Kathryn Joseph on 2025, touring, Hogmanay and First Footin'

The Skinny: We obviously just saw you on Thursday at the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award in Dundee. How was the rest of your night?

Kathryn: It was lovely. I was surprised to see the photo of me lifting Hamish Hawk up – I don't remember that; birthing him with beautiful Emme Woods. So, yeah, it was very fun. It's just one of those nights that, like, everyone that’s there, I love the most, so I just always have a very nice time. But I’m just absolutely fucking raging that Jacob [Alon] didn't win, fucking raging. But also, [the winners] Kai Reesu are so beautiful, and of course they deserve it. But I was just so sure...

Obviously you were up for the award as well for your album WE WERE MADE PREY; you’ve had a very busy year. What have been your highlights of 2025?
All of it has been really nice. It's been really nice to release a record that I'm very proud of because Lomond Campbell made it sound so good. [The] Mogwai tour was amazing. We had such a good time, everyone was really kind to us. I have never laughed or shouted with joy more, and probably everyone on that bus is very, very glad I'm not there, because there was not much sleep happening because I was having such a nice time. Getting to see them play every single night, that is my dream life, you know? It's just ridiculous. So that was very fun.

We’ve just had our own tour as well, and everyone was so lovely again. Poor Lomond Campbell had to do a lot of driving, so I'm mostly feeling guilt about that, and that’s how impossible it is to tour. That's just the two of us, he's doing all the driving, his van and it still feels like this is an impossible way to make money. So we're both feeling a bit unsure if we’ll ever do this again, but the gigs were great. He's amazing and we had a lot of fun as well. Very lucky. Before this record, I just didn't know where I fitted into things anymore.

It’s now the end of the year, your touring is all done, what does a normal November and December usually look like for you? Do you have any festive traditions that you stick to around Christmas and New Year?
I'm not very good at traditions. In my head I thought, 'oh no', but then I remembered yeah, I do have one, which is, um... my birthday is also on New Year's Eve. Every year we go to Broughty Ferry Beach and play football, and I drink a lot of Prosecco. It's my favourite day of the year, maybe.

All the kids come and our friends who live there and some other friends drive up from Glasgow and some from Aberdeen. Every single year the weather... it doesn't rain, or it's stopped raining for that period of time that we play and then it starts raining again and it's crazy. Dundee is magical and I feel very lucky to have got to live there for a tiny wee while and have these beautiful humans that I get to go and see.

I can't believe you have a New Year's Eve birthday.
It's really handy. It means that you feel really special but actually no one gives a shit because they're all busy getting organised for going out, so that suits me.

I guess because it’s your birthday on New Year's Eve, First Footing as a tradition might not be such a big thing for you then?
First Footing used to be a really big deal in my family because my mum's from Golspie up in The Highlands and when we were kids, New Year lasted three days, and it was genuinely like people visiting and singing and laughing and telling stories and I loved it. It was really, really sociable and beautiful and now, I'm just home. I haven't really carried it on. I'm just quite happy with that one night.

I'm the same at Christmas, I'm not really into it. I like the feeling of it, but the amount of present-buying really stresses me out and the amount of just, like, getting things – I don't want that. Every second year, my kid goes to her other granny and grandad’s, so sometimes I get to have a whole Christmas day, just me and my dog eating Pringles. I enjoy that as well.

If you were First Footing someone or being First Footed, bearing in mind the classics are shortbread, whisky and coal, what are you hoping for?
It was mostly drink that was coming into our home, I don’t remember coal being brought very much. I do like shortbread, though, I’d be fine with that. I know this doesn't count, but in terms of traditional things, I once gifted a boy an actual cow’s heart for Valentine's Day!

Oh wow, hahaha! Did you know that historically dark-haired men were preferred First Footers as they were thought to bring the most luck, while those with fair hair would be deemed unlucky, which seems to stem from Viking invasions?
I don’t really have a hair type, but I'd be very happy if a Viking popped round. I mean, I’m mostly dealing with grey haired men now, and those are my favourite. I think grey is the most beautiful. Really, I'm gonna welcome any man. As long as they’re funny and have drink with them and smell nice.

Did you know it used to be deemed bad luck if a woman First Footed you...?
Oh here we go, because we're all witches...

The Folklore Scotland website suggests this fear of women could be related to this notion of Cailleach, described there as ‘the crone goddess of winter and death’...
Oh my God! I got a shiver down my spine there. It’s like... I am her? Is that what you're saying? I know, it's true. The goddess part is really kind, but very heavy on the crone.

She’s also been described as the ‘divine hag’. Legend says that she created the Scottish landscape from the lochs to the mountains with a hammer and a staff.
I've never heard of her, this is amazing.

I feel like the two of you would be best mates. If your paths ever crossed, what’s your night looking like?
It's a lot of wine and probably lifting up some boys – not just Hamish Hawk, whoever crossed my path, I want to lift them up and carry them around. I was gonna say dancing, but now I'm at the crone stage, it's a bit more tricky. But yeah, we’re gonna have a nice time, it's gonna be funny, we're gonna talk about star signs a lot, and fucking... we're gonna talk about fucking. It's gonna be a nice night.

Hamish is busy on NYE, he’s playing in Princes Street Gardens, so he’s probably safe?
Oh, well actually, I also forgot I’m busy First Footin', I’m doing the concert at St Giles' Cathedral, so I’ll be busy too. I’ll have to try and not be so drunk.

What can we expect from a New Year's Day Kathryn Joseph concert?
The first time I did [a NYD concert] was one of our first gigs, actually, and we were in a church and it was the only place you weren't allowed to drink. Like everyone else was drinking and me and Marcus [Mackay] were completely sober and I was very upset, it felt very wrong. So yeah, I will be smuggling wine into St Giles' and it'll be a nice day. I'll just be full of joy because I love all of those Tinderbox [Orchestra] geniuses, so it will be so nice to see them again, and get to play with them again. Rachel Sermanni’s playing as well and I love her so much too!

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Tinderbox Orchestra with special guests Kathryn Joseph, James Emmanuel and Rachel Sermanni takes place at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, 1 Jan 2026

kathrynjoseph.co.uk
edinburghshogmanay.com