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The Irish Sun
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
My dad supported me from day one… I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going, says Billy Nomates on third album
THE idea for Billy Nomates' third album Metalhorse came after a 'personal and tumultuous' time in her life. Firstly, 6 Making her new album has been an emotional rollercoaster for Tor Maries, who performs under the name Billy Nomates Credit: Supplied 6 The death of her father Peter helped Maries shape her new album Metalhorse, which is out on May 16 Credit: Supplied Then, just as she was about to start recording, her beloved dad Peter died from Parkinson's, a year after diagnosis. Both problems fed into Metalhorse — a concept album of sorts about a dilapidated old funfair. Maries explains: 'The concept came from feeling like I was in quite the fairground of life. 'It came from riffing on an idea that a chapter of my life, the industry I work in and politically, it felt like an absolute circus and I don't mean a good one. READ MORE MUSIC NEWS 'I felt like this fairground wasn't thriving and quite difficult to get on. Sometimes when you're on a ride and see the bolts are coming off you wonder if it's safe? I resonated with it and tapped into it.' But the big influence was the death of Peter Maries, who was hugely supportive of his daughter's work, last summer. 'It's not an option to wallow in self-pity' He died just before she travelled to Paco Loco Studio in Seville, Spain, to begin recording Metalhorse. 'He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for,' she says proudly. 'He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. Most read in Music 'My dad supported me from day one and saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And so to be here with what is my best work, it must be dedicated to him. 'I'd started the record before he died and he knew it was called Metalhorse — he'd heard demos so my soul was good with it. And it's very much dedicated to him and his memory.' Multiple Sclerosis explained Chatting to Maries in a video call from her kitchen she says she is thankful to have inherited a love of music from her dad and his advice is a constant. 'It's a gift he has given me,' she says smiling. 'And it's nice because it never goes away and it never turns down. Now he's gone, if anything, the volume of him is so loud — he's so present. He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for. He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. 'I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going. It's not an option to wallow in self-pity — it's time to do things. It's time to honour the life that he has given me.' Maries, whose dad was a massive punk fan, was inspired to start making music after seeing Sleaford Mods perform. She got the name Billy Nomates from a jibe after no one turned up to one of her early gigs. The singer was recently diagnosed with She says: 'I've been diagnosed with the relapse remitting type, and I'm on a course of treatment that works really well. So, I have a lot of hope.' The fantastic album closer Moon Explodes is a song written just after Maries had been diagnosed with MS. She says: 'It came off the back of a completely relentless year, and I was just thinking, this is just it. 'But getting the diagnosis made sense in a lot of ways. A couple of years ago, I started performing barefoot and people thought it was me trying to be all hippy and cool, but it was because I was losing my balance in shoes. 'I'd also noticed the dexterity in my hands occasionally would come and go when I was playing. I was relieved to be diagnosed, because, you know when something is up. 'Fifteen years ago, you'd be worried about becoming disabled but there's been a lot of advances in where MS medication is going and that gives me hope. 'Loved the idea of her being so fearless' 'Recently I was reading about the twin sisters Laviai and Lina Nielsen who won medals at the Paris Olympics with MS and I thought it meant the Paralympics but it was the actual Olympics. 'The only pressure of getting the diagnosis is that I need to stay super fit which I wasn't planning to do before my diagnosis.' Maries' positivity can be heard throughout the album Metalhorse. 6 The singer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during the creation of her new album Credit: Supplied 6 Working with her hero Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers was a special moment for Maries, who talks of her late dad's love for the band Credit: Redferns Brilliant first single The Test is about 'working against the odds' and has been a huge radio hit. She says: 'The song is loosely based on Yvonne Stagg, a female Wall Of Death rider who I was reading about. 'She had a tumultuous life, falling in and out of love and was an alcoholic but she became very good at the 'I was thinking about her life in the 1960s when women didn't do things like motorbike stunts — there's the sound of a motorbike in the song — and I loved the idea of her being so fearless, but it was also a test of life.' Gorgeous ballad Strange Gift is another special song that brings hope. Maries says: 'I wrote that song when I was in Spain. I had a guitar and started strumming one night. Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone "It was very much inspired by dad's passing and Metalhorse is about things crumbling and not being as they were. 'Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone. 'I call it a 'strange gift' because you don't want it, you really want the person to still be there. 'But what you are left with is a profound understanding of life that wasn't afforded to you before. You can only get that on this side of something awful.' Another standout on Metalhorse is Life's Unfair, which introduces the second side of the album. New single Plans is, says Maries: 'Enjoying life because it is over too fast.' She adds: 'I like the idea that life is a ride and you're going to get off it at some point. Even though the world is awful, there's still those two minutes to get on a Waltzer and have fun being flung around. 'So, we must all fall in love, develop friendships and go wild as these things disappear from our lives quickly. It's important to grab a hold of those moments and go 'F**k it' — I'm going to enjoy myself.' A special moment making Metalhorse came when she got to work with hero Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers, who her dad had been a huge fan of — he was buried in a Stranglers T-shirt. Maries explains: 'I was in the studio and I told my producer James Trevascus that I was going to sing Dark Horse Friend in the style of Hugh Cornwell because I really love his voice and he's the voice of my childhood. 'Then someone said. 'Oh he's here tomorrow!' 'By the next day I'd written lyrics for him. 'He was absolutely lovely and it was so nice for him to sing on that track. We went for dinner afterwards so I think the stars were aligned for that track.' Metalhorse is the first album Maries has made as a 'band' working with drummer Liam Chapman and bassist Mandy Clarke. She says: 'I'm still very much a solo artist. But I worked with a band on this record. I still write and demo everything — I'm not ready to let go of that part yet and I still need to be in the driving seat for many things. 'But it was a great experience to share and to invite people in because whenever I'm creating something, there is very much a police line around me saying 'Do not cross'. 'I'm inevitably changed forever' 'But I allowed a few people to come in and I learned loads as a writer.' With the album released next week, Maries is looking forward to getting out and touring later in the year. 'I can't wait,' she says excitedly. 'It's been a long time coming. The album was written this time last year, so we've been waiting for this moment to get it out and get on the road. "We're going to be up and down the UK and Scotland and we've got European dates as well. I'm also performing on When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about 'It's an honour to be able to play Later . . . as it's something I've watched throughout my teens and twenties and where I've discovered some of my favourite new artists. 'The last couple of years I've experienced life in a completely new way. Everything I've been through means I'm inevitably changed forever. 6 Metalhorse is the first album Maries has made as a 'band' working with drummer Liam Chapman and bassist Mandy Clarke Credit: Supplied 'I don't sweat the small stuff as much and I'm very clear about what I want to do as an artist. 'I want to write songs and make interesting work, and anything else is by the by. 'When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about. 'Now I want to survive enough to keep making interesting work. And that's what Metalhorse is.' 6 Billy Nomates' new album Metalhorse is out on 16 May with a UK tour to follow in September and October Credit: Supplied BILLY NOMATES Metalhorse ★★★★★ Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.
The Sun
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
My dad supported me from day one… I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going, says Billy Nomates on third album
THE idea for Billy Nomates' third album Metalhorse came after a 'personal and tumultuous' time in her life. Firstly, Billy Nomates — stage name of Leicester-born, Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries — was beginning to tire of the music industry circus. 6 6 Then, just as she was about to start recording, her beloved dad Peter died from Parkinson's, a year after diagnosis. Both problems fed into Metalhorse — a concept album of sorts about a dilapidated old funfair. Maries explains: 'The concept came from feeling like I was in quite the fairground of life. 'It came from riffing on an idea that a chapter of my life, the industry I work in and politically, it felt like an absolute circus and I don't mean a good one. 'I felt like this fairground wasn't thriving and quite difficult to get on. Sometimes when you're on a ride and see the bolts are coming off you wonder if it's safe? I resonated with it and tapped into it.' But the big influence was the death of Peter Maries, who was hugely supportive of his daughter's work, last summer. 'It's not an option to wallow in self-pity' He died just before she travelled to Paco Loco Studio in Seville, Spain, to begin recording Metalhorse. 'He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for,' she says proudly. 'He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. 'My dad supported me from day one and saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And so to be here with what is my best work, it must be dedicated to him. 'I'd started the record before he died and he knew it was called Metalhorse — he'd heard demos so my soul was good with it. And it's very much dedicated to him and his memory.' Chatting to Maries in a video call from her kitchen she says she is thankful to have inherited a love of music from her dad and his advice is a constant. 'It's a gift he has given me,' she says smiling. 'And it's nice because it never goes away and it never turns down. Now he's gone, if anything, the volume of him is so loud — he's so present. He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for. He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. 'I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going. It's not an option to wallow in self-pity — it's time to do things. It's time to honour the life that he has given me.' Maries, whose dad was a massive punk fan, was inspired to start making music after seeing Sleaford Mods perform. She got the name Billy Nomates from a jibe after no one turned up to one of her early gigs. The singer was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She says: 'I've been diagnosed with the relapse remitting type, and I'm on a course of treatment that works really well. So, I have a lot of hope.' The fantastic album closer Moon Explodes is a song written just after Maries had been diagnosed with MS. She says: 'It came off the back of a completely relentless year, and I was just thinking, this is just it. 'But getting the diagnosis made sense in a lot of ways. A couple of years ago, I started performing barefoot and people thought it was me trying to be all hippy and cool, but it was because I was losing my balance in shoes. 'I'd also noticed the dexterity in my hands occasionally would come and go when I was playing. I was relieved to be diagnosed, because, you know when something is up. 'Fifteen years ago, you'd be worried about becoming disabled but there's been a lot of advances in where MS medication is going and that gives me hope. 'Loved the idea of her being so fearless' 'Recently I was reading about the twin sisters Laviai and Lina Nielsen who won medals at the Paris Olympics with MS and I thought it meant the Paralympics but it was the actual Olympics. 'The only pressure of getting the diagnosis is that I need to stay super fit which I wasn't planning to do before my diagnosis.' Maries' positivity can be heard throughout the album Metalhorse. 6 6 Brilliant first single The Test is about 'working against the odds' and has been a huge radio hit. She says: 'The song is loosely based on Yvonne Stagg, a female Wall Of Death rider who I was reading about. 'She had a tumultuous life, falling in and out of love and was an alcoholic but she became very good at the Wall Of Death. 'I was thinking about her life in the 1960s when women didn't do things like motorbike stunts — there's the sound of a motorbike in the song — and I loved the idea of her being so fearless, but it was also a test of life.' Gorgeous ballad Strange Gift is another special song that brings hope. Maries says: 'I wrote that song when I was in Spain. I had a guitar and started strumming one night. Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone "It was very much inspired by dad's passing and Metalhorse is about things crumbling and not being as they were. 'Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone. 'I call it a 'strange gift' because you don't want it, you really want the person to still be there. 'But what you are left with is a profound understanding of life that wasn't afforded to you before. You can only get that on this side of something awful.' Another standout on Metalhorse is Life's Unfair, which introduces the second side of the album. New single Plans is, says Maries: 'Enjoying life because it is over too fast.' She adds: 'I like the idea that life is a ride and you're going to get off it at some point. Even though the world is awful, there's still those two minutes to get on a Waltzer and have fun being flung around. 'So, we must all fall in love, develop friendships and go wild as these things disappear from our lives quickly. It's important to grab a hold of those moments and go 'F**k it' — I'm going to enjoy myself.' A special moment making Metalhorse came when she got to work with hero Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers, who her dad had been a huge fan of — he was buried in a Stranglers T-shirt. Maries explains: 'I was in the studio and I told my producer James Trevascus that I was going to sing Dark Horse Friend in the style of Hugh Cornwell because I really love his voice and he's the voice of my childhood. 'Then someone said. 'Oh he's here tomorrow!' 'By the next day I'd written lyrics for him. 'He was absolutely lovely and it was so nice for him to sing on that track. We went for dinner afterwards so I think the stars were aligned for that track.' Metalhorse is the first album Maries has made as a 'band' working with drummer Liam Chapman and bassist Mandy Clarke. She says: 'I'm still very much a solo artist. But I worked with a band on this record. I still write and demo everything — I'm not ready to let go of that part yet and I still need to be in the driving seat for many things. 'But it was a great experience to share and to invite people in because whenever I'm creating something, there is very much a police line around me saying 'Do not cross'. 'I'm inevitably changed forever' 'But I allowed a few people to come in and I learned loads as a writer.' With the album released next week, Maries is looking forward to getting out and touring later in the year. 'I can't wait,' she says excitedly. 'It's been a long time coming. The album was written this time last year, so we've been waiting for this moment to get it out and get on the road. "We're going to be up and down the UK and Scotland and we've got European dates as well. I'm also performing on Later . . . With Jools Holland on May 25, which is cool. When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about 'It's an honour to be able to play Later . . . as it's something I've watched throughout my teens and twenties and where I've discovered some of my favourite new artists. 'The last couple of years I've experienced life in a completely new way. Everything I've been through means I'm inevitably changed forever. 6 'I don't sweat the small stuff as much and I'm very clear about what I want to do as an artist. 'I want to write songs and make interesting work, and anything else is by the by. 'When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about. 'Now I want to survive enough to keep making interesting work. And that's what Metalhorse is.' 6
The Guardian
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dolomites soundscape and a nightingale's song win nature music prize
One is a dreamy soundscape collected from the peaks of the Dolomites. The other is a drum'n'bass track that samples a nightingale's quickfire song. These contrasting tunes have won the inaugural Tune into Nature music prize, a contest that seeks to showcase new music by upcoming artists that is inspired by the natural world. Dawn, Aurora, by Josephine Illingworth, was created from sounds that the 23-year-old musician and artist from London recorded during several weeks sleeping alone in mountain huts in northern Italy, with lyrics taken from the entries left by hikers in the hut guestbooks. Nightingale by Wildforms, real name Dan Cippico, is inspired by recordings the electronic musician made last spring of the rare bird's incredibly fast, mesmeric song. The two winners beat nine other shortlisted artists, covering genres including hip-hop, rock, pop, jazz, folk and classical, to take the prize, which was founded by Miles Richardson, the professor of nature connectedness at the University of Derby. The prize, which was judged by musicians, artists and writers, including Cosmo Sheldrake, Andrew Fearn of Sleaford Mods, Melissa Harrison and Sam Lee, aims to support young talent and showcase how the natural world is central to creative life. Both songs will be played on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 3. Illingworth described her song as 'a tapestry of the memories and experiences taking place across the mountains, and a call for us to see life and movement in things we may think are silent'. She added: 'I am so honoured to be chosen for the Tune Into Nature prize, and I hope that you can listen to the song, and that perhaps it touches you in some way.' Cippico wrote his track after hearing the nightingale's song for the first time last spring. He said: 'I was instantly inspired by its song, which to me evoked the jungle and drum'n'bass music genres that were a major influence on my musical upbringing. I'm excited that the interplay of nature and music is being celebrated by a prize such as this.' Judge Madame Gandhi said: 'Both tracks are richly emotive, deeply creative and immersive. In Nightingale, Dan was able to seamlessly sample the often robotic nature of a nightingale's song as the core motif in his drum n bass style piece. In Dawn, Josephine was able to drop us back into our human-centred heart space, encouraging us to listen to nature more and recognize oneness with our environment.' Fellow judge, sound artist and nature beatboxer Jason Singh, said: 'There is a great feeling of hope in the music, and it was wonderful to hear tracks created from recordings of birdsong and sampling twigs and grasses to create new instruments which all feel unique.' Richardson, who chaired the judges' discussion, said the panel wanted to give equal exposure and support to both tracks. He said: 'We constantly hear about the climate and biodiversity crises, but fostering hope and forging a new bond with nature is part of the solution. The entrants of the Tune into Nature music prize exemplify this, offering music that not only celebrates but also inspires hope through our connection with the natural world. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion 'Listening to all the entries gave me an immense sense of hope. It was thoroughly enjoyable and at times a true celebration of the natural world. Nature has featured less and less in song lyrics over recent decades, but the entries show that there is a great deal more to explore.' The shortlist also included indie singer Lizzie Esau and artist and producer Ciaran Austin. The two prize winners will both receive £500 as well as a professional remix and access to one of the world's best archives of nature field recordings from The Listening Planet. The competition has been supported by organisations including University of Derby's Nature Connectedness Research Group, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Conservation Foundation, EarthPercent and Sounds Right.
