What made you decide to pursue a career in music?
I think it’s important to do what you love in life. Life is short and we’re only here once. What’s also important to me is constantly trying to improve. I want to reach my potential and do everything I can to be the best musician I can be. It’s important not to compare yourself to others but just try to be better than you were yesterday. And that goes way beyond music.
Introduce us to you and your musical history.
When I was 14 years old, my parents grounded me for 3 months. I was banned from Playstation and the Internet. I picked up my guitar, started playing 3 chords and wrote my first song JAGUAR then and there. After realising i could write songs, I had a wave of creativity and wrote lots more. When I was 19, I recorded everything I’d written between age 14-18. My plan at the time was to release a double album with no marketing or singles released.
I was very religious at the time, more focused on evangelizing and felt my music wasn’t important in the grand scheme. Over the last couple of years, I’ve become less religious and now consider myself a ‘non believer’. I found losing my religious faith a very traumatic experience and it left me feeling quite bleak and nihilistic. Music saved me from this. It gave me a sense of meaning and purpose. Now 26, I’ve decided to give it a go. I’ll keep releasing my older material, writing new songs and developing as an artist.
Name me your top 5 favourite bands.
System of a down. Red hot chili peppers.
Metallica. Biffy Clyro. The Smiths.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
Ooh..probably nothing else matters.
The music industry is the hardest industry in the world to progress in, How do you feel you are doing?
It’s very early days for me. I don’t measure my success by likes, views, streams because I think this could get discouraging. Instead, I focus on improving and listening to feedback. I believe that by doing this, success will come.
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
I can’t say I’ve heard about this recently but I would say we can help by staying vigilant. If we see any suspicious behaviour or witness anything untoward, be quick to report it to the bouncers before anything gets out of hand.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
I’m probably the wrong person to ask right now.
Ask me in a year when I’ve got 1 million streams.
What’s your thought on Spotify’s monopoly on the music industry?
It was always gonna happen. No point fighting it.
Gotta move with the times.
Did you buy anything you don’t need during the pandemic?
Not that I can think of. I’m pretty good at saving money. Most of it goes on food. Saying that I’ve got a bit fat lately. I’m trying to lose my pot belly.
I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about.
When I was a kid, I met Jimmy Saville. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. I was one of the lucky ones.
What makes you stand out as an artist?
My lyrics I think. I write very honest, often bleak lyrics. My upcoming releases cover a wide range of topics from bullying to maternity. From the Wild West to the importance of taking pictures. I also write cryptic poems. As a lyricist, I’ve been inspired by the likes of Frank Turner and The Smiths.
I hear you have a new music, what can you tell us about it.
The song I’ve just released (Jaguar) was written in 10 minutes about 12 years ago. I’d just discovered rock music so there’s lots of influences in there I.e. Metallica, Bullet For My Valentine ect. I don’t feel it’s one of my best songs but I wanted to release it first so my audience can see how I’ve evolved as an artist when I start releasing songs I’ve written in my 20s. Within a few days of releasing JAGUAR song, it landed 8 playlists on Spotify and racked up 1000 streams in 24hrs. My monthly listeners went from 4 to over 1200 in the space of one day. I’m enjoying watching the monthly listeners go up and I’m excited to release my next single.
Talk me through the thought process of the new tune/s.
My songs write themselves. They accumulate in my head as I’m doing day to day tasks. I can’t always predict what’s gonna inspire me or find its way into my music. I play guitar, piano, bass and sometimes come up with melodies but I seldom set out to write new music. I don’t like to force anything. If it’s a good song, it should come naturally.
What was the recording process like?
Intense. I recorded 18 songs (two albums worth of material). It was good fun but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s best to space things out a bit more in retrospect.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
If I recorded it in 2023, it could have ended up with a completely different set of songs. The songs are a screenshot of where I was in my teens so no. I wouldn’t change it.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I can’t wait to release more of my older songs and some new songs. I’ve just set up a home studio and I’m excited to begin the process of recording again. I think some of my recent songs are some of the best I’ve written so stay tuned.