Emma sings at the bar

May 26 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

PERTH performer Lady Miss Emma will strike out on her own this weekend after splitting with her band.

The singer, who played a dazzling short set at the Fair City’s recent Rock the Catwalk charity night at Perth Concert Hall, will be headlining her own ‘birthday extravaganza’ at Greyfriars Bar on Sunday.

And Emma told Music Scene she’s looking to the future after parting company with Joy Foundation, who supported The Jools Holland Orchestra in a major outdoor show at Scone Palace two years ago.

She had fronted the Fair City outfit since 2003.

“Joy Foundation is still going with another singer,” Emma said yesterday.

“It was the old story of musical differences that led to me leaving, but I wish them all the best.

“I’ve got 2½ albums worth of my own material, but getting into the studio and doing it properly is the difficulty.

“A lot of people saw me at Rock the Catwalk and came up and asked when I was playing again.

“It’s great being in people’s thoughts but funding is the stumbling block to getting an album made.”

Emma, who has shelved her separate covers project Damn Hot following her musical partner Gemma Fox's recent move to Manchester, is now working with Wolftrain and Scottish Blues Brothers performer Felix the Sax Cat.

She insisted she has no regrets over her decision to walk away from Joy Foundation.

"That was then and this now,” said Emma.

"That time has passed and I am moving on. Felix is a multi-instrumentalist and he's great at putting sounds together."

Reflecting on Rock the Catwalk, Emma regards it as the best show she has played.

“The Jools Holland gig was fantastic, but this was the first time it was just me with my acoustic guitar,” she declared.

“I feel like I have always been held back by the other musicians I have worked with.

“That sounds bitter, but for the first time I was able to do my own thing with nobody judging me. It felt completely right and I was totally confident.

“It was so comfortable it was like jamming. It just felt like playing in my living room!”

Police-influenced Emma was joined on stage by Felix for a rendition of My Love, the first song she ever wrote.

And she insists she’s enjoying a newfound freedom.

“I am writing about my experiences and improving on guitar and learning more and more about how it works,” the reggae rock fan enthused.

“I am starting to bare my soul at last and there’s no one I’ve got to drag along now, except me.”

Lady Miss Emma will be joined by Don Nicolson, The Story and Felix the Sax Cat at Greyfriars on Sunday.

Admission costs £5 at the door, with all proceeds going towards the cost of a tour of the Czech Republic the artists are undertaking next month.

Sunday’s South Street gig runs from 8.30-11pm.