21 Jun Rachel K. Collier: Swansea, Soul & Sunshine

I’m backstage at the former Sex Pistols’ haunt, ‘Spice of Life’ in Soho, London with 24-year-old, Welsh-born chanteuse Rachel K. Collier. Her eight piece band is dotted around the venue, waiting to start their set. Currently on stage are sibling duo Qiku; a sort of half-Japanese Wendy & Lisa. As their lovely sound filters through the walls Rachel and I are trying not to get distracted. Miss Collier herself is as effervescent off stage as she is on which I’m to find out later. The languid Swansea vowels are almost at odds with her rapid speech pattern and demonstrative body language. Rachel has been composing songs since she was 11. When I ask if she remembers the first one she wrote she goes one better and treats me to a sweet, impromptu rendition... All the blue skies, and all the trees...and all the colours, all around me... Its overall structure is surprisingly sophisticated for something she wrote before she even hit her teens. For Collier this is merely a reflection of what she imbibed growing up; "My mum and dad played music all the time... Pink Floyd, loads of crazy different stuff. I think without noticing I was inspired by that." Rachel’s first exposure to performing music was through the school choir. Then she started to teach herself the piano at 11. "Literally, I started with one hand. I was really chuffed when I discovered chords! Eventually I threw in a bassline with the left hand. Then when I was about 15 or 16 I thought, I need to get some piano lessons, start reading music so I could accompany myself." Rachel later felt confident enough to explore the classical route and launched in at the deep end by taking her first piano exam at grade five level which she describes as, "the most nerve racking experience of my life." She’s since taught herself guitar but reckons she’s better at the ukulele (which she mastered whilst playing every night on a month-long trip to India last summer). Around the same time Rachel started her classical piano training she discovered jazz vocals.