Siobhan Cotchin BIGSOUND 2022
Interviewer & Live Review by Robert Hume.
Interview written by Ryan Crolla.
BIGSOUND came back to Brisbane this year after a long hiatus thanks to COVID and this year in its triumphed return, it was bigger than ever. For the first time in the history of the conference and festival this year was also the first of its kind to showcase country music front and center, with Wednesday night turning the brightside into its own makeshift country festival in the heart of BIGSOUND and although it had a tremendous lineup there was one act that I couldn’t stop running into while she was in town.
Siobhan Cotchin is a country-rock singer-songwriter from Perth and coming off the back of supporting Bob Evan’s national tour as well as many more local gigs over on the west coast, including Sly Withers and Dulcie. Starting as a country musician but also having steadily been introducing more rock elements into her music, she was the perfect act to start off the country showcase.
“When I was opening for Bob Evans, it was solo. So it’s fun to finally bring the band along because I feel like it's a completely different show. My solo stuff is sort of like singer songwriter, like sad, you know?”
Welcoming everyone who had turned up in the late afternoon she introduced her band, Finn Pearson on guitar, Nick Gray on bass and Sam Rietkerk drumming up a storm at the back of the stage. Siobhan was wearing a pink and white checkered dress, with the boots and hat to complete the fun country vibe.
“I'm kinda like, rock and roll. With a classic, but disheveled vibe. But then my country persona is a little bit more Dolly and more pink and fun.”
The performance was a real journey into Siobhan and her band's transition into the sound of rock, starting off slow with ‘You, Me and the Ever Rising Sea’ the atmosphere reflected the relaxed and buttery vocals with cups of mac and cheese being handed around to the crowd.
In between songs she joked how she was so happy to be out of Perth, “it has a great scene. It's like a little community. It's like a little family. And I yeah, I really love that but I’m so excited to be here at BIGSOUND and meet so many new people.” It was time to bring the rock to the country. The band pulled out all the stops in performing a very lively version of ‘Do You Know What I Mean?’ with an interlude guitar riff that moved the audience around the floor.
Introducing her final song in the country showcase, ‘Fill My Cup,’ she exclaimed “It’s a song about drinking away your problems… which I would never encourage you to do but it just has to happen sometimes.” It’s a ballad that we can all relate to and it’s also the perfect blend of the country and the rock that Siobhan is trying to carve out.
Just before she flew into Brisbane I also caught up with Siobhan to talk about her EP ‘Highways and Heartbreaks’ that she released back towards the start of the year as well as her inspirations.
Can you tell us about a little bit behind the process of writing it and the story behind that EP?
Well, the songs that I collected and put on the EP were sort of all written quite separate from each other. Like, I didn't really think about putting them together until I recorded all of them. I basically just went to the studio with all of my strongest songs. And then I kind of realised, “oh, it's got this common theme of like, loss and heartbreak and driving" and I'm like, “Oh, there's a concept here”. So I recorded all the songs. And then the story kind of unfolded as we kept exploring the songs and fine tuning them.
I was like, “Oh, this is like a story here”. And I thought that was really cool. That it made me like, yeah, I sort of just uncovered the story as we went. I'm super proud of it and I really like concept EPs and concept albums. And I really wanted to do that. I think I love that it wasn't forced and it literally just happened. I was like, “all these songs have this same character throughout”.
Am I right in saying the story flows between each song in the EP?
Yeah, totally! I think the first song is kind of like, you love you love this person so much. And it's like, “aargh, like, it hurts”. It's that bad. And then like, the second song was about, like, having to move on. And then it kind of goes into ‘Highway Song’, which is like you're trying to drive away. And then you're sort of trying to start getting better. And, you know, through all those stages of the relationship, with grief, you're sort of starting to come to terms with it. And then ‘If I Could, I Would’ is sort of being like, “Well, f*** you. I still love you. And I hate that.”
And then I wanted to finish the EP off with ‘You, Me and the Ever Rising Sea’ because it's kind of like, “everything's kind of messed up… but I guess I'm gonna have to keep driving and just figure it out as I go”. So yeah, I think the narrator in this EP is just really lost after a breakup and is trying to come to terms with it all. That's how I see it.
I suppose that the end of that EP with ‘You, Me and the Ever Rising Sea’, it kind of like flows into your two new singles that you put out recently, with ‘Fill My Cup’ in particular focusing on the idea of being lost in life.
Yeah, I've been writing a lot about that recently… Actually, yeah, you're so right. I feel like that's it. Yeah. I ended up still feeling a little bit lost, but like, slightly optimistic, but also terrified. And then-Yeah, true. Oh, my God. That's my favourite thing.
Is there anything that you do in particular, before performing, as some sort of ritual?
Yeah, I usually will do my makeup. That's kind of like my little ritual. I love just sitting down and doing my makeup and having something play in the background. I’ll usually watch something like Trixie & Katya.
I think doing my makeup is a really soothing thing for me. And I'm just taking my time to warm up, pick out an outfit - that’s a stressful part. The outfits are always the hardest for me.
You mentioned you love watching Trixie Mattel. Do you take inspiration from her?
Yeah, she's a huge inspiration for my style as well. I adore her. I love her whole vibe. Even the sort of 60s Mod vibe as well is cool.
But yeah, I feel like when I'm on stage and stuff, I've got like my own sort of persona. And I don't really wear a lot of makeup when I'm off stage. In some ways, it’s kinda like I am in drag. Like, I feel like I'm becoming this other person when I'm playing which is really cool. Especially when I'm doing the country thing, I’m wearing my hat and boots and it's yeah, it's really cool.
Do you think of yourself as a country person in general?
I am, definitely, at the heart of all things. I think I'm a country songwriter. But I definitely don't want to be defined by that. It's a hard thing because I love it. There will always be a twang in my sound, but I do want to explore a bit more of the rock side of things. And I think I have been doing that.
