LAUREN TATE - AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNE ESTELLA

2021-02-12

LAUREN TATE – AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNE ESTELLA

At just 23 years of age, high school dropout Lauren Tate is a force to be reckoned with. As an adolescent she was already writing, producing and performing original music and has released albums via her own label, Trash Queen Records (UK) – as a solo artist as well with her Yorkshire-based Alt Rock band, Hands Off Gretel. Her empowering, unapologetic and brutally honest lyrics throw the listener head first into the angst-ridden pages of a teen’s diary, and are utterly relatable to those who have ever felt anything less than perfect. With a brand new album to be unleashed under the guise of her rapping alter ego, Delilah Bon, Lauren is set to grow her fanbase even further, to emerge as this generation’s ass kicking savior for sad girls……

ANNE: Let’s start at the beginning….when did you first start singing, songwriting and performing, and who were your main musical influences?

LAUREN: Pink saved me in high school. I know that’s cheesy but it’s true. Her music was like listening to my diary. She wrote every emotion I felt. Spending dinner time in the toilets alone, away from the other kids, drawing in my school books, Pink really held my hand through my darkest times growing up. I was around 12 when I knew I wanted to be a professional singer. I was doing school shows here and there and started singing lessons at 13. Which for the most part I hated. I hated the competitions which were more about popularity than talent. My career really started when I started writing my own songs, age 15. A few chords on the guitar really transformed my life.

ANNE: Can you tell us how and when Hands Off Gretel was formed and the differences between your band’s music compared with your solo material in terms of content and style?

LAUREN: I left school then started my own band called Hands Off Gretel, after I decided against going under my own name. It took me ages to find the right people because people would fight my ideas and say I was a control freak, haha! I am a control freak because it is my dream and I’ve fantasized about it for a long time. I have books full of ideas that I need to get out before I die. Anyway, I still do solo material alongside my band, which I self produce and create on my own. There’s an album under my name, Lauren Tate, and another album in progress right now under my alter ego, Delilah Bon. Hands Off Gretel’s songs are heavier and angsty, punk rock meets grunge. Whereas with my solo music I experiment more with genres. Hence my new project Delilah Bon being punk influenced Hip Hop.

ANNE: So…who is Delilah Bon?

LAUREN: I created Delilah Bon during lockdown when the Hands Off Gretel tour ended a few dates in due to Covid. I was having a bad time on tour. I was facing sexism, accusations and fans turning on me after I spoke out about women getting groped at shows. I’d written on Facebook about how it felt to be treated differently from the guys in the band. All I wanted to do was play shows and feel safe, not having to fight guys in the front row pointing their cameras up my skirt as I watched girls get shoved to the back by men three times their age. I was accused of man hating and some men online went on to say I was “asking for it” because I wore short dresses and crop tops. It pissed me off big time. I was singing songs like “Don’t Touch” and “Bigger Than me”, songs about women’s issues, and watching girls screaming the lyrics back at me from the back of the room, unable to see as guys stood filming our bass player, Becky, and myself on their phones. I then randomly began writing hip hop songs for fun which I’d listen to on my earphones before I stepped out on stage. The songs were only intended for me as I felt way to embarrassed to rap in front of anyone. They empowered me when I needed it and helped give me the confidence to get back out there and kick ass. Lockdown gave me more time to work on them and practice my rap skills. So I showed my Mum. She says, “You just come so alive, I can tell you love them“. Then we blasted them in the car and I knew I had to bring them into the world. I guess that was the defining moment when I knew I had to release them.

ANNE: As such a young artist, where did your confidence come from? Is it something you’ve always had within you?

LAUREN: Age 14, I was banned from singing in school. It was a talent show and on the run up to the night, one of the girls started dissing me. I remember this one kid running from her to me, telling me everything she was saying and then wanting me to react. Rumors spread that I thought I was “better then her”…it’s so lame but bare with me. Turns out on the day of the show kids were giggling saying a load of girls were going to beat me up once I got off the stage. I was a shy kid, especially around other girls. I always hated confrontation and this really shook me up, topped with the fact that the head teacher told me to change my outfit because I was showing too much midriff. Didn’t even have any other clothes! Anyway, when I got onstage nobody clapped except my family at the back of the room. I nearly choked up and cried in front of the whole school. Throughout the performance I kept reminding myself that eventually it would all be over and I’d soon be safe in my room with my cats. I thought of my heart beating all alone in my chest, I thought of Pink and my Mum. It’s just like I remembered all of a sudden that I was holding the mic, nobody else, just me. Realizing that if I could stand on that stage and be ridiculed by the whole school, I could do anything. I then reached out my middle finger and held it out to the girls as I walked off stage. I blame my Nan – she said “give them the middle finger” which then got me banned from performing at school again. Hands down the best thing I ever did.

ANNE: How have you been spending lockdown and what are you working on at the moment?

LAUREN: Lockdown has seen me bring Delilah Bon to life with my debut album dropping around April/May. I’ve been planning music videos and concepts, quirky interviews and trying to better my production skills. Keeping myself busy so I don’t go insane, really!

ANNE: What else have you got planned for this year?

Lauren: The plan was a UK tour with Hands Off Gretel, which we still have dates booked for this summer, but it’s up in the air at the moment due to Covid. It’s hard to predict if it will be safe by then, many think not. So my main release is going to be the debut Delilah Bon album. Which I’ve been working so hard on. I’m going to give it my all and release every song with a music video as it’s as much a visual project as it is musical.

ANNE: You self-produced and recorded all of the instruments on your solo album, Songs For Sad Girls, have your own record label and design all your artwork and merchandise yourself. Is there anything else that you’d like to do in the future? Other avenues you’d like to explore or areas you’d like to focus on even more?

LAUREN: And direct my own music videos, haha! Yes there’s so much. I’m currently getting into designing and sewing my own costumes but that might take awhile. One thing I would like to do before I die is act in a movie. I want a real badass role like Tank Girl or something. Maybe something in a horror film.

ANNE: You’ve got nearly 50,000 followers on YouTube. What are your followers’ most requested videos and what type of videos do you enjoy making the most?

LAUREN: “Whole Lotta Love ” the Led Zeppelin cover, that’s what! The audio has since been lost on my channel but people have re-uploaded it and I’d say half the subs came from that. They just want me to sing that for the rest of my life. Makes me laugh when people write, “why didn’t she release anything after this?” in the comment section of that video. It was eight years ago now and I’ve done loads since! I made viogs recently to try to tie it all together and introduce people to my new stuff but the algorithms suck so bad I can’t reach my own following anymore!

ANNE: Sexism in the music industry, including inappropriate comments and behavior from fans, is something you’ve spoken about in the past and touched upon here. Can you tell us some of the experiences you’ve had and how you dealt with them?

LAUREN: I get threats and stalkers, weird accusations and dick pics online. I’ve become numb to it now, which is sad. Then there’s the inappropriate behavior at shows, drunk guys and wandering hands. No personal space, men trying to pick me up or kiss me, getting excited from the attention then flipping out when I set boundaries. When I was 17, I remember a guy in radio inviting me out for drinks, saying he’d talk about getting my band places. I told him I couldn’t meet with him and he never spoke to me again. I learnt early on that doors close if you don’t suck up to men’s egos and I hate that. I deal with it by making my songs and being independent, bringing my visions to life and connecting with likeminded people. It’s annoying but I’m so glad to be a woman in music. It’s a fresh perspective and I’m so thankful I have an outlet like this to tell my truths and battle topics like rape culture and women’s issues because many people don’t get that priveledge..