Ahead of the Great Estate Festival which takes place at Scorrier House in Cornwall over the Jubilee Bank Holiday Queen’s extra long Coronation thingy weekend, we chatted to a band called FEMMES DE LA MER. We covered loads of topics including musical influences, their forthcoming new album, on stage nerves and their top three festival survival tips, for all of this and WAY more, read on…..

Please tell me who you are and what you do....

Femmes de la Mer are a group of 14 strong, diverse women+ hailing from across Cornwall and led by musical director Claire Ingleheart. Aged from 21 to 57, they include film makers, teachers, actors, carpenters, photographers, carers, jam makers, farmers, artists, writers, musicians, nurses, herbalists, activists, potters, mothers, sisters and daughters. In a shanty world that is traditionally dominated by men, both singing and as the subject of the songs; Femmes de la Mer raise their voices, sharing stories of inspirational Cornish women and bringing songs of the sea into the 21st century by adding the odd feminist twist.

I have loosely translated your name to 'Ladies of the Sea'. Now I doubt that any of you are mermaids, so please explain the meaning behind the name....

We prefer “Women of the Sea”. I would say we all feel like mermaids because we love the sea and we chose our French name because it just sounds a bit more exotic, as Lizzie would say!

When did you start your musical journey? 

Originally, Claire Ingleheart got a few of us together after attending the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival 7 or 8 years ago. She recognised a gap in the very male dominated market of shanty bands and formed the Femmes to balance things out. 

We’ve gone from strength to strength over the years and our first gig back after lockdown was at the famous Minack Theatre which was a very proud moment. 

Last September we were also invited to support Ben Howard on his UK tour, performing at Eden, Manchester O2 and Brixton O2 Academy which was an amazing experience for us. 

There seem to be more Cornish festivals popping up all over the county these days, what is it about them that keeps people coming back year after year?

It’s got to be the sun, the sea and the great Cornish vibes. Also there’s loads of musical talent in Cornwall that we need to shout about to the rest of the nation.

Are you purely a vocal group or do you play to music as well?

So far we are purely a Capella as we started out singing with Community choirs and we all love the sound of 3 and 4 part harmonies. However, we never say never to some musical accompaniment and/or collaborations in the future.

Who would you say are your musical influences?

The Staves, Lady Maisery, The Unthanks, The Longest Johns, The Silly Sisters.

You are due to release a new 14 track album soon called 'Today's Haul', please tell me a bit about the album, where and when it was recorded, any guest musicians, studio used to record etc...

Yes we are very excited to say the new album will be out in the next few weeks. It is long overdue and feels good to know the songs we sing will be enjoyed by even more people.

We recorded in February over a weekend with Jimmy and Tommy at Sorting Room Studios,  http://sortingroomstudios.com/ , based on the Dartington Estate. The pair of them made us all feel very welcome and relaxed and made our first recording experience a positive one. We think they have managed to capture the magic of us all singing together at our best.

There are some old favourites on their but we also made sure to record our special songs written by Claire and other female collaborators celebrating strong Cornish women and their stories.

Do you know what day/time/stage you're playing at the Great Estate Festival?

Saturday 1-2pm Stage on The Green

What can the audience expect from your live show?

Beautiful harmonies, great storytelling and a bunch of women loving what they do. You might even want to get involved with some audience participation! Hopefully you’ll leave feeling inspired to do more singing.

The bill is looking pretty good for this year, who else would you recommend the festival goers make a beeline for?

I for one will be checking out Ibibio Sound Machine and DJ Yoda for a good boogie and i can highly recommend Hedluv and Passman for their excellent homegrown talent. Never a dull moment with those two! The hip hop karaoke also looks like a good craic.

Tell me a funny story about a festival/show that you've attended in the past....

Just as we were coming onstage at the Manchester O2 academy to support Ben Howard one of our band panicked and legged it back to the dressing room leaving a gap in the lineup.

Most of us were still backstage but two Femmes had no idea what had happened and were already on stage, on their own. They had to just style it out for 5 mins in front of a crowd of 3000 faces while we got things sorted. I think it was the longest 5 minutes of their lives!

Give me 3 bands or artists that you would like to headline at your own festival (you can choose ANY band/artist dead or alive)

I can’t speak for all the Femmes but I would choose Queen, Blondie and Peaches.

Lastly, tell me your top three festival survival tips?

1. Always try and get into crew camping

2. Bring plenty of ice

3. Keep your eyes, ears and minds open to all the musical possibilities.

We’d like to thank Femmes de la Mer for sparing the time to chat to us and we wish them all the very best for their performance at The Great Estate Festival as well as future endeavours. You can catch them performing on Saturday 4th June from 1pm on The Green, get there early to make sure you get a good spot!

Keep up to date with their exploits at the following sites.

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