Interview | Someone

Cover photo: Someone by Bibian Bingen

SOMEONE is the work of composer, producer and visual artist Tessa Rose Jackson. Her soundscapes are lush blends of influences taken from multiple genres with beautifully crafted cinematic soundscapes and accompanied by award-winning music videos. She collaborated with director David Spearing to produce the video for her single ‘I Guess I’m Changing’, which will be showcased at this year’s Tribeca Festival. With such a musical CV and an upcoming UK tour we felt compelled to sit down with the talented artist and talk about what she enjoys most about being a musician, and of course her upcoming tour!

Hi! Could you introduce yourself briefly please?

My name is Tessa Rose Jackson, I am a musician, film composer and visual artist and I release my own stuff under the name Someone.

What is your connection to both the Netherlands and the UK? 

I was born and raised in Amsterdam but raised by my two mums, one English and one American. So I grew up in a bubble of BBC, Yorkshire tea and Minnesota tuna casserole, while getting the Dutch cultural infusion during my school days. So I’m a bit of a mixed bag!

When did you start to write music and what is it that attracts you to it? 

I started when I was very young. I was always making up stuff: stories, songs, plays. I’m just a massive dreamer, I always have been. My favourite thing is to find ways to not have to be 100% on earth. And that answers your second question I believe, that is my favourite thing about writing music. My favourite thing about all the creative arts, in fact. It’s a way to create your own little universe, a dream world that you can make as beautiful, as weird, as colourful as you please.

What do you find the most satisfying about your job as a musician? 

I think being able to share those strange dream worlds with an audience, finding connections with other people through creativity – that’s the most beautiful thing about my job. Covid really made that very clear for me. As soon as I’m creating in a vacuum, it loses some of its magic.

You have worked with Hollywood director David Spearing, how did you connect with him, and what do you think makes a good working relationship? 

David and I met when we were just teenagers and he was looking for work experience in the music field to be able to apply for a job to go on tour with McFly as a cameraman! And he filmed me playing a song on a rooftop, and then we didn’t see each other again for years. Until I needed someone to direct a music video, and we got back in touch and instantly bonded over our love for mad, nerdy science-fiction films and Kubrick and it’s been a creative love affair ever since.

You are heading out on a UK tour, what part are you most looking forward to? 

I couldn’t possibly choose! So many cities and venues of them will be my first time playing there – which is always extra special. The show in Glasgow will be extra special because it will be the first one, so will have that extra electric buzz that you get when you start something new.

Could you give us three of your best tips for other touring musicians such as yourself? 

Yes! 1. Bring games (if you are into games, of course!). We are all nerds so are preparing a tour D&D campaign (really, really nerdy!) but we also have simple little games that you can do when there’s not much space or not a lot of time – or for during the long drive from city to city. 2. Enjoy it fully. Sometimes you forget how incredible it is to be able to just go around, seeing new places with your friends, and play music to a room full of lovely people. You get bogged down by logistics, you get focused on being tired or it starts feeling like a routine. But it is such a privilege. 3. Get out there and see the town! I love to do my research, find the best little places to go for coffee or a good meal. Bookshops, boutique music stores. Darius, my partner and our keyboard player, is obsessed with buying vinyl on the road so we’ll be going from record shop to record shop, I reckon. I’ll often ask for tips on social media and people have the best suggestions.

How do you prepare for a tour, are there any special items that you bring with you, maybe to make sure you don’t get homesick if you do? 

I’ve always got my book with me. I’ll have my favourite tea. My lucky socks. But for the rest – I just enjoy being on the road, to be honest! I don’t mind being away from home for a bit.

What do you hope to gain from this tour and what will you dream about to happen after, within the next five years? 

What I’d love to happen is to just make a connection with the people that come to the show. It’s the first steps for us, so simply feeling like we’ve got a feel for each city, we’ve met some lovely people and have paved the way to coming back next year would be wonderful. Within the next five years I hope to be back with a bag full of new songs, at least one or two more albums under my belt, and I hope to see a lot of the same people there! When people are in it for the long run with you as an artist, that’s so special.

Find SOMEONE’s UK and IE live dates below:

All dates including additional European shows can be found on www.someonewebsite.com.