FEATURE:
Modern-Day Queens
Appleton
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I can honestly…
not include them in my Spotlight feature, as Appleton have been together for a while. Sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton are half of All Saints. I am not sure whether the group are still active or have plans for future albums and touring. I do wonder if there will be another album from the amazing quartet. The duo of Appleton has been putting out music for a long time. They put out their latest single, Falling Into You, this January. However, Appleton released their debut album, Everything’s Eventual, in 2003. Twenty years after that debut and it was reissued onto vinyl for the first time. Now it seems like there are plans ahead. I know there will be plans for more music, which is why I wanted to highlight these incredible artists. Rather than put in all thew social links, go and check their music out here. I will not mention All Saints too much. However, my first exposure to Nicole and Natalie Appelton was through All Saints. I bought their eponymous album in 1997. Alongside Shaznay Lewis and Melanie Blatt, there was this incredible blend and connection. The Appleton sisters key to the brilliance and success of All Saints. I was really glad when they announced they were working as a duo. I am going to include stuff from their debut album, in addition to their latest song. There are a couple of interviews to cover off before rounding things off. The first interview to cover if from Rolling Stone UK. Nicole and Natalie Appleton discussed a supposed rivalry they had with other girl bands whilst in All Saints, especially the Spice Girls. They also revealed their future plans and what it is like being together and recording music after some time away:
“I remember one day Gene said to me, ‘Mum, why don’t you just go back into the studio with Auntie Nat?’” Natalie’s children chimed in too and soon after, the sisters found themselves back in the studio with songwriter Gareth Young, who worked on the duo’s original debut. “[Our kids] are our harshest critics and if they didn’t think it was a good idea, they would have said, ‘nah!’” Natalie laughs. “They’re massive fans and I think they thought we should’ve maybe thought more of ourselves and they just gave us that little nudge to give it a go.”
The duo’s return comes at a time when the 90s couldn’t be more in vogue following high-profile reunions from the likes of Oasis, Radiohead and Pulp. Nicole, Natalie, Gene and the rest of the Appleton family were all at the Oasis gigs last summer and say they had the time of their lives. “It’s been a long time coming for them to come back and we went with our mum, kids, sisters and it was just brilliant,” Nicole smiles, saying it made her “proud” to be “a part of the 90s.” Natalie agrees. “We got to see [Oasis] first time round of course and now our children got to see it, and it was so great. It was a brilliant show and just seeing the joy of the fans too – that was a show in itself…but like the 90s, I cherish all of it, personally – Appleton, All Saints – I’m just so proud that we did all of it. Every moment, the ups and downs, it’s part of our life and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.
“I think the press put that on us,” Natalie says of the so-called ‘rivalry’ between the bands. “It never really came from us. We just had to kind of deal with it. If you look at us now, it’s like there couldn’t be any more love if you tried. But back then, what you didn’t see is that we were all hanging out with each other – we were going out together all the time,” she smiles. “But it wasn’t interesting to know that we were friends, so [the media] wouldn’t write about us having fun together. We’ve known Emma Bunton since she was 11,” she explains of having met Baby Spice at the Sylvia Young theatre school in the early 90s. “We’ve got history with them and still do.
The sisters went away to Cornwall to record and found solace away from the mania of being in one of the most popular girl bands of all time – and rediscovered their love of music in the process. “We had so much fun,” Natalie says. “My son was a baby, and he was with us while we were creating in the studio. We just had a laugh, and it was so natural.” Nicole loved how there were “no rules” and it being a “really nice, lovely atmosphere,” – a far cry from the 4am finishes when in the studio with All Saints.
Recently, they’ve been “re-listening and re-connecting” to the songs they created in 2003. “It was an emotional one listening to all the songs back because we remember the journey at the time and we were so proud of them,” Natalie says. For Nicole, it “brought back loads of memories” and when they finally headed into the studio to record their new single, “it was just like we carried on where we left off. It was like going back in time,” Nicole adds. “It was like no time had passed at all.”
While no official album has been announced yet, they confirm they’re currently “in the studio” making new music. They say this happened after seeing the response to the new single from fans and critics alike (it was named BBC2’s Song of the Week recently too) after initially having “no plan” and “no expectations” beyond releasing a new single. Natalie explains: “We just had such an incredible reaction to the single and after that we were like, ‘we’re going to have to do more.’ I mean, there’s a few we’ve been working on,” she smiles.
Now, they say they’re finally able to enjoy the success they have more than first time round. “It’s a little bit easier. You enjoy it more; you can take more in,” Nicole says. “You get to have a bit more of a relationship with your fans. We have social media now too, you can have a bit more one on one with fans which is a very different world than it was back [in the 90s]”.
Actually, there are two more interviews that I want to cover off. I want to come to Grazia. Appleton discussed the chaotic rollercoaster of the 1990s. With new music coming out, naturally, there are talks of live dates. There is a big date coming in May. You wonder whether they will announce a second studio album very soon. It will be exciting to see what the rest of the year holds for Appleton:
“Naturally, new music means the Appletons have plans to get back on stage too. They are set to perform at the iconic Mighty Hoopla in south London on 30 May (which Lily Allen will also play). ‘We were like if we can do anything this year, we’d love to do Mighty Hoopla because we did their first ever London show back in the day [in 2016] and it was such a buzz,’ beams Natalie. ‘I just can’t wait to get up on stage and have the time of my life and have some fun with it.’ Before then, they'll take on the BBC Live Lounge with a 25-piece orchestra. ‘That’s a very different show,’ jokes Nicole. ‘I like to pinch myself thinking, “oh my god”, that’s such a privilege.’ As for further plans, the sisters remain tight-lipped. ‘We will definitely announce things when we’re doing them. There’s a lot of stuff planned.’
With one studio album under their hats as a duo (so far), Natalie and Nicole are arguably best known for their time in All Saints. Their set, then, will be a crowd-pleasing fusion of the two. ‘It will be a bit of everything,’ explains Natalie. ‘I think from the reaction we’re getting it’s, “please do Appleton stuff”, so I’m excited about that because we haven’t done that in ages. We’ll do lots of bits and mix it up and make it fun for everyone. It’s nice to give the fans what they want.’ Could this mean a full All Saints reunion (last seen on stage together in 2018) is on the cards? ‘I think because it’s an Appleton journey, were going to keep it like that,’ answers Nicole.
The sisters are well aware that the industry they're re-entering is a different beast. ‘I think the industry as a whole is much more difficult,’ admits Nicole. ‘Financially, you know, I think people are having a really hard time just touring and making ends meet because it’s so expensive.’ Then there’s the shift in the way people find and consume music, the fixation on streaming figures and the threat of AI artists to contend with. ‘This is a whole new world,’ she laughs. ‘It’s the blind leading the blind.’
Nicole, for her part, would like to see a revival of ‘90s music culture, at least in the way it brought people together. ‘[Young people] being on their phones too much, I don’t like in any way. Even my son who’s 24 I don’t like him being on his phone. See the world and enjoy it; everything in moderation.'
She credits the ‘90s club scene for bringing fans, and bands, together. ‘The 90s was just amazing, it was a great time for all music genres. It made it sort of a community, whereas now you don’t see that. You don’t see bands hanging out. You see people performing together on stage, but this was like a proper hang out and having fun.’
Even so, the sisters remain optimistic. The biggest change they have both noticed is that artists these days have their own voice. ‘Everyone’s voice can get around the world just by putting something out on your phone,' notes Natalie. 'It just makes the world a smaller place.’ In fact, it's how they realised there was still so much support for their music. ‘That’s the thing with social media, we didn’t realise,’ she continues, ‘but it’s been so humbling and it’s what ignited us to do what we’re doing now’”.
I am going to end with The Guardian and an interview from last month. It does seem like we are going to get more announcement and news from Appleton regarding music and live dates. I think they are an incredible duo and are releasing music away from All Saints. There is less pressure and they are making music on their own terms. Even though the group are still close, you feel Appleton is going to take priority. This interview from The Guardian is interesting, as Appleton discussed “growing up in west London, finding fame in the 90s and relaunching their music as a duo”. They talked about the time in the band and growing up. There is a photo, from 1982, of the two of them on their bikes on a London street. They recreated it for the interview:
“Nicole
If I had to revisit one moment from my life, it would be this – riding my bike around London with my sister during what felt like an endless summer holiday. Not only because it was great fun, but because I could never ride my bike as much as I did when I was six. I’d be exhausted and would get bum ache from being on the seat for too long.
Mel [Blatt] and I were instantly best friends when we met at the age of 11 at Sylvia Young. After we graduated, we went our separate ways until I bumped into her at a cafe where I worked when I was 19. She told me she was in a band with Shaznay and asked if I wanted to join. I said yes, because I loved to sing. Once Mel and I reconnected, it was like no time had passed. Just like Sylvia Young, Nat quickly joined us, too, and that was it.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pål Hansen
Nat was and is my home away from home and a total comfort during the craziness of All Saints. Working with my sister put no pressure on our relationship at all – we were always together as kids, and we didn’t know anything different. When we started to have families we would spend every holiday together, too. Just after Gene [Gallagher, son of Liam] was born, we had one Christmas with Nat and Liam [Howlett of the Prodigy, Nat’s husband] where the turkey took for ever to cook, and everyone was so pissed we ended up getting KFC.
Natalie
This is my happy place. I was nine, wearing a top from the market and posing with my bike outside our estate in west London. Nic and I loved those bikes – we treated them as if they were cars – getting our hands covered in grease and pretending we were mechanics. This little area of concrete is where all the other estates joined up, and it was the space where we would go roller-skating or wash people’s cars. We charged 10p a vehicle. A lucrative way to make money in the 80s.
My dad is from Bow, and my mum is from Birmingham. They emigrated to Canada but Dad wanted to be back in England, so we moved to London when I was around five. The American accents come from the two years we lived in New York when I was 11. We wanted to fit in, so it just stuck.
We had the greatest childhood in London. It was a real community full of loads of kids and street parties. Whatever was going on, Nic was always with me – my bookend, my best friend, my cute little sister with big brown eyes. Our temperaments were the same – playful and easygoing – although I’ve always been a bit more serious. Nic and I didn’t squabble, but I sometimes did with my older sisters.
Nic and I still talk on the phone every day and while I’ll always say “Love you” – I should really tell her that I love her properly more often. Because the older I get, the more I admire who she has become. She is a great mum, a great auntie and, whatever we are going through, she’s always got my back. I couldn’t live without her.
I am going to leave things there. After releasing Falling Into You in January, there will be excitement around the possibility of a second single this year. And maybe an album or something bigger. Not dropping a step since their 2003 debut and that twentieth anniversary reissue and new wave of excitement, it is also amazing that there was this twenty-year period between their debut album and new singles. Completely harmonious and sensational together. A lot of people are really happy and thrilled that they are releasing music and look set to do it more regularly going forward. It will be really great to see…
WHAT they do next.