One of our Heads of Social Media, Emma Ames, sits down with Coffee House Sessions performer Harry Heart.
Hi Harry, it’s very nice to meet you. So, I’ll jump straight in. Tell us about yourself and your music.
Well, I play by myself at the moment here in England but I also play with a band back in Australia as I live in Sydney. I play indie-rock when I’m playing with the band and when I’m by myself I play renditions of those songs to the best of my ability.
That’s great. So, I know you are a multi-instrumentalist. What first got you into learning and playing instruments?
Well, my earliest memory of playing music was at my nan’s house in Norfolk, she had an old piano with a big pile of cigarette butts at the end of it and she used to just encourage me to have a little play. And I used to play with no clothes on and I think that helped me connect with the instrument at the time, just me and my socks and the piano. I loved playing piano so I kept doing it and that led on to guitar and writing music.
That’s pretty bizarre, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone playing the piano naked but it’s worked for you. Is there someone who especially inspired or influenced you and your music when you started writing and creating? Obviously there’s your grandma.
To my knowledge, she never actually wrote music but she could read music, the fundamentals anyway, but with writing, my brother and my cousin and my uncle, they’re all creative people wo like experimenting and writing music, mostly on guitar, so I always had it around me to a certain extent and that’s probably where that started for me, where I felt I was actually able to try and make something rather than just learn something.
So, we know you have done a few tours in Australia. How are you feeling about your first official UK tour?
It’s good actually, it’s good fun. I was quite nervous about it because I’m from London originally but I feel a little disconnected with the place because I’ve been in Australia for a while so this a bit of a snapshot of the country. It’s more of England than I’ve ever seen, even when I lived here. I was also intrigued to see if I would be received well here in England and so far so good, it’s been a lot of fun.
Good to hear. Last year you dropped the single Twenty Five and I wanted to know the inspiration behind the song and also the music video cause it is a little bit odd?
The video, we were definitely inspired by a lack of budget. Sometime we don’t make film clips for the songs. It depends of whether it feels like the song need a film clip to go along with it but this song felt like it needed one. We could have made a brooding video with lots of solemn faces or we could just go to the costume shop. We enjoyed it and funnily enough that’s the cheapest film clip we have ever made and seems to be the one people enjoy more than the others cause it’s ridiculous.
What your thoughts behind your first EP, Endorphin, and do you think you have a favourite song?
My favourite song is probably the last song on the EP which is called 96, because to play it live, it is always the most fun and it’s fantastic every time I play it. It has an energy level that is hard to match in your day-to-day life. When I play that song it just feels special. That’s probably the song that does the most for me of the four tracks but the third track seems to be the most popular in the UK.
And finally, what are you most looking forward to for the rest of your year?
Well, this year is the first year I’m really putting a lot of effort into the UK scene because it’s been a bit of a long time coming. So, I’m really excited to see where that goes. I’m having some excited conversation at the moment about what’s happening later in the year, maybe another EP. It feels like there is a lot on the horizon and it all sounds pretty achievable and exciting. Hopefully, in the latter half of the year, I could be touring again with new music.
It was lovely talking to you today and all the best of luck for the near future.
Featured image by: Omeiza Haruna
