JODIE LANGFORD

DAVID WINDASS: Welcome, I’m Dave Windass and this is Reveal Hull, a Mutiny project for Visit Hull and East Yorkshire. Hull has a great number of new talents coming through at the moment. I interviewed spoken word artist and musician Jodie Langford. Jodie writes wonderfully insightful words about Hull and her experiences of it. In the interview Jodie talks about Hull as a creative city and her love of yelling into a microphone…

JODIE LANGFORD: I'm Jodie Langford, I am a spoken word Artist and Musician. I am part of a duo, I have an incredible DJ called End of Level Baddie, aka Scott Langforth. We make reggae, electro, Spoken Word rap beats that comment on all kinds of things.

Sometimes it's about the government, it can be about a good night out, relationships, family, you name it, we cover all bases. So my journey into spoken word started when I was around 16 years old so I went to the Warren for a Creative Writing Session that my mate told me about because I just left school and we're looking for things to do.

It was for a project called My Words, Our Songs. There was a group of women that were writing pieces of like ‘stream of consciousness’ work and poetry that then local female musicians would then turn into music. It was recorded as an album and that was the first thing that I got stuck into really so there was already a blend between spoken word and music I suppose at that point. And since then I just kept getting involved in more and more creative events and creative activities at the Warren and there was an open mic session and I think I wrote a rant about the government and I decided just to get up on the mic and just say it and the staff recognised that and they're like oh she's got something there.

So from that I then started introducing bands on stage at gigs even like at the Adelphi and stuff like that. I was just introducing the bands and I realised that I had a passion for speaking and talking to people and also conveying messages that are really personal to me.

So I started getting involved with workshops. I believe with Vicky Foster, Jonah Keen, Catherine Scott, building up a portfolio of poetry and really developing my voice. And since then I was part of a young poetry collective called ‘No Larking About’ and I then peeled off from that and started my own spoken word journey, as an individual and got to do stuff like ‘BBC Contains Strong Language’ and a couple of festivals so yeah it's been really mint.

I have learned, there are so many inspirations that I have and influences - I think it can be musicians and poets but also people in my life. Kae Tempest, obviously a massive one for me and that's who I first started listening to, who I was recommended to see when I first started getting into poetry and I've seen them twice. I'm going to go see them again this year and hopefully will continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Stu Baxter, I remember he was dropping me home after a trip with the Warren and he recommended The Streets and I'd never heard of the streets before at this point when I was about 16. So I've got really into them and they've had a very heavy influence on my music, but then also going back to my emo roots really, My Chemical Romance. I was obsessed with My Chemical Romance. They had this documentary called Life on the Murder Scene that I used to watch religiously every night and I was like I want to be in a band, I want to be in a band.

And then yeah I suppose there are so many - Scroobius Pip, Leonard Cohen and then I really like the Distillers as well, I think they've inspired me a lot and the more punky aspects of my music.

Live performance is for me, is the most exciting part of being a musician. I think it's also the most daunting part and so, anytime I've booked a gig or I'm getting ready for a gig I'm a nervous wreck all day - I think about cancelling it all the time. I'm like ‘I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't go out there’.

I really get in my own head quite a bit so much the point where I think my partner probably gets sick of me just going ‘Oh no I'm not doing this’ is like you do this for every gig that you do you're like I can't do it but then when me and Scott are in the green room and we're getting ready, we're vibing, we're walking, we're pacing around the green room yelling - and then you walk out and you leave all that nervousness behind - and it's a great way to just let out all my emotions connect with people.

I love seeing familiar faces in the crowd I love getting really silly and jumping about causing chaos, and then before you know it's over and you want to do it all over again and all that that feeling of dread has just gone, and you get to meet some really amazing people and find out and connect with everyone's stories and why they're there and connect with other bands - it's a really amazing experience.

I'd say Jodie Langford on stage and Jodie Langford off stage are two completely different people. There's some similarities, I'm a bit scatty on stage. I'm a bit scatty in real life but deep down I'm really a nervous person. I overthink all the time.

I've got a song called ‘Case of time’ that is about my over-thinking, and I think for a lot of my life I really struggled with isolation. I had different friendship groups throughout my life. I moved to Hertfordshire for a while and I think that kindly disrupted being a teenager because I was moving into different environments.

I care about people a lot, perhaps too much, where I think I find it hard to be selfish in a lot of ways and that's something that I'm working on. And even though I enjoy socialising with people I enjoy talking to people, I do worry about that all the time and I over think like I mentioned before.

I over think all the time and I do like having my own company and just sitting and doing nothing because I do so many things and I'm so busy all the time I enjoy doing nothing. Whereas Jodie on stage, she's a party starter! She wants everyone to have fun! And it's nice having that release, that different personality that I can go into - to explore those different sides of self.

There are so many gigs that I could say are my favorite favorite gigs I think there's some that are like yet to come…my favorite gig?

I mean I love every gig that I do at the Polar Bear and The Adelphi. I did a really fun gig supporting a band called English Teacher, for Independent Venue Week. And I think that was probably in my top. But also last week, I supported a band called Period of Change who were insane at the Polar Bear for the sesh. And I just had such an immense time when I woke up the next day feeling so laid, and feeling happy, so pleased with myself - pleased for everyone. I had a great time and I think it's one of those few times where I haven't the next day, felt exhausted. So maybe I'll say yeah that was my favorite gig.

Gigs that I've experienced? I'd say on my 15th birthday, I went to go see Gerard Way perform in Manchester - because I've never seen My Chemical Romance perform before. And my mum told the school that I was off sick and we went to Manchester and his set was amazing.

I'd also say 21 Pilots are incredible live, just the atmosphere they create, they really throw themselves into the crowd. The way they'll be at one side of the stage and in the next minute they're climbing up some scaffolding in the corner. K10 pissed of course as well!

I think it's hard to narrow it down to just one favorite gig but there's yeah there's so many. When I see people perform I do want to jump in and just be part of the chaos as well. And when I went to see The Streets last year, oh I would have died if I could get up on stage and perform with Mike Skinner. But also watching it as an audience member, it's weird now being a musician because I enjoy it and it's lovely seeing my favorite arts perform. But I'm also like taking notes and I'm like oh that's what I can do better so my viewpoints kind of spun on it. I'll go there for entertainment but also like professional development at the same time.

I think Hull is a very creative city. I think it's overflowing with creatives and passion for art, music and culture. I think that I've been inspired by a lot of the members of the Hull community. And I think we've all got each other's backs and we all support each other.

There's a great support network and I think we're also a City where, if something isn't happening, we'll find a way to make it happen and we all bundle together and put ideas together.

If I look anywhere in the street I can spot someone who’s a creative, or someone that I know or people that have helped me on my journey - and people that I've seen go on their own journey.

And everyone seems to be doing multiple things at once, like if they're a creative in one aspect that seeps into loads of different career paths for them. And different hobbies and interests and roots - so yeah I think it's a booming city of lovely creative wonderfulness.

So for me Spoken Word and music is a great release. I think I kind of compare it to therapy and reflection and journaling. I think with Spoken Word and writing in particular, it's a good way for me to empty out my head where everything's scrambled, on the table on a page and then sort through that and organise it into a way that makes sense to me.

And with music, it was something that I never thought - I always wanted to do but something I never thought I'd be able to do because I can't sing and I can't play an instrument. But now I'm a vocalist in a band somehow! It's that expression I love experimenting with my makeup, I love dressing up in crazy outfits, I love yelling into a microphone and people yelling back - it's just an unreal experience it's really it's really hard to describe. But it's such an amazing outlet and I think it really does connect people. And it fascinates me so much - it's just something that I've always wanted to do that I now do.And yeah it's amazing!

I've just released a song called ‘Get the Shots in’ which is about what the title is - getting shots in and drinking! I think it's my first thing about drinking, and it'll stop there. Not all my tracks are gonna be about me being a bit of a raging alcoholic!

And I've got an EP in the works, so we're working on that hopefully we want to get it out in time for festival season. I'm playing Beat Header festival, I'm buzzing about so Young Thug’s have invited us down to play Beat Header, and we got invited to play last year but the weather was craz, so we didn't get to play, we arrived but then the set got cancelled.

I've got Humber Street Sesh which is amazing. It was my favourite day of the year before I became a musician and it's still my favourite day of the year now that I am a musician. I've got Reading and Leeds which is gonna be amazing. I can't even I'm so excited about that just it's just something that I never thought I'd be able to do, so it's a really exciting opportunity for me.

And then after that I’ve got Freedom Festival and then I'm doing a gig with a band called Sleuthgang who are very similar to me - very chaotic kind of spoken wordy. So we've got a bit of a jam packed festival season and then we'll see what next year brings.

Futurewise I'm just buzzing to be collaborating with Scott. I love being in the studio with him going “I've got a few words but I don't really know what else to do” and he creates beats. So I think - continue releasing music with him. I want to get an album out, I want to get an album out so bad, because this will be my second EP that I'm releasing and then I've got six singles.

But I want to release an album. I want to expand our live performance so that it's not just me and a DJ. I want dancers, I want crazy costumes, it'd be nice maybe for a couple of special occasions we could have a live band come on and that'd be amazing.

And then to continue playing festivals as well, like. I love festivals, I love the vibe and I love the people and one day I would love to headline Humber Street Sesh. I think that that would mean the most to me. I think with the rate that me and Scott are going at, we're okay not not being signed for now. I think it does help in a lot of ways. I think we do want it once we find the right label or the right label finds us - you know? We would jump at the opportunity.

In terms of funding, in terms of touring things are so much easier. We're at the point now where we're paying for our own PR and we live in a world where it does now heavily depend on PR and your social media following.

And I think just having a label would make those things so much easier. Especially because Scott, God bless him - does the work! I'm just there being a pretty face singing weird songs, but he's like my tour manager. He does all my posters, he does a lot of my designs and for, like, my covers on singles and stuff. So one day once we find the right people and they find us, yeah we'd get signed. I'd love that.

So from working from the Warren, I see a lot of new new talent emerging and new passionate people in the music scene and I think Wench - they're not that much younger than me to be fair - but I think Wench are amazing. The riot girl crazy energy, the most lovely people you'll ever meet, they're gonna absolutely smash it, and Bug Facer as well!

It seems to be the people like Wench and Bug Facer - both play music that's like right in your face yelling. And on the flip side they're the most lovely people you will ever meet in your entire life. So, I think there's so many that I see all the time but them two in particular.

There is a quirky Hull way of doing things in music and I think it's because we're such a humble community, but also masterminds of our own craft and really believe really believe in what we do. And we've got everyone around to support us even if we're not dreaming of, you know, making it big and moving to New York. And I think that the passion from people and the ideas and the energy is very unique.

Hull is the fiver that you find in the pocket of an old jacket.

DAVID WINDASS: That was Jodie Langford talking about her work. If you enjoyed listening to this, we have quite a few tapes in the cassette box (tap on the main menu bar). Or if you are out and about in Hull, you can take the Diamond Life sound walk around the Old Town. It takes about 1 hour and needs only a pair of headphones and a full battery on your phone.

Jodie Langford was interviewed by Dave Windass, June 2024, for Reveal Hull.
Reveal Hull is a Mutiny project for Visit Hull and East Yorkshire.