Wolverhampton blues rocker Rebecca Downes talks ahead of Midlands shows
Hailing from Finchfield in Wolverhampton, Rebecca Downes is fast establishing herself as one of the star attractions in modern blues rock.
The star won Best Female Vocalist and Best Emerging Artist in the British Blues Awards in 2016, and has no plans of slowing down on her rise to the top.
2017 has already been a successful year for the ex-Smestow school pupil - who has announced a support slot with British Rock band Magnum that reaches Birmingham’s Town Hall on March 2, 2018.
Following this, Rebecca has also announced that she has signed a deal with US record company TriArts Partners LLC to seek opportunities for our music – recording, publishing and performing – in North America and, potentially, beyond.
“We are very excited indeed because the partners have a fantastic history of management, promotion and representation of leading artists like Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond, Tower of Power, The Pointer Sisters, Kenny Loggins, Chaka Khan and the Everly Brothers to name just a few.” Says Rebecca.
“They aim to get us deals in North America and we will be keeping our fingers crossed that they are successful!”
Rebecca was inspired to play music as a child by her parents, and joined her first band a few years later.
“My parents were always playing music at home and it just became part of my life at a very early stage. I joined my first band as a teenager.” Rebecca says.
“My parents’ music was people like Frank Sinatra and Etta James and they were very much my early influences.”
Her parents’ music taste isn’t all that influenced her style, the music scene in the Midlands helped to form Rebecca’s future career in more ways than one.
“There is a very lively local scene and I have been privileged to work with many musicians from this area who have gigged all over the world. And having the support of Coven-based producer Mark Viner Stuart has been crucial to this phase of my career.”
Rebecca returns to the Midlands on October 7 for a headline show at Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms, before returning in 2018 with Magnum to play Birmingham Town Hall on March 2.
“It’s great to be in front of a home audience with lots of familiar faces. Audiences here are knowledgeable and enthusiastic and that’s everything a performer could wish for.” Rebecca says.
“At our Wolverhampton show there will be a support set from our good friends the Big Wolf Band. Most of the numbers we will play are our own – written by Steve Birkett and me – but we will do two or three classic covers as well.
“We have a lot of links to Magnum – Mark, our producer and sound engineer, is their tour manager, and Rick – our keyboard player – will be touring with them and we bump into each other all the time at Mark’s studio in Coven.
“The reaction of their fans to the gig we did with them at the Robin 2 in July was fantastic, so we are really looking forward to playing Birmingham with them!”
It's not just live shows Rebecca has to look forward to, the blues star released her second studio album Believe in 2016 with a second extended edition of the release hitting shops on October 27.
"Reviews were universally positive and we are just about to sell out of the first batch, hence releasing Edition II in October.
"Steve and I work closely together on all aspects of the songs. One of us will have the initial idea and then we refine it together.
"We are prolific and in the end the creation of the album involves selecting what we think are the best tracks for that moment.
Believe built on the work the band did on debut album Back to the Start, and they plan to make even more progress when they bring out their new album in 2018.
"We are evolving all the time so in my view Believe shows us growing as song-writers and the next album, encouraged by the work we’ve done with Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey, will show us growing further still." Rebecca says.
"We plan to bring out our next studio album in 2018. We have been working with Chris Kimsey and we have the candidate tracks ready."
Rebecca is looking forward to the future, and has more than shows in the pipework.
“The next 18 months is very important – we have the USA guys working for us, the Magnum support, a new album next year and the prospect of gigs across Europe. Exciting times!”
Rebecca Downes plays Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms on October 7. Rebecca Downes then appears at Birmingham’s Town Hall on March 2, 2018 supporting Magnum.
