Picture this: the soft crackling of a campfire in the middle of a wooded nowhere, wonderful journeys beyond the dark shadows of the forest, roads unknown that intrigue and intimidate, and then you hear it—the distant call of the guitar, a chorus of voices, warm and inviting. Sophie Reid is an actor venturing into the treacherous world of music-making, starting with her upcoming debut album Lone Wolf. As an actor, she has been in films like the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast and Barracuda. She also had roles in shows like The Baby and Game of Thrones. Already an established actor, in music she’s still just exploring, growing, and figuring out her audience. The path to writing and curating her own record is a long one. But one she finds worth it.
One spark that helped catalyse Lone Wolf was her latest venture into the West End with Brokeback Mountain. The estranged love story between two men starred the stylings of actors-to-watch Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist. For Reid, the initial audition process was a whirlwind of will-I-won’t-I. “The way I got into Brokeback Mountain was actually really funny. It came through and I’m like—this is my cup of tea. It was to play a smaller role than I’m used to now. I was to play cover which I wasn’t sure I wanted to do again. I wanted more responsibility, but I also wanted a job”. As she thought more about it, the chance to cover the Balladeer in Brokeback Mountain started to make sense as a segue into her craft.
“I auditioned for Brokeback Mountain on my birthday. I got there and found out I was going to be covering this Balladeer character who would be playing country music throughout the show. Thought about Lone Wolf and how I’d be leading it by playing guitar. I didn’t have much experience doing that and I thought this could be bloody perfect. If I were to get this job, I would be forced to practice guitar daily and improve myself as a musician. Maybe I could do my album after. That was the major driving force to wanting to go audition for Brokeback Mountain. It was this expansion as a musician of my work.”
From the platform where the band stood, Reid watched as the two main actors intimately interacted. She absorbed their energy and played off of that. “Like I said, one of the reasons that I wouldn’t have done the job is because I didn’t have much responsibility in terms of the role. But when you’re the band, you’re the emotional undercurrent of the story. Our job was to watch, observe and look at the relationship between them”. She has high praises for both Hedges and Faist, calling them “keen improvisers” and “very receptive actors” that “feed off of each other”. To her, even if the material was the same every night, the atmosphere was completely different. They as a cast worked a lot on the nervous system of the audience. She, in her own little corner of the stage, saw the magic in that.
Photo credit: Manuel Harlen
Beyond cover, Reid also played Lureen Newsome – wife to Faist’s Jack Twist. Initially a small part, Lureen expanded from a simple phone call. Something about Reid’s reading of the character seemed to change things. On her end, Reid did not predict the challenge and blessing a small role would give her. “She’s referenced throughout the show as being this figure—you were only really introduced to Alma, Ennis’ wife—so Lureen is very much an idea almost. Then, to bring this new character in at such a late stage and give her the duty of imparting such a big plot twist to everyone—it was incredible. You had the challenge of creating a whole world for this person in one monologue – in one phone call. I’m not even on the stage—we don’t even see each other. I don’t ever, ever look at him”.
The impact laid in despite the fact that she played his on-stage wife, Faist and Reid never actually interacted throughout the entirety of the play. But they remain good friends off-stage all the same. Good friends aren’t the only benefits Reid has reaped from her experience at Brokeback Mountain. In her quest as a musician, she continuously asks herself the purpose and worth of what she’s doing. “I lost my way for a long time not knowing. That’s one of the reasons I stopped pursuing the other album I was on—what is the worth? Is this just a flagellation or just emotionally self-gratifying? Brokeback Mountain was healing in reminding me what the practical function of art, music and theatre is. Which is to give people a place to see, feel, hear and read themselves in other human beings.”
Photo credit: Manuel Harlen
She has also found pseudo mentors in Eddi Reader and Dan Gillespie Sells. Reader played Balladeer and Sells wrote the music for Brokeback Mountain. She calls them “two walking wisdom pools” with advices to go hard or go home, regardless of making mistakes. “I don’t mind if I muck up the lyrics, I don’t mind if I play the wrong chord. That is not what I’m communicating. I’m communicating connecting to people—and humans make mistakes. That’s part of the human condition”. As for the rest of the Brokeback Mountain gang, well—BJ Cole and Greg Miller have joined her merry little band of lone wolves to aid in the recording and live performances of the album. They’ll be playing alongside Bill Griffiths, Andrew Stuart-Buttle, Alfie Wheedon, with Franklin Mockett as producer.
“[Mockett] is an incredible musician. He has a good ear for sound design and making music sound good whatever the space is that you’re in. The fact that we’ll be recording this outside for the live album, and also in the studio—he’s the right person. We’re recording in the studio using analog methods. For this project in particular, one thing is to remain as pure, immediate and tangible as possible. You get the richness of when you go to an unplugged gig—it’s very full and vibrant. We want to use film and analog methods to sustain that feeling of authenticity.”
Reid also wants to capitalise on the fact that her band is a female artist leading an all-male band. She’s especially interested in using the male backing vocals as some sort of warm undercurrent to her. For future projects, she wants to incorporate more femme or femme-identifying creative artists for her band. However, for now—she’s happy with the current roster. “I know all the musicians; our relationships have grown over the years, I trust everyone based on experience, and we have a rapport. That’s honestly most of the work done. Because each of us as individuals have our own focus – focus on our craft and growing our skills – but we all want to come together in some sense”.
Thematically, Reid wants to focus on the aspect of lone wolves coming together. Because, for her, lone wolves are important in packs as they freshen up the genetic pool. She likes the idea that her songs can do that. That they can ruffle feathers and make people see things from a different angle. She wants people to reach within parts of themselves that they don’t necessarily feel are welcome all the time. It’s that feeling of finding the wayward thing in a person. Of not being alone in feeling alone. She translates this into music that has a feeling of space, ellipses and mystery. It’s expansive, haunting and magnetic. “For the listener, it should feel very present. Like you are at that campfire even if you’re on a bus in Central London”.
She complements this sound with colourful characters inspired by roles she played in the past, and based on her personal experiences. A lot of the songs are quite satirical and a bit tongue-in-cheek. She looks at aspects of human behavior that she finds funny and hypocritical. But at the core of it, Reid just wants to create music that speaks to that lone wolf part of a person. “You can be held but not bound. When you need to seek refuge in the wayward part of yourself, you can go here. Maybe even make a choice—the less safe choice. Not dangerous—just stray off the path. You know the way when you decide to do that and magical things happen? That’s where this album lives. Your art can be lone wolf, without your heart having to be”.
Words by Mae Trumata
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