We heard that Greta Isaac was appearing at the Radio 2 Hyde Park Festival in a Day, we got in touch with her a few days before the event and asked if she'd like to have a chat after her performance, naturally she said yes, we checked out her amazing set, gave her 20 minutes to compose herself before having a chat backstage, here's how we got on....
We know you're called Greta Isaac and that you're based in London, can you tell us something about you that even Google doesn't know?
When I was 15 years old, I used to make novelty cakes for people and I would decorate them and sell them but never covered my costs, I was doing this whilst I was doing my GCSE exams so it was all good fun!
So you learnt from that and you have more of a business head on your shoulders now?
Er, no not really…..
So you just came off stage at the Hyde Park Festival in a Day, how did it come about?
My single ‘Oh Babe’ was getting a lot of AirPlay on the Terry Wogan show, I did a session for him and after the show, they asked me if I'd like to play this event.
How did you feel when you were invited to play?
God, it felt so good, I've been to these events before and watched some amazing acts perform but never thought it would be anything that I'd be able to achieve!
How do you feel right now having just come off stage?
I think for big gigs like this you generally zone out and can't really remember what just happened but with this, it was such a nice gig, I really enjoyed it!
You list quite a few influences on your Facebook page, if you had to get the list down to just 3, who would it be?
I'd have to go for Randy Newman, James Taylor and Rufus Wainright
Were you bought up on this music?
My parents are both musicians so as well as playing loads of music, they also used to play a lot of instruments including piano and guitar so that was sort of drilled into me from a very young age, I'm so grateful to them.
Are there any venues in London that you regularly play?
Not really, I played at The Islington a few months back for my first headline show, that was really good, I wasn't expecting anyone to show up but loads did so I had the best time ever!
If you had to nominate a band or an artist for ‘Best album of 2015’, who would it be?
I'd probably go for Sufjan Stevens (Carrie and Lowell) or The Staves (If I Was), it's an absolutely beautiful album. (I checked and this was actually released in 2014 but we’ll let her off! - MM)
You were ‘Artist of the Week’ on Radio Wales recently, how did this come about?
They have always been really supportive of everything I've ever done, even when I had nothing to sell, they'd still play it. When I was 15, I put a single on Soundcloud and they made that their track of the week which was absolutely crazy, I feel really at home there and people are now familiar with music via radio Wales and keep coming back.
We mentioned earlier that you played a live session for Terry Wogan, during this, you played a cover version of ‘Black Magic’ by Little Mix, how did you feel when they thanked you on Twitter for playing it?
That was crazy, my notifications on Twitter were going mad! My phone was pinging every few seconds! All of their fans (Mixers) we're going mad for it, very bizarre, I didn't think for one moment that they'd actually get to hear it so that was a nice touch.
What made you choose that particular song to cover?
I think my track ‘Obey’ is testament to older singer songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, so we were thinking how we could put a new spin on a modern song and that (Black Magic) was getting so much AirPlay, we thought we'd make our mark on it and get it out there.
Do you think that doing that track opened up your music to fans that otherwise would never have heard your music?
I think everyone will look at it in a different way, some will think about the harmonies and arrangements, others may think about my version of the song.
Your track ‘The Finish Line’ from your first EP was recently featured on a video montage for the Masters golf tournament, how did this come about?
I'm not sure really, they just emailed me saying that they wanted to use the track, in fact they never emailed me, they must have emailed somebody as I had no idea and it was only when my mum texted me at 2 in the morning to tell me that the track was being used on the advert. My friends were watching it in a ‘middle of the night daze’ and it was great!
Can you afford to retire with the royalties you earned?
I really don't know! I haven't checked, I hope so!
Let's imagine that radio 2 have asked you to pick the 3 headliners for next years event, apart from yourself, which other 2 acts would you have as headliners?
James Taylor definitely needs to come back to the UK and play again and Joni Mitchell when she gets better would be amazing. Maybe Crosby, Stills and Nash or Randy Newman, he's my man….
Who are you looking forward to seeing today?
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jacob Collier who's up next on the Introducing stage (we’ll be contacting him soon for an interview - MM)
Prior to letting Greta go free, we insisted that she take part in our quick fire questions, we made sure she was comfy prior to bringing in the rocket powered question chucker....
Hot dogs or Burgers? Burgers
CD or vinyl? CD
Cats or dogs? Dogs
London or Cardiff? Cardiff
Glastonbury or Reading? Glastonbury
Christmas or birthdays? Birthdays
Peanut butter, smooth or crunchy? Smooth
Pancakes or waffles? Pancakes
Kebab or pizza? Pizza
Acoustic or electric? Acoustic
Winter or summer? Winter
Tattoos or piercings? Tattoos
God or Google? GOD…..
We'd like to thank Greta for taking the time out to chat to us, we wish her every success for the future and look forward to catching her in the future.
Please take a moment to checkout Greta's social media channels, they're all listed below, just point and click.
Interviewed by Steve Muscutt at Hyde Park, London