Hiya Rob, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for having me! Nice place you’ve got here…
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
Well I’m from Nottingham, currently living in Leeds, I guess you could say I first got into music when I was about 3 years old. I was always singing and my parents had a hi-fi with a cassette tape player. I used to rewind the same tape of Aretha Franklin over and over, with headphones on that kept slipping off my head. I’d repeat her songs, words and inflections until I learned them word for word.
I think the first song I learned how to sing was ‘You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman’ – no regrets!
What’s the live music scene like in Nottingham right now?
Nottingham is such a diverse music city. It has three huge citywide festivals each year; Hockley Hustle, Beat The Streets, Dot to Dot. They’re filled with music of every genre, I really mean every genre. Ska, Reggae, Rock, Metal, Indie, Pop, Soul, Spoken Word Poetry – everything!
It’s a proper music lovers city. I love it.
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
Saffron Gray is actually a bit of a rising star at the moment from the scene, R&B Soul vocal vibes. To be fair there’s some amazing Nottingham songwriters that I love that have gained huge national attention over the past few years: Jayahadadream and ALT BLK ERA to name two!
What’s the biggest thing you hate having to do to showcase your music?
It’s taken me right up until this campaign for my latest music to understand how to frame marketing and posting in a way that didn’t feel like begging people to like me.
But I love the word you used, ‘Showcase’ because that was the game changer for me. Realising that I wasn’t trying to compete with anyone, or beg for attention, but actually showcasing what I make and helping people who might like the sound find the sound, made everything feel a lot lower stakes and more casual.
Funnily enough I’ve done MORE promo seeing it that way than I ever did treating it like some marketing mission for worthiness.
What are your ambitions as an Artist?
I mean, I’m aiming big this next year because I’m releasing my debut album and I’ve been working towards this point for years!
I love performing live, so I would LOVE to get to play some of my dream festivals: Love Supreme, Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival and Glastonbury (who doesn’t).
But ultimately, I want to build a following around my music that lets me tour and perform all over the world. That’s always been the dream
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
I think the music industry is in a weird place where we’re treating it like an ‘industry’, despite the fact that so many of us are participating in systems that make it incredibly difficult to earn a living from the music itself.
We’ve ultimately subscribed to a model that sets the price of our product for us, often paying fractions of a penny per stream. It’s created a culture where listeners understandably feel they’re ethically supporting artists by paying for access to music, but they never actually own that music, and there’s very little incentive to buy it.
Meanwhile, the people creating it are struggling to make ends meet.
I think something is going to have to change, because otherwise we’re kind of stuck.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Movement is better than perfection.
With Fade Away, my latest single, I planned some socials and reached out to some contacts, but ultimately set a release date and let it happen.
What IS good about the streaming of music is that you can perpetually market a single. You don’t have to have every duck in a row to begin. Once you’re in motion you can add things, videos, stats, radio plays, and get into the room for some great chats along the way – like this one!
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
Brasstracks! You heard of them?
A wicked duo building tracks that merge Hip-Hop, Jazz and R&B, led by brass, sometimes with vocalists and sometimes without. I’m obsessed.
I’ve been rinsing the album Indigo since it came out in 2023 and recently worked my way back to it!
Brasstracks if you see this PLEASE can we do something?! Haha!
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
I dont know if this counts, but I was playing a festival called Beat the Streets a few years ago and the power went down on stage in the middle of a song.
I ended up carrying on acoustically, mashing up pop-songs so the crowd could sing along until the power came back. Everyone cheered and partied for the rest of the set.
It was amazing but in the moment I was terrified! Haha
Got any fun, funny stories from life on the road?
The first arena support I ever did was Earth Wind and Fire. After supporting them for all of their UK dates, they asked me if I wanted to support them in Paris the very next day.
I had to get back to Leeds from London to get my passport, drive to Folkestone to get the train to France and then drive to Paris in time for a 5pm soundcheck?!
It was wild, the traffic in Paris was unreal. We made it 30 mins before the venue opened, did a ten minute soundcheck and then pretty much immediately performed my support set.
It was like wacky races. Such a great core memory.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
I recently released Fade Away, the latest single from my debut album, which is coming out next year. It’s a funky, soul-driven track about walking away from the wrong people at the right time.
When I wrote it, I was driving myself round the bend trying to appease and please ‘friends’ who seemed almost determined to see the worst in everything I was trying to do for myself. Until one day, something in me just changed. I realised I didn’t need to keep explaining myself or trying to win people over. I could just walk away and wish them well.
That feeling was incredibly liberating, and I wanted the record to feel exactly like that. Hand in the air, sidestepping out of the drama and onto the dance floor…
What was the recording process like?
So much fun, was one of those sessions that just flowed.
Eric Appapoulay, Liam Bailey and I were sitting in Cassell the Beatmaker’s studio. Eric was jamming around on the guitar, Liam could really relate to what the song was about, and we took turns ad-libbing lyrics, melodies and Eric was adding harmonies.
We got the chorus pretty much straight away, the first verse and so on.
I remember Liam had to nip out to the shop for lunch stuff and came back with the second verse:
“Gave you a chunk of my life, maybe you can tell my why, I was on the dark side tryna find the light, what I gotta do for the shine?…”
Loved it instantly, put it in there exactly as he sang it.
Working with other songwriters is so much fun, and still kind of a new experience for me, but when the chemistry is right the sessions just flow.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
I wouldn’t change it BUT Fade Away got a spin on Ian Smith’s ‘Smooth Urban Soul Show’ on mixcloud and he sped it up and it sounded wicked!
It’s made me think about getting some remixes because I love how DJs and producers reimagine existing songs. You get to hear what an artist’s music might feel like in completely different genres!
Any awesome DJs please reach out. I’ll send you the a capella for the vibes!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Yes! I am going on a mini-tour in November!
We’re heading to Leeds and Nottingham to perform two stripped-back acoustic headline shows, with Eric and two of my longtime friends and vocalists Tila and Tavelah.
It’s called The Undercover Tour and it’s all about stripped instrumentation and big soulful harmonies.
I blend the songs with spoken-word poetry and stories. Think perfect winter date-night vibes: good energy, soulful music and fairy lights!
This time we’re only doing Leeds and Nottingham, the two cities I’d say marked the start of my career, so it feels like the perfect place to share music from my debut album for the first time.
5 November: Leeds, Cardigan Arms
6 November: Nottingham, Central Library
You can grab tickets HERE – Come undercover with us! 💚
FOLLOW ROB HERE
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