Solo Ventures With Vicky – Nikki Yeoh

Welcome back to Solo Ventures with Vicki. Now on my 11th episode here on Woman's Radio Station. I'm really excited to be back in the studio. Every month I explore countries from around the world just a little bit closer, focusing on solo female travel because that's something that I do and I'm really passionate about females kicking ass. I'm a backpacker, adventure aficionado, and lover of the world, and I look a little bit closer at a particular country in detail, getting travel bloggers to talk about their travels, a question time, which by the way, if you wanna ask any questions, feel free to get in touch. Just email presenters@womensradiostation or give us a tweet @womensradiostn or on my own personal Twitter as well, which is @vickieecarter. I also like to have a look at a weekend, a break, so just a weekend somewhere nice and interesting to make advantage of the use of free time that we have, as well as playing music on the move, so music that transports you to a travel memory or a moment and showcasing unsigned artists, some of the incredible female unsigned artists and talent we have right here. I'm really excited to be back because not only am I back on my 11th episode, but I get to celebrate with the fantastically talented Nikki Yeo in the studio with me, jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator who's worked with the likes of Nina Sherry, The Roots, just to name a few. She's gonna be sharing her journey as a musical artist and a few of her travel journeys too. Hello, welcome! Hi, Vicky, it's great to be here. Thank you for coming, yeah. Pleasure, mm. Firstly, how has your experience as an artist been like, the journey? I've been playing the piano since I was 3, so that's quite a long time now. I was professional, became professional when I was 19, started playing with Courtney Pine and then Naina Cherry, and then not long after that, The Roots. And ever since then, I've just been continuing and growing and practicing and just trying to improve all of the time. Wow, so it's a real ongoing process, always developing your skills. Yeah, I think it is, I think it has to be in order to really stay true to the music. I don't think you ever arrive. I mean, you know, if Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock don't feel like they've arrived, then none of us can really have that sense that we've arrived. We can always have to strive to be better. But yeah, it's been a great journey so far, and I'm only really on a sort of, not the beginning, but halfway through my musical journey, I suppose. Yeah. And like you said, you played with a variety of fantastic artists. What's each experience been like depending on each one? It's been great. I mean, there's the experience from, you know, playing all over the globe, which yourself as a traveler, obviously you can relate to. So just going to different places, even different parts of the UK too, places that you might not necessarily go to unless you had family there. So there's that one aspect of traveling and of being a musician that I love is the traveling. I always said to myself when I was starting out to never ever take that opportunity for granted, 'cause there were some guys in the band that I started out with, Courtney's band, and they said they were getting a bit blasé about getting on a plane every other week. And they said, "Oh, I never really wanna feel that—" They had to keep reminding themselves that staying in amazing hotels and stuff and getting to go to beautiful places is a real privilege. So that's one good thing. Obviously, the musical experience is first and foremost, The absolutely best thing about being a musician is being able to express yourself and connect with people all over the globe. So I've worked with people in India, in Cuba, in the States, from all over the place, people from South Africa over here. It's, you know, a real kind of language of the globe, to be fair. It's the one universal language we all share. That's so wonderful. Yeah, I completely agree. Music, like, really connects people emotionally and it takes you to another level. Like, you learn so much more from other cultures through, like, rhythm or just even like tradition as well through all these different music aspects. And yeah, it's a real education and it's wonderful to be given the opportunity to perform in all these places. Has there been anywhere unusual which you'd rather not go back to? Actually, no, I've pretty much always enjoyed playing everywhere. I mean, I don't think I've ever done a gig where I'm like, "I never ever wanna go back there again." It's probably more a case of like, I maybe don't wanna work with those particular artists again, be, you know, sometimes you click with people, mostly, most often you do. On occasion, if it's a session thing, you might be like, "Yeah, I'm not too sure about the way that the band were treated on that tour." Like the manager hasn't organised proper accommodation or proper food on the road. You know, those things are important for musicians, keep your energy up. Having said that, you know, most musical experiences I've had have been really fulfilling and really great. So that's positive. I know there's lots of places that I'd love to go back to, Yeah, where, where, where? Well, even this year has been a real journey. I was in St. Lucia this year for St. Lucia Jazz Festival. Oh my gosh. I know. Yeah, can't complain at all. I wanna go back there right now. Do you wanna go? Yes. We were there for like a whole week and we just did one show with Denis Baptiste, Late Train Project, a project that I'm in. And that was amazing because, you know, we're swimming in the beach and, you know, tasting different fruit at soundcheck. And then we played a great gig to a fantastic audience and, Yeah, that was brilliant. I'd love to go back there. We were in Finland week before last and I swam in an icy lake of 5 degrees. Oh my gosh. Yeah. How did, were they like, "Oh, this is a cultural thing that everyone needs to do," or was it after a few drinks and— No, no, no, no, it's completely sober. Oh, no. Absolutely no excuse, yeah. Yeah, I had no excuse. Not that I really drink a lot anyway, but I could have used that as an excuse. No, in Finland, pretty much everybody has a sauna in their house almost. Wow. And then there's these things like these public saunas that people, people use, like similar to here, but they're always in really beautiful places. So there was this public sauna that's on a lake, huge lake. And even though it's pretty grey and gloomy there a lot of the time, and there's a lot of depression also in Finland, I hear. 'Cause the dark hours, because they get little light in the winter months. This is it. But then they kind of, you know, help themselves by having a sauna and then jumping in a freezing cold lake. And actually, does a lot to the mind. Apparently, if you're in really, really cold water for a long period of time, it can actually relieve you from depression. So they've got this thing, this whole cultural thing of people going to the sauna, like almost a ritual. And one of the guys was explaining to me that it used to be a long time ago that women would give birth in the sauna. So life would start in the sauna. Yeah. And then when people died, they used to take people's bodies to be washed in the sauna. Which is also a little bit macabre, but that was like the whole sort of cycle of life. So for them, it's a very ritualistic, spiritual sort of practice. But for us, it was just like an amazing experience after— we did it on the day after the show. We did it on the day after the show rather than actually the day of the gig, 'cause we were like, if anybody has any adverse reactions to freezing water, then yeah. Yeah, of course. But that's incredible. I think it's really good for your immune system and like blood as well to get pumping. I can see it could be such a good sense of adrenaline, really. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I just totally love, like, whenever I do a gig abroad, I always love having a day, like, either side, pretty much always afterwards is always good. Then you can explore the country and actually feel like you've been to the place. So you get an understanding of the people and that feeds back into your art. And so you've given some art to them and hopefully their culture will give something to you in a kind of mutual exchange. Oh, that's wonderful. Wow, that sounds fantastic that you get the opportunity to do that. That's lovely. Now let's focus on you as a solo artist and the journey that you've had. Let's first have a listen from your new album, Solo Gemini, the song from your new album, Solo Gemini, and then we can hear after it about your journey as well as a solo artist. Fantastic. Wonderful. From all the presenters and the team behind Women's Radio Station, thank you for listening. You've been the most amazing audience with your sparkling enthusiasm and support. So from our hearts, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year full of joy and surprises! Hi, I'm Lara Heems, founder and designer of Lara Heems Jewellery. I make luxurious jewellery at affordable prices using silver, semi-precious stones, and high-quality AAA cubic zirconia. It's elegant, stunning, stylish, and long-lasting. Who needs diamonds? Find us at House of Fraser stores or Ella Boutique Knightsbridge. 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I'm joined here in the studio with Nikki Yeo, talented jazz musician, composer, arranger, pianist, educator, everything in the box. And we've just listened to Solo Gemini, one of your new solo tracks from your first solo album. Tell me, what was it like, your experience being a solo artist and being, you know, center stage from working with all these huge groups all touring all over? Sure, I mean, I've always had a solo career, so I sort of started my band and also playing solo gigs in my early 20s. And at the time, there were lots of record companies that were interested, but most of the time they wanted me to change the music, to go just— literally, I had one company who wanted to give me a deal just based on the way I looked at the time, you know, as a young woman, and I just felt felt that that wasn't really what I wanted to embark on. And probably also a little bit of unconfidence about my art and whether I was ready and stuff. So it took me a while to record my first album. Um, when I, I recorded it in Audborough, which is a wonderful place, uh, State Maltings, which belonged to Benjamin Britten. He created that whole place, um, in Suffolk. Yeah. And, um, they, they gave me an artist in residence residency. And with, yeah, with some money from Jazz Services organization that existed at the time, I managed to record my album. But then nobody really wanted it because I'd had a bit of a sort of a break really because I had my son. No one wanted to distribute it and put it out. So coming from having this attention in my 20s and not really, um, grabbing that— but, but not, you know, not with any regrets, but just because it wasn't right. And then to sort of no one really wanting it, I was like, well, you're either gonna let that happen and you're not going to put your stuff out, or you're do it yourself. So I put it out myself, and then the year after I won a Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year award for Jazz FM. So I think it kind of works by putting it out myself, you know. That's incredible. Wow, it shows the music industry is so tough. It really is. How's it, how's the, how's it been balancing motherhood, you know, 14-year-old son you have? Sure. And, and a music career, and juggling not only, yeah, your solo work, but also working all over the world with all these other bands? Yes, it's kind of crazy. I mean, I think it's difficult for women in general to juggle anything you know. So whether you're a lawyer and you're working at Clifford Chance, or you're, you know, painting, you know, some street art, if that's your thing, you know, whatever it is, it's going to be difficult because, you know, kids, they need you, and you can't say, I'll put that off till next week, I'll put off giving him breakfast until the end of January because I'm focusing on composing. You kind of have to get on with it, but you find a way. And on the other hand, being a creative is actually one of the best jobs to have being a mum, because you can take lots of time off to do this, you know, you could do the school run with your kids and still be working. So, you know, now he brings himself home from school, but when he was younger, I could be writing all day, go and pick him up from school, make his dinner, do the homework thing, put bath and bedtime, and then I could continue to compose when he's asleep. So it takes discipline, you know, but to be a working mum, you have to be disciplined anyway, you know, if you want to do one or the other. Then it's a different requirement of discipline. But to do both, you just have to be organised and disciplined. Don't get me wrong, most of the time you won't feel like you're disciplined and organised. And that's why you're constantly running around tearing your hair out. But on the other side of things now, now he's bigger, I think I'd like to encourage young women to say, it's actually not as daunting as it appears initially. It is doable. And we're women, we can multitask, right? Yeah, for sure. And so, Is that what inspires you to teach jazz and to be a pianist? Yeah. I've always taught. I mean, even before it was kind of a thing that jazz musicians taught, 'cause there's lots of schools that I teach in where they weren't actually looking for a jazz piano teacher. They'd be like, "Oh, right. Oh, you're teaching one-to-one piano. Your specialist is jazz. How about trying to give them some jazz lessons?" I was like, "Yeah, sure. Some kids might be up for that." So, you know, I've been sort of doing that for a while. And so it's one way of being around for my son that fits into school hours as well. So I can teach and still be a mum, not have to work incredibly late every single night and still be around for him. And would discipline be a key tip for someone who is unsigned and wants to break into the music industry? Yeah, I mean, it's a weird one, right? Because as artists, sometimes artists are the most flakiest people in the world, and I know many, and I have my flaky moments too. But I think being organized and focused is actually is really important, you know, because then you can use your time much more constructively. So it's all about time management basically, you know, and you have to treat yourself a little bit like a business in that sense of say, "Right, you know, this needs doing by such and such date," and just get on with it. You can't procrastinate too much, says she who took like 25 years to record my first album. You got there in the end. And speaking about your album, let's hear this song, "Elderflower and Ivy." Awesome! That was, um, Elderflower and Ivy on Women's Radio Station by Nikki Yeo. It was a beautiful track. Um, where can people hear you? Well, I have a gig coming up in May next year. I'm going to be playing before that, but this is a massive project. It It's part of the Venus Unwrapped Festival, which is at King's Place in London. And it's a festival that's celebrating women artists. Yes, that's what we love. Literally the voice of women worldwide. Literally a voice of musicians, women musicians at King's Place. So it's myself and Zoe Rahman, a fantastic pianist who happens to be a woman as well. And we're playing lots of our pieces, my pieces, her pieces. On two full-size Steinway grands. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, we did one gig together last year at Pizza Express for the Duo Festival, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to be playing with anybody else. She's fantastic. Wonderful. And where can people see— do you have a website? Yeah, you have a Facebook, like a fan page, which is just Nikki Yeo, which is N-I-K-K-I-Y-E-O-H. Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming in. I'm going to leave the show with— there is a quote, the quote, there is a woman at The Beginning of All Great Things. That's by Alfonso de la Martin. Next time on Solo Adventures with Vicki, I'll be looking at a weekend in Amsterdam, unsigned music from female rapper Lab, and so much more. Thank you so much, Nicki Yeo, for coming in. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's been great to be here. Yeah, it's been a pleasure chatting to me on Solo Adventures with Vicki on Woman's Radio Station. Remember, you can listen back and catch up on any episodes on our website. Just check out the presenters page on womansradiostation.com, the voice of women worldwide. See you next time! Women's Radio Station is looking forward to a great 2019 with more shows coming your way. All the presenters and the team behind each program would like to say a big thank you for listening. We are the voice of women worldwide and we cannot be without you. 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