The Soul of Kinsella
Amanda Brooks and Victoria Kingham
In the thoroughly musical, thoroughly joyful town of Hastings we present here the first of an occasional series featuring the lives and ambitions of just a few of the many completely home-grown talented musical artists. Here we showcase Natalie Kinsella, an effervescent, energetic local mother with a full-time job who also finds time to write, present, and record her own music, and whose band (simply named Kinsella) recently featured in the first Hastings Womens Jazz Festival. Natalie told us about her hopeful and uplifting journey towards becoming a professional music artist. Along the way we gained insight into her personal experiences, creative processes, and musical influences.
“As a child” she told us, “I was fearless” She would take any opportunity to perform. She and her sister were always singing together, and sang in the school choir. She and her stepfather – “a kind of brilliant hippie guitarist” used to write songs together, and she formed a girl band to perform her own compositions when she was still at school. In terms of known artists, she absorbed the work of Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah from TLC, ‘that whole liberated vibe”, she told us. MTV was also a massive influence, and encouraged her to write and play music, and “put herself into the space of her dreams” via drum-and-bass and hip-hop. She describes her own current output as “melodic, meaningful, and catchy. I like to tell stories” she continues, “and share moments that listeners can connect with”. She was also heavily influenced by jazz sounds: hence the headline in the Womens Jazz Festival.
Her songs tell about ill-treatment, injustice, difficult relationships – not always her own. Her friends occasionally recognize themselves or their mutual acquaintances. “I’ve always been a go-to for advice, so I hope my songs can do that for people” she told us. This is one of the reasons that she likes to perform her own material, eliciting emotions in her audience, even making jokes, forming a relationship during the performance. That, she is convinced, is “the best feeling ever”.
She has a very high regard for her bandmates, who are also her friends. They are fun and supportive, and their energy is stimulating. When writing material, she records an idea – at home, in the shower, travelling, cooking, taking the children to school, having a drink, anywhere. She works with Andy Vickery, her super-talented guitarist, laying down riffs and developing songs to be produced and recorded in the studio. It is, she says, a wonderful, professional, collaborative venture.
She admires a raft of younger UK music makers – Sasha Keable, Joy Crookes, Sophie Faith, Sinead Harnett, Olivia Dean, to name but a few. She is less concerned about end goals and trying to ‘make it’ than she is about enjoying the creative journey, and no longer worries about whether she is a ‘failure’ or not pretty enough or not young enough or simply not good enough. To her, success is just to be lucky enough to create and share music with people who are equally dedicated.
Finally, her unflagging energy is such that at the same time as she pursues a musical path with extraordinary single-mindedness and delight, she keeps a home, looks after her own two children, and works full-time as a mentor for young people in the mental health sector. It was a great pleasure to meet her.
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