Michael Smith, Journalist

“I don’t regret it. I still learnt a ton, and even through those years of struggling with the label I was still making friends and still being recognised by people in the industry and had really good supporters, even in that circle.”

"A lot of [the lyrics] come from personal experiences. I had written a whole lot of songs that maybe were kind of story-based and sometimes I’d bent the truth to make the story more compelling."

"I did some collaborating with great people – the guys in my band were incredibly important with this record. It was a really collaborative experience for me."

“I had to get back into a headspace at times that wasn’t really all that great,” she admits, “and tap into stuff that does feel a little unresolved or open-ended for me, and write from there.”

“Subtle changes make all the difference in the world.”

"People often feel confronted when they come to shows... and they see the other songs in our repertoire, sort of how… not different, but how they can vary quite substantially to the stuff that’s released."

"Obviously I’ll continue recording other groups, but I’ll be creating music as well. But we’re not announcing a break-up or anything like that – I really do think there’ll be future Belles Will Ring releases."

Boogie! is an impressive collection documenting a vibrant period in our musical history that cared as little for commercial acceptance or success as the punks that superseded them in the late ‘70s.

“The fife and drums is very blood-stirring music but very war-like. When the Deep South black American population took up the fife and drum, they would play for life, love, death, birth – it was also a party atmosphere, and I just love the energy of it.”

"I’m at a stage where I’m really open to other people having some fun – as long as I trust them, I trust their aesthetic and they’re going to do right by my songs, I find it really exciting."

"To an extent, sometimes I like to think of everything as a record, not as a five-minute short-attention-span sort of thing. To us, when we put everything together, we’re always thinking about the record."

"I’d rather have shitty solos in a good song, as opposed to a great solo in a bad song. And a lot of it, again, wanders out of the blues pretty readily, you know?"