Interview by Paul Quinton

Hi Heather, how do you feel people reacted to your announcement?

Naturally I think people were shocked at my decision. Personally I have had the warmest response from them. I’ve had so many well wishes for my solo venture and an overwhelming amount of support too. My mailing list has just grown and grown! Everyone has expressed how disappointed they are to see me go and how the band can never be the same again but ultimately now the dust has settled I think the majority are now looking to the future.

Is it worth asking if you have any regrets so far?

I have no regrets and I feel the timing is absolutely right for both parties. I am very excited and very optimistic about my future career in music wherever it takes me. I had a wonderful time with MA within which we achieved so much and I have shared with them at least the first zenith of its’ lifetime. I am very lucky to have had so much fun with such a fantastic bunch of people. I am now free to do my own thing and it feels so refreshing. MA will be very different from now on and I think we will see Olivia shake things up in a way I wasn’t at liberty to. She and Bryan are a pretty solid unit and I think that he will feel find it easy to relinquish some responsibility her way. This coupled with all the ambition and drive a fresh face at the fore can bring, I think the band will do very well.

You made a fairly detailed statement on the MA website about the reasons why you felt you had to make this move. How would you summarise them now?

In brief, I have a passion to move forward musically and wish to do so standing on my own two feet. It is probable that we will also see a differing feel creatively from my solo material too and I hopefully won’t feel as confined as a writer and performer as I was beginning to feel with the band. It’s not so much a negative for the band itself as there is a very comfortable niche that nestles MA but you can start to feel a little stifled by the same thing over and over. MA were about to write and record a new album which provided the perfect timing and opportunity to bow out let them make a clean break of it with a fresh start also.

I think MA has now also been able to re-think a new direction and has the perfect reason to do so. The whole thing has been a very positive shake up in my eyes. That is if you can let go of the past. I do appreciate that the band as it was has formed a very big part of many peoples’ lives over the years but at least we have enough product out there to be able to re-live it as we choose.

When did you first think seriously about leaving?

I actually first discussed things with Bryan last September at which point he urged me to stay and re-think in the same way he did when I gave him my final decision in early January. I re-thought for a while and it was nice to be able to do one last tour instead of bowing out before hand. The timing wasn’t quite right then and even if I had made a solid decision then I think I would have stayed to complete the year.

I think a lot of people think that the decision I made was completely based on commitment to my family. I do now have a little family which of course requires my nurturing but ultimately, Ian is 100% behind me and is encouraging my every step forward. In leaving MA I have made the extra space I needed to offer harmony and balance to both worlds.

…And when did you finally come to a decision?

Towards the end of December 2009.

Having read your interviews over the past couple of years, it seems to me you’ve been listening to quite a wide range of music recently. You’ve mentioned Elbow, K.T. Tunstall and Bat For Lashes among others. Would it be fair to say that there are areas you want to explore musically that you didn’t feel was possible within the confines of MA?

I always have loved listening to a very broad and diverse range of music but I suppose I only used to mention and cite the stuff that was relevant to MA. This meant that I only showed only a chink or two of the real musical me I suppose. I’m sure that I will indeed enjoy the exploration of new musical areas. You never know, I may end up back at square one but it will be great fun experimenting.

For me, it’s slightly ironic that this has happened immediately after the band played a series of shows that were received as well as any you’ve done, at least since I’ve been following the band, not to mention some long-overdue coverage in the mainstream rock press. Did that affect your thinking at all?

No, not really. I think it was nice to have gone out on a high. The band was indeed on form and I think that on a personal level too I was performing better than ever.  I was really pushing things forward and in doing so felt myself come up against these invisible boundaries if you like. It was nice to be covered in the mainstream press too but then I am very lucky to have already seen this continue in the coverage of my solo career.

This is a bit of a personal question, so please feel free to avoid/ignore/tell me to mind my own business. Bryan has already said that there are some songs so personal to you, such as ‘Shrinking Violet’, that he can’t envisage the band playing them without you. Nonetheless, there will still be other songs that may have a great resonance for you personally. How do you think you’ll feel to hear Livvy singing them?

I feel that my songs and lyrics are out there in the world now and by the very act of giving them up to an album you are in as much saying that anyone is free to re-interpret them as they choose. I have told Bryan that I am happy for him to continue to play my songs if that is what he chooses to do. I think it will be up to Olivia in the end as it is her who will have to sing them. I think they may have already made the decision to avoid the likes of Shrinking Violet and the more personal stuff as they feel they are too close to me lyrically. Shrinking Violet is very personal to me and means a lot but it is also a song that has always surprised me in just how much it has reached out to very different people right across the board - Male, female, adult, child. For these reasons I think it could be a shame to put them down forever but I think Olivia will want to make her own mark now and get away from all the comparisons which I think are inevitable but which we ultimately both find tedious. Sure it may hurt if there comes a time when people think my songs are being performed better by someone else but that’s kind of horses for courses I think.

Before we look to the future, how do look back on your 10 years with Mostly Autumn? What are your best memories?

So many to choose from! I’ve had some thoroughly fantastic times. I suppose we all used to get very excited about exploring new places. New York was a blast. Being picked up from the airport in a limo...! I’m not at all materialistic but to have done this once was great fun. I’ve loved having the closeness to a special group of people. I think this is rare. Bryan and I have shared some very special years as a creative team and actually reached the point where we knew what the other was thinking a lot of the time. I will miss working with him creatively but we’ll always be great friends.

So, now you’re officially a solo artist, how are your plans shaping up?

I’m having a great time just starting a fresh and experimenting really. I have created an online presence through various social networking sites and I have a brand new website about to be launched that will replace my temporary one at http://www.heatherfindlay.net/

Musically I have set up a little home studio which enables me to knock my ideas down really fast and build them up without necessarily having to rely on other musicians for input at this stage. Of course that will happen when I take demos I am happy with to my band of choice but for now it’s nice just to noodle and see what comes out. I will also probably work up some songs from scratch with a band too. I am trying not to rule anything out any remain as open as possible. I am however definitely trying to steer around former writing trends as I really don’t envisage creating MA mark 2.

Do you have any sort of timescale for your goals in the future? Is it a case of ‘it will be done when it’s done’ or would you prefer to aim at a specific date?

 I definitely don’t want to rush the album out. I only have one chance at creating a solo debut and for this reason it has to be good. I have had to work in rushed circumstances so much in the past and now I’m enjoying just sitting back on things a little and not having to go with my first dozen or so offerings. That said I don’t want to be sat here saying the same thing in twelve months time but for now things are progressing nicely so I am happy.

How are you finding writing? Do you sit down and say ‘I’ll do some writing now’ or do you find ideas coming at you at unexpected times?

It’s definitely a bit of both for me. I find that I don’t necessarily have to be ‘with muse’ to sit down and start noodling in the studio but to just sit down at the piano or with my guitar I find that it takes a while longer. Maybe because working up songs from scratch in the studio is very new to me and therefore inspires the process a little more...

Songs still happen out of the blue sometimes but the busier we become in our adult world of responsibility I think we can easily lose a grasp of the spontaneity. I think cooking or gardening or driving can help open up that creative side of the brain. You definitely need to clear yourself some headspace first I think.

Does there seem to be a particular style or direction in which your songs are emerging?

Funnily enough it’s all sounding very Heather Findlay-esque...! It’s too early to say really. Sorry. ;-)

Do you intend to carry on writing on your own, or do you see yourself writing with anyone else, either now or in the future?

Are there any musicians you have in mind to work with? I’m sure some people would expect to see some of MA guesting on your album.

I haven’t decided upon personnel yet as I think the material will first need to be developed further. I have made the decision to avoid working with the current MA line up for two main reasons; I won’t be creating a Heather Findlay’s Mostly Autumn - It is a time for change.

Secondly I personally feel that MA, Panic Room, Parade, Breathing Space and Josh and Co, all got in to a very dangerous and potentially detrimental place last year and will continue to do so unless the personnel issues are re-thought. Breathing Space have come off worst so far out of having a pool of musicians with very blurred boundaries as to who is who and I’d really hate to see that happen to any of the other bands in that equation. I know it is hard and I’m going to experience first-hand just how hard it is to keep a strong band line-up moving forward with excellent musicians on board but I wish to endeavour to create a fresh line-up. The reality is if you’re good, you’re busy so this may well mean that I have to take a different band out on the road with me than the one I work with on the record but, that is a bridge I must cross in time.

Do you have any firm plans for recording?

I do have a rough timetable drawn up, yes. The writing stage and the recording stages are kind of merged at the moment to allow for a bit of freedom to overlap. It would be great to stick to it if possible but I’m not going to let myself be forced into an unrealistic regime. Life constantly changes for one reason or other so it’s a guideline which may be subject to change here and there.

And I sincerely hope your plans include live work?

Oh, Yes! I’d really like to come out on the road again once I have the new material out or at least ready to release. It would be really easy to throw a band together and get out on the road with a band playing all my Mostly Autumn/Odin Dragonfly songs but at this point in time that’s not what I want to do.

Finally, a question I’ve always wanted to ask you, regardless of whether you were solo or still in the Mostlies: Geddy Lee of Rush once said that, of all the roles he has within the band, bassist, singer, keyboard player, as well as writer, he has always regarded himself primarily as a bass player. You had a lot of roles within MA, singer, guitarist and you played some percussion and whistles and the like, as well as writing. Which role would you regard as most important to you?

I see myself as a singer/songwriter and a performer of songs first and foremost. If that’s all I do in my future live work I’d be very happy. I love playing the guitar and the other instruments too, don’t get me wrong but I often feel that with a guitar in my hands I can’t express myself in quite the same way as I can without.

My thanks to Heather for the time she spent on this and for the honesty and openness of her answers. Her final gig with Mostly Autumn is on Good Friday, April 2nd, at the Assembly Rooms, Leamington and hopefully we should hear her solo album sometime in 2010. I, for one, am really looking forward to hearing it.