Upon first meeting Georgie in her dressing room in the Olympia, she seems shy and wary of another journalist. This is understandable considering the Dublin leg of her tour supporting Jake Bugg is the last on a run of 13 shows. Hailing from Nottinghamshire, the singer-songwriter has had a rollercoaster year. Signing to Columbia Records in August 2015 (the same label that represents everyone from Bob Dylan to Beyoncè), playing Glastonbury on the “BBC Introducing Stage” and supporting one of the hottest acts of the last few years on an almost sold out run of shows, it’s clear that she’s jumping from strength to strength. Counting influences such as the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Mamas and Papas and Carly Simon, her soulful voice, accompanied by strong guitar playing and a steady beat, is refreshing. Her first single “Company of Thieves” has distinctly retro tones and is so catchy you’ll find yourself humming along to it immediately.
In her dressing room, however, she seems like just another laid back 21-year old. While music was always in her life growing up, it wasn’t until she was in her mid-teens that she fell into learning and playing it. “It wasn’t until I was fourteen that I got into music. I used to play football before that”, she explains. “My mum always played records like Fleetwood Mac and Aretha Franklin. So it was always on in the house but it just took me time to pick up a guitar but I was always listening to music”.
Despite this relatively late start, it wasn’t long before she was writing her own songs: “Within a week I had kind of wrote my first song and my mum was like ‘oh why don’t you learn this Carly Simons song and this Mama and Papas song’. So I would go up and like learn them and then come downstairs and play them for my mum.”
This would explain the strong old school vibes which run throughout her music. Speaking about why she chose “Company of Thieves” as her first single, it’s clear that she feels like the music currently on the radio isn’t the sort she can relate to. “You kind of have to go out with a statement of intent and I think especially as a female and especially with so much music that’s out at the minute”, she trails off before offering: “I can’t relate to a lot of music that’s on the radio.”
Writing is an important aspect of what makes Georgie so intriguing. Compelling and honest lyrics, however, are not always easy for her to come across. “Sometimes you find it, it’s like hard. You’ve got all these things going on in your mind but you can’t get it out like and it’s like frustrating,” she explains. As a “creative person”, however, she’s always subconsciously looking for inspiration: “Sometimes it’s hard to put it out, to get it out and then sometimes it’s easy.”
With four tracks of her new album already laid down, Georgie will return to Spacebomb Studios in Virginia in the new year to finish recording the rest of her debut album. Describing the experience of heading stateside to record the album as “amazing”, she admits that America and Ireland were top of her list of places to visit. “I’ve done them both in a year”, she says smiling. It’s at this point that Georgies true character shines through. Her shy demeanor is changed when she explains that one of the reasons she wanted to visit Ireland was, along with her ancestral heritage, the country’s fondness for whiskey. The one thing she’s going to do her run of shows with Bugg finishes? “I plan on going to a few pubs and drinking whiskey”, she admits. A cheeky smile spreads across her face as she reveals that she in fact has a tattoo of the Jameson’s logo. Rolling up her sleeve she shows me the Jameson’s boat tattooed just under the inside of her elbow. “I lost a bet”, she says with a hint of ruefulness but also mischief in her voice. To be fair to her, as far as bet-losing tattoos go, it’s certainly not a bad one.
When she was last in the states they were putting down a song a day. She admits that this isn’t always how it works and it was largely own to the excellent house band at Spacebomb Studios: “You could just like pretty much play them the song and they would have it down.”
It’s at this point that we’re interrupted by her own band. The dressing room, which is lined with mirrors, means that I can see two guys making faces and laughing through the window behind me. Trying not to laugh, Georgie apologises and explains that they are actually her drummer and bass player. “This is my first tour with a band as well so they keep you going definitely when you’re tired”, she says. It’s clear that Georgie loves being on the road, saying that it’s “sad” that they’re nearly finished. She won’t have long to wait, however, as after this tour she returns to the road with indie pop band Blossoms.
My time with Georgie ends as her tour manager Mark comes back into the room. Leading me through the maze that is backstage in the Olympia, he explains that he will take Georgie to a certain level before letting her off into the world. Much like he did for Jake Bugg before her. Georgies set begins at 8pm and lasts half an hour. A decent crowd has already gathered with people queueing outside the Olympia from as early as five o’clock to get up close and personal with Bugg. For now, however, it’s up to Georgie to warm them up. Her set is consistent and upbeat. A cover of the Janis Joplin classic “One Night Stand” shows she’s not afraid to take on a great. The crowd reacts well with several people singing along and each song is accompanied by cheers and appreciative applause. Closing with “Company of Thieves”, the cheers get louder as people recognise her only publicly released song. As the song finishes and her voice rings out across the theatre in one loud, clear note it’s obvious that Georgie, like Bugg before her, is only on an upward trajectory.
