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8 April 2024

Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Oxford based artist Octavia Freud & The Weird Sisters to find out more…

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
I am originally from Manchester and my stage name is Octavia Freud for when I make solo DIY vocal electronica. The name came about because I originally experimented using a Roland FX to put an octave on my voice so I could play around with the language and expectations of non gender specific identities while using electronic sounds. Since relocating to Oxford I have got to work with a host of singers from the Oxford music scene who do guest vocals on the upcoming album, ‘Mancbeth’ and I also sing in my natural voice. For this project the name has changed to Octavia Freud & The Weird Sisters because the album updates the Macbeth story 400 years to the 90’s rave club scene in Manchester and features the three weird sisters who all work in a fictional club based on The Hacienda.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
My dad was a vinyl record collector so he had thousands of records in Jazz, Blues, Folk and weird stuff like Krautrock and early electronic music. I grew up hearing and listening a really wide spectrum of music. My older sisters were into punk, new wave and synth pop so I got to experience that too. When I was in my teens acid house took off in Manchester so I got to go raving and of course I got to hear all the classic Manchester Factory bands like Joy Division plus bands like The Smiths. We used to live a few houses down from Morrissey and the first time I went to The Hacienda I got to meet Shaun Ryder so music was everywhere. I moved to London and by the 2000’s I was DJing, working in a record shop and promoting on live electronic and post punk nights. These days I try to keep listening to new stuff. I really rate people like Fever Ray who are more conceptual in their music making. I performed on the same bill as Maria Uzor and her solo stuff is great. I really like The Audiobooks for their deadpan vocal and synth vibe and my friend Timothy Fairplay makes great weird synth and Jackin House releases.

How would you describe your sound?
Octavia Freud releases are normally solo DIY vocal electronic stuff with bits of analogue synth and post punk guitars on there. The songs tackle personal and political issues but the vocals are done in quite a sardonic humorous way. Reviewers have compared it to The Sleaford Mods and some of the talkie social commentary tracks Yard Act are making but more electronic. For the latest album, ‘Mancbeth’ it is a lot wider in sound scope as it has to include the nostalgic sounds of the early 90’s like acid bleeps, New Order guitar chimes and also tell the events of the Macbeth story. Plus it has six really good singers on it who can actually sing.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
‘Mancbeth’ (out Friday 24th May) is an album based on the Macbeth story but set in the rave clubs of Manchester in the early 90’s. It came about after I met a script writer called David Lemberg in an art gallery I work at and we got chatting about both being from Manchester. He came up with the original Mancbeth idea as a film script and asked me to record a music album to go with it. The album explores the ambition and greed of Macbeth as the nightclub owner of Glam-iz where his wife Lady M is the resident DJ. Together they plot to murder their crime boss Duncan and become King and Queen of Manchester while dealing a new euphoric drug called Red Powder.

What’s your local music scene like?
It has been really good relocating to a smaller city like Oxford that still has a really healthy music scene and getting to know a lot of the local artists. Oxford has good live promoters like Divine Schism, Gappy Tooth and All Will Be Well who support local acts. The city is known more for guitar bands like Ride, Supergrass and of course Radiohead but it does have a small emerging electronic scene with acts like Means of Production and Tiger Mendoza. The best thing is people are really up for collaborating, performing and remixing each other’s stuff. Nightshift and OMS magazines do great coverage of the scene and Dave Gilyeat on BBC Introducing is really supportive with airplay and interviews. He recently sorted a BBC Maida Vale session for The Bobo who does guests vocals on my album. Plus you’ve got Truck Festival that gives slots to local bands, Riverside festival that is free and rocks and Truck Records store is a great independent store. The main issue is the closure of some of the iconic smaller gig venues in Oxford but the scene keeps going and producing interesting break out acts.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
The latest single, ‘My Future’ is out now. We are getting ready to do the music stage production of the ‘Mancbeth’ album at Modern Art Oxford on April 20th which will feature live music performances, visuals and actors. The album is out in May with an instore at Truck Records and a couple more gigs in Oxford. The main thing is to take the stage show to Manchester and London and get people hearing about the album and maybe play a festival over the summer.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Fever Ray, Bjork, Tricky are all inspirations. It would be fun to collaborate with Peter Hook or Shaun Ryder on another Mancbeth project. Working with LCD Soundsystem would as ace as we would get each other’s musical references and then I could hang out at some Brooklyn after parties.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
I do an absurdist experimental side project called GARY with my friend Phil Jarvis. We made an album that is all about a guy from Basingstoke that is a working class Tory voter and has a lost weekend. He realises he has made a terrible mistake being groomed by right wing rhetoric. When we perform it live I get to narrate between songs wearing a large seagull head mask and talk about being addicted to chips and being a socialist and hanging out with Gary and trying to help him see the light. Audiences really like the track ‘Rate My Takeaway’ as they get to join in the chorus that goes ‘cheesy chips, cheesy chips’. The song got played on BBC 6 Music which is a bit mad.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I don’t worry about never having learnt to read music. I just think of something interesting to say about the world or myself and release things by trying to be myself. If some people like it that is great.

Upcoming live dates and performances
Saturday 20th April – Mancbeth stage production at Modern Art Oxford
Friday 10th May – gig at The Library, Oxford
Thursday 23rd May – in-store album launch at Truck Records store, Oxford
Friday 28th June – gig at Common Ground, Oxford

You can find out more about Octavia Freud & The Weird Sisters on their website or via Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, X (Twitter) or YouTube.