In a Nutshell: Hannah Castleman
As part of our commitment to local creatives we are using this time of uncertainty to get to know the Winchester scene a little better! Our ‘In a Nutshell’ interviews are aimed at local creatives, practitioners, freelancers and independent businesses residing in Winchester. We want to use our platform to meet new people and showcase the incredible talent residing in this city.
Hannah Castleman is an award-winning jazz and soul singer based in Winchester, best known as one-third of internationally touring vocal harmony trio The Spitfire Sisters, who she has been singing with since the band started in 2011. The Spitfire Sisters are Creative Ambassadors for Winchester. Hannah is also a vocalist for Down For The Count, and performs with their Soul Band and Swing Orchestra. Hannah has appeared at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Pizza Express Jazz Clubs in London and Birmingham, Hideaway Jazz Club and Le Caveau De La Huchette in Paris, and has performed for clients including Belmond, Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Chelsea Football Club and Lanson Champagne. Hannah is one of the Directors of Winchester Jazz Festival which runs every September throughout Winchester city centre.
Henry Morris: Could you please tell us about your background and creative education?
Hannah Castleman: I'm a musician, but I didn’t train specifically as a musician. My creative background came from being involved in Encore Youth Theatre, really. I was involved in another youth theatre before I joined Encore for about ten years and then I joined [Encore] and fell in love with it. What I loved the most about it was the community feeling and the family feeling. I loved that so much. [...]
I met some really crucial and integral people to my life through that and then I went to University where I did an English degree before a Masters in Comparative Literature. I then worked in the coffee industry for four years and did a bit of singing at the same time. […] Suddenly, I'd graduated, I'd got my Masters and thought "What am I going to do?". I had met Louisa [Revolta] and Anna [Harding] through Encore and Louisa asked me to join a group that she was starting called The Spitfire Sisters...although we didn't know we were called that at the time. [...] If Louisa hadn't asked me to be a part of that I don't think I would be singing full-time. [...]
I guess it comes from the basis that Encore built, really, because the first proper leading-lady role that I had was with Encore as Polly in Crazy For You and that was all Gershwin and all Jazz, all of my favourite songs and I kind of didn't realise it until a few years ago that these are all still songs that I sing in various bands and it was […] that musical that started my love affair with that kind of music.
HM: Could you talk more about your love affair with jazz? What is it about jazz that grabs you?
HC: It's just so emotive...and it just captures a mood so perfectly, it really tells a story. Well, all music tells a story but there is something about jazz music that...I can only think of clichés but it really does take you on a journey. My first real taste of singing jazz was in Crazy For You and that was a musical theatre perspective, those songs that I sang in that show that I still sing now hold so much meaning because of the characters and the feelings and the time that I associate with them. With all music it all represents something but I really feel, for me, jazz represents a lot of emotion and story telling with or without lyrics. I think you can find a story in every song.
HM: That's lovely...that's awesome! I can sense in your voice that you're really trying to express the guts of what it is that you feel about jazz that you love but it’s hard to do that.
HC: There is something so special about that arts, because... I think this is why I did English for my degree because I have the same feeling about reading which is when you read something or you hear somebody sing something...or you watch a play and somebody is expressing something and you can identify with it you think; “how have they captured exactly what I have felt about something?”. I just think there is no other feeling like it. If you listen to an album and you can associate it with something you've directly been thinking about and you think "Ah! I'm not alone!". That’s how it makes me feel. Thats how jazz music makes me feel. It makes me feel that I'm not alone because somebody has summed up what I'm thinking or how I'm feeling whether it's in a lyric or in a sentence in a book or even just a phrase of a solo, anything. I think that's what is so spectacular about the arts and the creative industry.
HM: Ok, something a little different now; how do you feel the creative community in Winchester can be best described?
HC: I feel the creative community that we do have is integral to Winchester. We are lucky to have the outlets that we do, like The Nutshell. I think sometimes people may not realise what they have right on their doorstep! […] people are working to programme really amazing things, there are so many festivals in Winchester and music venues like The Railway Inn which is an amazing music venue and the Theatre Royal have been very supportive of the Winchester Jazz Festival which I am a Director of. The supportive nature of the creative community in Winchester really fuels the city.
HM: Do you feel there is anything that can be done to further develop Winchester’s artistic community?
HC: Without being an expert, I would say more support and more supporting each other. Just getting the word out, spreading the word telling people on behalf of other people, and I guess, acknowledging that there is enough to go round. It doesn't need to be a competition.
HM: I guess, almost, in an ideal world if everyone "bigged" everyone up equal amounts everyone should be able to experience having bums on seats for what they're putting on?
HC: It's one of the things that's really important about being freelance, liking things on Instagram and engaging on social media. If somebody you know releases an album then share it. Not everyone is in the position to buy things and tickets, but...If you can't buy the ticket or the album then still share it or send it someone you think might like it. Spread the word. I think that can come from everybody. [...] Money is so integral to what we do and there isn't enough in the arts. Everybody should be seen paying everybody fairly and supporting people in that way [… but we can also] take the time to engage with posts, to share things and it helps give people that boost and picks up interest. It also makes somebody feel like they haven't been creating in vain. It's really important to create for yourself but also we do what we do because we like an audience and we like people to hear what we've been doing […] There’s loads of different kinds of support and as an individual you have to decide what the kind of support it is that you can offer someone. It doesn't always have to be money.
HM: Brilliant. Lastly, and this is slightly more personal but do you see yourself continuing to create in Winchester?
HC: Such great questions! Yes, I intend to be in Winchester for the foreseeable future. So, as a kid my Dad’s job meant that we lived in Singapore and New Jersey and kind of moved around quite a lot. Then we came back to this area...
HM: Were you born in Singapore?
HC: No, I was born in Southampton and then moved to America. My brother was born in America. In terms of travel it was quite a disjointed growing up experience. […] I went to university at Sussex so I lived in Brighton and while I was there my parents moved to Winchester. Before I moved here in 2016 I'd never lived in Winchester, I'd done Encore youth theatre but I wasn't living in Winchester at the time, so, I'm relatively new here! [...] I'd never experienced anywhere that felt quite so much like home as it does here, I think. Encore really made Winchester feel like home to me. It's because of the people, that's what makes it feel like home, I think there is such a lovely community of people here, you know...it just feels right.
HM: Do you feel your music and creativity has a special link to this place? In terms of you creating it in Winchester?
HC: Through knowing the people that I know creatively and in friendships...that means it's special. So many of my friends are people that I work with which is...I feel like is something that doesn't normally work out, but it works really well! […] I moved here just after the first Winchester Jazz Festival. It will actually be the festival’s fifth year this year! I'd got to the end of the festival with Anna and Louisa and in the process of that week of just "we've never done this before and now we are running a festival" I thought if I want to be a part of the creative community in Winchester by running this festival, you know, programming music and bringing music into the city then I really should be here and I want to be here while that is happening. That was the clincher!
HM: I've got loads here! That was a really lovely conversation Hannah, thank you.
HC: Pleasure!
Selected extracts from the full interview with Hannah Castleman which lasted 1:02:06.