Laura Cox is a Rock ‘n Roll guitarist and vocalist from France, who began playing when she was fourteen years old. She began posting cover videos of her favorite Classic Rock songs on YouTube creating a massive following. Fast forward to 2017, she released her debut solo album titled, Hard Blues Shot. A few years later, Burning Bright, was released in 2020 through earMUSIC. Now Laura is dropping her brand-new album titled, Head Above Water, on January 20th of 2023, also through earMUSIC.
Head Above Water is Laura’s first album mastered by legendary engineer, Ted Jensen of Sterling Sound studios. Laura had never gotten the chance to work with Ted before until earMUSIC offered it to the band for this record. She couldn’t say no, especially since he’s mastered some of her favorite Artists’ albums like Black Stone Cherry, Halestorm, and The Rolling Stones. “I was really, really honored we were given this chance and it worked really, really well. So, we recorded the album, and so he sent us back his work, and we can recognize our sound and our tone, but it just sounds better. It’s like he brought everything to Life. He made our Music come to Life. So, it feels really, really great we can recognize ourselves, but better. It’s hard to describe. “
They recorded the album at ICP Studios at the Brussels, Belgium location, where they also recorded their Burning Bright album at and it was important for the band to go back there, “It’s kind of reassuring that you know where you’re going to go, you know it went well the last time you went there, so I felt at home. It was like coming back at home after a few years. And when the label asked if I wanted to record the new album there, of course I didn’t hesitate because it went really well the first time, I know the engineer, he’s really nice, really professional. They have a lot of nice, vintage gear that we can use. Yeah, I knew that we would be at home. For me, I think it’s important to feel good when you’re recording, to be in a nice vibe and I knew we would have this, it was already half of the job that was done.”
Fan Facts: ICP Studios discography includes Another Way To Die by Alicia Keys & Jack White, Balance, Not Symmetry by Biffy Clyro, and Time Bomb by Selena.
Laura surprised herself in the studio because she didn’t know what to expect, or she would be thinking of a song she might have preferred to sing rather than others. Instead, the recording process perspective changed from what she was originally thinking, as she had more fun singing some songs, she didn’t think she’d enjoy as much. “I like the unpredictable side of recording. The moments I preferred were the ones where we were recording because we recorded the bass tracks, the guitars, the drums, and bass live, and I really like this atmosphere, a raw atmosphere, and you can feel that this was not recorded like with the drums first, and then the bass, and then everybody one after the other. But we recorded everything at the same time. I think these were my favorite moments. And then after this, I layered my vocals, my backing vocals, and the solos. But I think I preferred recording with the guys, recording the rhythm parts where it was really fun.”
One Big Mess, which is the first single off of Head Above Water, even has a hint of Grunge to it, was one of the songs Laura had the most fun recording while at ICP Studios. When they played the rhythm tracks, she described how it felt so good to play it loud on the amps, and it was one of the first Rock songs that they recorded for the album. Laura likes One Big Mess as their first single because after having a gap with releasing new songs over the last couple of years, she felt the band needed a song to wake them up, and wake the people up by choosing a straight-forward, straight-to-the-point pure Rock and Roll song, “this one was catchy and energetic, we thought it would be a good choice to wake people up and us as well!” as Laura laughed.
She also enjoyed singing the lyrics and vocal parts to the song, Swing It Out, which is the tenth track on the album, “I was kind of surprised because I didn’t really know what to expect for some songs, I thought, “ok, it’s going to be hard to record this” and others I thought it would be easy, but in the end, everything was really different from what I imagined. Next time I won’t come expecting anything!” Laura said while laughing, and then continued, “I’ll just work as best as I can before the studio and see what happens when we’re in the studio.”
The title track & opening song, Head Above Water, starts out with guitar chords and riffs that have an inspiring and motivational feel to them as Laura’s sultry and Bluesy voice shatters any boundaries with a reminiscence of Classic Rock and Roll. The lyrics convey a message of strength, being fine, and keeping your Head Above Water. Initially, Laura wasn’t sure about the chorus, as a lot of it changed throughout the process, and she’s happy to have the song as the title of the album, as well as having it as the first song to open with. “I think it’s a strong message to say, “it’s ok, Life sometimes can be messy, you’re going to face bad and good moments, but that’s Life, and you’re going to make it through, and it’s going to be ok.” That was kind of the point, also because I wrote most of the songs when I was near the ocean, so I like the idea of having the water theme on this album. Yeah, yeah, in the end, I think this song is kind of a mix of everything I like, a bit of Rock, a bit of Southern Rock, Country Rock, and I really like this vibe and it was really important for me to include this in the album.”
When Laura was writing the album and becoming inspired by the ocean, she was living in the moments, rather than thinking about writing, as she was more focused on the moments themselves. It was afterwards when the inspiration would come, when she was home alone and reflecting upon what she lived, experienced, and who she met. Writing so much of the album near the ocean gave her a sense of being more accepting of the fact you’re not controlling everything. While she was in Portugal, she began learning how to surf, “I have been trying to surf lately, but I think, I’m not sure if the water gave me a lot of inspiration because I’ve been wiped out a lot!” She said while laughing, and continued, “When I was in Portugal, I’ve been crushed by waves, so I guess, yeah, when you have to fight to feel like you’re fighting to surf, and then you have to get back on your feet, and to accept that you don’t have control over everything, because surfing is about accepting that Nature has a big role in this, accepting that the waves sometimes are not going to be gentle with you.”
Musically speaking, when Laura wrote the album, she kept her outside inspirations minimal so her Music sounds like her Music, “I’m listening to a lot of new, recent Blues-Rock like Tyler Bryant, Jared James Nichols, and all of these new Blues Rock guitarists, they are so good, but I think when I’m writing my own material, I’m trying not to listen to a lot of Music on the side, otherwise I don’t want to be too influenced.”
So Long is the newest single and first Music video released off of Head Above Water, and directed by Cedric Gleyal. The skatepark scenes took place at Shakapark Skatepark in Le Barcares, France. Laura wrote down a lot of ideas for the director, who suggested some skateparks for some cool footage, “I like this sensation of Freedom that I had when I was writing this song, because yeah, it’s more about being Free, being myself, and I like this idea of being close to the water, and to be surrounded by skaters that were jumping in the air, I like the vibe and I think it suited the vibe of the song as well with some nice footage. I’m really happy about the result. I’m really excited about the release because we recorded this album last February, so it’s going to be a year soon, and really, I can’t wait, I can’t wait to share these new tracks with people.”
There are also more sultry, softer songs on the album like the song Seaside and Glassy Days, which is the closing track. It was important for Laura to include other instruments on the album other than the guitar, as she Loves the banjo and lap steel guitar. “I think it’s easier to include in softer songs, so that’s why it was for me, important to have a bit of softer songs with more Bluegrass instruments and it created a different atmosphere, like it adds a new color, a new texture, and in the end, I think we managed to create a coherent album with the Rock songs, but also Rock songs tinted with a banjo, but also softer songs with lap steel and I like the mixes of these different worlds. And the banjo has such a specific tone that when there’s a banjo in the song, even if it’s not a lot, even if it’s not mixed loud, you can always recognize this because it adds something special.”
Closing the album with Glassy Days was already in mind when Laura was writing the song, and knew the vibe she wanted to give to end the record, “I think once we gathered all the songs, it was kind of easy to sort an order for the songs, because I kind of knew that Glassy Days was the best one to finish the album with because with the previous albums, we always used to close the album with a really, really soft song, and I wrote this one thinking it would be the last one.”
The album cover of Head Above Water was photographed by Le Turk Photographies, “I think it’s kind of a powerful image, it’s like, “ok, I’m there, I’m a woman playing guitar. I know it’s hard.” Yeah, you have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously. And I think this picture is kind of representing this, the hard work, the sense of “ok, I did it” I’m not saying, “ok, I’m going to sell millions of copies.” But just managing to release an album that we’re proud of is already a battle that’s won and something that I feel really proud about. Actually, before going into on this photo shoot, I didn’t even know what we were doing, and it’s just that we had a look on the different pictures that we took and this one seemed to fit the situation, and the photographer told me “ok, this one is perfect for the cover of the album, I really think you should use it, it’s simple, but straight to the point” a bit like our Music.”
Being a woman in Rock and Roll and Music in general, things can be quite a bit lopsided when it comes to including women, especially when it comes to magazines and even festival lineups throughout the world. Laura feels that the fact women are playing guitar and being seen, it’s something that we need in the Music industry, “Ok, maybe it’s still not enough, we still need more women on stage, more women backstage, but every time a woman is releasing an album, that’s something good, and I hope it can motivate even the young girls that are afraid to start playing the guitar because they think that it’s not for them or it’s impossible because they are women, they should try, if that’s what they want to do, they should go for it. And I’m sure we can support each other, it’s going to be ok, I hope so. But it’s evolving in the right direction, but we’re still far from being on an equal stand.”
Laura plays various Les Paul guitars made by Gibson. She first fell in Love with their burst tops and how beautiful they are, and likes the fact that you have to fight the guitar to be able to make it sound good, “it’s not like some easy guitars to play, or that are really easy to play, easy to make it sound good, I think with Gibson’s, you have to really, really hit hard and make it your own to be able to sound good. So, this is kind of a challenge to play on these guitars, that are also quite heavy for women,” she said while laughing, “I like a challenge, and I like the tone, I Love the fat tone, and I think it works pretty well with my Music. So, I always felt comfortable playing these guitars, and yeah, I’m not going to stop now, I Love them too much!”
In an interview Laura had with ‘The Captain’ of Andertons Music Co, she mentioned that she was really drawn to the solo in Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Guns N’ Roses. Digging a little deeper into how Slash influenced and evolved her style, she revealed she spent hours practicing the solo to Sweet Child O’ Mine, to the point she isn’t sure she can listen to the song anymore. “I used to Love the Sweet Child O’ Mine solo, and yeah, because there’s a part that’s really technical and I think I really– he really made my playing evolve with his solos and his licks, now I’m just a bit sad because yeah, I listened to it so many times, that for me, right now is a bit hard to listen to, so I’m trying to find different sources of influence and inspiration.”
‘HEAD ABOVE WATER’ TRACKLIST:
1. Head Above Water
2. So Long
3. One Big Mess
4. Set Me Free
5. Old Soul
6. Wiser
7. Before We Get Burned
8. Seaside
9. Fever
10. Swing It Out
11. Glassy Days
You can catch Laura Cox on tour in early 2023 throughout France and Germany!
March 18th – Paris, France – La Cigale
March 21st – Bensheim, Germany – Rex
March 23rd – Salzgitter, Germany – Kulturscheune
March 24th – Bonn, Germany – Harmonie
March 25th – Dortmund, Germany – Piano
March 26th – Hamburg, Germany – Knust
March 28th – Berlin, Germany – Frannz-Club
