Welcome to the latest edition of Six Questions With..., a weekly short and sharp interview with a live music figure. Email jhanley@nbmedia.com if you would like to take part or recommend someone for inclusion.
This week's Q&A is with Emma Joyce, co-founder of We Are Robots presents: Future and Innovation of Music, a four-day festival promising eclectic live performances, label collaborations, interactive workshops and exclusive sound installations. The event takes place at East London’s Old Truman Brewery from November 2-5. Joyce (left) is pictured with her We Are Robots co-founder Gordana Jovkovic.
What was your first job in music?
My first job in music was working for the Radio X street team (back then it was XFM). The job was basically a lot of running around and sorting riders out for the station’s all-day breakfast gigs! Some of my favourite ‘duties’ were picking up honey for Paul Weller, and one time I had to babysit Grant from Feeder’s kid (he was super cute though). Even though I had to do a lot of random things it was a fun job, and a great taste test of the industry. The people I met through XFM were a big influence on me, and definitely set me on the path to starting We Are Robots.
How long have you been in your current role?
Developing something like We Are Robots has been a dream of mine for a long time, though officially my co-founder Gordana and I came up with the concept early in 2016 and we’ve been working on the event ever since. We wear a few hats (by day I’m the operations manager at the Old Truman Brewery, Gordana is a composer), but I love the freedom of building something from scratch. It’s getting scarier the closer we get to November, but we’re both incredibly excited to see the whole event come to life.
What is your favourite thing about working in the live music industry?
We were very aware from the beginning that we wanted to contribute something new to the music scene by offering an event that catered to the industry as well as an engaged student & general public audience. At the moment the line-up of live music is really diverse, with acts such as NSDOS exploring new technologies like the Subpac, and Chagall performing on the Thursday night at 93 Feet East using the mi.mu gloves. Over the last 12 months we’ve met some really incredible people, including Danny White from Ableton who has been a huge supporter of the project. Ableton are bringing a heap of their kit down to the event and will be doing a performance breakdown session, so budding producers can learn more about their hardware. Generally though I get excited about the influence of technology on music production, and working alongside passionate people who are looking to the future of music.
What is the one thing you would like to change about the business?
I would love to see more funding for young artists. If you’re a new act you’ve got to sink so much money out of your own pocket into producing music and building an audience for your sound. Combined with more and more established music venues closing down, I think it’s harder than ever to crack into the industry. At the same time though it does mean emerging musicians have to be a bit more creative with how they get their name out there, and that does produce some exciting results.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Interviewing James Brown just before he died when I was 17. I was doing work experience at the Roundhouse and I hadn’t really interviewed anyone before - it was a very surreal experience. Coincidentally the same night I was also sick on Tom from Kasabian, so swings and roundabouts!
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
I went to an incredible gig a few years ago at St Luke’s by Old Street, Jessie Ware headlined. The venue was insane - Lianne La Havas was there too, the acoustics really lent themselves to her vocals. If the Boiler House sessions with Rough Trade at Robots are as captivating as that night we’ll have done our job well.
