Southern Junction – Katie Jayne & Carlos Heath
Eden Live, Bournemouth
Running Out of Time EP Launch
by Helen Pocock
Last night I attended Southern Junctions EP Running Out of Time launch in Bournemouth. Katie and Carlos (along with Andy) have been playing together for a while, but Katie is now due to return to her native Australia on Monday. They took 5 minutes out of their preparation schedule to have a quick chat with me.
Me – You suddenly seem to have appeared on the UK Country scene, is that the case or has it been a long journey?
Katie – We are quite a new band to be fair and we have only really been together for about a year and a half maximum and in that year and a half I was in Australia for 8 months, so yeah I think when we 1st got together we did get quite lucky. Our 1st gig was at the Isle of Wight festival and that put the pressure on so we were doing as much as we could together because we knew I had to go home, so we got our videos out, but it is not until this summer when I came back that we really got accepted into the Country community as such, got on the bill for a lot of popular festivals and started being able to hang out with you guys, meet country music fans, it is amazing, it is really cool, but unfortunately this is one of our last gigs, so it is short lived.
Me – So Katie, you are going back to Australia, Carlos, you are going to stay?
Carlos – I am not going anywhere no.
Katie – He might, he might come do a tour.
Carlos – I might come out to Oz to do a tour, it is just a little bit unknown at the moment with the finances involved, it is crazy, so yeah, there is a maybe next to ‘we might do some Australian stuff’.
Katie – I think with what we have and with our products we put everything we had into it and it is really nice to wrap it up in the way we have with our debut EP. We are really proud of all of our songs & all the time & effort we have put into it & I think we probably be looking at taking a little bit of a break and seeing how our hard work pays off & if there is any demand for us to be able to play festivals, whether it is in Australia or in England then we would love to.
Me – So the title of your EP is Running Out of Time, which is actually quite poignant isn’t it?
Katie laughs – Yes.
Carlos – Yes, yes, absolutely.
Me – So it was deliberate?
Carlos – Well, it wasn’t, but then it was.
Katie – The song came out of thin air, we were just like we are running out of time, this is mental because it just encapsulates everything, EVERYTHING that we are about, we are always under pressure to deliver on deadlines & stuff & yeah I think it was very on point that title.
Me – Was the EP a long time in the making, or did it come together quite quickly?
Carlos – I don’t think it was as long as I have heard other people in the business say, but I think it took longer than we expected, mainly because we just wanted to get it right, you know, so it could have happened a lot quicker but we wanted to get the sound exactly right.
Katie – Yeah, we were so rushing into it in the sense that we knew we had some festivals coming up and our main plan was to get the EP out before the festivals, but I think it has kind of worked out better this way, we have been able to do the festivals, gain a following and actually it is more exciting now, because we have something to give back.
Me – You have gained quite a big following as well haven’t you? There were quite a few comments on Facebook following your performance at FSA Fest.
Katie – That is so cool (& laughs!)
Me – So obviously you have played FSA Fest and Buckle & Boots festival, how do you personally feel it went?
Katie – FSA. Kicked. Butt, I loved it.
Carlos – Yeah, FSA was great.
Katie – I think we had a few sound issues, but I think that was quite common throughout the festival. (I confirmed this) Do you know, it happens & the fact that we could still keep going really showed me that as a band that we are really getting there, like we are really getting the hang of it, we know our parts, we know our bits and we still did it.
Carlos – Yeah, yeah a few of the other acts mentioned that what we experienced with the on stage mix wasn’t great but other than that it was great, the sound was ok out front apparently & the other bands sounded great.
Me – Were you surprised with the reaction of the fans?
Katie – Definitely, so we received our hard copies of the EPs the night before & I thought, oh we should just take a couple to FSA & see if we sell any. We took 10 & we sold them all in 5 minutes, before we even did our set & I felt so stupid for not bringing more!
Me – You sold out BEFORE you even did your set?
Carlos – Yeah.
Katie – I put them on the merchandise table, I spoke to 1 person, I said Oh yeah, we have got some EPs here & they walked away! I was like Oh, ok, but then they came back with an EP! But it was the way they just turned & walked away!
Me – That is quite something.
Katie – It was shocking, it is exciting, but it is shocking!
Me – So if there was one act that you could play with ….?
Katie to Carlos – I know what you are going to say.
Carlos – Well we have got him playing with us tonight, so (laughs).
Katie – Oh that is true, I thought you were going to say Lady Antebellum (so did I actually!!)
Carlos – Ah, well, if you wanted to go down that road & want to talk about big stars then yes, something like that would be amazing I guess.
Katie – I feel like I would love to support Keith, Keithy would be cool, full band support Keith.
Carlos – That would be cool as well.
Katie – We do have a bit of a band crush, well Carlos & Andy are in love with Darren Hodson from the Southern Companion & he – oh my god he was a massive hit at FSA with 2 standing ovations, it was amazing! We have all the respect in the world for him! These guys (Carlos & Andy) have been a massive fan of his for over 5 years. You know, he has got 2 albums out already and they have known what talent he has and it is really nice to see him be acknowledged and celebrated by the Country music scene right now, he deserves it and we have got him playing with us tonight, he is our special guest. The boys, it is like a little crush for them and so they have learnt his song Crash and they get to be his band and they are excited.
Carlos – Yeah, it is pretty cool.
Me – Ok, 1 last question, What cartoon character would you love to be?
Katie – You know who I would be, just to make Carlos smile, Bugs Bunny!
Carlos laughs – I was going to say I will be Roger Rabbit!
Katie – Carlos is obsessed with bunnies!
