Hiya folks thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today, grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
As a child I loved singing, whether that was karaoke singing red hot chilli peppers (who I was obsessed with at the time), or duetting songs with my mum. Even when I was bored I would be humming and making up songs and lyrics. But if I was to give a definite time when I decided music was for me I would have to say, my first year of high school. This was when my music taste for indie/alternative became my identity almost and because of that I started taking guitar lessons at age 11.
Introduce us you / your musical history?
My name is Lynden just like my artist name. I have always been told I have a strange name and trust me I know I’ve never heard of a Lynden before either. I am from Burnley, a town north of Manchester, you’ve probably only heard of for its football and the radio DJ Jordan North being from there too…funnily enough I used to be best friends with his cousin… it’s a small town.
My musical history, well I’ve told you how my love for music started but it continued through to GCSE music in high school, Music in college where I was playing in bands with people in my classes and then I went on to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in music production at university.
From high school to now I have been searching for bands to play in but there has never been any luck unfortunately, I came pretty close to having a solid band with a hour and half set of bangers to play but we ended up disbanding after Christmas.
I released a song in 2021 called “See You”, this was my first proper release of a song. I say it like that because I must have a million half songs on my hard drive as I constantly get ideas when practicing but then end up being forgotten about. I wrote the song about the isolation I felt in Covid, which I caught twice! It was a song mainly about the loneliness that was imposed on us by the authorities and how I missed seeing my friends as well as how awkward it became trying to see my girlfriend in those conditions.
What was life like for you before music?
I honestly couldn’t tell you. For as long as I’ve lived I think I’ve always had music in my life. My dad used to DJ and my mum has always loved singing.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
That’s possibly the hardest question I’ve ever been asked, mainly because of my memory.
I think I’ll have to answer that with three stages of my musical timeline I know that defeats the point but these songs steered me in different ways. As a kid, Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Californiacation. At the start of high school the song that made me want to learn guitar was probably the Arctic Monkeys’ I bet that you look good on the dance floor.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
I am an unsigned artist at the start of my journey really. I cover the indie/folk side of genres just trying to make some cool songs that are about experiences I’ve had that I hope others can connect with.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned from someone else in the industry?
I need to be more confident in my singing ability. I have always been quite introverted with the capability to be extroverted but it is rare that happens. It comes from hearing myself in recordings and cringing because I can’t stand the sound of my own voice, but I am coming to terms with the idea that it’s a normal thing that a lot of people experience.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you?
I have ketchup on nearly everything. I have an ABBA obsession. I love pineapple on my pizza.
If you could wish for one thing to aid your career what would it be?
To be signed to a big label hahah. In seriousness to maybe be signed to a cool indie record label and maybe a manager to bounce ideas with, Dirty Hit are doing a lot of cool things 😉
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
I do and don’t. I feel like my humour is a bit dark, like Frankie Boyle is my comedic hero. But with that type of humour it just attracts cancel culture. At the same time I don’t worry because people like Andrew Tate and Piers Morgan still have an audience even though they’ve been attacked with cancel culture. My personal opinion on cancel culture is as simple as this, we are all individual therefore we should think individually and everyone should be able to voice their opinions and create discussion from them. That is how we grow but it’s all about mutual respect.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If no why not?
I don’t. I’ll always listen to one to figure out if I think it’s feasible or not but the majority of the time I believe them not to be.
What was the worst experience on stage?
I have two. My first one is a horrible story. At the start of GCSE music the class had to go into bands and have a song ready to perform, an easy task right? But this would scar me for life because at the time I felt I was a better singer than a guitarist but hadn’t really practiced either in a while so my confidence was already rock bottom.
The song I performed in my one song band was chasing cars by Snow Patrol, a classic. The teacher told us we were going to be performing for a class. This class ended up having two of my ex-girlfriends in it who were eagerly staring me down the whole time! It’s one of the most embarrassing memories I have, I was too nervous to get the right notes out of my voice ad even if I could my hands were shaking so much that I couldn’t even read the lyrics.
The second is my college audition for music that was so bad it became a class meme. Let me set the scene. My first year of college my heart was not in it as I was doing Classics, sociology and media, but I really wanted to do music but was discouraged by my parents to do so as they didn’t see a practical future in it.
Anyway I bombed my first year of college so hard that I just decided to change course to music and restart. In that first year of college I didn’t really practice at all but instead read more about music instead and so when auditioning for the music class I had to perform on stage in the middle of the college right outside the canteen… and my slot was at dinner time!
The songs I chose to do were smells like teen spirit by nirvana and times like these by foo fighters, both pretty simple songs so I thought I had a fighting chance. As soon as I got on stage my nerves kicked in and that was it my hands started shaking so I couldn’t play the notes right and then because I was panicking I was completely out of time. It’s funny to look back on especially because like I say it became a class meme and everyone would burst out laughing as soon as someone started purposefully playing smells like teen spirit badly, but god that memory still haunts my dreams.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about?
After those stories…that I can actually play guitar and sing hahaha. I honestly can’t think of anything besides the thing that surprises everyone and that’s how long I’ve been with my partner for. I’d also say another surprising thing is I’m 27 and have a mortgage in this crazy economy.
What makes you stand out as an artist?
I’m pretty tall 😉 My songs are different in a way they struggle out be classed as one specific genre but I believe this is good as it makes my songs a bit different. Lyrically they’re real, I don’t lie or make up stories in my lyrics they’re a literal representation of me.
I hear you have a new music, what can you tell us about it.
My second single “You” comes out on 09/08/23 (Wednesday 9th August) please have a listen to it. The song is a love song that I wrote for my girlfriend last summer, which started off as a challenge originally because when I write music they have a tendency to be a little sad and melancholic, but with this song it is a warm diary declaring all my love for her. It is definitely a shout from the rooftops kind of song but in a relaxed kind of way. I have to admit there is a little bit of embarrassment for being so cheesy and releasing this out into the world but I think that’s a good thing and we need more rom coms in the world. Maybe I was just jealous of her listening to country artists she loves talking about how much they love their wives?
What was the recording process like?
I wrote the song a year ago in my home studio, the demo was just the acoustic and vocals and I didn’t really know if I wanted to keep it as just that with the rawness of the lyrics. I booked a local studio and the owners/producers were so nice and helpful, they helped me really start to see a different version of the song. I was so happy having drums on a song finally! When recording demos at home they’re always just guitar and vocal ideas, I hate midi drums…maybe I just haven’t found the right ones yet, I don’t know.
We re-recorded and started from scratch which I preferred and got the main structure ready then James (producer) recorded his drums and that’s where it opened up the track to new ideas. I put down a funky bass line and then followed it up with lead and rhythm guitars and then the vocals.
After recording and mixing was finished I left the studio thinking of ideas of how I was going to master the track. After a lot of time researching I ended up getting John Davis to master the song as I love his work and has a great track record, he has worked with bands such as: The Killers, The Courteeners, Foals, Lana Del Ray.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Writing lyrics about happiness for a song without sounding simple.
Would you change anything now its finished?
You could ask me that question about anything in life and I will always say yes (I’m very indecisive). The truth is with anything you could never let something go and keep working for perfection in something (not to say this song is perfect) but in the end we are human and the perfection is in the imperfections.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Thank you for being here! I am a new artist so to spend your time reading about me is flattering. Please listen to my new song “You”, it is available on all streaming platforms and share it with your loved ones whether that is your family, friends or your other half… it could even be your cat/dog, I aint judging. If you do listen to it be sure to share it to me on all of my social media platforms and don’t be afraid to message me.
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