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ORFILA are a UK country music trio made up of siblings, Abi, Louise, and Matt Orfila. The brother and sisters combo works beautifully and they are currently one of the hottest country acts to come out of Britain.

This week will see them take to the prestigious C2C (Country to Country) Festival stage in London, as they build on their impressive 2016.

Here we chat to the group about their C2C performance, music inspirations, the UK’s country music scene, and so much more.

How excited are you about hitting the C2C stage again this year?

We are beyond excited to return to C2C! Last year was our first time playing there and we had such an awesome time! It was great to be surrounded by like-minded country music fans and this year is gearing up to be even better as we’re playing two stages.  

What can fans expect from your live set?

We write the vast majority of the stuff we play so our set will mostly be originals taken from our latest album ‘Never Slowin’ Down‘ with perhaps a country cover or two thrown in! We focus a lot on three part harmonies so there’ll be plenty of those and, as we’re siblings, we do like to have a bit of fun and banter as well!

Which artist/band are you most looking forward to seeing perform at C2C?

Matt: Brad Paisley all the way. He’s a real hero of mine. He’s a fantastic vocalist but also an awesome guitarist and songwriter; he’s top of the tree for me. I saw him at the Grand Ole Opry in October and he was amazing! His set was only about half an hour so it was short and sweet but I can’t wait to see him play a full set! I’m also really looking forward to seeing Darius Rucker who has also become one of my favourite country musicians. 

Lou: Oooh goodness me, there are so many people I can’t wait to see play at C2C. Particularly looking forward to seeing Brad Paisley, Reba, Jana Kramer, Ward Thomas, The Wandering Hearts and Chris Young… and many others!!! It’s going to be such an awesome weekend full of so much country-goodness!!! 

Abi: I’m really looking forward to seeing Hunter Hayes because I haven’t seen him yet!

Being siblings have you always sang together? 

Pretty much! Lou was a solo artist from around the ages of 13-19 before ORFILA came together officially…but even then, we used to sing and write and harmonise all the time at home growing up. We have some hilarious memories (we were really young when we started writing songs on our old keyboard, creating our own lyrics to the tune of ‘Little Brown Jug’ amongst many other classics!).Then, from that point on, as we started to learn how to play instruments we started to write and play and jam together all the time. Music has played a huge part in making us all who we are today.

What’s the best thing about performing together? 

The best thing is our connection. We know each other so well and because we’re family we’ll always support each other on stage. 
Who or what influenced you all to pursue music as a career? 

Matt: For me, I’ve always been a big fan of Bob Dylan. I think he’s one of the greatest songwriters of all time; his songs are like poetry. I guess he’s always inspired me because he wrote songs that actually mean something and have some kind of message. That’s always fascinated me. Folk bands like Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale and Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit also influenced me a lot in my early 20s when I first started to write music and perform.

Lou: I would have to say our parents. We have been surround by the magic that is music since we were born. We have always been encouraged and supported to pursue music for enjoyment. The career part is just a total bonus!

Abi: When I started to learn piano at the age of 8 I felt like music was the path I was heading towards. Following in Lou’s footsteps I started to write my own material at 13 then I started gigging at 17 and haven’t stopped.

How did you get into country music? 

We all really got into country music around 10 years ago when we were on a family holiday to Florida. We were driving around the state a lot going to all the sights and most of the radio stations were country music radio stations playing artists like Taylor Swift (who was just starting to gain popularity), Tim Mcgraw, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley among others. Our Dad had always liked artists like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain so we had grown up listening to some country but Florida was where we really fell in love with it.

Can fans expect a new album from you this year? 

Our latest album, “Never Slowin’ Down”, was released last August and we really put everything into it; we’re really proud of it. At the moment we’re not planning on releasing a new album this year however we are hoping to do some recording as this year is our fifth anniversary so we’d like to do something special for it!

How do you think the UK are now embracing the country genre? 

It’s great to see the UK being so receptive and appreciative of country music; there’s definitely been a resurgence over the past few years. UK country bands like The Shires and Ward Thomas have gained major mainstream success, big country artists are starting to tour over here more and more and C2C has grown over the past few years so it’s quite clear that country music has grown in popularity. It’s an exciting time to be in a UK country band!

What do you hope to achieve in the next ten years? 

Matt: I’d love to for us to have a track played on BBC Radio 2, especially by Bob Harris. That would be just amazing! Last year we hit no.10 of the UK Country Charts on iTunes so it’d be great to get a single higher on there! I think we’ll record a few more records and I’d love to go back out to play in Nashville! 

Lou: I am excited to see where music will take us. We have already had some amazing opportunities and experiences and I am so grateful that we have come this far. Any further will be a total bonus. It would be great to continue writing, go to Nashville some more and maybe record some more.

Abi: A really ambitious answer but I hope to achieve a number one hit one day and perform at lots more festivals. 

Make sure you follow ORFILA on Twitter @OrfilaMusic to keep up to date with everything they are up to.

Tickets for the C2C Festival are on sale now.

What did you think of our exclusive interview with ORFILA? Let us know your thoughts over on Twitter @CelebMix.  

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