Q&A: Erin Hephzibah

Erin Hephzibah is a musician, artist, and events manager based in Scotland. Beginning at the age of thirteen, Erin’s musical career has seen her support talents like Paolo Nutini, Martin Stephenson, Jill Jackson, and James Grant. She has performed all over Scotland. From community music festivals like Prestfest and FrewFest to iconic Glasgow venues like, King Tuts, St Luke’s, and Oran Mor. In 2017, her musical prowess saw Erin cross the pond to perform at Tartan Week in New York City. 

With a career spanning over a decade, Erin finally released her debut EP ‘Harebrained’ last week and we could not be more excited over a release. We caught up with Erin to find out more about her songwriting, debut EP life, and dream collaborations.

Tell us how you started out creating music and about any projects you are currently working on.

Music has always been a part of my life, my mum noticed from early on that I was writing songs and constantly singing so one year Santa got me a guitar and the rest is history. My step dad, Drew McCormack, was very active in the Renfrewshire & Ayrshire music scenes which meant I’ve met and performed alongside some amazing artists and songwriters from a young age, I’ve been very blessed. Currently, I’ve just released my debut EP Harebrained - which features 3 original songs that are very close to my heart. I had the wonderful opportunity to record with British music legend Martin Stephenson and work alongside multi-instrumentalist Craig Goodwin. I also perform in other bands and projects, including Johnny Barr, Frank’s House and I recently began writing with students from DJ Trevor Reilly’s ‘Digital Hereos’. I have some other exciting projects in the works but I’ll keep quiet about that for now.

Your debut EP 'Harebrained' is almost a week old, how has the reception been? What was it like writing and bringing this EP to life?

Harebrained has been approximately 8 years in the making. I wrote these songs when I was 17/18 but at the time there was a lot going on. My sister had began to get seriously unwell, I was involved in other musical pursuits and had started at Glasgow School of Art - so my own material had a pin stuck in it. After the pandemic, when art school and other projects had ended it gave me the chance to focus on this material again and these songs felt like a good place to start. After holding onto them for so long it feels amazing to have finally released them and people seem to genuinely be enjoying my music so I couldn’t ask for more.

Can you walk us through the meaning of the three tracks on the EP, 'Raggedy Ann', 'Destroying Dandelions', and 'Year Walking'?

The first track ‘Raggedy Ann’ is a Co-Write with my younger sister, poet and disability activist Georgia Francis. Georgia has multiple chronic health conditions but back when we wrote the song the only diagnosis she had at that point was M.E or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A magazine called M.E. “Raggedy Ann Syndrome” in the mid 1980s to highlight the fatigue and loss of muscle power. Georgia was inspired by that and looked into the character of Raggedy Ann more. She discovered the creator of Raggedy Ann, Johnny Gruelle, had an ill daughter, Marcella, who died at 13. Many of Gruelle’s stories about Raggedy Ann were inspired by watching Marcella play with dolls. Georgia wrote a poem, They Call Me Raggedy Ann, exploring her own experiences with illness through the personification of the doll. Together, we turned the first draft of that poem into a song. Destroying Dandelions is a very personal song that explores difficulties within relationships that although personal I’m sure many people can relate to. Year Walking is based on an archaic form of divination in Scandinavian folklore called Arsgang that loosely translates to Year Walk. From first learning about it I became fascinated with this story as it played into imagery and narrative that inspires me like mythological creatures, magic and the supernatural.

Tell us your three desert island albums.

Hozier’s debut self titled album, as a 14 year old it was on repeat so really brings back to that age when I worried less about what others thought of my songwriting. The The - Soul Mining. I love this album beyond words and could listen on repeat. Etta James - At Last. The entire album is pure art but I could listen to ‘A Sunday kind of Love’ forever without getting sick of it.

If you could collaborate with anyone on future music, who would it be?

In the Glasgow scene at the moment there are many amazing artists I would love to collaborate with but the first one that comes to mind would be Becca Starr. Her music is inspiring and her drive is infectious. On a larger scale I would love to duet with Hozier. His song ‘In a Week’ is one of my absolute favourites and definitely inspired my songwriting.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are looking to establish themselves in the Scottish music industry? 

My advice is to be authentic and generous. The creative industries have been hit hard after the pandemic and cost of living crisis so it’s good to get out there, meet and work with other artists and build up our creative communities.

Lastly, what can we expect to see from Erin Hephzibah this year?

I’ve got a lot on at the moment and plenty to come. I briefly mentioned above what’s going on currently and there are some future projects that I can’t divulge yet as it’s in early stages but hopefully you’ll be seeing a lot more of me - including more releases, some exciting collaborations and more! I have an April tour coming up to promote the release of Harebrained! I’ll be joining Martin Stephenson & The Daintees in England for three dates and then it’s back up to Scotland for a gig in Venue38 in Ayr, then The Poetry Club at SWG3 in Glasgow. Tickets available now!

For tickets and more, follow Erin here.