Musician and actress Heather Peace has just completed the recording of her new EP Come Home and has a host of exciting projects on the horizon, including her continued involvement with Manchester Pride. We caught up with her to discuss her forthcoming EP, balancing her music and acting and her plans for the year.
Tell us about your forthcoming EP Come Home, and the topics you are exploring with those new songs.
Writing music really helped me when I wasn’t feeling good in my life. Writing lyrics and feeling things through music would often make me feel better about situations when I’d completed the song. Perhaps it’s like a diary. Writing things down can often help you figure things out. I feel good in my life right now so inspiration is different. I find it more inspiration from other people and learning from them.
You worked with producer James Lewis on your last release ‘The Thin Line’, have you worked with him again on Come Home?
Yes. I wanted to work with James again for Come Home. He brings out the best in me and he makes me feel completely comfortable. Recording is my absolute favourite part of the whole job. It’s quiet and concentrated and brilliant and bonkers all in the same day. Every day.
At times you’ve had to balance your acting and musical careers, and take short breaks from either one to commit to particular projects. Is it easy to maintain this balance and to still be creative?
Whether it is acting or working on my music the bottom line is that I get to do the job I always wanted to do from being a child. Performing is second nature to me. I’ve performed on stage since I was 10 years old. I honestly don’t know what else I could do! I’m a very lucky person. I make a living from doing jobs I love and recording music. I’ve worked with talented, brilliant people. It’s made me very happy.
You went to University in Manchester and have played at Manchester Pride on several occasions, is it a city you are fond of?
I began my musical career in Manchester, I had a Jazz residency in a bar in Canal Street whilst I studied at Manchester Poly. I’m a patron and have my own stage at Manchester Pride, so Manchester has always been extremely important to me and still has a very special place in my heart.
Aside from the new EP and tour, what are your plans for 2016?
I am heading off to Germany and The Netherlands to play some shows over there in April. I will also be performing a few dates over the summer and woking on a few other projects. I have just finished a TV project that will air in the spring – I can’t talk about that yet but it was a really great part to play with a brilliant cast!
An actress for 20 years, starring in TV shows like London’s Burning, Lip Service and Prey, Heather left her role in BBC One drama Waterloo Road to fully commit to her flourishing music career. Last year, Heather released her biggest album to date The Thin Line, which entered the UK Independent Album Charts top ten. The lead single, We Can Change was featured as the Uncharted Territory artist of the week on BBC Radio 2. Heather’s sound incorporates her love of 60’s girl groups, Motown and 80’s pop. Now, Heather is back on the road with a UK and European Tour performing tracks from her forthcoming EP, Come Home which is due for release in the Spring of 2016.
