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Currently navigating the motorway networks of this sceptred isle on her first headline UK tour, French rising star Lucie Sue took time out of a punishing schedule to answer some questions fired at her about her new album ‘Battlestation’, UK accents, and just who is the coolest vampire in celluloid history (spoiler alert: it’s not Tom Cruise).
How was your time at Winter’s End Weekender last weekend?
This festival was really cool. Not too big and not too small. The perfect balance! The audience was great, made of metalheads, kind and supportive. A lot of them discovered us that day, and told us they felt in love with our music. So what else could we ask for! It was the best way for us to start this UK tour. We gained a lot of self-confidence.
Your debut UK headline tour has a punishing schedule, I believe that it is 13 shows in 15 days. How do you prepare, both mentally and as a vocalist, for that sort of schedule? Especially when you will play 8 shows in a row from Edinburgh all the way down to Brighton, and then back up to Manchester!
Yes it’s a terrifying but super challenging experience!
First thing: a friend of us, Chuck, proposed to help us on the tour, by driving the van, taking care of the merch, and helping with uploading and downloading the van every day. So helpful!
Then, we try to sleep as much as we can. I also try to shut up! (Which is impossible) in order to save my voice. I also make some voice exercises to warm it up before going on stage. No alcohol. A lot of water instead.
But, to be honest, the hardest thing to handle on this tour is the budget. Everything is so expensive. In France, the venues are welcoming artists for free, they pay them and host them in hotels for free, and pay for the food as well. In the UK, it doesn’t work like that at all. I have to pay for everything: the venues, the hotels, the food, plus the van, the fuel, etc! So it’s a HUGE budget for me. But I feel like I had to invest, and that it’s gonna be a great and important experience for my career. And I want to thank my manager here, because he was the one who booked the whole tour. It was a huge work.
Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, London, Cardiff, Sheffield…you certainly are getting a baptism by fire with regards to regional accents! Have you been studying up on them?
Wow, you nailed it! Every city has a different accent, and it’s always fun and tough to adapt. Yesterday we played in Edinbrrrrraaaa and had visitors coming, especially from Glasgow: it was SO hard to understand a word they were saying. I will let you know which city is the accent winner at the end of the tour!
Who do you have in the band alongside you?
On stage, we are four: 2 women and 2 men: Laura, Mitch, Enzo, and me. And backstage we have Chuck and Elian, who is our sound engineer. We are lucky because we always have fun together, and I think you can feel that on stage!
What was the gestation period of your new album, ‘Battlestation,’ like? How easily did it all come together?
This album was made over a long period. There are no rules in my way of writing an album. It’s a bit chaotic: it comes with the flow. My songs can be written in one night or in one month. It depends on so many things: my mood, the amount of work I have (I’m a freelance graphic designer), my kids, etc. I’m not like these bands who rent a house for 2 weeks in the countryside to write songs. No. I have to deal with the real-life context.
‘BELA’ is one of the many standout tracks on ‘Battlestation’. It’s quite unconventional in that there doesn’t seem to be any choruses or verses, just a full-on cinematic journey. Was this always the intention, or just the way that it turned out?
I write the music that comes to my mind. I don’t necessarily think about verses or choruses. But more about musicality, the journey from the first to the last note. I wrote other songs with strange structures, like Shine on Avalon (on my first album). I think it comes from my classical music background.
It’s an ode to vampire movies. Who is your ultimate vampire? It’s got to be Christopher Lee rather than Tom Cruise, surely?!
Haha! I would definitely fall for Gary Oldman!
‘Sinners’ has like a thousand Oscar nominations. Why do you think vampire movies are still so popular? What is the appeal?
I didn’t watch Sinners, so I can’t talk about it. But regarding the other vampire movies, it gathers all the things people want to see: fear and love. Both strong feelings. These movies are super sensual! On top of that, it takes you out of your daily routine, with beautiful castles, landscapes, aesthetics, etc.
Tell us a little bit about your musical background. How long have you been performing for?
I’m from a family of musicians, I started cello at 4, went to the conservatory until my 20’s. Then I had bands but focused more on my graphic design career, got married, had kids, divorced. And decided to go back to my true love: music. So, the Lucie Sue project is young. Only 3 years old. But what a journey here! We achieved so many great things within these past 3 years! Unbelievable. A lot of hard work as well.
In what ways do you feel that you have grown as an artist since your debut album ‘To Sing In French’?
When I wrote the first album, I was in a sad mood; I just got divorced and started a new life from scratch. And when I wrote the second album, I felt sooooo much better, so you can really feel it when you listen to both albums.
Also, I’ve learned how to simplify my music. I write a more straight to the point kind of music. I want the audience to dance, to feel the energy, and give it back to us while we are playing. On the backstage side, I have learned everything. When I started writing songs, I didn’t know anything about the music industry. Nothing! I didn’t know what was a label, a mix, a master, a manager, a booker, a PR agency, a pedal effect, or how to plug an amp etc. I was just a musician with ideas in my head. But I learned super quickly. Because I had no other choices. I think it helped me because I was not scared to talk to people, as I didn’t know who they were, what they represented, etc. I just dared to go for it.
Who has been the biggest influence on your musical career?
Everybody’s giving their point of view about my music style, but nobody says the same thing. Some say punk, others pop, others grunge, metal, hard rock…truth is: I’m a super eclectic kind of person, and you can feel it in my music. My DNA is made up of so many different artists who influenced me. Can be George Michael, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Faith No More, PJ Harvey, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Europe, Justin Timberlake, but also classical music or shitty French pop artists you don’t know!
Lastly, were you able to stop and enjoy performing at Hellfest in 2025, or did it pass by in the blink of an eye?
I already knew how it feels to play there because I was invited 3 years ago by Steel Panther to play with them on the mainstage 2. But regarding our performance, it was so strange. 6 months of preparation for 30 minutes on stage. I don’t have a lot of memory about it, because I was super focused. The only memories I have from it comes form the videos I collected. As soon as I have put a foot out of the stage, I was already focusing on the next steps: how to improve, who to contact to go forward. Right now, I’m focusing on spreading my music outside of France. So, Glastonbury, Wacken, Download, Sziget, Grasspop, Werchter, Copenhell, etc, if you read this: we are ready to kick ass with you!
LUCIE SUE – 2026 UK DATES:
Tue 3rd Feb – Newcastle, The Grove UK
Wed 4th Feb – London, The Blackheart UK *
Thu 5th Feb – Oxford, Jericho Tavern UK *
Fri 6th Feb – Ramsgate, Music Hall UK *
Sat 7th Feb – Brighton, Waterbear UK *
Sun 8th Feb – Bridgwater, The Cobblestones UK
Mon 9th Feb – Manchester, Night & Day UK
Wed 11th Feb – Cambridge, The Six Six UK
Thu 12th Feb – Cardiff, Fuel Rock Club UK
Fri 13th Feb – Sheffield, Hallamshire Hotel UK
*co-headline show with Quiver
More information, HERE.
