Catrina Davies - Author & Songwriter
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What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement so far has been to avoid some of the traps and pitfalls that make it impossible to achieve anything. Capitalist society is set up to force or lure us into a relentless cycle of production and consumption. We become completely preoccupied with day-to-day survival, which is so stressful or unpleasant we spend our free time distracting ourselves from the grinding nature of it.
I think it was Gary Snyder who said that happiness is the harmony between an individual and the life he (or she) leads. A certain amount of harmony between me and the life I lead is my greatest achievement so far, and this harmony will hopefully be the foundation for achieving something worthwhile. Unfortunately, what feels like harmony to me probably looks like failure to mainstream society. Trusting myself to decide what matters and what doesn’t is an ongoing challenge.
What motivates you to do what you do?
My books and songs are all part of an effort to process things I can’t process. So I’m motivated by a desire to not be mentally ill, and by the knowledge that sharing my experiences as honestly as I can will help other people, and therefore give my life meaning.
I’m also motivated by rage on behalf of the natural world, a desire to bear witness to the systematic destruction of all the things I love, and wanting to shout at the people causing this destruction.
In the context of ecological Armageddon and the climate emergency, it seems pathetic and futile to work to uphold the status quo.
What do you owe your mother?
My mother taught me to love, and be loved. I owe her my connection to the ocean, because it was her love of the ocean that brought us to Cornwall, and she was always putting us in it when we were children. She made sure I learned to play musical instruments, and taught me about empathy and compassion.
Which women inspire you and why?
My sisters both inspire me. They’re both much more out in the world than I am, on a day-to-day level, and I admire the energy they have for making things happen. I have a close friend who inspires me because of the effort she makes to live up to her principles. She catches her own fish and keeps her own bees and has a very soft kind of power that I think is truly radical. I have another friend who works in forestry conservation and rewilding. Her practical approach to ‘saving the planet’, which is completely without ego and based on total commitment and hard work is inspiring. My Nainy (grandmother on Dad’s side) inspires me because she survived a very difficult childhood - working in a factory aged 12, then losing her whole family aged 14 when Liverpool was bombed in WW2. She lived into her nineties. Politicians like Angela Rayner and Nicola Sturgeon inspire me because they’re brave enough to be confrontational in public.
What are you reading?
Right now I’m reading Days Without End, by Sebastian Barry, which is a novel about two gay child soldiers fighting in the Indian Wars and the Civil War in America in the 19th century. It’s brutal but also lyrical. I’m also reading On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, by the poet Ocean Vuong, who was a child refugee from Vietnam.
I recently finished Pat Barker’s novel, The Silence of the Girls, which is a retelling of the Iliad from a female perspective – also brutal. I also recently finished Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo, which shared the Booker prize with Margaret Atwood. Two of my all-time-favourite books by women, which I dip into constantly while I’m writing, are Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett, and Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard
What gender barriers have you had to hurdle?
I taught myself to surf in my twenties (it’s an ongoing process) and I still sometimes find the male energy in the water intimidating. There are more girls and women in the surf now, but it’s still the case that I’m often the only female out - probably because I don’t have kids! Some men are lovely to surf with, and I have loads of male surfer friends, but sometimes there’s a really aggressive, pushy vibe, and it’s a battle not to end up feeling bummed out. I refuse to let it stop me surfing though. It’s one of the best things in my life.
When I started DJ-ing in my late twenties, and then founded Sir Vinyl, with Dave Spenceley and Will West, I used to have to battle to be seen by the promoters we were working with. It was like I didn’t exist. Will and Dave were totally supportive and treated me like an equal, and all we cared about was the music, but when we were doing gigs it often felt like an uphill struggle to be anything other than a token girl. I got there in the end.
I’ve travelled a lot on my own, busking around Europe in a van, and also hiking in mountains, and cycling trips that have involved a lot of wild camping. I’ve often had to act tougher than I feel, because men can be predatory when they see a woman travelling on her own. I’ve been followed, and men have acted inappropriately around me. I don’t think men have to deal with this kind of fear, and I’m sure it puts a lot of women off travelling on their own.
How can the world be made a better place for women?
Personally I’d like paid leave for two days a months, when I have my period. I have terrible pain and it’s impossible to function normally. I think there should be absolute quotas in politics, so at least 50% of all governments always have to be women, and men and women have to take turns leading parties.
Also women should not have to wear such ridiculous shoes. You can’t run in heels. It’s like being hobbled. There’s no way men would put up with that. It’s way past time for women to be liberated from having to dress up like male sex fantasies just to get ordinary jobs.
Describe your perfect day?
I wake up at my shed and drink coffee outside in the sun, watching the sparrows. I surf perfect waves all on my own, then have breakfast and more coffee in the Dog and Rabbit café in St Just. I spend the whole of the rest of the day walking or cycling somewhere new and beautiful. When I’m completely physically exhausted, and have therefore finally quieted my mind, I meet my favourite people for a cold beer at the top of Gwenver. We cook freshly-caught mackerel on a fire and fall asleep under the stars.
We've noticed there really aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you see remembered?
This is hard, because women have been almost completely written out of Cornish history. I’d probably go for Dora Russell (wife of Bertrand Russell, the famous philosopher – until he left her for their children’s governess). She was an author, feminist and social campaigner, who championed the use of birth control in the working class, started a progressive school, and campaigned for nuclear disarmament. She died at her home in Porthcurno in 1983, aged 92.
Give us a tip?
I have a brilliant tip for mending wetsuits: sew them up with dental floss. Seams you can just sew, for bigger holes save the weird little patch that always comes with a new wetsuit and sew that on. Trust me, it really works.
Sweeten rhubarb with bananas instead of sugar.
Put a layer of tiling mesh behind your skirting board to keep out rodents.
About Catrina Catrina Davies is an author and songwriter. She was born in Snowdonia and grew up in West Cornwall. She attended St Levan primary school and Cape Cornwall secondary school, before studying English at Cambridge University. She has worked as a TEFL teacher, gardener, waitress, flower-picker, DJ, circus cellist and builder. Her first book, a true story about busking from Norway to Portugal, was published in 2014. Her second book, Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed, a first-hand account of the housing crisis, was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction. Her second album, Belan, is released in January 2020.
LINKS
facebook.com/catrinadavieswriter
Twitter: @_CatrinaDavies
Instagram: catrinadavieswriter
catrina-davies-songs.bandcamp.com
mixcloud.com/catrinadj