Nadine Shah has been one of 2013's success stories. The London based, South Tyneside born singer/songwriter's debut album 'Love Your Dum And Mad' has seen her garnering many comparisons to PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, while managing to crossover almost accidentally into the mainstream consciousness.

With her reputation on the live circuit placing her as one of 2013's must-see acts, The Yorkshire Times was excited to be invited along for a quick chill out ahead of her gig at Sheffield's The Harley...

How is the tour going so far?

Good, it is only the third day of the tour and I am already tired.

Are you the kind of artist who has a preference when it comes to recording or gigging?

I love the recording side of things, because that is when we are most creative so I really enjoy that. That is what everything is about, what we are making. I didn't think I would enjoy gigging as much as I do, but I think because we take so much care to cater our sound dependent on venues and we took a long time to craft the song live so that it is something different.

Rather than imitating exactly what was on the record, we took time to develop the set so it would work better live. Now I am really enjoying that aspect of things, because some of the songs have got slightly new characters to them to portray them live.

Is there a highlight of the set for you?

There is one that I love doing, just because it is quite fast paced and quite energetic in comparison to some of the others songs in the set that are quite sombre. It is called 'Runaway'. I like it especially because I know the boys enjoy playing it. I think I love the fact that I get to see the boys on guitars, drums and bass having a chance to play loudly.

A lot of the time they are quite conservative with their playing. I am sure there are moments they are wanting to rock out, but that is the one song I suppose they can rock out on. I can kind of feel their energy on stage, their movement behind me and their excitement so I really enjoy that.

A lot of your album leans towards the darker side of things, was that a conscious decision?

There was this great quote by Philip Larkin, because he wrote things of quite a macabre nature as well and I am a big fan of his poetry. He had been asked a similar question, 'why do you write about these subjects as opposed to those?', and he just said something like, 'deprivation is to me what daffodils were to Wordsworth.' I totally get that as that is just what he happens to be inspired by.



A lot of art that I love, whether it be physical paintings or cinema and music, it is the more morose dark stuff. I would very much like to make an upbeat record, a disco thing but I just don't do it very well. There are plenty of people who do it a hundred times better than I do. I am not one of these artists who is like 'tick, I have done that and so now I have to do that', I will probably just keep doing more of the same to be honest.

Philip Larkin is clearly a big influence, is there anyone else?

I really love Scott Walker. My Mum was a really big Scott Walker fan when I was growing up and I listened to lot of him and The Walker Brothers then and that was more of a pop band thing. I love the way how through time he gets more and more experimental. He doesn't let age defeat him. In fact it is the entire opposite. He is putting younger boys and girls to shame I think. He is a guy who is just 70 and he is so innovative. I think he is a real inspiration for any artist, especially if you are in your mid-20s. Every time I listen to his music it gives me a kick up my arse more than anything. It is like, 'Come on, Nadine. If he can bloody do this then you should be able to.'

'Love Your Dum And Mad' has been a phenomenal success, has your ambition altered as a result?

No I never really, to be honest, I never really thought I could make a career out of it. I suppose my one ambition is just longevity. I want to be able to just carry on doing this for a long time. I am in a really lucky position compared to a lot of artists, whereby my producer is a really famous producer. Ben (Hillier), he plays drums for me live and we have such a good working relationship that I know I have a partner for life. I could work in a supermarket for the rest of my life, but also be creatively satisfied because I am still able to work with him. I am very bloody lucky.

I want to make something at some point that is crossover, very commercial. Not very commercial but easily accessible. My Mum reads The Daily Mail and watches ITV and she has not heard of a lot of bands that I love. I want to make something that is still very left field but kind of has a balance between the two. I kind don't really believe in outright revolutions, I think that small changes and I think that way with music. That is kind of an ambition also.

Lots of people see commercial ambition as selling out...

There is this cafe near where I live and some of the stuff that is played there is wonderful but it is never going to be heard by a big audience. I hate this general assumption by radio stations of their target market only liking certain music, so you are not really given choice. If you are fed shit, then you will eat it. So lets try and make it a bit more palatable. That is the way I would like to make music. There are some bands who will always be completely out there, but they will always have a limited audience. There are others who are compromising, but it does not mean they are compromising their integrity. I just think it is an interesting project to try and appeal to a lot of people. It is just the way they have been conditioned to hear music and tapping on that and playing with it. That is what my favourite artists do, they take something, an everyday object and they twist something about it to make you go 'oh, that is weird'. I just want to do that really.

There are a few things that are typical in our music. Some things that I typically love are beauty, repetition and simplicity, but then you have things which appeal to a large market which are a big female vocal which kind of keeps a lot of people's attention. That is the thing that I think is accessible. They lyrical content is also not particularly abstract, they are songs about loss, love, revenge - age old tales really.

Have you been surprised at all by how the album has been received?

I have been surprised by what we have made, some of the places it has appeared. It has been a really good response. I kind of didn't expect it but I understood it from The Guardian and The Observer, but The Daily Mirror and people like that backing us is bizarre. That is great though as it brought a whole bunch of new people to us, who had never heard this kind of stuff before but really like it.

Now that the album is out, are you ready to move on to the next project?

There is a big part of me which is kind of done with this project. I suppose a lot of artists get that because a lot of us have very busy minds, almost like impatient children where we have to be stimulated by the next thing. There is a part of me like that,but it took us so long to make this that I have to nurture it. It is only the beginning of the project, because we will probably still be gigging it next year but I am writing in between at the moment too.

'Love Your Dum And Mad' is out now.