To celebrate the release of their new single No Filter, and ahead of the release of their upcoming album Restless Minds in 2019, we caught up with one half of Ward Thomas - Lizzy - to find out a little more about the duo's dreams, ambitions, working in the music industry and more...
For those who haven't yet heard your music, how best would you describe yourselves as artists?
People who haven’t heard us yet should expect pop music with harmonies and storytelling.
What’s your earliest or fondest memory when it comes to music?
Thats probably us singing Monday, Monday by The Mama’s and the Papa’s at the top of our lungs in the car with our family whilst on holiday and we all started singing different harmonies.
Plenty of people think working with their sibling would be a nightmare, but you both obviously make it work! What's it like working alongside one another in such a crazy industry?
We’re both very used to each other as we’ve lived together, been in the same class at school, had the same friends. Obviously it can get intense and we argue like all siblings do but we actually find huge comfort in having each other in this industry.
How important is family to you both?
Its probably the most important thing to the both of us.
You recently released the lyric video for new single Never Know; how have you found the response from fans to the new track?
We’ve been really excited by our fans response to Never Know as we were slightly apprehensive about how people will respond to our more 'pop sound' for this song in particular, but we’ve had very positive feedback so it’s made us even more excited about the release of Restless Minds in February.
Your new album Restless Minds is also set for release in the new year; what should we expect from that collection?
We’re both so excited about this next album and have put a lot of work into it. We really hope that people will respond to it like we do in a way. As a completely honest piece of work that takes us on a journey of development and growth both lyrically and musically.
Can you tell us a little bit about the creative process behind the upcoming record?
We’ve had a lot of creative freedom to dip our toes into a few different genres for this record and we’ve worked with a lot more people. And like on previous albums we treated all the songs separately and let them speak for themselves in the production. But working with a new producer for some of the record has brought a different vibe to our sound.
You’ve got some tour dates set for 2019; do you enjoy the touring life?
We love touring with the band and we’re excited to build the next show. The best part of touring for us is the performing bit. When people sing our songs back to us it’s the best feeling.
What should fans coming to those live shows expect from your performances?
They will hear most of the songs off Restless Minds alongside some oldies with a variety of distinct moments throughout the show. We hope our audience will see a development in our performance because we’re always want to develop and grow.
If you could work with absolutely anybody from the world of music moving forward, who would you choose and why?
To write with Joni Mitchell, as a producer maybe Mark Ronson and to sing with... there’s many! Dixie Chicks, Fleetwood Mac or Allison Krauss for starters.
What would you say are some of the biggest challenges, being a part of this industry?
Trying to have both a creative mind and a business mind can sometimes get difficult. Sometimes being girls in this industry we can be seen as cute instead of professionals. And touring does get intense as we are both natural home birds and miss our home comforts if we’re away for a long period of time.
What’s your favourite album of the year so far?
We have a few but one would definitely be the EP Raw by Sigrid.
How do you like to spend your down time, in order to relax?
We both love a good country walk with our dogs. Catherine loves to bake and I (Lizzy) love nestling into a good novel.
Finally, what should we expect from you in the final months of 2018?
We’ve got a new single coming out called No Filter with a video which was one of our favourite videos to shoot. So we’re very excited for that to come out. We’re also releasing a Christmas cover of Joni Mitchell’s River which will probably be out by the time people read this!
Ward Thomas are back with their brilliant new single No Filter, ahead of the release of their new album Restless Minds in February, 2019.