Broghan (Scotland) – Interview – Thanks for Asking!

Broghan – Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: Like songs, every artist has a unique feeling about their first show. What was your first show like? Was it your best show? If, not what was you best show like?

Broghan: My first gig as a solo artist was definitely my best show. It was in January of 2023 at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. In Scotland, this is a HUGE deal and my dream since I was a little(er) girl. I was asked to open the show for Lewis Capaldi, a Glaswegian legend, in front of a crowd of 12,000. It’s hard to find the words to describe just how that show felt. I was ecstatic. I only had three weeks to prepare with a band but I was SO ready. Armed with my own songs I jumped onto the massive stage and sang my heart out. The audience was amazing, thousands of them put their torches on for my song ‘Ping Ping Ping.’ To this day I still don’t know how I didn’t burst into tears.

RRX: Cover art is cool. It shows listeners what the artist thinks the album is all about. Because music can be felt visually. If you had to give the public a visual image that you think they would see and just “get” your groove right away, what would it be?

Broghan: Cover art is extremely important to me. You’re given this wee square to symbolise your song, something you’ve put copious amounts of effort into, so might as well make the most of it! I love visual art and spend a lot of time making my own; through paintings, drawings, etc.  For my latest song, ‘The Calm Before The Storm’, I dragged my photographer friend, Aidan Stewart-Grant, to the beach with me, where we spent hours taking photos for the cover art, desperate to capture a picture that somehow told the story of the song. Anyway to answer your question, I’m not sure what I would do when trying to create a visual representation of my ‘groove’… maybe something colourful and sparkly yet dark and kinda spooky? Either that or just a picture of a baby panda, blowing bubbles and riding a rollercoaster, it’s confusing but you get it, which is sorta my thing when it comes to music.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?

Broghan: I’ll never forget the first time someone properly heard me sing. It was my high school music teacher, Mr Crawford, who noticed I could. A few of us in the class (me included) had picked voice as our first instrument, don’t know what I was thinking cause I could barely even speak at the time, I was that shy! I was in second year, which I’m not sure what that equates to in other ends of the world but I was around 13. Anyway, Mr Crawford had this small group of us gather around the piano to sing ‘Tomorrow’, from Annie. I remember taking a deep breath and singing the best I could. A couple of lines in, my teacher abruptly stopped playing. He then turned around, pointed directly at me and said ‘YOU!, sing that on your own!’. As you can imagine I nearly died on the spot but I loved singing and wanted so desperately to be good. So I sang on my own and he just looked at me and said ‘wow, you’ve got some voice on you’. I was thrilled to bits and haven’t stopped singing since. The first time anyone heard me sing a song of my own was my mum and dad, who had been pushing me to write my own music for years. After apprehensively showing them my first ever song  they both cried. They’re the first people to hear every single song I’ve written since and are my biggest fans.

RRX: Tell me about your most recent song, album, or video (you pick.) Tell me a story about what went into making it. Not a process, but a cool story that took place within the process.

Broghan: Just as well I have the video to prove this cause otherwise nobody would believe me. My most recent music video for my song ‘Showtime’ I so humbly believe deserves awards. Purely because of how chaotic it is and was to film. We filmed ‘Showtime the music video’ last year. I had this idea that I wanted to be in water for a lot of it. There’s this one line in it where I say ‘I need to swim before I sink’ and for some reason I felt the need to base the entire video around that. So I looked into finding some sort of pool. As an independent artist with no money however, that’s kinda tricky. My Dad, who claims to be ‘the logistics man ’ for all my daft ideas came up with an abstract compromise. “How about we just find a bath, like a nice vintage-y bath?”. So that was our new mission. A few doom scrolls on Facebook market place later, my dad had found a cast iron, enameled, roll top bath, weighing roughly 300 pounds!! This detail is important because we thought it would be a cool idea to film it in the woods. It ended up taking 6 of us to carry it! The weirdest part of the whole thing is that I sat in a bath, filled with balloons, in the woods, in a pretty little dress, in APRIL, in SCOTLAND, FREEZING, and the people walking their dogs around us didn’t bat an eyelid, not a single person asked what the hell are you doing? So yeah that was funny.

RRX: What instrument would you add to the band if you could? Is there anything you are trying to do musically that would be helped with one or more additional players?

Broghan: I’m obsessed with strings! In all of my songs I have a set of midi string instruments playing. Don’t judge me for the fact they’re midi, I’ll take any cello or violin that I can get! But yes my dream is to sing accompanied by an entire orchestra. I think I would hit the ceiling if I ever got the opportunity to have my own songs played by an orchestra with me singing alongside. For now though, I’m on the hunt for a cellist to add to my band. I think that would be awesome, me, a guitarist, keyboarder, bassist, drummer and whole bloody cello?! I’d love that.

RRX: How does practice go? Is the road practice enough, or do you have a practice shack? If so, how does it look? What’s on the walls? Was cool sh*t is in there?

Broghan: After using the ‘puppy dog eyes’ technique extensively I managed to convince my dad to convert his precious garage into a home studio for my 21st birthday. The old little garage in our garden was falling apart, the ceiling filled with asbestos and a bunch of my sister and I’s rusty old bikes and scooters made it impossible to move around in. It was time for a change. I only had to agree to one condition my dad had placed. Next to my drum kit, guitars, PA and piano would remain his Triumph Thruxton TFC Motorbike. Which, as much as it takes up space, is pretty cool and a great talking point for the musicians who come round to rehearse with me. My dad is also very happy that is his baby bike has a warm place to sleep at night!! Along with that the studio walls are covered with neon lights and my colourful artwork. It’s a dream come true to have my own rehearsal space. I’m very lucky.

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