Exciting times wait for Rosie H Sullivan in 2023 – starting with her tour
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As singer songwriter Rosie H Sullivan hovers at the start of this new year, it is no wonder she feels excited about what lies ahead in 2023.
“I’m super-excited to release my songs and also for my first-ever headline tour which is still crazy to think, but I’m really excited for that. It’s definitely beating away the January blues!” Rosie said.
Her fourth single, Expectations, was out on Friday, and with the earlier ones – a “waterfall” of singles, Rosie’s songs are heralding her EP 123 Degrees East, out next month.
There’s also the chance to see Rosie live in Inverness – her debut here – when she plays the Tooth & Claw on Sunday. It’s the second in her four-date tour also taking in Stornoway, Dundee and Glasgow’s King Tut’s.
Speaking from her Marchmont windowsill in Edinburgh where she is studying music at Napier University, Rosie said: “It’s just so brilliant that I will head out on tour.
“My favourite part of performing live is often speaking to people afterwards. I love chatting to people I’ve met before – and people I haven’t – connecting through music is super-important.
“Even if I’m not speaking to people, it’s nice to be on stage and see that people are listening and connecting with my music. That’s such a special feeling and such a high – and there’s an adrenalin rush after each gig when people come up to you. I had a few moments like that last year, people I didn’t know coming up to me after gigs and saying ‘I love this song’ or how they really connected with one of them.
“Last year I remember I had this woman in Glasgow saying she had driven all the way up from England!”
Rosie laughs: “It still baffles me people want to come and see and hear me, but it’s such an amazing feeling and I wouldn’t exchange it for the world!”
Hear the songs, such as So I’ve Been Told or her last single, Lights, and they speak for themselves. Lights deftly sketches in a world in just a few lines of lyrics, the gentle music and Rosie’s voice completing a powerful synergy.
Brought up on Lewis and going to school there, Rosie moved with her family to Aberdeenshire, before heading to Edinburgh to study. But the songs which feature on her EP were written in lockdown, the first part on Lewis and the second in Aberdeenshire.
“I wrote so much music, it was a big period of time for me, finding out a lot about myself and how I write. It was a nice balance of relaxing and getting into the zone and I was lucky to be surrounded by nature,” the singer songwriter explained. “The EP title, 123 Degrees East, is an ode to Lewis and Aberdeenshire – a bearing on the map, from the beach I grew up next to on Lewis to the house we live in, in Aberdeenshire. Having been so close to nature, and in the middle of nowhere, having that peace and time on my own was really important.”
Asking Rosie if she has a detailed plan for how she wants things to go careerwise over the next while, she said: "Not exactly, I don’t really want to put that pressure on myself.
"I definitely have a list of goals, but making money as a musician can be pretty difficult, there are so many steps involved and I think it’s about having a good team which is super-important – and luckily for me I’ve got a great management team!
"I’ve got a great label I’m working with, and so far that has been amazing and it is allowing me to do the things I’ve dreamed of doing, while also making money from playing places or people buying my music.
"I think it’s difficult, but my absolute dream is to make a living from music, that would be the absolute ideal.
"But I’m not putting pressure on myself to have things done by certain points, but there are definitely things I would love to do and goals I would definitely love to achieve!”
As Rosie makes clear, having the right people around her has been very important, including her record label, Nettwerk Records.
“In February last year I signed, but it was the October before that I was first approached by them,” Rosie said.
“They had heard my song on a Spotify playlist and they got in touch. It was very daunting because it’s been a dream to make a career out of music and this is the first step.
“You definitely used to need to sign with a record label in the past, now I don’t think it is essential that you sign with a label, but I think it is a good option to have, depending on the label.
“I had a few months of back and forth and speaking to the label and interviews and I remember my manager saying – because I was nervous for one of the interviews – he said ‘It’s just as much an interview for them and you need to ask them questions too’.
“And he also said ‘With or without them, you are going to be doing your music!’.
“I thought that was such a good way to put it,” Rosie said. “Really great advice. So after speaking to them and a few artists who were on their label, they just seemed like – they are an international label – and they seemed like the complete right vibe for me. The people I spoke to who work for the label were lovely and seemed to get me, my music and what I am about and it was nice to feel I was being listened to. And it was nice to get a glimpse of a team I could have around me that would help me build my business, essentially.”
Rosie recalled a moment that helped cement the relationship she wanted to have with her team.
“I remember the last meeting I had with Angus who is now my A & R, he had a very small baby. I think she was only a few months old at the time and we were on Zoom and she was crying and he had to pick her up and hold her.
“He said ‘Why don’t you sing her some songs?’ so I sang a few, then she fell asleep and it was just a really sweet moment.
“And he laughed ‘Bonus points for making her fall asleep!’.”
On a more serious note, Rosie added: But it was important that it felt like they wanted to work with me because of me and my music and they cared about who I was and what I was about, rather than being just another number.
“Nearly a year now, and every step has been great. They have been super-competent and super-honest too, which I think is important.
“That is what me and my manager have always said, honesty is the best policy. Without that you are not going to get anywhere. It’s really important to have that and have some people who question what I do maybe, not criticise, but be constructive. But it’s been amazing and I love it.”
Curious about how the aftermath of #MeToo and strides in the creative industries in making sure women are treated equally and always with respect, are going, I ask Rosie how she has found being a young woman working in the music industry.
She is positive about her experience so far, particularly with her record label.
“It was nice to speak to other women on the label and it has been great for me – and a big part of the team is female. There are photographers and social media managers and PR. We have lots of women on the team.”
Rosie H Sullivan plays the Tooth & Claw on Sunday. doors from 7pm, support from Stevie Macleod. Facebook: @rosiesullivanmusic / Instagram: @rosiehsullivan
