Rapunzel Map

If you have ever staggered into the city centre late on a weekend night of clubbing and walked through the square, only to stop and listen in awe at the sweet sounds coming from a girl with a guitar on the council house steps then you probably have already discovered Rapunzel MAP. We appreciate hard-working musicians here at LeftLion and we know this girl has got some serious talent to back it up...

So what's with the name Rapunzel?

"People used to shout it at me, builders mostly... "Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair" etc as I used to have hair that reached beyond the bottom of my calves so it was an obvious nickname. It's better than Chewbacca, which I remember someone calling me once..."

Who would you describe as your musical influences? What do you listen to at home?
"I was brought up on Pink Floyd, Bad Company, Cat Stevens etc I'm sure they have influenced me big time, so I hope I've absorbed their sense of melody and song. Stuff I listen to at home aside from that is really varied.  For Break beat, BT etc, for unusual and hard beats Peaches, Nine Inch Nails, Disturbed. For eclectic stuff I like Bran van 3000, Michael Franti & Spearhead.  Dj D? C.I?'s mix tapes are perfect to chill to. And one of my favourite CDs is from a hip hop collective called First Blood who are from Mansfield. I've no idea if they are going to release it as a friend of theirs just gave me an unfinished copy but I hope they do as it is full of hooks and original tunes."

What are the best and worst things you've seen out there whilst playing..?

"I see so many things its unreal. I wouldn't swap my busking experiences for playing at Earls Court! Worst things first,  recently some guy flashed his penis a few weeks ago, that wasn't too pleasurable, he decided to flash in the middle of my cover of Sublime's `What I got', I certainly didn't ask to see what he had."

"There's too many `best things' once a girl laid a big bunch of roses by my amp and then ran off. She has no idea how much she cheered me up that day. The homeless folk who appreciate what I'm doing and then give me their last pocket of change always chokes me. I love it when the crowd gets really big and they start singing along to my own songs or start dancing.  And a memorable time was when a crowd gathered and 2 police cars parked either side with their spotlights on me to make it a stage show, its not often the police are credited to contributing to an atmosphere is it? Usually they're known for breaking up parties so respect to them where respect is due. They've been supportive ever since. I guess I am making the drunken party animals more docile with my tunes so perhaps I should be on their payroll too. People put some strange things in my guitar case too; I've had bowling shoes (which fitted) and a pair of pants..."

What is the best and worst advice you have ever been given?

"The best advice is to always do what your heart tells you by my little bro. The worst advice would be "You need to cut your hair to be marketed successfully as an artist as then you'll be considered more attractive to males", by a producer at a music industry conference. Luckily my heart said I should not take such incredulously stupid advice.

Are you originally from Nottingham? If not, how did you end up here..?

"No, I'm originally a southern lass but Nottingham is my chosen home, it's where my heart is. I came to do a degree here a few years ago. A while back I suffered 3 burglaries and a flood in the space of 3 weeks and so had no choice but to leave Nottingham but as soon as I was able, I moved back up here, guess that shows how much I love it. There's a big music scene up here, it looks like I'll be featuring on the next compilation CD of local hip hop label, Dealmaker records soon too..."

How was Glastonbury this year? I've already seen some positive comments about your impromptu performance posted on the web...

"News travels fast, the net is amazing.  Let me do a web search....I'm pretty shocked,  some ones slipped me in between Goldfrapp and the Scissorsisters as their festival highlights on a message board so it reads like I played the Pyramid Stage, no mention of the fact I was just busking in the Greenfield's! Fantastic! I'd love the festival promoter to see that `'Rapunzel M.A.P., who's that? I'm sure we didn't book her... how did she slip in..."  

"Well I booked myself, my mates helped me wheel my amp across the mud in a wheelbarrow for a mile or so though. Then I found a giant sofa made of hay, so I set that up as my stage, a flare either side and before I knew it had a crowd of a few hundred, one of the best gigs I've ever done. I've been getting emails from people who saw my set requesting CDs and even though I just about broke my back carrying stuff, I really loved the atmosphere that night.

One of your songs is called Vampire's Sad Song. Do you believe in such creatures of the night?
"Well after witnessing Nottingham in the dead of night by the left lion you could say I seen such creatures...seriously, I've never followed Buffy so I'm not sure where the inspiration came from..."

I heard a rumour that DJ Sammy wanted to remix one of your tunes. Any truth in this?

"Yes that's true, his representatives saw me busking in France at a music conference. They wanted my song `I want you back again' to be the follow up to Heaven. They flew me to their studio in Germany to talk me into it as I kept protesting that I wasn't a fan of trance music. Their studio was shared with Sash who had a number 1 with  `En cois en Fois' and I felt awful telling them that that was my musical nightmare. I'm a techno fan but not a fan of euro house and trance. As I hadn't released my own song officially, it wouldn't have been classed as a remix but the definitive version. I felt that that particular song needed a different production style."

"Some people may think it was crazy of me not to go with producers who'd had such a commercial success but I know what makes me happy and what doesn't. I'm not stupid though, obviously money would have helped me start my own label etc and do things how I wanted to do them, so we did discuss them including my own version on the single too along with a trance version but in the end there were frustrating hold ups and I had to move on with my own plans."

I now often busk their song `Heaven' then follow up with my song that they wanted to trancify ` I want you back again' which always makes me smile.

Tell us something that people don't know about Rapunzel MAP?

"This question is hard as I don't know how comfortable I feel telling people facts about me. I say so much in my songs anyway. How about frivolous stuff like the fact I can say my alphabet backwards?"

What are your plans for the future..?

"I need to raise some money for my own record label Liquid Dust Records to record my album in the way I've always imagined it. Best way in which to do this I figure is to sell as many copies of my CD Raw Live Real that I made with just my guitar and vocals. The response I've been getting from it is fantastic, from all walks of life. I just need to get the CD more exposure. I have chosen the independent route for a reason; it's not a case of not being offered deals because I have, it's just that I want to make my music in the right way with the right people. I think it is assumed that everyone wants to sign directly to a label, whereas I think it's safer to sign your label to a label in the long run, which is a possibility I wouldn't rule out."

Is there anything else you would like us to mention....?