Maggie Cassidy talk ‘Runaway’, mental health and more.
Following the release of the excellent track ‘Runaway‘ on Friday, we caught up with Maggie Cassidy to talk about all things music, mental health and more! Be sure to have a read of our review here.
You released the single ‘Runaway’ on Friday. A new and exciting single that we truly love (read the review)! Tell me, what is the concept behind ‘Runaway’?
Firstly, thanks for the kind words about the great; it’s amazing for us to hear positive feedback because we put so much heart and soul into what we do. The song is about escaping from the craziness of everyday live with someone that you love. I think that’s something a lot of people can relate to, feeling like life is so busy that they don’t have enough time for those that they love. It’s quite a simple message but we don’t view that in a negative light at all. I feel like those themes are mirrored in the instrumentation of the song too, it’s under 3 minutes and we’ve really tried to capture a sense of urgency throughout. Hopefully you can feel that when you listen to it yourself!
Maggie Cassidy focuses on mental health in your music. Do you believe the music industry has had any effect on bringing attention to mental health issues, such as depression?
I think so. Attitudes are certainly changing and artists, as well as other industry stakeholders, are finding out how to discuss mental health in the right way. It’s great to see big, big artists such as Stormzy sharing his own experiences and advice because a guy like that has a huge influence not just on the industry but a huge, mostly young fanbase. Rap especially has so often been about bravado and not showing any chinks in your armour but that’s changing now. Guys like Stormzy are showing everyone that it’s okay to struggle, and there’s support if you are.
If you could perform in any country with any living musician, where and who would they be?
Wow, that’s a big question! I think we’d have to say opening up for a band called The Maine at 8123 Fest. The Maine are one of our favourite bands, they’re a huge inspiration for what we do and how we go about it. Not just sonically speaking they’re our north star when it comes to being a band, no one does it better than them. 8123 is their own festival that they organise, curate, and headline in their home state of Arizona. It’s a celebration of their band and their community so that’s remarkable, people come from all over to attend. That’s the dream, to open for them would be incredible!
Finally, do you have any plans for the rest of 2019?
Yes, loads! We’ve got a new single coming out later this year as well as heading back to the studio to record material ready for the new year. We’ve been a little quiet over the last few months so as soon as Runaway drops it’s all systems go and hopefully pretty non-stop. The priority is new music though. We’ve got loads of new material written that we’re super stoked on so it’ll be nice to put that into the world and see if people dig it. I think some of the new tracks might surprise people, we’re exploring what we can do as songwriters and with our