CONFIDENCE breeds success, and as Deni Smith surrounds herself with fellow musicians boasting infectious positivity at every turn, the future has never looked more promising.

The 19-year-old is in contention to take home this year’s Press Live Music Award on June 2 after making the final cut for the second time in the space of three years.

She was pipped to the gong in 2015 by close friends Moonlight Zoo, not that she is holding any grudges. 

Deni joked to Press:ON: “I should have won two years ago but this crap band won instead ... what have they ever done eh?

“I’m really excited for the awards night! It’s such a high-calibre event with such a great reputation. 

“I’m so much more confident now than I was two years ago, so I feel I know what to expect from the night this year. 

“Dunfermline’s music scene is really like a family. We all know everyone and where we all stand. If there’s a new band coming onto the scene or trying to break through, everyone tries to help out if they can.

“When I come home from uni it’s always great to see how acts are progressing and to hear new material.

“The bands in Dunfermline are doing so well right now. It’s amazing to see how much Moonlight Zoo have progressed from when I first met them at the Press Awards. They’ve came such a long way since then!

“Before I started playing, there wasn’t much of an acoustic scene either, but more acts are starting to come through now. 

“Amy Lou (Rogers) is great and there’s Freya Stobie as well. Freya doesn’t write her own music yet but she has so much potential!”

Reaching one’s potential requires a great deal of dedication to your craft, and as this singer-songwriter has found out, she’s had to balance her time well as she pursues a career in music while negotiating her way through the struggles of university.

After changing from a Psychology degree to Primary Education, she has moved from studying the mind to helping to shape the young minds of the future, a “safe career choice” that she’s working steadfastly to achieve. 

“It’s really hard finding the balance between uni and my music. I’m still living in halls and the walls are so thin, so I can’t practise and write new songs when I’m there. That’s been the toughest part of being back at uni. It’s been difficult finding opportunities to actually pick up my guitar. 

“I’ve obviously been doing gigs and keeping my practice up that way but doing that at my ‘uni home’ is pretty tough.

“It’s such a struggle balancing everything out so that I am still gigging, playing and writing, but at the same time studying for at least 10 hours a day. It’s horrendous.

“I’ll be up and in uni for 9am for a couple of hours before working in the library till 5pm. 

“I’ll have my dinner and go to the gym and then work a little more at home before going to bed.

“Balancing music, work and uni is not something I’ve been able to fully ‘own’ yet but it’s getting a lot easier. I feel when you’re studying it can leave you a little bit brain dead! 

“I do have to take time out to think about other things. Music is something I can easily be productive with in those situations. 

“On the days where I won’t study, I just sit and ask myself what songs can I be writing or what can I do on my laptop to help with my music; whether that’s on my social media or responding to emails.”

Before she’s even turned 20, she’s already made Dunfermline a real home comfort, and after not fully breaking into Glasgow’s acoustic scene last year, she’s eager to make amends and push her name out as much as she can.

As part of the Hit The Road tour in November, a youth music initiative run by the Scottish Music Centre, she took part in songwriting sessions with reputable bands such as Admiral Fallow, Fatherson and Prides, gaining insight into the music business while also holding her own in conversation, a further showing that the past year saw her confidence reach a new level.

“It’s been great meeting people in Glasgow in my kind of genre, as well as working with those three bands. 

“Learning bits and pieces from them was amazing. 

“To be selected for that initiative was humbling. 

“One of the highlights for me was when I was spending time with the guys, as I felt I was on a similar level with them. 

“I was able to pitch in with my views on the industry – I felt clued up and again, that gave me another boost of confidence. 

“It’s those different experiences and practising in new venues that’s really helped me grow.

“I was on tour with two other girls as part of Hit The Road, who were both younger than me, and they were able to offer fresh eyes on my music. 

“It was rewarding working with them as we wrote a couple of songs together and that was really the first time I had ever collaborated with anyone as well.”

Being based in Glasgow for uni has its perks from a musical perspective, Deni adds.

She points out that music emanates from so many venues, ranging from Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall to a custom-built barge boat in the heart of the city.

The former opened the door for the latter, as her set as part of Celtic Connections in January led to an offer to perform on the compact Peccadillo Barge the following month as part of their Argy Bargy night.

She recalls both experiences fondly: “I was playing on the first day of Celtic Connections on the Danny Kyle Open Stage, I think, and I managed to meet so many new people from different genres, including some really cool folk people.

“It opened a lot of new doors to people who wouldn’t have necessarily known me to contact me for gigs, including one on a barge.

“It has to be one of the weirdest gigs I’ve ever done. 

“It was such a random experience but I’ll never forget it that night.

“Basically, I was given an address and it took me 30 minutes from my flat to walk there. 

“I got a bit lost at first.

“When I saw the boat I thought this couldn’t be it! 

“This exuberant woman then came out and greeted me!

“It was so weird but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. 

“I think there were about 12 people huddled into this little boat and there wasn’t enough space for us all to sit, so some of us sat on the floor and the kitchen was where we performed. 

“The toilet didn’t work properly either, it was all just so random.

“I don’t know how they’ve created that night! 

“They can’t publicise it as there’s just not enough room, so it’s like this secret club I’ve joined! They’re the sort of people I’d hang around with all the time!

“I invited a couple of girls from uni and they came along. I was thinking they probably wouldn’t want to be friends with me any more after that weird experience! 

“However, they’re still talking to me, so maybe they’re into that stuff too!”

It was a bright and unique way to arrive into the new year, and it needed to be, as resting on the success of last year was never going to bear any fruit.

Her debut single, Bring Back the Sun, went down a storm and her single launch sold out at De Brus Bar & Brewery in Dunfermline in the space of three days.

The single also featured a music video accompaniment, recorded and shot by Moonlight Zoo’s Sean Defrancesco, another experience she revelled in.

“As I said earlier, I have really built my confidence in the past year. 

“I’ve always been confident in my own music but through releasing my single and starting to break into new scenes, it’s given me a real boost of self-confidence. 

“I’m also more professional when I head to a gig than what I used to be like. 

“I can now easily set myself up and pack down at the end of the night. 

“I’ve no other musicians in my family, other than my grandad who doesn’t gig, so I’ve never really had anyone to learn from. 

“I taught myself everything to begin with and grew from there. 

“But after becoming friends with Moonlight Zoo and the guys in PJ’s, they have all offered advice and helped me develop.

“Putting on that single launch was a great experience in itself, as it opened my eyes as to how that side of things works. 

“We had a great time filming the video. 

“Sean really came into his own and it was all just so much fun with a lot of laughter. 

“It was a bit disappointing then going back to uni – why couldn’t that be my full-time job?!

“I’m looking to release something new soon but it’s just about getting everything right and raising some funding for it ... as I have none.

“Being skint and frustrated is a great source of inspiration!"

In order to help Deni move out of the red and into the black, you can see her live at various shows and festivals in the coming months.

Deni is no stranger to a festival after making her debut at Belladrum Tartan Festival near Inverness last August.

When she last spoke to Press:ON in July, she said she wanted to “get my name out there to as many places as I can,” and from concert halls to pubs, and from festival stages to barge boats, it’s fair to say she accomplished that mission with consummate ease in her own unique way.

On June 18 she will perform at Oran Mor in Glasgow for the West End Festival before Auchinstarry Community Festival the following Saturday on June 24.

This year’s ButeFest will also feature Deni among its performers on the weekend of June 28-30.

“There will be a number of Dunfermline acts appearing at that one, and we’ve all joked that we should make our own little Dunfermline stage!

"We could have our own wee takeover!”

Tickets for the festival can be bought online at www.butefest.co.uk/buy-tickets.