Hypersonic Missiles

Heidi Curtis’ Ambitious Plan for World Domination – building a band, headlining festivals and working with Sam Fender

6th Nov 2019 — 1 Comment

Heidi Curtis is ambitious for success and there’s no reason why her aims couldn’t become a reality.

The band after the Sophie and the Giants show – @heidicurtismusic

The singer songwriter has already supported Sophie and the Giants and appeared on Sam Fender’s amazing single, ‘Hypersonic Missiles’.

However, there is no standing still for Newcastle based artist. She has already begun to implement her manifesto for success with her band, who are currently rehearsing and writing with her.

‘My guitarist Josh is a massive Toon fan so I would just like to headline the arena so he could shout a chant and the crowd could shout it back.’

On her Career Ambition

Curtis has highlighted the importance of being prepared for anything and whilst no gigs are currently planned, she understands the need to be prepared for anything which transpire.

‘The past few gigs have been amazing and we’ve got a promoter involved but we know we have to wait for good support slots’

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3aAbq3hJa5/

Her main aim is to build a passionate following, something she is currently well in process of achieving with over a thousand followers on Instagram as well as a growing YouTube community in which she highlights her work.

The singer songwriter is first concentrating on this rather than releasing music. However, she was quick to tease what it will sound like with demos described as if Blondie hit Fleetwood Mac.

The huge range of influences are already demonstrated on her YouTube channel in which she has reinvented popular favourites from acts such as Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and New Order, transforming them into her own unique style.

It is this and her sensational singing voice which has led to big things for her so far, supporting Sophie and the Giants at the Northumbria Institute last month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpUppWT3q5U

‘It was a great experience, the whole thing was amazing and to play on a proper stage was great… They were super lovely’

However, this is just the start for Heidi who wishes to go all the way to the summit of music with ambitions to top the bill at Boardmasters as well as to have her own headline tour.

This may well become a reality for her with the excellent acoustic version of ‘AGAIN’ on her Instagram demonstrating her supreme talent for songwriting.

Describing herself as a ‘methodwriter’, Heidi often writes from her own experiences dreaming up melodies whilst painting, molding the impressive lyrics around them.

Her songwriting journey began as a way of trying to work her way into her brother’s inner circle, something which clearly worked with her sibling now managing the singer songwriter.

It is also through this that Heidi has formed a friendship with her brother’s best mate and inspiration Sam Fender.

‘He’s always been massively supportive, he’s like an older brother.’

The North Shields based artist has always helped Heidi, having a huge influence on her music as well as helping her to write her first song.

He also provided a memorable moment for the singer songwriter, with Heidi appearing on the spectacular ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, providing backing vocals on the track.

The singer songwriter also has ambitions to headline Mouth of the Tyne Festival like Fender did earlier in the year.

However, top of the to do list for Heidi Curtis is to eventually headline the Ultita Arena in Newcastle if only to provide a special moment for her guitarist Josh.

‘My guitarist Josh is a massive Toon fan so I would just like to headline the arena so he could shout a chant and the crowd could shout it back.’

With her immense talent there’s no reason why the dream couldn’t become a reality.

Follow Heidi on Instagram here

Subscribe to her amazing YouTube Channel here

Audio Interview with Heidi Curtis

Music Reviews – Sam Fender – Hypersonic Missiles

16th Oct 2019 — 2 Comments

Polydor Records

Release Date: 13th September 2019

I know I’m over a month late to the party but it would be hard not to talk about this album with Sam Fender mania sweeping the North East.

The Limited Edition Picture Disk ft. bed

It’s been quite the month for Sam Fender, a number one album followed up by announcing huge gigs at the Utilita Arena here in Newcastle. There has even been talk of potential gigs at St. James’ Park it’s fair to say that Sam Fender is now amongst the biggest alternative artists in the country.

But is all the hype deserved: the short answer is definitely yes. The album starts with the title track, an arena ready song made to be performed live with smart socially relevant lyrics which perfectly combine. Despite this, one drawback is the ‘oh’ lines which feel forced in there to create a festival singalong which isn’t really needed when the song is so dramatic already.

‘The Borders’ and ‘White Privilege’ are both excellent painting Fender as modern day Geordie Springsteen, the catchy riff in ‘The Borders’ shows off the singer songwriter’s talent, immediately distancing himself from the array of acoustic guitar wielding artists, which are all over the radio like a plague of flesh eating locusts feasting on the corpse of originality.

‘White Privilege’ is lyrically the best on the album performed for the majority in one continual verse flowing like a rap or poem, confronting difficult social issues in an incredibly self aware way making this a great song for finding a unique spin on commentary.

The excellent social commentary continues on ‘Dead Boys’, which confronts male suicide in a heartfelt way whilst ‘You’re Not the Only One’ changes up the sound of the album adding in a drum machine creating the vibe of a sped up version of Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’. Overall, this gives the song a welcome change to the rest of the album with it’s pulsating beat which sounds very different to the rest of the album of which, there is little variation from the core indie sound.

‘Play God’s looping guitars are effective in reflecting the dystopian narrative of the song lyrics and proving another excellent single showing off Fender’s talent of writing pop songs with an indie twist. This continues in ‘That Sound’ with a thunderous chorus and pounding guitar riffs forcing home the heaviest song on the album in triumphant fashion.

‘Saturday’ continues the anthemic nature of the album with yet another effective future singalong. This flows into ‘Will We Talk’, which is a far more bittersweet song with a beautiful underlying melancholy to the tune despite keeping an energetic outer shell of guitars and violins.

‘Two People’ is the most similar to an Ed Sheeran type song expected from most male singer songwriters having the vibe of ‘The A Team’ with an electric twist whilst delivering another amazing set of lyrics. The album takes a downwards turn on ‘Call Me Lover’, a very poppy song, that is not necessarily a bad thing but amongst this album stands out as cliche and repetitive.

However, the next song, ‘Leave Fast’ is the best song that Fender has released to date. It is hard to describe just how perfect this song is, the riff is beautiful and brims with emotion, which combines well with the perfect lyrics revolving around the monotonous struggle of living in a small town and the inability to separate yourself from it. The song is easily the best on the album.

‘Use – Live’ is a change up from the rest of the album if a little baffling described as being there to prove that he can perform well live which gives the impression of the album being more of a CV to the audience than an album of songs. Despite this, the song is a nice switch up from the formula of the album with the guitars ditched in favour of a piano and Fender providing a strong vocal performance to finish off the album.

Overall, I really like this album, it’s a really strong starting point highlighting Fender as an extremely good lyricist combining social commentary in an effective unpatronizing way. However, I do feel as though the lyrics are stronger than the music which is backing it up.

Whilst the music is good I feel like it is a little tame in some areas considering the content of the lyrics. This is mainly nitpicking however and overall this is a really solid debut backing up the hype of the North Shields artist.