Kayleigh going solo

She was with the alternative metal band for four years, but following the split in 2011 she has found solace in her keyboard and taken her music in a new direction.

The Allenhill Park girl who is a volunteer with the Samaritans, told the ‘MAIL’: “To be honest I have always been writing by myself. Before Envisage, and while I was in Envisage. I always had my own songs in the background. I’d just put them up on YouTube and leave them at that because I didn’t have the confidence to go out on my own at the time. And they definitely weren’t Envisage’s style. But after the split, I just thought it was time to get them out there and give solo a go.”

She continued: “It’s hard to describe my sound because some of the songs are quite dark and dramatic, whereas the others are mellow and even quite pop-y! To sum it up, I’d say it’s kind of a mix of my favourite artists, Evanescence and Beyonce.”

Her EP ‘Broken Doll’ is now available to download. She said: “It’s been available to download now for few weeks, and it seems to be getting a good reception.

“It’s actually a home recording, I recorded it with a good friend, Gary Kelly. I think he did an awesome job with it.

“I then had it mixed and Mastered by another friend, Beano Kinneas. They really helped me out. Why go to fancy studios when you have friends with high quality music producing skills?

Kayleigh has played The Premier, Fa Joe’s, The INF Club as well as Aunt Annie’s and The Pavilion in Belfast.

She said: “I play songs from the EP along with other original songs and a few covers of course! I cover ‘Irreplaceable’ by Beyonce, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye featuring Kimbra. I have also covered songs by Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran and Adele.

“I don’t usually play any Envisage songs, but I did play ‘This Only Has to Happen Once’ once. It was good craic. It brought back some lovely wee memories.”

She said: “I still get realy nervous going on stage by myself, it’s really hard to get used to. I definitely do miss the banter of a band on stage with me, so who knows, maybe I’ll start a wee side project.”

Kayleigh’s ‘Broken Doll’ EP is available via http://kayleighgallaghermusic.bandcamp.com