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Backstage with Sinead Fahey of Taylorville · Backstage at The EPC's Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Backstage at the EPC.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm chatting with Sinead Fehey, lead vocalist for Taylorville, an unofficial live tribute band.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Sinead.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: So Taylorville is a Taylor Swift tribute band, and we'll be coming to the Effingham Performing Arts Center October 3rd.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and this will be our second time there, and this time we're bringing dancers, which is going to be a lot of fun.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we can't wait for it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I want I want to talk a little bit about um Taylorville, the name, because we're we're in Effingham, and Taylorville, Illinois is not too far from us.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I read online where was that kind of a Yeah, so we were actually coming back from Peoria, uh, Illinois, um, and it was like our very like our third show and our very first out of St.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Louis show.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we still hadn't really like settled on a precise name because like it was like very new that we were gonna like like originally we were just doing one show and it just went so well that we're like, okay, let's keep doing this.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we're like, okay, we need like a a name with what's staying power, and I don't know, we we were just like driving on the road back to St.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Louis from Peoria, and we drove through Taylorville, and we're like, hey, why not why not Taylorville?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So how did Taylorville get started?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have to kind of audition for it?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Was it presented to you?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um it was something like I was kind of new in town, and I was doing like open jam sessions and open mics and all that stuff, and at um the blues jam at the National Blues Museum, um I ran into Chuck Williams, who's our bass player, and he was running sound that day for the jam, and he just approached me afterwards.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I had not sung, I didn't have bangs, I didn't sing Taylor Swift, I was like singing Valerie by Amy Winehouse, but I don't know, maybe it was the blonde hair or the sound of my voice, I don't know.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: But he was like, Hey, have you ever thought of a Taylor Swift tribute?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, No, like I had never really thought about uh doing a tribute in general, um, but I do love Taylor Swift's music, and I was like, that could be really fun, and again, it was just like originally just one show, you know, like they do one for Amy Winehouse um already, and like they just do that like once a year, and so I was like, this would be like a really fun thing to do.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so he asked me if I wanted to come like audition because they had like all the band members were already there, and they were just trying to find their tailor, and so I think I was like maybe the third singer to come in and just sit in with them on a rehearsal, and they were like, Yeah, you want the part?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that's so cool, that's so neat.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um it when you guys first started, you just had a uh a couple of shows, and how's that kind of progressed?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: You so it's been two two years now since you guys have started the band?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh man, maybe I I think we're like in our it's like two and a half years going into three because our very first show was like the end of 2023.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So 2024 was our first full year.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: We started around like Christmas, New Year's, 2023.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we started at a performing arts center, and now we we've been touring nationally.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um we do like a lot of amphitheaters, we do a lot of bigger venues, uh, we do a lot of theaters and performing arts centers, of course, too.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: But like yeah, it it grew from like just let's just do one thing, maybe it'll be a one-seer thing, and it turned very quickly into oh my gosh, we have to like invest in all this gear and we have to make this big, and this is like people expect the Aeros Tour, and we don't have Aeros Tour money, but we're gonna try our best.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so Yeah.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So Kim Jansen, our um executive director, who kind of like looks into all the shows, she saw you guys and was immediately like, we have to do this.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, it was a couple years ago when it was like the height of the Aeros Tour, and we, you know, Taylor Swift is a little bit hard to get, you know.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but kind of need a stadium.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody loves her, and our community um need, you know, it was a great option for them to kind of still get that experience.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And again, as soon as we saw you guys and you know, your promo video, everything about it just screamed like, this is high production, like people are going to love this.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're so excited to have you back.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that I thought was really neat was all of your costumes.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So is that like one of your favorite parts?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: What's um yes and no.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The changing all the time, I'm sure, is a lot during a show.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: That is okay.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think the so finding the costumes at first was a little um it was fun, but also it could be like really frustrating when I was because I had never like done something where I needed to like res do costume research and try to find replicas of stuff.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: But once I found like a certain couple of uh like costume designers, sellers, people who do like cosplay uh cosplay replicas of stuff, then I was like, okay, so now I know where to find these, and there are a couple that were made uh by someone in St.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Louis, there are a couple that are like coming all the way in from Vietnam, like they're just like all over the place.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, internet.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um but once I got that um aspect of it, that became fun.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: The costume changing is always stressful, but you're moving so fast and you're like just trying to get back on that stage that like you don't even don't even think about it.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but of course, there are like wardrobe mishaps and stuff, and like sometimes like my pack will come off of the costume, or like we don't have time to like zip up a shoe, or like you know, there's always something at every show.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's always you guys have someone off stage or like like towards backstage that helps you with some of this changing and making it as quick as possible.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have one assistant, her name is Hannah, and she does a lot of things for us.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: She wears many hats, but one of them is definitely costume changing.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's so fun.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's your favorite era from Taylor?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, uh folklore.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: What what about it makes it your favorite?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think for me it was the time that it came out, and also I'm just I I naturally am more drawn to like folkier music.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love pop music, but like I just I love um just I love like weepy chill guitar songs, right?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like so I like lean more that way, and when I first heard that song, I mean it was coming after her lover album, so it was this huge shift in in like the soundscapes that she was creating, and it was during 2020, which was a hard year for everyone, and it was like I don't know, it was like a comfort album for me in all of the solitude, and so for me, I think it's always gonna have that special place in my heart.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what makes Taylor Swift so special, is because there is such a wide variety, and I think that's why so many people connect with you know a different album every time.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um is there something that you do to kind of help prepare yourself to step onto stage and kind of like you know get into that persona per se?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um depends on how long the car ride is.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I'll like rewatch the Eras tour, like if we're we've got time to kill in like the car.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes it's a bus, sometimes it's a van, you just never know.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um but sometimes I do that, other times I re-watch one of our shows that we have recorded just to kind of like sometimes I'll forget that I can do this, you know?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I have to like remind myself, like, oh yeah, I did I did that before.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um depends on like where my anxiety levels are that day.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then as I'm getting ready, as I'm like doing my hair, putting the red lips on, getting my first costume on, I'm just kind of listening to a Spotify playlist of all the songs that we're gonna be doing that day.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys switch up your playlist often, or do you kind of try and stick with it for a while?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we um when we first started, we experimented with um rotating rotating out songs, um adding new things in, switching stuff out.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we still have some things that rotate in and out, but this past year has been a lot more kind of like the same the same each time.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: We've like when she had a new song come out, we would add that.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: When Showgirl came out, we added a couple things from that.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um But we've got our staples that we've seen like the crowd reacts to the best, and we just want to keep the show going at like the highest energy possible the whole time.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, so you know, we we have different ones for our Christmas stuff, we'll add in August for summer, like stuff like that.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: We'll still we'll still do, but we try to hit all the hits.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, who else is in your band?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got Tom Butler on guitar, Chuck Williams on bass, Jeff Hall on drums, and then Brian Porter.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: He does um, he's like our keyboard guy, but he's also our like music director, our like everything that you see on the video wall, like he put those videos together.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also is like the guy who's if we if we're allowed to have confetti or streamers, depending on the venue, um, because it's a bear to clean up.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't I don't blame anyone who's like, no, thank you.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's the guy that's operating that, the CO2 can like he's kind of just he's all the things, the production guy, yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So he's got a lot of stuff going on over there.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what can people kind of expect when they come in to see Taylorville um at the EPC this year?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um they can expect to see like an elevation and a more streamlined show because like we were still in our first year when we came out the first time, and we were still dealing with like technical difficulties, and that was honestly like the show that we had the worst experience of technical difficulties, like all of our tracks, everything because we we have live instrumentation, but we also do it along with tracks to like keep up the sound.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: All of those stopped working, and that was the first and last time that ever happened.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: We made sure it was gonna be the last.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that show was something that I feel like we weren't able to give everybody in the audience like the full thing of what we do.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we're excited to come back.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we're all our hardest critics because I will say everyone here only had good things to say about it.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like it it was still amazing.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I also I also get that, you know, in your infancy of it, you've learned a lot and done.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So so whoever came the last time expect it to be even bigger and better.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you're saying?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we've yes, we've added like a whole ground lighting rig, we're gonna bring our dancers with us.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be a bigger, better, more, you know.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah we've been doing this uh quite a while now.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we've we've got it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's an immersive experience for sure.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, we kind of close out um our podcast with a question of what is currently on your playlist that you're listening to?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Taylorville, I mean Taylor Swift related, or just anything?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just anything.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: What's you know, what's something that when you're gonna go put music on, what are you listening to?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've like currently been obsessed with a couple of new albums that have come out, one being Noah Khan's latest album and Olivia Rodrigo's latest album, and then also um Monrobio's album.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've ever heard of him, but he's got a beautiful album called Bloodline.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: So those are my top three right now.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, Taylorville, um, a you know an unofficial live tribute band.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um be at the EPC Saturday, October 3rd.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So we're not that far away from it.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Get your tickets today, um, and you can see Sinead just like killing it on the stage and being amazing.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Haley.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's nice to talk to you.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Before we go, on deck at the EPC is 1964, The Tribute on October 10th, HSHS Women's Health Showcase on October 15th, The Price is Right Live on October 16th, and Hocus Pocus Interactive Movie on October 23rd.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: For a full list of upcoming shows, visit our website at theepc.org.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: As always, you can purchase tickets through our box office Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: to 2 p.m.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: and on show days from 10 a.m.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: to show time.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can also purchase tickets online through ticketmaster.com slash EPC.