Gus Harvey Talks ‘Netflixx’ Single, New EP and More

Dec 26, 2023 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Photo Credit: Supplied By PR

UK vocalist and songwriter Gus Harvey has her single ‘Netflixx’ which is out now and a new EP on the horizon. We at JLTT wanted to learn more:

You released your latest single ‘Netflixx’. What is the inspiration/story behind that track?

Not to be unladylike but it was a Netflix-and-chill occasion where the first twenty minutes or so of True Romance was watched and the rest was not watched.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

I don’t live there anymore, but “London will always be home”.

What plans do you have for any further music releases?

This single comes from a longer project that will be out after summer.

Do you have any favourite stage instruments/pedals/effects?

I’m a live vocalist / frontwoman before anything, although in production I will play guitar, keys and saxophone. I went through a phase of using a Roland SP404 sample deck to do trippy things with my vocals onstage, but just engineering-wise there were so few venues it would actually work in. Glastonbury was a nightmare, every single sound around was getting picked up and I couldn’t hear a bloody thing. So she’s been retired to the studio. I think over time I’ve learned that I’m best off with as little as possible getting between me and the audience.

Was your new EP difficult to write? Who did you work with on it?

All my stuff starts off with my band, and we play things live loads before recording them. This EP really stars my beloved double bassist Oliver Senior, on Easy pt 1, and we first made Netflixx with Audiobully’s Tom Dinsdale and Charlie Creed-Miles (actor) playing bass, amazingly, just because he happened to be visiting! On my part that was mostly freestyled. But getting everything recorded and finished was a really long nomadic process throughout two years of pandemic – travelling with it whenever I could get the chance. I did most of the vocals in Margate with a lovely producer called Tom Carmichael (Poppy Ajudha / Kendrick Lamar / Chance the Rapper). Easy pt 2 was made with Harry Edwards (Grammy-winner for Beyonce’s Heated). Netflixx has got an amazing guitarist called Charlie Laffer (Mahalia / Kelis / TLC), I’ve to this day never met him although we have a lot of people in common! Then everything was finished off with Lavar Bullard (Kali Uchis / Berwyn / Raye), who also mixed, mastered and Dolby Atmos mixed the whole lot. I’ve never found any song particularly difficult to write, I don’t think, they always seem to come fully formed. For me the challenge is always capturing the spirit of the live version on a recording. Another single that’s already been released, Easy pt 1, is ironically very difficult to sing, even more so in the studio without an audience’s energy to help. So that one was proper hard to record!

How do you look after your voice?

Just practice. Exercising it, as it is a muscle. And I don’t smoke. I used to, but once I felt how much more dextrous and fun it was to sing when I didn’t, I couldn’t do it anymore.

What music/artists do you like listening to? Any recommendations?

I’m a jazz girl, so to wind down from whatever it is I’m making, nine times out of ten jazz is what I’m listening to. I love the old pianists like Errol Garner and Bill Evans, and Coleman Hawkins who was a saxophonist. There’s a similar but living pianist I love called Alex Kozobolis. I think Hak Baker is very cool, I have been rinsing his tune Venezuela Riddim. And this French girl called Stella. She’s made an amazing record, I think it’s just called Stella.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

Do you mean like of an evening or at the end of my life? I’m not leaving the stage! I’ve been singing since I was a toddler so it’s more likely I’ll drop dead of old age halfway through a number and have to be scraped off the floor.

What makes Gus Harvey happy and what makes you unhappy?

Boring answer but injustice makes me unhappy. Also the Victoria line. Happiness is simple – love, good food, my two cats, David and Mabel. And a well-played piano.