Hannah Rodriguez

Hannah Rodríguez acquired her passion for music in the serene hills of the Lake District. Her adolescent years provided a nutritious and varied offering of sonic inspiration; thanks to her Mexican father’s Latin influence, her mother’s love for jazz and her own inquisitive ear. We sat down with Hannah to find out a bit more about her and musical journey

NEO: How long have you been making music?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ: I learned how to play piano and guitar when i was in primary school. I wrote some terrible songs when I was in early secondary school but when I got to 16 I think I started to have a bit more structure and focus. I was writing chords on my guitar and figuring out melodies and then when i got to 18 i actually started producing music.

NEO: How would you describe your music journey?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ:I would definitely have to say complicated. When I first started writing with the guitar I had a set process. Things were still balck and white for me. I would write lyrics, have these chords i put together and a melody but now it's all changed because I am also producing. It has really changed things because now I am tempted to a bit of the beat and then the vocal and then go onto lyrics and production and things get a bit muddled. It is hectic but fun at the same time.

NEO: What is your biggest motivation?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ:it is not anything crazy to be honest. I just want to be able to support myself financially and survive with music and also get my nails done every two weeks and not feel bad about it ha! I also want to just make music i enjoy and that is honest that is a really important thing to me

NEO: What was the reason/ inspiration behind your latest release Land of Ice?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ:it is about different things. I was in a really awful relationship that ended badly. Sometimes I felt it quite hard to feel anything emotionally for anyone. I kind of felt dead. I had gone back to London and i was working night shifts in Iceland (hence the title) and it was just the accumulation of everything and also just because that place is very cold ha!

It kind of represents the state of mind of everything being gloomy and a bit shit and just being fed up of all the male figures in my life and the industry.

NEO: Do you have any special talents apart from music?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ:I actually don't have any ha! I mean i have gotten better at styling myself which i am proud of

NEO: What is the most memorable moment in your career so far?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ: It’s not a major thing but i performed at ‘Ronnie Scotts’ two years ago and that was the first time i had performed with a live band and it has been something i have wanted to do for a while. And just performing in such an iconic venue was incredible. I grew up listening to alot of Jazz so it was amazing to perform there. My mum came down and got all dressed up for my performance and she was really proud of me so it was a very nice moment.

NEO: What is the first thing people notice about you?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ: For some reason everyone thinks i am Asian, but in fact i am a Northerner. My mum is from Lake District (England) and my Dad is from Mexico but for some reason i always get Asian, like Thai or something along those lines.

NEO: When you were younger what did you want to be growing up?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ: i wanted to be a vet for a while. At my parents house there is a little mini farm so we have always had sheep and pigs and we were in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields. I also spent a lot of my childhood pretending to be a Dog or a Horse. It is safe to say I was pretty obsessed with animals. After that i wanted to be a zoo keeper (following the animal theme ha!) and after that i just wanted to do music and it hasn't really changed since my teens.

NEO: What food do you dislike the most and why?

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ: This is so hard because i literally eat everything! I am literally like a human bin haha! I have had this conversation with my mates and we were all stuck on what I actually do not eat.

Actually one thing I don't like is meat that has fat on it or cartilage. I can't deal with that. It makes me feel sick but aside from that anything goes. My parents trained me well!

NEO: Let us know where to find you on your social media

HANNAH RODRIGUEZ:@richteamami