Name: Victoria Ann "Tor" Maries aka Billy Nomates
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: British
Current release: Billy Nomates's new album Metalhorse is out via INVADA.
Current event: Starting September, Billy Nomates will embark on an extended British and European tour. For more information and tickets, go here.
Recommendation for Bristol, UK: The Victorian cemetery Arnos Vale. It's overgrown, very green and endlessly fascinating.
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about:
I like swimming a lot more now. It's a mindful practice that is away from devices.
Watching the genocide in Gaza has changed us all. Boycotting can really work and help if millions of us do it.
I'd like to see the total collapse of Spotify instigated by big artists.

If you enjoyed this Billy Nomates interview and would like to stay up to date with her music and live dates, visit her on Instagram, and bandcamp.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

Yes – I started writing words and lyrics on bits of paper around the house around 7 or 8.

I couldn’t really make sense of what I was writing or why, but listening to music in headphones would always instigate some expression

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

That it's very pointless to lie, even in fictitious stories.

Writing some form of the truth in lyrical or poetic form has a charming, romantic, human element to it that therapy or speaking to a professional lacks. It makes life seem more interesting.

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

I grew up on my dad’s music taste, so lots of Tom Petty, The Stranglers, George Harrison.

I'd say their lyrical styles where all simple but effective – nothing too flowery, quite to the point. I like that.

Have there been song lyrics which actually made you change (aspects of) your life? If so, what do you think, leant them that power?

I'm sure there has been, but I tend to grab a hold of lyrics day by day.

Sometimes something will resonate one year more for a reason.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

Yes I'd completely agree. It's a language, a higher and lower form of communication.

I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well. Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which may be out of reach for poetry?

Well I think music allows for words to sit differently than they do just on paper. You can write something unspeakably sad that is musically upbeat and changes the energy of its feeling.

It gives the human experience more depth, I believe.

The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do you see it? In how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

Without music I wouldn’t really write as much. It opens a door that I'd otherwise not open.

I think I see it as an act of the subconscious, encouraged by chords and sounds

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

Death and sex/love.

On the basis of a piece off your most recent release, tell me about how the lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.

The lyrics for a song called “The Test” grew from the idea of a successful female wall of death rider unable to hold a relationship down.

The album is sonically placed at the fair and that song has a circular motion to it, so certain words would be repeated to mirror this.

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

For me it's often the chorus that comes first and I work backwards.

Hooks come through before verses, unless the verse is the hook haha.

I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I always thought yes, but no. I have changed my mind.

Some songs should derail and just exist outside of the narrative - that becomes part of the narrative.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I think tonality is important, softness, harshness. Difficult true things are good to be said clearly, sincerely.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Always new insights and new understandings from listeners. It's really a nice feeling to be told what something you’ve created means to somebody, whatever it is.

I don't mind at all if It's at odds with what I felt. Unless It's very negative or harmful, of course.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Just honesty. Writing what you dare not speak, without too much in between.

A cup of coffee can be honest when It's made well.