Honeyblood: “If you care about the value of music and can buy a record, I feel like that’s probably the best way.”
The good, the bad and the mendable: the formidable Stina Tweeddale talks 10 years in the music industry.
Photo: Craig McIntosh
It’s been a decade since the then duo Honeyblood released their self-titled debut album, charming and enthralling listeners worldwide with their fuzzed-up, infectious sound. Now the solo project of the continuously impressive and incredibly switched-on Stina Tweeddale, the Scottish singer-songwriter is set to make 2024 a bumper edition as she embarks on her 10-year anniversary tour this May. Featuring five celebratory dates across the UK – in Newcastle, London, Cardiff, Nottingham and Glasgow – the tour will see Stina play to hundreds of fans alongside her live band including drummer Debbie Knox-Hewson (Nasty Cherry) and bassist Anna Donigan (PINS).
Prepped to play the fan favourite debut album in full each night, the tour will offer Honeyblood devotees the chance to experience frequently shunned songs live for the first time. On the setlist, Stina said: “Some of these songs I’ve never played live and a lot of them I’ve played every night, at every gig. Maybe we played them [all] live like one time, which would’ve been the launch of the album. But, once the second and the third album came out, the set gets smaller of what’s in that record, and it’s kind of filtered down to the greatest hits of that record essentially.
“So, I’m really excited to play Joey, I love that song and we never really play it cause it’s sort of like an album track. Or Braid Burn Valley always gets missed out because it’s a bit of a slow one. So, it’ll be more of a rise and fall in the set and the story of the record, rather than just the show reel or the greatest hits of that record.”
Having had an incredible 10-year career as an artist and now running the record label ICEBLINK LUCK, which she co-founded in 2019 with the Scottish Music Industry Association’s Robert Kilpatrick, Stina has seen firsthand how the music industry has transformed in recent years, some for the best, some not so much. So, we caught up with her to chat about the various wins and losses for modern day musicians, as well as Honeyblood’s 10-year anniversary.
It’s been 10 years since you released your debut album, do you find performing any of the songs feels different now or that any of their meanings have changed slightly?
“Yeah, I think they have. The ones that I played every night changed meaning a lot, and actually the ones I didn’t as well. When people tell me what the songs mean to them, whatever I wrote them about feels like a million years ago. Even the people that the songs were written about, loads of them are not in my life anymore and good riddance to that. So, I guess they do take on a new meaning now because you’ve got a bit of reflection.”
Photo: Craig McIntosh
When the album was released, some people misinterpreted it as this ‘heterosexual breakup album’, did you find it frustrating to have a body of work misinterpreted like that?
“It’s looking back 10 years; I don’t know if people would see it the same way now; that they would interpret it that way. More often than not, I write songs for friends and about stories they tell me. Loads of songwriters pull from other places, it’s not always about some personal relationship that you’ve had. And, to make the distinction of what kind of relationship you’ve had, I don’t think that would fly these days, to be honest. At the time I was like ‘that is so cliched to think that Super Rat was a bad boy’, and you’ve completely missed the point of the situation. That song was written for a friend. It was a way to make my friend laugh, and then it got really twisted in thinking that it was a harsh breakup song about a boy.
And as you say it’s been 10 years, the music industry has transformed massively since then, not only in what is acceptable, but also with things like streaming becoming mainstream, the decline of physical CD sales, and vinyl making a comeback. What are your views on the music industry in its current state? Do you think it’s changed for the worse, the better?
“You know I think about that every day at the moment. I feel like it’s such an important topic to have my personal finger on the pulse [of] as a songwriter. Not just as an artist, because as an artist you get a real sense of satisfaction out of people wanting to listen to your music. But as a songwriter, you just want to make sure your songs are protected, so there are two sides to it.
“But I mean I’m old enough to know the time before when downloading music became a thing, illegal downloads became a thing, and people were just stealing music off the internet. I remember that because that was my childhood.
“And you know what, it was amazing. It was totally amazing, because before you had to spend loads of money to get a top 10 CD and it could be up to £20 for a CD, which is mental now when you think about that. But now, it’s like a double-edged sword because there’s such a democratisation in access to music, and that’s incredible. I think that as a listener, that’s such an amazing opportunity for all of us to find niche music and things that you maybe would never have access to. So, I can’t knock that cause it’s sort of levelling the playing field there and breaking down a lot of boundaries that way.
“But, on the other side, as a creator myself and one who makes my livelihood from music, I feel like if you care about the value of music, and you can afford to buy a record (even though you listen to it on streaming), I feel like that’s probably the best way because you’re still giving to the artist and making sure they’re being paid fairly for their work. But, also, you have this amazing unlimited library to access music, which, although maybe it’s not set up correctly, it’s still an amazing tool for all of us.”
As streaming has allowed people to access way more music, do you think that’s made it easier for people from working-class backgrounds to make it in the music industry?
“I think it’s a really hard one. So, for me, I grew up in a very working-class environment and I’m passionate about advocating for that, and I’ve been trying to talk about it the whole time.
“I just read an article with Shirley Manson (Garbage) and the woman can speak no wrong. She is absolutely on it, so sharp, and she stated that she thought the current situation that we’re living in had made it harder for young musicians and working-class musicians. I think streaming can be used as a great way to access music, but that barrier that’s put in place: where to get a gig, get a festival slot, or get a label to pay attention to you, you’ve got to have like a million streams already, I think that is redundant. Because it doesn’t mean that you’re not valuable, it doesn’t mean that you’re not good, and there are loads of ways to hack the system.
“It’s not really a good measure of the value of the music, but as an accessibility tool, as a way to put your music out without a huge upfront cost, I think that’s maybe a lot more accessible than back when I was in my first band, and we literally had to press CDs and hand them out at gigs.”
With things like social media as well, there’s been this kind of TikTokification of music where you’ve got to have that wee clip with the really hooky part of the song, do you think that’s a negative for new musicians?
“I actually love TikTok. I became fascinated with it because I feel like people are on it because of two things. One of the things is knowledge, so they wanna learn something. So, it’s a great place for humans to share information. I think that’s only a positive thing. The other thing is that they want to laugh. It’s not like (R.I.P.) Twitter/X. It just seemed like it was getting very depressing, and people were constantly trying to aggravate each other — I don’t think TikTok has that vibe. So, in that way maybe it’s a better thing for humanity.
“But when it comes to the music, it’s hard because I’m also like if you can write a perfect pop song in two and a half minutes, then you should be able to do it. But now it’s like ‘Can you do it in one minute?’. And, you know, what I’ve heard — loads of songs can do that, and it is such a good business model. I love that Mallrat song Wish on an Eyelash. It’s one minute long and I ended up just listening to it like a million times, more than I would a song four minutes long. So, does a one-minute song mean you listen to it more?
“But I honestly think the art should come first. If your song is five and a half minutes and the greatest song you’ve ever written, then it should be five and a half minutes. And, if the greatest song you’ve ever written is one minute long, that’s great!”
There’s been a lot of talk recently, in the digital and real world, about the importance of grassroots venues and, since you’re Scottish and chat has re-emerged about a potential arena venue being built in Edinburgh to rival Glasgow, I was wondering what your thoughts are on that?
“I am very proud to be a patron of the MVT (Music Venues Trust), and I have been for many years now, and one of the tools that they are trying to implement right now — and I actually went to Parliament to support them when they were discussing it — was the £1 levy on arena tickets. It was at no cost to the ticket buyer, and it would mean that we would raise millions for grassroots venues through that system. If there’s another stadium opening up, I think they should already be advocating that if that’s the case.
“Without the little dingy, disgusting, sticky floor, terrible smelling toilet venues that have been running for 50 years, there would be no stadium level rock bands at least. And if you think about every single huge band, the Scottish one that springs to mind is Biffy Clyro, they started off playing those tiny venues for years and it made them go on to become one of the biggest bands of modern times.
“So, I’m not against any stadiums. I think if you want to build a stadium that’s great because it must mean there’s demand for the music, and that isn’t a bad thing. I think that the journey has to be appreciated and supported. Every day now grassroots music venues are closing, and they’re closing due to a whole bunch of stuff and it’s not because there’s not enough artists to play in them. And I don’t think it’s because people don’t want to see those artists as well. I think if that £1 levy can go in we’ll see a massive change — so bring that new stadium and get them to put that £1 levy in!”
Honeyblood’s 10-year anniversary tour will begin on May 22nd before finishing in Glasgow on 30th May. Full details can be found below.