographs by illustrator, Ruth Grant. Impressed with the album, Barefoot Promotions booked Emma to perform at the Animal Beach Ball Festival in Newquay in the Summer of 2005.
Simon Heyes is still involved with Emmas musical career, particularly on the promotional side. He obtained a contract for her with a company working with unsigned bands who have set her up on iTunes in the vocalist section. This has resulted in her Stepping Stones album being downloaded across the UK, USA, Canada and Germany. Apparently Reflections and Transindental are popular in both UK and USA. US listeners also like Thread of Dignity, Galaxy and Crossfade. Autumn is popular in Canada and Stepping Stones and Crossfade in Germany. Further research shows that downloaders of Emmas music are also listening to a wide range of other genres including world music, r & b, reggae, rock, alternative folk and rock, soul, dance and pop. Such is her universal appeal. Simon feels ...it is the multi-talented nature of Emmas style of dance music that links into techno, indie, trance and drum and bass.
Emma is happy to be connected to other singers. She finds this is
...positive and uplifting to know that I can be compared to people who are important in the music industry. But I do prefer to sing my own songs, to be appreciated for my own creativity.
I dont mind doing covers but I know my songs and prefer to sing them.
Emma likens her voice to the sea - seeking a breathtaking quality and forever changing from rough to calm. She ranges from fragile and delicate to deep and soulful, from rawness to purity.The strength is that the roots of her music are in adversity. She has made her own way, striking a fiercely independent route through the barriers of geographical isolation, limited opportunities, education, training and financial support.
The lyrics take you outside and need time to absorb and reflect upon. There is a timeless quality with a contemporary feel. Emma explains that Silence symbolises a place where decisions are made, in the dark, needing the peace - silence - to work things out. Reflections is about different ways of seeing - if you look in a mirror you may see what you want to see or what is really there. She tries to capture places experienced in dreams and she hopes they connect with listeners to take them to a place in their memory.
People see things differently. With Autumn I love it and everything about it - but I need to know where I stand. It can be dark and scary - where did the Summer go? The seasons effect everything in life. This can be sad or beautiful. Where did the leaves go - the trees are bare - will they come back? Listeners may interpret this song in a completely different way, making connections with their own experiences.
In this way what may seem to be a song about a relationship reaching a crisis may actually be about the changing seasons. You may think you know what it means but maybe not - which exposes the untouchable quality of her poetry and the importance of the visual aspects in the vocals.There is a poignancy in the visual expression of words which Emma seeks to portray like a teardrop splashing in the sea.
Interview Part 2
September 2005 - December 2006
In Autumn 2005 I felt that things were not really going so well. I had finished the album, Stepping Stones, and it was featured on itunes. I was waiting for a remix of the Stepping Stones track as Oslan Remix from Gary Williams’ brother, Paul, and I was planning what I wanted to do next.
I was still writing music and songs and Gary was in the process of moving studios. My music was being played regularly on Radio Cornwall - on the David White Show. David was playing Stepping Stones each week as I think he liked it and was advertising my website across Cornwall.
Through this I was contacted by Chris Clements, a dance producer connecting with Rino in Italy. He had been working in the industry for years so I started working with him. Chris sent me some tracks so I wrote the lyrics then went to his studio which was a room in his house. I was a bit unsure - concerned that I might be moving backwards as his equipment was not so new. Feeling I was perhaps being a bit ‘stuck up’ I went along with it. Chris wrote dance tracks that had break beats and I found them quite easy to write to. We recorded three tracks in his studio - I Like It, To You I Stray and You Are Not a Stranger. I found the vocals were much more ‘in front’ than with Gary but there wasn’t much production in his tracks - break beats and key changes. The plan was fifty-fifty - Chris would send them out to publishing companies and if something happened then we’d both get paid. After a while I realised I didn’t really need to go to his place in Newquay as I had my own equipment for recording vocals. Chris is a great guy and very kind but it didn’t really work out - the tracks got played around Cornwall on the David White show but this wasn’t enough for me.
I quickly realised the music industry was changing as Simon had rang 50 record companies who all said ‘No - Emma’s in the very start of her career’ or words to that effect. Yet I was on itunes and I had done everything myself and they were still not happy. I realised that maybe I was better to go alone or even to work with people who were signed and only those who could take things further for me - but this was a hard decision and a hard new path of learning for me.
I decided to get people on my side by publicising myself. I made up posters and business cards and set up a myspace page www.myspace.com/musicemmalock.
One day I put my business cards around the shops together with my cds, sat down in a bar , had a drink and looked through the local events mag, Twentyfourseven. I was pretty fed up really but I saw ‘singer wanted for a new dance project’ so I rang them up. This seemed a great new start - something that was positive.
Deep Blue Studios with a guy called Andy answered the phone with lots of enthusiasm and energy and he said he’d look at my website. I didn’t hear from him until a week later and he asked me to meet him in Plymouth so I booked my train ticket and went up.
Meanwhile I had started a new track with Gary Williams but with everything that was going on it never got finished. It was called With This Love. It was a great song but I think by then we were both going our different ways and I was trying hard to get into something new. Gary is excellent at producing a track but he wasn’t able to help me with anything else - I had to do that for myself.
Anyway, I met Andy and we agreed to work on a track called Gliding. I wrote it on the spot and we recorded it in a day. Things didn’t go according to plan. They were very slow and I was just not in the mood for indecisiveness. I wanted something solid, so I went back to work with Gary but he was moving studios and it was almost Christmas so I concentrated on myspace and I sorted out my own recording equipment.
Music Video
I decided that maybe what I needed was to show myself live in a music video so my business mentor contacted an old friend of his, Leona, to see if she was interested in creating one. Leona was pleased to and asked me to help her write a story line for the video. All I knew was that I wanted to take my character and capture the sea. It was September 2005 when we started filming. It involved six shoots in different places with clothing, makeup and hair to match. Leona had a friend called Adi who helped her film and edit the video. The experience of making it was captured by a photographer which was great as the images show the coldness of the journey through the filming. By October I had the video in my hands and you can now see it on my website in the video section and soon it will be on youtube-myspace.
2006
In early January I was in the frame of mind that I needed to get gigs and promote myself as a live artist. I spent all January practising, getting extra equipment and sorting out my act for two hour sets. Simon arranged the gigs and within 3 weeks I had a band wanting me to join them as their singer. By February there was no getting away from it - I had fifteen gigs booked!
My first gig was at ‘The Countryman’ at Piece, near Camborne. I was so nervous - I had to put up all my equipment and sing covers for two hours on my own. I managed to get a few friends to go, then they brought their friends and the bar was packed. The barman said he was so surprised - he had to park down the road because the car park was full. It took a while to get into it - it was a Thursday night - but I got all my songs right and got paid. It went well.
A week later I was practising with my new band. I was thinking of new band names. My idea was to call the band ‘Code’ but the guys were happy with ‘Emma Lock’. We got on well musically and I wrote a whole new album for their tracks:
Over To You
I Won’t Approve It
Magical
Holding On
Destroy
Stardust
Blue
It was great really as they had already created the music and I just came along and wrote new lyrics and sang. By the 4th February we were ready - two weeks of practising and up to £1500 worth of equipment shared between us. Gary Williams sorted out the backing for us. It was a cool concept - we were three musicians using everyone’s musical ability and it sounded great.
Meanwhile Simon continued booking gigs including the Plymouth Pavilions. I met a photographer, Andy, who kindly took new photos of me in my red dress for advertising. This was great as I really needed to find my style which changes from time to time. I thought it best to keep is classy and a bit gypsy - kind of Spanish.
After a couple more months of practising and totally rearranging my life to meet the demands of being in a gigging band - the band split up! I was kind of fed up again and it was now late March. So I had to change the gigs - even cancel some. In the end I finished gigging as it just wasn’t the same and I preferred being in the studio. I really wanted to do festivals and theatre gigs rather than smoky pubs. And to do them you needed to be signed. So I had to come to a decision - staying gigging and struggling to convince an audience or get signed and become primarily a studio vocalist. I was really confused. Anyway I carried on and finished the gigs booked, continued promoting Stepping Stones on myspace and just got lost in the crowd for a while really.
Thanks to Simon and the manager of Plymouth Pavilions, there was ‘The Big Night’ planned - featuring the best of the local unsigned bands. The night was a great success for me. Lots of people turned up - the huge venue at least half filled. I got my own back stage room - a taster of what might come! Peninsula Radio kindly came up to Plymouth to interview us and play it at Pool Market. (A great thanks to Jason who has played me a lot on Peninsula Radio - thanks, mate.) The staff at Plymouth Pavilions were great - very supportive - from the car park people to the sound guys. The audience were smashing and for me there was a moment of feeling free on stage where I really fell into singing and connecting with an audience. The stage was massive. I felt a little out of place without a band to support me but the audience geared me on and the lighting guy made the atmosphere very ambient.
By June I started working with She Pheonix, who leads a light/fire dance production team. She seemed full of light and life. She showed be how to act and be proud and real and confident and to fulfil all parts of my personality. I owe her big time. She also taught my brother to fire dance so she was helping all walks of my life. It was Summer - everything was bright and beautiful and new and fresh and everything was going right for once. I was on the cusp of something great. Then She Pheonix joined me at my last gig at Sterts.
The gig was filmed and I often look back at it. There was something magical but real about that night and I learned a hell of a lot about myself and my music. The theatre is semi open air and on the edge of the moors outside Liskeard. I set up the stage like a massive cave of light blue candles. The night started with She Pheonix poi spinning with my brother, Nick. I lit a candle on one side for my Nan and it burned all through the night and when I was nervous I looked at it. Her candle was higher than all the other candles. Actually, thinking about it, it was her candle I bought for her. My Nan is no longer around by the way, but very much still a big part of my world.
In the first half I sang my songs with the guitar and She Pheonix accompanied with the backing vocals. Through the singing, Matthew, my man, projected slides of Cornwall - images that have inspired me along the way, taken to remind me what the Summer looks like during the Winter days of rain and grey. During the interval my music video was shown to the audience while I had a break and got changed into something different.
The second half, with the darkening sky, was accompanied by fire dancing, and I sang to backing tracks of all the dance tracks and track remixes. It was designed to show the audience the changing process I go through with my songs. There were eighty-five people there and they were a wonderful appreciative audience. Thanks to my mum for selling Cds for me and thanks to She Pheonix and my brother, to Simon Heyes, Matthew and Matt G. And thanks most of all to Sterts for a wonderful night, especially the lighting guy who made it lovely for us all to see.
After the Sterts, that was it, no more gigs planned, so I decided to do outdoor sunset performances with fire dancing, but the equipment was not great so I must sort that out for next Summer. It is a wonderful way to promote oneself to two to three hundred people strolling by in the evening sunshine. It makes a lovely holiday memory for them but the equipment was terrible so I had to put a stop to that. But - it sold Cds and got me more friends on myspace.
September started work on new material:
Spiral
Pistols at Dawn
What More
Spiral is a track I wrote like a mantra. It’s like a prayer, six minutes long, but it has so much energy and gives so much hope to the listener. Gary has really done well with this track and I listened to it during the days when I tidied up the house. It got me through September and made me feel good.
Then one night when I was watching ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ and one question was ‘Say what type of people fight with pistols at dawn?’ and that gave me the inspiration to write Pistols at Dawn. It gave me pictures of people when they fight but also I thought of how it feels to fight. I think this track is a winner and I am pleased with it.
What More was written one evening after I was feeling fed up with things again. The music industry is just sometimes really hard with the balance of life and around the end of October I usually get a bit down so writing tracks is always a good thing. I had an image of a girl running through a maze in a big dress. Visually it was a good start. It’s based on a love story that begins in the old times when there were pirates and then changes to the future. Matt and I have written a story line for a video but the filming has not yet happened. It’s really arty and exciting. I was happy with what Gary made it into - very oriental. It means I can do interesting things with my hair and clothes. I’m well excited and can’t wait until the sun’s out again really.
After doing the three tracks I was a little fed up again so took some time off studio work but then I was contacted by Mr E on myspace www.myspace.com/musicemmalock. He’s in my top twenty four friends on my site. He asked me to work on some tracks for him. So I agreed to give it a go and this was a good timing as Mr E had just been signed to itunes too so it would be a balanced relationship. His music is trance/deep. I liked it as soon as I heard it - great rises and falls - and it aids my creativity when I write the lyrics. The first track, called Evolution, is really deep and I wanted to give it something to reach out to people. I wrote it in one hour - it was that easy and it flowed simply. It took me about a week to record it in my studio. By then I had gained enough experience to record my own vocals for Djs, producers and there is no stopping me now - believe me!
My studio is not hi-tech really and half the room is filled with my costumes. It’s funny sometimes being in there - not too relaxing - but that’s good too else I’d probably not do any work. I have all my work dates on a memo board and all the information I need on the walls and in boxes. I have a table with two computers on it and film editing stuff. It cost me a bit but it is worth it as these days a musician has to invest to get anywhere. I reckon I need to update most of my equipment really as I’m running off a Windows 98 but it is meant to be better for viruses. I guess I’m lucky because Gary said he’d always help record things for me.
So Evolution was created. I haven’t met Mr E - he is a real mystery but I capture little glimpses of his through email and instant messaging. It’s a great new way to work if both parties are together as we both are, if you know what I mean. The next track was Take a Chance which can be heard on both our sites. It’s a great track and I enjoyed singing the vocals - different as it was more challenging than the other one. It’s structure was not as easy. The platform of vocals I usually see on a track tells me what it wants me to write, when I hear it - catching a mood.
You may think I’m a mad creative person but I am pretty simple really. I work all year outside and just see opportunities and follow them through. I have no need to be famous or to be rich. I want a certain standard of living and that’s all - I don’t want to be greedy. If I ever get rich then I’d want to help those who are homeless or those who have to live in other worlds. I am happy so what comes next is a bonus. I would really like to sell more music and to have a bigger audience and to have some special gigs but they will come in due time. I am pretty busy finishing and dating things at present.
I love working with new people and interesting producers. I will only work with people now who are signed or have had something signed, or if I can hear/see how hard they have worked on something. I ask more questions now and feel I have a right to do this as I don’t want to waste my time. I do want some of my work released - I want my album, Stepping Stones, released. I just want my songs to be seen for what they are and to make a living out of my musical talent and to include acting or modelling if I feel like it. What are important to me are my family and friends, my song writing and my music, my wellbeing and also the world around me.
During December a German producer asked me to remix Transcendental so that’s in the pipeline. The tracks were submitted to itunes and I started decorating my studio to get it ready for new work. Now it’s late January, 2007 and I am going to be working on some new tracks with Mr E. I have met a bass player called Franz who is amazing and I really like his stuff so will be working on some tracks with him. I have started work with a very talented producer in Italy, Claudio, on some tracks for his new album which I am very impressed with. I am very pleased about this development. There are also other positive projects in the pipeline. I am still hoping to catch up with Gary again and start work on a new album. I have started filming for youtube and myspace. I plan to set up an internet shop and hopefully get some special gigs. I would like to record an album solo - just me and my guitar and also get some new photos done so I have a full year of work ahead of me.
Interview Part 3
January 2007 - December 2007
What a year, I don’t really know where to start from, except for I know this year has felt like 3 years in one.
The year started really well by having a review of my album Stepping Stones in the biggest music magazine ever. The Record Collector Christmas issue number 331, on page 134 under the heading A guide to digital music and collecting online by Ian Peel, there I sat next to Moby and Madness and managed to get myself 3 Stars.
Ian Peel Wrote:
“If you took a dose of Joss Stone and mixed it with some Evanescence, and possibly a twist of Kate Bush, you’d have a fair idea of where Emma Lock is coming from. She’s from Cornwall, looks amazing and this is her first set of songs.
While some tracks struggle to find a shape and purpose, Transindental and Stepping Stones are wild, accomplished showcases of a great emerging talent.”
Thanks Ian Peel that was very kind.
Wow what a review, I now have the magazine in a frame on my wall, the cover on the magazine is of Jim Morrison, someone I have always admired for his song writing, especially the track ‘People are Strange’ as it’s in my second favourite film The lost boys.
In January I released the Track Evolution by Mr E on iTunes. I was so proud of this track it has so much energy in it and every time I hear it, it gives me goose bumps.
Evolution for me was a great starter pack for working out what I can do lyrically and vocally on Dance orientated tracks, it made me realise how much more I could do and gave me lots of ideas for my future career.
At the same time I also released What More and Spiral on iTunes produced by a fantastic producer and friend, Gary Williams.
February kicked off with me working with Claudio an Italian Producer, his music was from the heart and extremely exciting for me and very inspiring, we worked on 3 tracks called Fall, Rise and Until Love.
I really enjoyed working with Claudio and he taught me new ways of recording from my studio in addition to helping me develop my production skills.
Until Love I think was the best although Rise and Fall were pretty outstanding too. After writing the three tracks Claudio wanted to work on an album with me, but I really wasn’t prepared to do this as working on track after track with no feedback from Record companies is really quite pointless these days and I had my own music to work on too. We decided to promote the tracks separately until we can generate more interest. They sound half between Dido and Kate Bush and very good / strong tracks, shame but some music is left on the back burner, that’s just part of the music industry, I am afraid!
Sample of lyrics from the track Fall:
‘Catch these tears as they fall,
Like petals to the ground,
Lift me high to those clouds above
I want to hear my heart pound again’
I really would love to be able to write an album with Claudio as his production skill’s and his talent for music is outstanding, I plan to in the future but only with backing from a record company as it’s disheartening working on such profound sounding tracks and being unable to release them. I know we deserve more than that for these tracks to just sit on computers never being listened to, I really believe they have something to offer the listener.
Anyways so in March my Vocals were requested to be used on a track personally penned by the DJ Judge Jules called Undisputed Love.
I was very pleased to be involved on this track, so recorded some vocals from my studio and sent them back to Judge Jules to mix and to see if he was happy with the way I sang it.
Also around the same time, I connecting with a few other DJ’s, about working vocally or co-writing tracks one of which was Lisa Lashes.
Lisa Lashes sent me a track to work on, which was a hard house mix, almost straight away I could hear the words, and it was like they were shouting out at me.
The track was so inspiring, and fast, it was the first track I had written with such a fast pace and was therefore new and exciting. It was like there was a connection between the track and my lyrics and it just seemed to flow.
After about a week of recording the track in my own studio, I submitted a guide vocal top line back to Lisa Lashes to mix and I named the track Overloaded.
Lisa Lashes was really pleased with what I had done, so I then re-recorded the vocal in Black and White studios in Redruth and submitted the studio quality Wav File vocal of Overloaded to Lisa Lashes so she could finalise the production of the track with Barry Diston, Fidget Studio.
After a few days of being out of the studio Judge Jules got back to me and asked me to submit finalised Vocals for his track Undisputed love, so off I went back to Black and white studios to record these Vocals for Judge Jules. After sending the Wav files back to Judge Jules, I was feeling pretty excited about the work I’d done in the last 2-3 weeks.
April arrived with some amazing weather it was like summer had come early, I spent days out in the sunshine in the fields and beaches writing tracks. In addition to this I updated my website’s and got a friend of mine Andy Richards to set up a Fan Base on myspace.
This is a place where you can listen to music, send comments and watch videos and see pictures, Andy is the Site Manager and will answer any of your question you may have about the Fan Base www.myspace.com/emmalock26. To date I have 4272 Fan’s/adds, 842 comments, 6077 views from across the world. Andy is doing a wonderful job and really helping me out.
Its great being in Cornwall when the sun shines out of season, you get the whole beach to yourself and you can watch the water glisten and know that the winter is behind you and the summer is on its way it’s brilliant and I know I am truly blessed. April was also a time for reflection on what had happened in March. Working with two of the best DJ’s in the world, let’s just say I was feeling very lucky!
By May Mr E the producer and co-writer of Evolution had sent me the starter of a new trance track which was really haunting and spacey. I had not worked on a track for a while with Mr E so thought I would give it a go. I spent a few days writing the track which I ended up calling Take a Chance.
The vocals match the tracks feel. It has a real rise towards the ending and I am well pleased with this track. The artwork for the track Take a Chance was a picture I took of the Sea in Cornwall in May.
June came with the rain; I bet every one can remember that, it wasn’t too bad in Cornwall although I think we may have escaped the worst of it as Devon had it pretty bad all summer. Ducking and diving in and out of the bad weather, I did my usual day Job and spent time updating mymusic site on my-space www.myspace.com/musicemmalock which currently has 2752 Friends/Fans/Adds, 9395 plays, 11867 views.
At the same time as promoting my music as much as possible and working on various different tracks from dance to pop I was contacted by a producer who worked for a TV company called Canal+. Based in Sweden, Canal+ wanted a British sounding Female Singer to sing Rule Britannia for the promotion of their up coming televising of the English Premiership Football season.
The producer from Canal+ had visited my website through a friend’s recommendation and chose me for the vocal, so off I went to the studio and sang Rule Britannia which was fun, the promo appeared on the Canal+ website and included a mobile digital download updating viewers about forthcoming fixtures and matches.
Also around June I released a Remix of Transindental on my iTunes page. I’ve always really wanted Transindental from my album Stepping Stones to be remixed and I had asked a few DJ friends to see if they were interested; it’s such a great track with lush vocals. A German Producer Michael Bachmeieralso known as Backdraft had been working on it for a while and sent it through to me. Straight away I loved it and submitted it to iTunes,it’s a housey dance mix with a light and airy feel, the vocals sound chrisp as they always did and I was very impressed with his work.
Maz Lunden from Elation Records is also working on a remix of Transindental with two other producers, in his studio in Central London and is planning a single release of this on Elation Records later next year.
Throughout the summer my vocals were receiving a good airing as Judge Jules promoted and played Undisputed love. It was a regular feature in Ibiza on his Judgement Sundays and was going down a treat. The track also got played on Radio One 2 weeks in a row. The track Undisputed love co-written by Stuart Millar and Judge Jules is an upbeat House Mix with Top line Vocal sung by me Emma Lock, to listen to track follow the link www.myspace.com/stuartmillar
At the moment the track has been passed on to management, it’s all very exciting. I am also looking forward to working on more material with Judge Jules next year.
Overloaded the track I had co-written with Lisa Lashes had also been going down really well on Lisa Lashes sets in Ibiza and UK and was getting great feedback from the audiences. Lisa Lashes told me in the summer that she was going to release a CD worldwide in October and she wanted Overloaded to be on it. I was so pleased that the track was going to be released and to be backed by such an outstanding and well known DJ like Lisa Lashes; I just knew the track would do well.
In October around the 10th Overloaded was played on the Dave Pearce show on Radio One. Lisa Lashes introduced the track as part of the promotion for her forthcoming Debut Artist Album worldwide release and also gave me a mention on air. I was totally touched and hearing the track was that extra bit special. Overloaded is Track 8 on Lisa Lashes Debut Artist Album and available to buy in the shops now. It’s a fantastic album with some really good collaborations and Overloaded has been one of the most popular downloads on Lisa Lashes iTunes page since the release. I am so proud of the track and I am looking forward to working with Lisa Lashes again in the future.
That about wraps it up for this year and my plans for 2008 will be more of the same, working on new collaborations and releases as well as finishing my next solo album.
Yours and thanks,
Emma Lock
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