Roxanne De Bastion - The Cumberland Arms

By her own admission, Roxanne de Bastion was a "weird kid". Smiling at the memory today, she recalls, "Being really frustrated with myself around the age of seven or eight and saying to my musician dad 'but when am I going to write a song?' and he would just say, 'You'll write a song when you've got something to say.' Take your time, it's fine." These words of reassurance are set to be proven prophetic with the release of Roxanne's second album, "You And Me, We Are The Same", a record that sees the now London-based singer-songwriter finding her authentic voice, while channelling the pain of her father's death last year.

For Roxanne, it's been an arduous journey to this point, and one that's required her to keep courage in her convictions in order to succeed. Brought up between Berlin and the West Midlands, she grew up obsessed with The Beatles and Alanis Morissette, and was soon determined to become a musician like her father. To those ends, she left Berlin for London straight from high school and - with no financial support and no contacts in the city - got by balancing hospitality and admin work with the 90-odd solo gigs she played per year across the UK and Europe. To date, Roxanne has played over 600 gigs, including two USA tours in 2017 and 2018.