[Exclusive] Rachael McShane :: The Only Female – Life on the Road with Bellowhead

-

Rachael McShane’s debut solo album No Man’s Fool is out this week on Navigator Records. You might know her as the only female member of theatrical-folk outfit Bellowhead – drive by Jon Boden, they’re one of the most consistantly brilliant live acts currently around. We got Rachael to give us a behind-the-scenes chat about what goes on inside the band…

I’m on tour with Bellowhead at the moment, into the final week of three in Canada and very much enjoying the sunshine at the festivals here. It seems that everywhere I go with this band there is only one thing that people want to know – what it’s like being the only girl in Bellowhead with ten men? I get asked at every gig, in every country, but it seems there’s a certain type of person that asks that question, usually women with a fixation on the lead singer or some other member of the band! They’re not actually interested in hearing a thing about me, rather hoping for some inside info about the fellas and looking on in envy. For the record, I don’t iron any shirts or make the tea and there are no special exceptions…apart from the perk of always getting my own hotel room!

As the lone female in a band of this size you have to just get on with it really and enter into the spirit of the band. Anyone who has seen Bellowhead live will have heard Paul Sartin’s banter which is often a little too close to the mark and it’s usually far worse off stage, but it’s actually a great group of people to hang out with and a lot of fun, so in that respect I feel very lucky.

I’ve never really given it that much thought before being asked to write this article but I suppose from an outsider’s point of view it’s maybe a little unusual being the only girl in a band of 10 men. We recently played a small gig as part of our stint at Winnipeg Folk Festival alongside three other bands, the title of the show being ‘Free Improv Jam Session of Monolithic Proportions’. I realised that despite there being around thirty musicians on the stage that day, I was again the only female. But it wasn’t until we’d been playing together for about an hour that this realisation occurred. I think that means that it doesn’t actually matter or have much relevance musically.

In choosing the band for my solo project I picked musicians whom I knew from Newcastle where I’ve been living for the past 8 years now; James Peacock on keyboards, Jonathan Proud on bass and Adam Sinclair on drums. I’d ended up with another band of boys and realised I maybe quite like being the only girl. It doesn’t stop there though. Whilst putting together the songs for my debut album I realised that a theme was occurring. I had a song about a sailor, a fisherman, a shoemaker, a gypsy, a gardener and so on. The songs feature various men ranging from kind-hearted, well-meaning gentlemen to thieves, mysterious strangers and sinister characters, but it soon dawned on me that it was actually the women in these traditional songs that were the stronger characters. Maybe I’m drawn to such songs without realising it.

Rachael McShane on Myspace