Escaping the predictable, mundane January gloom, Izzy Bizu spent the first weekend of 2016 sinking scotch at London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s.
Waking up late the morning after to the news her friend and former tour partner Sam Smith had won a Golden Globe, she reaches across to drop him a congrats text and eat her breakfast while we chat. A huge admirer of the late, great jazz empress Amy Winehouse, an iconic fixture on the smoky Ronnie Scott’s stage, Bizu’s poetic lyrics and whiskey-tinged vocals retain a pronounced sense of innocence and optimism.
Exquisitely beautiful and haloed by a soft haze of ombré kiss curls, zero effort seems to have been invested in trying to be anything other than her natural, relaxed self. Laughing easily and quick to slate any of her own hype, an understated confidence underpins her demeanour.
Totally relatable when speaking on the raw and honest matters of the heart, her vocals swim seamlessly from oaky baritones to quivering, melodic top notes quicker than a heartbeat. Her account of young love risen and fallen, Mad Behaviour, tells of a turmoil that robbed her of sense and, momentarily, sanity. It’s all too easy to become hypnotised by her gentle delivery of this hymn to a vulnerable heart.
Tipped by every ‘ones to watch’ poll you’d care to mention, any future success is likely going to be rooted in her continuing upon the path she is paving now. Making music she loves while surrounded by people she respects, she is humble, grateful and grounded.
What’s the situation with the release of your debut album, 'A Moment of Madness'?
The whole thing is ready, otherwise I would so be freaking out right now. It’s funny because with stuff like an album it’s never really finished until it is finished. I’m actually still writing at the moment, I will have to see. A few people have worked on production with me. I have done lyrics and melody and then my bandmate Mika has worked on guitar and I wrote with the likes of Paul Herman, Jimmy Hogarth, Justin Broad. Everyone was so special to me and we have all become friends now. We spent a couple of years together and when you spend so much time together you get close.
You’re going straight into a tour now?
Yes. I’m going straight into it. I'm writing this month, then we have rehearsals, then a tour from the 27th, then four dates after that, which will be so much fun. There are a few things I am still working on to be honest, like the choreography. The idea is for it all to be occasionally chaotic, but I guess you guys will have to wait and see. With styling I think I’ll just sort clothes myself. It’s all just pretty chilled. If someone comes up with something amazing I will always take direction.
Who are the band that you work with regularly?
I work with the same band, apart from the bassist who occasionally can’t make some dates, which is sad because he is absolutely amazing. He’s gonna do all the London dates but apart from that we are all solid. I was friends with Ben and Mika at the start and we worked on loads of acoustic shows together and musically we grew together. When I decided to grow the band I reached out to my singing teacher and she recommended another of the band, Joe. He plays amazingly. Then I met Michael at I Luv Live and he’s awesome. That’s pretty much the band and then sometimes we have horn players who my management reached out to. My band and I are all good friends and we have been gigging together for a while.
Are you up for experimenting with a variety of genres?
I write songs all the time. Sometimes you don’t pick the genre, the song picks it for you. It chops and changes all the time. I have a group of songs that sit together.
Mad Behaviour.
It wasn’t a culmination of feelings all in one day. If that were the case I would have gone mad. When I wrote the song it was an epiphany of me really getting to know myself as a person and it represented a culmination of feelings that I could not handle. Sometimes I felt like I was going mad so I wrote about it. It was about me being disillusioned, which happens to us all sometimes. We all get that way. Everything was so new to me and I didn’t know how to handle it. It made me feel better to let it all out.
Your ex boyfriend is in your band.
It’s funny because us breaking up wasn’t negative experience at all. Our relationship was very fun. We had a really good time. But we were also very young and things change. We grew up together and now that we aren’t dating it’s fine. We are good friends and we have managed to move on in different ways. I definitely do think that industry is intense, in a good way, but is hard to be in a relationship when you are doing your thing. It’s good we’re friends. You spend so much time with someone and then when you end you’re expected to cut them off. We didn’t want to do that, it always depends on the circumstances we’re both mutually chilled and there is no point hating somebody.
Are there any female artists that you are aligned with on the same gig rotation as you right now?
Last year at Glastonbury I played Pussy Parlure and my favourite female artist Selah Sue performed. I cried! She's literally amazing. You would love her, she is so good. She performed the night I performed on the Pussy Parlure stage and I have never been so inspired. I felt all this new inspiration. She is so great.
Izzy Bizu Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed January 27 2016 - LONDON Scala
Thu January 28 2016 - MANCHESTER Night & Day
Fri January 29 2016 - GLASGOW King Tut's
Sat January 30 2016 - DUBLIN Sugar Club
Click here to compare & buy Izzy Bizu Tickets at Stereoboard.com.
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
