Nadine Shah on working with John Cale: “I was so excited but also terrified”
What would we do without Nadine Shah? Not only is she one of the most excellent contemporary musicians, but her impact transcends mere musical excellence. More recently, Shah has been vocal about civil unrest sweeping the UK, reminding each and everybody that if there’s one thing the artist won’t stand for, it’s unwarranted prejudice in the music community.
When Shah opened for Depeche Mode earlier this year, the most common takeaway in everybody’s mind was: “Why isn’t this person performing on her own stage? She’s much too good to be a support act.” Not only is this sentiment incredibly justified, but it also shows that Shah has become one of the most underappreciated acts in the industry for more reasons than one.
Since her debut in 2013, Shah has focused on the most important matters in her personal life and the narratives that touch her the most. Love Your Dum and Mad, for instance, inspired Shah’s passion for destigmatising discourse around mental health, while her most recent release, Filthy Underneath, continued her explorations of loss and her experiences with mental health and going to rehab.
Within her own style, Shah has admitted to appreciating repetitiveness in the past, not just in terms of sound but those she finds inspiring. This is something that drew her to relate to Nico, not just the fact that her vocal style and delivery seemed to be something she resonated with in terms of her own sonic tapestry.
Shah’s love of The Velvet Underground and Nico led her to work with John Cale, who reached out to her when he was putting together his commemorative concert to celebrate the anniversary of the album. Shah performed a rendition of ‘Femme Fatale’ at the gig, but her first impression of Cale during rehearsals was…intriguing.
“When I got to rehearsals, I was so excited but also terrified of John Cale,” the musician recalled in The Line of Best Fit. “I always say ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’ when I’m nervous, it’s just embarrassing. I said ‘Sir, it’s an honour to meet you’ and he just looked at me and said ‘My hands are full.’ They were full to be fair, but it was so blunt I was knocked down. So I was ‘all right then, no jokes for you mate.’”
She added: “We started doing the song, he was hardly looking at me and kept giving me notes, like ‘No, don’t come in then, come in now’. I was like, ‘Fucking hell, John Cale is no-nonsense, a strict mistress, he’s miserable and mean’. So I said ‘Wait a minute, let me get my phone and record it so I don’t fuck it up this time.’”
After a while, however, Shah grew accustomed to Cale’s ways, even finding different approaches to amuse him. “I did a Tina Turner walk on the way back to the microphone and he burst out laughing,” she shared. “It was ‘Ha! I’ve got him. I know this guy’s sense of humour now, he likes a funny walk, he likes slapstick.’ So during rehearsals, every time I’d see John I’d do some daft walk and he’d keep laughing.”
Despite his distinctive way of working, Cale clearly saw something in Shah, and the opportunity gave her an unforgettable experience and one she will always look back on fondly. Shah might be one of the most defining voices in music, but her ability to embrace the past while working hard to create a better present and future will be a quality that sets her apart from many others for years to come.
