Quietly Confident, Soul-Stirring Music: A Chat With North Shields' Heidi Curtis

Words: Darci Jackson

Photography: Alisha Lawton

You might’ve seen her live before and not even known it; North Shields singer-songwriter Heidi Curtis has been playing live for several years now, supporting indie rock artists like Sam Fender and The Snuts. She’s recently been on tour with Holly Humberstone, and now finally feels like the time that we get to fully embrace Curtis’ sonic palette of gritty guitars and a Fleetwood Mac-esque tone.

"I've spent the last few years just writing and writing, just honing my craft and developing, and getting better, and now going out and promoting the music feels like a bit of a breeze, because the live side of it is really sweet and really smooth," explains Curtis, as we chat just outside of Manchester’s New Century Hall on the second date of her tour with Humberstone.

"[It’s] absolutely wicked," she mentions about touring with the Nottingham singer-songwriter. "She's just a beautiful person inside and out, just gorgeous, and it's such a beautiful atmosphere.

"She has an [unreleased] track called Beauty Pageant. I was in tears last night, I just cried, I was like, oh my god. Her new stuff is incredible, just beautiful."

Curtis is gearing up for the release of her debut EP Hollow Heart at the end of May, of which three singles have already been released. She effortlessly intertwines rock and folk, to create a landscape that is soft yet undeniably striking, a testament to her haunting and hazy storytelling.

Of the tracks she’s ready to release as part of the EP, there’s one that’s a particular standout.

"The one I'm most looking forward to putting out is Behind The Door. It's basically a song about a past life, sometimes I believe that I've had flashbacks before of a life from 300 years ago, and this ghost. I'm very interested in the way time moves, so I had this vision about this kind of ghost coming into my sleep and singing this song, and it just fuelled this song, and it's so beautiful and so much fun to play."

But that’s not the only thing we can expect from Hollow Heart:

"It's a set of tracks that are exploring the stages of grief, really. I wrote them all after my first major loss, and it's about the changes that you go through when you experience death for the first time.

"There's a track called Lost And Found, which I wrote when I just kind of hit a bit of rock bottom, because I have OCD, so I kind of struggle, well, everyone struggles with change, but I really struggle with change, everything shifts and you don't know where to put yourself, and all these songs come from that place. It was helping me process my grief, this idea that everything reincarnates, and there's past lives, and there's ghosts, you know? But it's a beautiful cinematic piece of work, it has huge ups and massive highs, and then you come down to really intimate moments like Lost And Found, right in the middle, I love it, it's just beautiful."

Talking about the recent release of her third single What Am I Missing?, Curtis speaks honestly and frankly about the process of the track, describing herself as losing touch with the music she was writing.

"I think it's because I was looking outwards all the time, like, what should I write about, instead of asking myself, how do I feel? I was just so frustrated about feeling out of touch with my writing, and, like, feeling creatively lost, and that really gets me down, because it's my thing, and when I can't access it, I feel really broken.

"I kind of took myself off social media for a bit, and just sat with myself for some time, and now I'm a much stronger writer because of that period of time that I put into the process."

As an artist, Curtis is an inspiration and proof of what hard work and patience can turn into. She tells us how growing up in North Shields has influenced not just her, but her music as well.

"The local music scene, where I live, in North Shields, it's next level," starts Curtis.

"I don't know about other places, but I'm always going to say there's nowhere else like it. When I wanted to write music and start playing live, there’s open mic nights, really historic open mic nights, that had cared for and looked after musicians like Sam Fender, L Devine, Nadine Shah, all these amazing Northern artists from Newcastle and South Shields especially, where there's a scene that's nurtured them and cared for them, and allowed them to grow.

"People love music up there, they like seeing live acts and I think that's something that's definitely still prevalent, but that flame has to be ignited a bit more, for people to come and see live artists, and discover music that way, instead of it being online."

Curtis plays the Saturday of Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May, and she’s "buzzing" that the festival will take place in the North East.

"It's up the road, so we can just rock up, have a class time, but it's also a really big opportunity because it's Radio 1. Loads of really great acts are on that I'm buzzing to share the stage with. I'm really proud that the North East music scene is getting the attention it deserves, I feel really proud to be from the North East, because it's a super overlooked place. I think the positive side of being slightly overlooked, is that a culture can grow, like this mini culture can grow up North, and finally it's getting recognised."

Curtis cites 70s rock as one of her main influences when it comes to her music, so of course we knew she’d have the answer of all answers when it came to asking her to build her ultimate band:

"David Bowie, George Harrison, Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith. I'd probably stick Johnny Marr in the mix as well, or Keith Richards, I'll stick Keith Richards in."

Heidi Curtis’ debut EP Hollow Heart will be released on May 29th.