‘There’s nothing like that feeling you get when a room full of people appreciate the music you’ve written.’

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Ahead of their Cheltenham Fringe performance last friday, I chatted with Andrew Bate and Chloe Gorman of ‘Saint Senara’. An award-winning singer-songwriter duo, based in Cheltenham, with songs spanning dirty blues rock, southern gothic Americana to folk songs with dark twists. Trust me there is a hell of a lot to like.

Where did the inspiration for the band name come from?
Andrew’s from Cornwall, which is a place full of legends and folklore.There’s a story in Cornish mythology called ‘The Mermaid of Zennor’, about a mermaid who hears a voice from a church and instantly falls in love. She leaves the water and risks everything to find the man behind the voice then convinces him to go back to the sea. The church in the story is ‘Church of Saint Senara’, which is where our name comes from. It’s gothic, romantic, and we felt like it was very us! Saint Senara isn’t a real saint either! She’s a mythological character with a story very similar to Danae from Greek mythology, and with Chloe having a mild obsession with that, it seemed fitting, too.

Other than music, what influences the songs you create?
Both of us find singing songs about our own lives to be self-indulgent. Every song is influenced by the songwriters’ own experiences, but poeticism, imagery and allegory are all really important to us. It’s very rare that we’ll write lyrics directly about our own personal experiences – we draw a lot from the gothic literary tradition, mythology and folklore. That said, our songs are very much about the human experience. 

Reflecting on your releases to date, what has led to the difference in production between your debut and most recent release?
Our debut EP was self-produced, mostly out of necessity, but Andrew had a really clear vision of each song executed it perfectly. He did all the instrumentation, production, mixing and mastering himself – and the record absolutely stands up on its own and sounds great.

For our second EP, we won a recording session at Audio Farm Studios, which is where we created ‘The Devil & The Preacher’. We had such a good time working with Sam Bharucha, so we decided to go back and record two more songs with him, which ended up becoming the ‘Under My Skin EP’. He really pushed us to try new things and get us out of our comfort zone, resulting in a distinctly different sound. That EP was also a finalist for ‘EP of the Year’ in the Crags Radio Unsigned Music Awards 2025.

With our last three singles – and the forthcoming EP they belong to – we really leaned into our darker, moodier side, working with the incredibly talented young producer, Lex Raymond. He took the core elements of each song and ran with them. As a band without a drummer, instead of having a guest drummer, as we’d done with ‘Under My Skin EP’, Lex really embraced experimental percussion, using everything from whips and chains to hammers to create the driving, stomping rhythms of ‘There’s A Storm Coming’ and ‘Lost Lisa Marie’.

‘Our songwriting doesn’t shy away from things like love, sex, death, religion – and that gives us a unique connection with our audience.’

Talk us through the recording process of your most recent release ‘Ophelia’
‘Ophelia’ is possibly the most raw recording we’ve done so far. We recorded it live together in the studio – we recently shared the actual take which made it onto the record on our social media last week! There were very minimal overdubs as everything we needed was in that single take. The more we played with it, the more it distracted from the moment we captured, so we kept the final product as clear and direct as possible. 

To what extent is the atmosphere of the music you create a reflection of yourselves?
You always want to take your audience on a journey emotionally and part of that is always setting a mood. With Chloe coming from a poetry background and Andrew being a professional composer for 20 years, we bring our own strengths to the table in order to create something that represents what we want to make and how we want our audience to feel.

Andrew works hard to create musical landscapes which will transport the audience. From guitars that sound like drips in puddles on ‘Ophelia’, to percussion that evokes the rising winds on a desolate plain on ‘There’s a Storm Coming’ and the ghostly screams on ‘Lost Lisa Marie’, we really got to show off the side of our sound that transcends a standard band arrangement.

So how do you divide the songwriting process?
Our songwriting process is very even between the two of us. Andrew will usually find a chord sequence that will capture both of our attention or Chloe will come up with a few lines that will inspire a melody and from there we’ll both explore how to best convey what we want to say.

You go to your preferred streaming service and hit play. What track are you listening to?
Chloe: ‘Stay’ – Steady Habits, ‘From’ – Bon Iver, and ‘I Became King’ – Dusk Brothers – who we’re on the lineup with at Upton Blues!

Andrew: Young Martyrs. Mark Lanegan. Hans Zimmer. Gustav Mahler.

‘The Cheltenham music scene has a real sense of community – where everyone gets to know each other and support each other. That’s what helps a scene to thrive.’

What is a musical fact about yourselves/Saint Senara that would surprise people?
Chloe only started writing songs at the age of 30. Andrew can play around 10 instruments and has taught himself each one.

Turning to the local music scene, which new/local artists do you feel more people should know about?
Young Martyrs are a south west-based band and their music is spectacular. We’ve been following them for a while and finally got to see them live at ‘The 7 Hills Festival Spring Sessions’. Frontman Tom Corneill has a breathtaking voice and their new album is full of gorgeous harmonies and heartfelt lyrics. But more than that, the whole band are such lovely people and that goes such a long way in this industry.

The music scene in and around Cheltenham seems to always be expanding. Why do you think this is?
The University of Gloucestershire’s music courses produce a constant stream of bands and artists gigging regularly in Cheltenham, so I think that plays a big part in shaping the local scene – especially in the pop, emo, punk and metal genres. It’s also an area where the local promoters are cultivating a scene and are giving opportunities to acts at different levels.

So how do you feel local music venues impact the development of artists overall?
Grassroots venues – such as the Frog & Fiddle and The Sub Rooms – are vital for emerging bands to really understand how to perform, how to connect with an audience, how their songs land with listeners and so much more. But it’s not an even playing field.

There are some venues which treat bands and artists really well, and there are others where bands have to jump through countless hoops to even be considered. It’s understandable with how tough times are for the hospitality industry and venues in particular, but it can often feel like artists are the ones being asked to pay that price, when change needs to come from much higher up.

If artists are asked to guarantee set numbers of advance ticket sales – especially when some venues and promoters do little to promote a show – it can feel punitive, especially to emerging artists who are still trying to find their audience and are almost always the last people to be paid. It conditions artists, especially young people, that they have little worth and they should pay to play at venues, and that isn’t fair. The Music Venue Trust’s grassroots gig levy is a great start, but much more needs to be done to safeguard the future of grassroots music in the UK and give emerging artists an opportunity to succeed.

You recently performed two sets at Cheltenham Jazz Festival. How did you plan them in relation to the different venues?
We were initially booked for the headline slot at The Bottle of Sauce, and wanted that to be a classic Saint Senara show – gritty Gretsch guitar, stomping rhythm and powerhouse vocals – so we curated a set of our biggest, crowd-pleasing songs. The response was breathtaking.

When we were asked to do the second slot at The Brewery Quarter, we decided to try an experimental acoustic set. We played songs we don’t normally play in that way, used our resonator, and tried one on our cigar box guitar. Not every element worked as well as we’d hoped, but we loved how ‘Borrowed Time’ sounded on the cigar box and have now adopted that into our standard set.

‘Focus on where you are now, not where you think you should be. Social media and streaming numbers aren’t the full story.’

So which style of performance do you prefer?
The Vox and Gretsch have become such a fundamental part of our sound, so shows where we get to fully let them roar are our favourites. We’ve grown a reputation for having a genre-defying sound and that allows us to play different types of gigs in a variety of settings, from intimate, listening audiences to blowing the roof off our local venues. We can feel just as at home on an acoustic stage, at a blues night, or at a rock night with a fully amped up electric guitar.

Clearly more people need to hear you play live, so where are you performing over the next few months?
‘Komedia’ (Bath) – 15th June for The Electric Bar Sessions; opening the ‘Meadow Stage’ (Upton Blues Festival) – 19th July; ‘Frog & Fiddle’ (Cheltenham) – 26th July; headlining the outdoor stage at ‘Alt V Acoustic’; headlining Sunday night at ‘Vinestock’ – 27th July; ‘Stroud Beer Festival’ – 1st August; ‘Lakefest’ 8th August. We’ve got so many exciting gigs so come see us! 

And finally, what does it take to be an independent artist in 2025?
Being an independent artist in 2025 takes a multitude of skills, from music production to PR and social media management, but the biggest thing is attitude. You need grit, determination and the drive to keep creating no matter what. You should also stay true to yourself and your music – and remember to  And write. Write as often as you can. Create something that never existed before and share it with others.

Thanks Saint Senara for chatting with Listen to Discover
View more images from Saint Senara’s Cheltenham Fringe Festival performance here.