Irish singer-songwriter and University of Salford graduate Shauna Mackin believes Manchester is the place to be for a musician.
Having first discovered her vocal talent while back in Ireland, the Dubliner first came to the city in 2009 to do a music degree and soon found that she was not alone in having a great voice.
“Back in Ireland, when you can sing everyone knows you can sing – I was kind of a big fish in a small pond,” she remembers. “But when I came over to Salford I realised that I was actually a small fish in a massive ocean! I just thought ‘how am I going to get on?’”
The charismatic 24-year-old can be forgiven for her early hesitance.
Having originally set her sights on working in healthcare – her brother is a doctor – it was her father who nudged her in the direction of doing what she loves.
“I was either going to be a nurse or a vet because I love animals. I studied to be a nurse and I actually got the points to do it. I was going to accept it but then my dad said ‘well what about trying the music thing?’ Thinking about it now, they were probably trying to get rid of me!”
Encouraged by her university tutors to overcome the initial lack of self-assurance, Shauna joined the university big band – a move that she says was a key factor in getting her to where she is today.
“It was thanks to my university lecturers pulling me out for things and saying ‘you should go for this and this’. So I persevered and began to find my feet and got my confidence.”
It was while studying in Salford that she first met the people with whom she would eventually form her band and are still playing with her to this day.
“My guitarist Johnny and drummer Alex were in the same year as me, and my other guitarist James and bass player Zoe are two years below us. So I kind of snatched them when they were fresh-faced and bushy tailed. They’ve stuck with me so I must be doing something right!”
Coming from a family of extensive musical talent, it must have always been expected that Shauna would go on to take the limelight in one way or another, but she has a lot to live up to…
“My aunt actually represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest back in the seventies – she was a bit of a household name really!”
The aunt in question is Alma Carroll, who sang It’s Nice To Be In Love Again with The Swarbriggs Plus Two, placing third overall – Ireland’s best finish in the competition for seven years.
Having formed a band and got some songs together Shauna began gigging around Manchester, finding that being a student surrounded by other creative young people gave her solid foundations to build on.
“It was a really good atmosphere and a big support network and that’s what it was all about.”
As university drew to an end and the future beckoned, Shauna had to make a difficult but potentially life-changing decision.
“The third year came along and I thought ‘I don’t want to have just gone to university and that be it’, so I dabbled in song writing and thought: ‘I’ll just give it a go’.”
She could have gone back to Ireland and plied her trade there, but with the recession in full flow and a growing affection for the Cottonopolis, Shauna decided it was best to stay put.
“I love living in Manchester and I wasn’t quite ready to move back home,” she recalls. “The economic climate wasn’t the best unfortunately and I’d started building a foundation for the music here.
“It’s very hard to uproot that and move somewhere that you haven’t played and where you haven’t built up a fan-base. It was happening for me and I didn’t want to jinx it.”
Chasing her dream came at the cost of remaining away from her family and home, but Shauna says that it is just one of those things that you have to do.
“I think anyone who moves away misses their home, where they grew up and their family and I think it’s a big thing. I’m a big family person – I miss all my family, but they are really understanding.
“Luckily I’m not too far away so I get to go back quite a bit and they come over and see me. I live away from home but I kind of don’t in a way.
“They’re really supportive, they’re the best. They love that I’m doing something that I love, but they won’t let you get too big for your boots, they’d pull me down a few pegs!”
So is she going to stay rooted in the north or is there a chance that she will have to go wherever her music takes her?
“I love Manchester. It’s my second home so I’ve kind of embraced it. I like my comforts. I live in Salford on the border of the city so I’m able to walk into town which is a great feeling – I love having that life.
“People say ‘you know, you’ve got to go to London’, so I suppose if I had to and it was going to be something massive for me, yeah I would. Never say never, but I’ve really been adopted up here and there’s a great vibe.”
Over the past few years Shauna has built up a strong following playing shows around the UK and Ireland, leading to appearances on BBC Introducing in Manchester and RTE Radio 1 and slots at last year’s Oxjam and the Night & Day Cafe.
She has also added support slots for artists such as To Kill a King, Sam Bradley and Damien Dempsey to her CV – with the latter representing a particular significance for her.
“It was like a dream come true. I have all his albums and know all the words to his songs. I got to not only meet my idol but play on the same stage and he even gave me a shout-out when he was on-stage. So as far as singer-songwriters go that’s right up there.”
But it has not been rosy all the way – like every performing artist, Shauna has had to endure her fair share of shows that she would prefer to forget about.
“I can remember a gig where I thought ‘oh my god, I have to get out of here right now’. You’re not always going to play to a crowd of 200 people. I’ve played to a man and his dog before, you know?
“Everyone goes through things like that, but at the end of the day you learn from them. It keeps you grounded so that when you do get a good crowd you think: ‘this is amazing, kill me now, I’m never gonna feel this good again!’”
It’s difficult to put Shauna’s music into one category, but if you had to, a label of folk-rock-country might come somewhere near.
Perhaps naming her influences would provide some better clues, with Dusty Springfield and Peggy Lee heading up the extensive list.
“I listen to a lot of cheesy music, but my guilty pleasure is American country music. I’m really into Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash – some of the best songwriters come out of country music.”
When it comes to writing her own songs there are no rules, with Shauna preferring to take an improvised approach.
“Johnny and I write the songs together,” she says. “We’ll sit together and come up with structural ideas. If we’ve got something written down I’ll go away and think about what’s bugging me and write it around that. Sometimes the music comes first, but in some of the other songs if there’s a theme stuck in my mind I’ll say ‘right, we’re working around this’.”
However, songs such as Rita and I’m Altered don’t come along without putting in the hours.
“I wish I found song-writing easy! Sometimes you’re writing something and you think ‘do I want to say that, is it good?’ I find tunes come and go – sometimes I can be on a real winning streak but others I find myself with real writers block. I think when someone says ‘that’s a good song’ or you get a good reaction from the crowd at a gig, that’s what makes it all worth it.”
With positive critical reactions to her first two records – Little Blue and Bootleg Sessions – in the bag, Shauna is looking forward to what lies ahead in 2014.
As she says: “We’re looking to book some festivals this summer, so look out for that!”
Picture courtesy of Shauna Mackin with thanks.
