We catch up with Lace Thief ahead of her Rough Trade show

Are you excited / nervous for the release this week of your third single Sister of the North and the accompanying debut headline show to launch it on Saturday? 

Yeah! (Laughs) It's always the pressure of the unknown but the advance promo and ticket sales seem to be building, so that always makes life a bit easier.

Tell us more about your support on the night...

Peter Hall, who recently released a new single Afterlove and did a launch at Rescue Rooms, is a really good singer-songwriter who has lots of 60s and 70s references in his music. Cracked Hands, who are a mix of spoken word and primitive electric guitar, have a new EP out called Mundane Hope which I think is excellent.

Jay Sandhu is the DJ on the night and I'm really excited about the poets who have responded to our online call of having their work mixed into the DJ's music over the Rough Trade PA.

You previously co-headlined performing a mix of spoken word and music, along with artwork and projections, for a totally immersive experience at Leicester Gallery for Sonar Sessions. And I recently attended your brilliant performance at Dubrek Studios, which proved that your poetry and music works equally well in a simple, sedate environment, showing how flexible your work is. What kind of environment can we expect on Saturday.

I'm very pleased to have Gemma Vincent at the show, a mixed-media artist with found materials. There will be fold-out posters inspired by Sister of the North, and there will be more new artists doing work in future to compliment my other releases.

Very ambitious!

I like to think so, and the music will be very different again with a full band beside me! 

Tell me more about your newly assembled group? I hear it was formed around the Mount Street Studios crew (the Nottingham based recording studio) that worked on your upcoming album Inheritance?

Matt Robinson who produced my upcoming album is on bass. Catherine Glenister is on keyboards and backing vocals and was also backing singer and engineer on the record, and is now a producer at Mount Street with the moniker Eva Cave. Then I have Tom McAndrew on drums, and Will Francis on guitar. I'm just singing.

Just!

Well I'm not going to talk much about my playing as there are better guitar players than me!  

So what was the inspiration for your new single?

Sister of the North is about my own sister when she moved away from Nottinghamshire. We're only a year apart and will always be very close, but now she's living in Middlesbrough. I think the song is melancholic and reflective, and about letting people go. We're still sisters though, that won't change, and I still get lots of strength in that, and it gives the song an upbeat feel.

So it's not, "I hate you for leaving b***h!" Have you ever performed at Rough Trade before?

I've never played there, but I like the fact that it has all the different media under one roof... Art, music, publications, etc.

It was also formerly a record label, before the split between the shop/venue happened in London...

The artwork to a lot of the label's music is very DIY too, which I really like.

Any message for any people thinking of coming down there on Saturday? 

I think that it will be nice just to have a mix of poetry fans, art fans, music fans and to see how the strands all come together, so come down and enjoy it all!

And casuals interested in bits of all three will have a good, original experience I'm sure! It will be a very interesting night. Thank you for talking to us.  

Thank you!

Lace Thief's new single Sister of the North is out now and the launch show takes place at Rough Trade Nottingham on Saturday, 28th September 2024 (tickets here).