Defending the royalty rights of artists by day and rocking hard by night, it's Adelaide alt. country singer-songwriter Alana Jagt.
As the APRA/AMCOS Writer Services Representative for South Australia, Alana spends her days collecting royalties on behalf of hard-working bands and artists. When the sun goes down though, Alana downs tools and dons her Telecaster to perform her alt. country/ folk-rock stylings.
Alana and her band will be playing as part of November Nights, a new music festival in Adelaide to be held at Woodville Town Hall that celebrates storytelling, diversity and strength from female performers. “The line-up is going to be good; it's a great female line-up, very empowering,” Alana says.
“Really the most exciting thing for us is getting to get up on the Woodville Town Hall stage – it's such a beautiful building and it's exciting that we've been asked to be part of the event as a whole.
“Hopefully we'll be reaching a bit of a new audience as well, a different demographic probably from our usual shows. It's out toward Port Adelaide, so it's not far but it all contributes to a different sort of vibe.”
Alana joins the November Nights line-up alongside Mojo Juju, Ella Hooper, Thando, Caiti Baker, Karen Lee Andrews and Jay Power in a power play of feminine prowess.
Alana introduced herself with her 2017 debut EP 'Wilderness', which spotlighted her as one of South Australia's many emerging songwriting talents. Her latest single, 'Imagining Life', was released earlier this year and there's every chance we'll get her next single before the year is out.
“The [new] song has been written from a quote, something Homer Simpson says, so that's sort of how the song was born, which is interesting enough,” she laughs. “It's a Motown sounding song; it's got a '60s Motown vibe, it's pretty simple.”
Both her upcoming new single and 'Imagining Life' will also be available on Alana's debut full-length album she is currently working on, with a view to release it next year. Alana says her plan over time is to start shifting away from the folk influences of her roots. “I'm trying to go in more of a rock direction,” she says.
“I don't know if this album is going to reflect that just yet because it does have a mixture of those old songs and some of the newer songs. It's going to be a really eclectic mix of alt. country, folk and more like electric folk-rock.
“It's an ongoing thing; I think the sound will be a bigger, more polished sound than the EP and we're going to transition slowly into more of a rocky sound as well because that's where our live songs are going. I think it will be quite an easy transition across a couple of releases that we're planning, so I'm really looking forward to sharing it with everybody.”
November Nights takes place at Woodville Town Hall (Adelaide) 8-9 November. Alana Jagt also supports Mick Thomas and The Roving Commission at Wheatsheaf Hotel (Adelaide) 29-30 November.
