Interview with Marina Josephina: Kendal Calling And What To Expect As An Emerging Artist

I have been a regular attendee at Kendal Calling for a number of years now. One of the great joys of Kendal Calling is the sheer variety of artists and styles of music.

Last year I was lucky enough to stumble upon a set by a BBC Introducing artist, Marina Josephina, that I thought was one of the best sets I got to see all festival (I’d love to be able to say it was planned and take some credit but I really can’t!)

I thought, before this years Kendal Calling at the end of July I would speak to her about what it’s like to debut at Kendal and what advice she would have for any new artists there for the first time.

I really appreciate you doing this. Obviously, last year was your first time at Kendal as an artist, so it'd just be really good to understand how you found Kendal and how did you get invited to it in the first place would probably be a good place to start.

Yeah, absolutely. Yes, I got invited to Kendall Calling through Generator and Sonic Futures, which are two organisations who've really supported my music career so far. I'm very grateful to them. And I had the most amazing time. I got to go with my band, which was wonderful. I played the Roots stage. But I also played, is it called like the Magic Teapot? I did like a little acoustic.

Ohh, I didn't know that.

Well, that was kind of spontaneous. I just kind of rocked up and played a few of my original songs, like by the fire and on the piano, which was lovely, and was kind of like advertising my set for the next day, being like, if you like put your music like this, I'm going to be performing on the route stage with our band tomorrow.

Right.

So that was lovely. So I saw a few familiar faces that had come by. And it was weird, actually. I went to Kendal calling a few years previously just to enjoy the festival with my friends. And I played the Magic Teapot then as well. Again, I was just feeling really brave. And I just went up and was like, oh, please, can I kind of play some tunes? And I did. And so it kind of felt crazy to then be invited actually as an artist to play the stage. And I think that's why I wanted to go back and do that acoustic keep it as well, just to kind of like, I don't know, do the kind of full circle thing of like, right, I'm going to play here and then I'm actually going to do a set that's like on the lineup.

As part of the official line up?

Exactly. Real deal.

How did you find it? I mean, I saw you playing the Roots stage and it was excellent, but how did you find it?

Thank you. Yeah, amazing. Absolutely loved it. I was really grateful. Like, there was still like a really good crowd. I felt like, you know, people were kind of moving and like getting up close. And there was like quite a few like Teesside and like Northeast faces. And that was lovely. There was actually a few guys that had come to my headline gig. I think I did a show in like the June or something before and I'd sold some t-shirts and there was some people in the audience in my t-shirts and I was like, oh my God, this is actually surreal. And so I was just on a complete high.

I understand. Did you actually stay the whole weekend then, or did you just play there? Were you camping or were you in some sort of artist area?

Yeah, yeah, I did, yeah. I was actually really lucky. My best friend has a caravan at Lowther Castle. It's like the perfect distance. So I got the mix of like the festival experience, but then actually like a bed and a shower, which was beautiful.

I've got to be honest, I'm very jealous about that because I've been to Kendall a few times and it's the one thing you miss.

Well, exactly. And also the weather wasn't that good. I think it was like the last night, it was like really, really like stormy. And my bass player was camping on his own. I did offer him the caravan, but he was like, no, no, I'm going to stay. And yeah, I think his tent he blew away.

Yeah, that's not as good, was that so you could go and see the prodigy in the last night then?

No. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was amazing.

So the other question was, and you know, it's just up to you: What advice would you give to any artist debuting at Kendal Calling this year?

Yeah, try and kind of promote yourself now. You know, people are already looking into the artists that they want to go see. I'm sure there's like playlists and stuff popping about. So they'll be kind of like listening to, you know, can I discover a new favourite artist? So yeah, if I was an artist doing Kendall Calling this year, I would definitely be posting a lot on my socials, you know, if you go into Kendall Calling and you like, you know, this kind of genre, like I think you should come and watch me. Definitely all that kind of stuff. But also like just try and make the most of it when you're there, even just, you know, you go in and watching lots of music and trying to, you know, speak to the other artists on the roots stage, but also other stages. But I think, yeah, that roots stage is good because everyone's kind of, you know, in a similar point in their career. And I think something I've learned is definitely, you know, finding artists that are happy to kind of support you and you support them and kind of, you know, showing each other's stuff and, you know, I'm doing a gig, do you want to support, like all of that stuff is so, so valuable. So yeah, the networking side of it for sure and lots of content. So you can shout about yourself when you get back and be like, I've played Kendal Calling.

Excellent. And that's where it comes in handy, but the people, the press people see you as well and they start sharing the content because then that helps as well. Yeah, yeah, so it's good to get to know some of the press people as well and try and encourage them to come round and see your show and then share it on Instagram and stuff like that.

A 100%.

Yeah, yeah. So what's next? I'm going to give you a chance to plug what's coming up.

100%.Thank you. I have a headline show in Stockton on the 18th of September, which is with a 10 piece band. So I'm really, really excited about this. So I released, 'Did It Again' a couple of months ago now, but then I did like a live version of it in a studio with this 10 piece band. So there's a video of that. And then also I've released that as a single now as well, because it just brought the single like completely in another kind of vibe and brought it to life in a different way. And it just shows everyone kind of what my live sound is. You know, it's sometimes hard to kind of get across like how it's performed just through a single. So kind of the video and this live version really shows that. So I'm really excited about kind of doing my set in a different way for everybody. And it's like kind of like cabaret seats, I think.

Oh, okay, right. So what tables and stuff then?

Yeah, so that's really exciting. And I am currently in the studio recording my debut EP. So there'll be some new music, kind of like in the next couple of months, which is very important.

Okay.Excellent. Do we have any dates yet or is it too soon for that?

It's too soon for dates, I'm afraid.

Yeah. Fair enough. How's it going or is it going well so far?

Really well, I'm really excited. Yeah, it's the first time that I'll ever be able to kind of release music kind of, you know, a couple of months apart because it's obviously totally self-funded up to this point. But last year I was given at the Tees Valley PRS Momentum Fund, which is like a small amount of funding for, you know, like a starter project. So it means that I'll have kind of like 5 singles being able to release pretty much back to back.

Oh, excellent. Good. That's really good. That starts to build some momentum as well.

Exactly. That's what I'm hoping.

Excellent. Good. Listen, I appreciate you've got to go to work, so I won't hold you much longer.

Marina Josephina

Interview - Iain McClay