Ahead of the release of their latest album ‘Pain’ Theo Bleak speaks about Glasgow’s rich music scene and performing through character

National World - LocalTV

Theo Bleak is a rising Scottish star and about to release her latest EP ‘Pain’. A regular at Glasgow venues such as King Tut’s and the Poetry Club, we spoke to Theo about the city’s music scene.

Transcript

00:00 My name's Theo Bleak and I'm an artist from Dundee in Scotland.

00:05 So I've got an EP coming out on Halloween called Pain and it's just a look at my relationships

00:10 and I guess being a victim of things but also causing harm as well and just having a more

00:17 balanced look at my experiences.

00:19 Theo Bleak as a character I guess was just an escape from myself and I've always appreciated

00:28 artists that kind of had a stage name or like a stage presence so it was quite fun to, I

00:34 don't know, see this character grow over the years like stylistically and aesthetically

00:37 and also the sound, like it's like watching something you've created just grow into a

00:41 fully formed thing which is really exciting to me.

00:45 And yeah, it's definitely helped me channel things through more of an unbiased perspective.

00:52 So I'm originally from Blairgowrie and then I grew up in Dundee but I lived in Glasgow

00:57 for a year at one point when I was in my first band and was really trying to kind of like

01:03 get into music and I think the scene here is really busy.

01:06 I think it's probably the centre point of Scottish music or it's considered that anyway.

01:11 However, since going back to Dundee it's been quite cool to see there's amazing musicians

01:16 all over Scotland in the north and in the east as well that sometimes probably miss

01:21 out a bit but it's good seeing those scenes kind of like develop and find their own sort

01:26 of community.

01:27 I'm noticing that in Dundee in particular there's a lot of really cool new artists and

01:32 people who are actually wanting to get out and support live music.

01:35 I think I'm probably somewhere between alternative rock and shoegaze indie, sonically.

01:46 But I love a lot of stripped back things.

01:47 I love musical theatre, I love soundtracks, I just take a lot from everything that's kind

01:53 of around me but I kind of want the project to be more than just sound.

01:58 I want it to be quite a visual world and a place to escape to because that's how it's

02:03 felt for me.

02:04 I actually planned on becoming a doctor a couple of years ago when I was like 26 and

02:10 I didn't really know what to do next and I'd done a masters in cognitive science and philosophy

02:18 so I was thinking about going into psychiatry but I just knew that I'd probably be able

02:24 to get through the course and I'd probably be able to do it but my heart just wouldn't

02:26 be in it whereas my heart is in music and it's always been and I think my philosophy

02:31 was well even if I get older and think I'm never going to think wow I'm really glad I

02:38 didn't pursue the thing I loved.

02:40 I mean there's always time to do something different if it doesn't work out but I think

02:44 there was just a voice in my head that was like you will regret not trying and I've always

02:51 not really felt good enough or faced struggles like all people do but there's obviously a

02:57 lot of misogyny in music too so that was overcoming that and pursuing it anyway regardless of

03:02 what other people think.

Category

Transcript

Recommended