From The Road: Mackenzy Mackay
FROM PERFORMING TO A SMALL CROWD at London's Troubadour just 18 months ago to amassing an international fanbase and selling out major venues, Mackenzy Mackay's rise in the music industry has been nothing short of meteoric. With nearly one million followers across social media platforms and an impressive 70 million streams, Mackay's heartfelt storytelling and authentic connection with his audience have earned him passionate support from key media outlets like BBC Radio 1, Wonderland, and NME.
Following a successful sold-out UK tour with US singer Jessie Murph, including a memorable stop at London’s Lafayette, Mackay is now embarking on his own headline tour across the UK and Europe. This tour coincides with the release of his new EP, Love, Life & Upsets, a collection of songs that encapsulate the full spectrum of human emotions, from love and joy to heartbreak and despair.
In this interview, we catch up with Mackay to discuss his experiences on tour, the inspiration behind his latest EP, and how he stays grounded amidst his rapidly growing fame. Mackay shares insights into the challenges of life on the road, the importance of staying connected with fans, and the balance between his personal life and his passion for music.
Read below to delve into the journey of an artist who continues to bridge cultural divides and unite listeners through his honest and relatable music.
LUNA: What has been the most memorable moment from your recent UK/EU headline tour?
MACKAY: It’s really hard to choose because there are so many moments of the tour I will never forget. If I really had to choose I would probably say the final show in London was one I will never forget. It was my biggest headline yet, electric ballroom is such a lovely venue, id never been before but I loved it there. The crowd were so lovely, from football chanting my name, to singing every word of every song, everyone was in such good spirits and some of my nearest and dearest were able to make it to the show. Jumping into the crowd on the final song “London” was super fun too!
LUNA: How do you stay connected with your fans while on the road, given your rapidly growing fanbase?
MACKAY:In real life I would stay a couple hours after each performant ce (apart from a couple as I was loosing my voice and a little run down..), meeting everyone, chatting, have drinks but online it was a little more difficult. Its quite hard to find lots of time to stay active with posting content on socials but its defo important to me to try and keep everyone up to date with what’s going on and stay in touch with the people who like my music. I'd post a few videos here and there, keep my stories on insta flowing and reply to as many people as possible on the DMs but like I said it does run away from you easily when you’re spinning too many plates at once but I do try my best
LUNA: Your new EP, Life, Love & Upsets, has just been released. Can you tell us about the inspiration and creative process behind it?
MACKAY: Life, Love & Upsets encompasses the whole human experience. Going through the mix of emotions, the ups and downs of life. Those days of feeling broken, the days of feeling great, the days of feeling "in love", basically, every chapter of feeling we experience throughout our time on this world. It’s about life, everyday life we all live, everyone’s life is different but we’re all not too dissimilar. It’s about love, I have a huge heart and I like to write about my Love and my experience of being in love with someone. It’s about upsets, the things that hurt us in life, loss of our loved ones, not getting to say goodbye properly, heartbreaks etc.. It’s basically My past 12 months in 6 songs
LUNA: What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced while on tour, and how have you overcome them?
MACKAY: I'm quite a homebody and I missed that. I like spending time with my partner so that was a bit lame not being able to hang out with her. I like cooking as well so it was super lovely to get home and have some home cooked meals. Another challenge is sleeping enough and looking after my voice, sleep can be broken up when you’re sharing a bus with the team. I have a lot of love for every one we were travelling with it was really special to be able to share that experience with some of my closest friends and luckily everyone was super aware of each others personal space but its hard to find a few minutes to be in your own space with nothing going on and I think that’s quite important for everyone. Singing every night and pushing your vocals can be really tiring too so I'd drink lots of tea and try not to speak to much through the days and do everything I could do make sure I didn’t fully lose my voice!
LUNA: How do you balance your personal life with the demands of touring and making music?
MACKAY: It can be difficult sometimes but I have to remember that I've been working towards this forever. The balance is good at the moment, I do a lot of work in sessions through the week and try not to work too late. I’d rather start a session early in the morning rather than finish it later in the evening, whereas before this was my full-time job I would start sessions late and go all through the night then go straight back to a pub job or driving forklifts or emptying shipping containers.. I'm blessed to be doing what I love for a living but its good to have a balance between “work” and personal life, I like skating and fishing and camping and surfing and whole load of other stuff that I've not had super amounts of time for recently, but it’ll even out and ill get time for those things soon enough im sure..
LUNA: What do you do during your downtime on tour to stay grounded and refreshed?
MACKAY: I like to do a lot of things tbh, on my own or with company. I like to swim, write, walk, steam, sauna, skate, play PUBG on my mobile, talk to my partner on FaceTime and heaps of other stuff
LUNA: What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are just starting out and looking to make their mark in the music industry?
MACKAY: Nothing happens over night. It might look like it but it might take some time to get to where you want to be. Try your best to not compare yourself to other artists who are doing “better” than you, they’re just at a different part of the journey and you’ll get to where you want to be as long as you keep chipping away at it, don’t stop working towards it and take everything in. Appreciate the small things. Don’t quit trying.
LUNA: What are you most looking forward to this summer?
MACKAY: Few festivals this summer that I'm looking forward to but mostly excited to get back into the studio to be finishing lots of new music that I can’t wait to share with those who are interested in listening to it
