Beatsmedia Interviews Emma Hewitt

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The Beauteous voice of Emma Hewitt.

Beatsmedia:
What age were you at when you first began to sing? Any idols that inspired you?

Emma Hewitt:
I always loved singing from a very young age, but it was at about sixteen that I began to sing in bands and in public for the first time. I grew up listening to my Dad’s extensive record collection of older music from the seventies. The music that first gave me the inspiration and desire to create music were bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles and Pink Floyd along with some groups of the Nineties like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and even Guns and Roses for a while there. Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Marriane Faithful and Tori Amos are all artists I strongly admire. I think somehow the music you hear at a young age stays with you longer, it seems to have a kind of magic and promise of possibility within it.

Beatsmedia:
When was it apparent you would choose this path within your career?

Emma Hewitt:
To me it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, even at four or five years of age I only wanted to sing when I grew up! Lucky, as I was an absolutely terrible waitress and office worker!

Beatsmedia:
Did you choose a music career because of your vocal abilities or because of your love for music itself?

Emma Hewitt:
I just always had a strong desire to make music, when I first decided I wanted to sing I guess I didn’t really know if I would ever have any ability. I think perhaps the fact I was passionate about it, and very determined my voice kind of developed from there.

Beatsmedia:
Do you have some sort of routine to keep your voice always sharp?

Emma Hewitt:
Haha, I would like to say yes here, but I am one of those people who does everything the wrong way!! I seem to have loads of late nights and I do enjoy a few drinks occasionally. I believe that life experience adds character to people’s voices – I like to listen to singers who sound as though they have lived what they write about…it is much more affecting somehow. Having said that, I do have a bunch of vocal warm ups I go through before going on stage, so I guess that is a sort of routine.

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What inspires you to create such meaningful lyrics?

Beatsmedia:
You’re not just a singer, but a songwriter as well. Share the process of creating a song with us: do you often write the lyrics and send to the producer or do you get the melodies first?

Emma Hewitt:
My brother Anthony and I have worked as a songwriting team for as long as I can remember. We always come up with the melodies first, a lot of writers work the other way around, but we prefer to get the vibe of the song, then when the emotion is clear usually a lyric will come to us and form the basis of the song. The songs that work well are usually the ones that come out very quickly, almost as though they come from somewhere else, the melody and lyrics tend to flow out. If I have to labour over something for too long usually that means it is just not working.

Beatsmedia:
Are the lyrics you write inspired by an experience, a wish or a desire of your own, or do you create a persona for that?

Emma Hewitt:
Usually the lyrics are inspired by a personal experience either Anthony or I have had in some way, a memory or a particular emotion, or something I have seen that perhaps inspired a different thought process and we combine our experiences. Occasionally I do create a persona if I am imagining a situation and need to put myself mentally there to write about it. I do find it easier to write about scenarios that I have at least experienced to some degree, even if briefly.

Beatsmedia:
Many EDM fans may not know this: you have an alter ego with your Rock band side project, “Missing Hours”. Care to share the details on its formation, how did you become involved?

Emma Hewitt:
Missing Hours is a rock band that my brother Anthony and I formed a few years back, we were signed to Sony in Australia and released an album out there. We had a lot of fun, and rock music has been a big part of my life, but the band is kind of in hiatus at the moment. My brother and I are based in Europe and focusing on writing dance and electro music now. In many ways, the spirit of the songs we write remains very similar.

Beatsmedia:
Rock and Trance are two very different styles. I take it you like quite an array of styles within music?

Emma Hewitt:
Yeah, I really love melodies and good songs no matter which genre they belong to, I love pop music too at times. I think that essentially a lot of the songs are constructed in the same way, it just depends on how you dress them up with production that changes the style, whether you use a drum kit or some dance beats, guitars or keyboards. If I sing our rock songs along side the trance songs with an acoustic guitar they all sound like they are from the same style.

Beatsmedia:
What is your favourite genre of EDM? Knowing about your rock history, we believe you tend to rave to the harder beats. Are we right?

Emma Hewitt:
Haha, yeah, to be honest I do have a tendency to love heavier beats and harder trance, although I really love progressive and house too! I find I am more attracted to the song rather than the style.

Beatsmedia:
Is there a classic track of any genre that you’d love to make a cover of?

Emma Hewitt:
Actually I would really love to do a trance cover of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights.

Beatsmedia:
Marcus Schossow, Andy Duguid, Gareth Emery, Serge Devant, Chris Lake, Dash Berlin, Cosmic Gate, Lange. What is it like to work with A-Listed producers? Does their experience make it easier to turn your lyrics into electronic worldwide club hits?

Emma Hewitt:
I have been so lucky to work with such a talented bunch of producers! Yeah, for sure! When producers know which kind of chord structures will work well with a vocal it makes writing a melody so much easier. Sometimes I am given tracks that sound great as an instrumental, but it is just impossible to make a vocal melody work over them. All of these guys have really solid musical backgrounds as well as being fantastic producers, which makes singing over their music an absolute joy!!

Beatsmedia:
Waiting was voted #2 in Armin van Buuren’s A State Of Trance radio show, last year. Can you explain the feeling to watch your lyrics become one of the most sung tunes of 2009?

Emma Hewitt:
It was a very surreal feeling! It still is! My brother and I wrote the vocal and we recorded it in a little studio by the ocean in our small Australian town. At that point you don’t realize anyone outside of the room is going to hear the song, so being at events like Trance Energy and hearing thousands of people sing the words is just plain weird!! What a massive buzz though!! I didn’t imagine that track would make its way out there to so many people.

Beatsmedia:
Speaking of that, how is it to perform a song that has been so popular and watch everyone singing along, sometimes even louder than you?

Emma Hewitt:
It is such an awesome feeling, possibly the best experience I could hope for as a performer. The funniest thing has been going to places like Indonesia and hearing them sing the words all a bit wrong, but with loads of feeling, gorgeous!

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How do you manage such a busy and tight schedule?

Beatsmedia:
“Never worry about the world ending today, its always tomorrow in Australia” A saying that always brings a chuckle to my face. On the more serious note, how do you manage to cope with jet-lag and fatigue when on tour, were there any moments that you just wanted to collapse in slumber?

Emma Hewitt:
Haha, I have never heard that saying! I guess living there I was already in the future… The jetlag can be a killer, I have been doing loads of really long flights lately so I have started to try and make an effort to be a bit smarter about it, trying to get lots of sleep instead of watching all the movies. Although I am not great at sleeping on planes, I always seem to get the person who wants to talk the whole way, or someone coughing on me. Coming back from China on the weekend I ended up putting a blanket over my head the whole way to block the sound of coughing out. I also get kind of scared of turbulence and pretty much flying in general really, so that is not ideal… A few months back I flew to Egypt for 27 hours from Australia, went off to the gig until 5am, and then pretty much straight back on the 27 hour flight home, I think I aged about 5 years that day. Now I make sure I stay for 2 nights after a long flight!

Beatsmedia:
Where do you like to hang out on your days off? Are you the type that catches up with friends and hits the coffee shops and hammers the stores for new shoes and handbags or do you like to take a nice stroll along a beach?

Emma Hewitt:
Well I am completely addicted to coffee now, so I am in cafes pretty much all the time. I love hanging out with my friends and having food and wine, I love food and wine. I am not so great at shopping, I get a bit bored looking for clothes. I prefer to be around nature, I love being outdoors, whether it is the beach or just sitting on the grass out the back of the house.

Beatsmedia:
If you could choose a place to live where would that be?

Emma Hewitt:
If it was a city I would have to say Amsterdam, after my few recent trips there I just wanted to buy a push bike and not leave, ever. The architecture is amazing, the food was good, the lifestyle is laid back, the music scene is great, it seems to be a bit of a creative hub. Everyone looks relaxed and friendly, and I suppose that’s because they live in Amsterdam, so life is good. If not I would live in Byron Bay, a beautiful beach town filled with Hippies in Northern new South Wales, Australia. I would have a little studio and some dogs and grow my hair long and write music by the beach.

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What’s In Store For 2010 & Beyond…?

Beatsmedia:
Can you tell everybody at home where they can catch all your latest information do you have a website, facebook, myspace etc?

Emma Hewitt:
Absolutely…my Facebook page is always the most up to date with news, shows, pictures etc…I also have a Myspace (of course!) and Twitter.
The website will be coming before the album release…

Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
Website

Beatsmedia:
Any special messages for the fans and people who have helped you within your career?

Emma Hewitt:
I am really grateful for the overwhelming support people in the trance community have given me, it is wonderful that people in this genre still seem to be very passionate about music! I am thankful that people take interest in the music I have made, it is a very humbling feeling. I am also very lucky to have the opportunity of working with great people, the djs I have worked with have been wonderful and my brother who co writes with me and is also my manager is extremely talented. It is always a team effort getting the songs out of the studio and into clubs or onto peoples’ ipods!

Beatsmedia:
And, finally, Emma, can you give us any exclusive information on what you have planned for us in 2010?

Emma Hewitt:
At the moment I am beginning work on my own album, which will hopefully be coming out early next year, with the first single perhaps around Nov this year. It will be a combination of slightly dirty electro pop, and trance. I also have a couple more tracks to be released with djs, the Gareth Emery track “I Will Be The Same” will be next up in June. Hopefully beyond this year I will be able to keep on writing and travelling around playing music!! That is the plan!!

Beatsmedia:
“Thanks very much for taking this interview today, we wish you all the very best for 2010 and further Emma.”

Emma Hewitt:
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, and coming up with such in depth questions!

:bravo:
 
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