Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I grew up in an area known as the Black Country which is near Birmingham in the West Midlands UK. The area traditionally used to produce Nails, Chains, steel and other heavy industrial goods and was also known for its canals and coal mining and that’s how the area got its name.
The local music influences for me at that time where Black Sabbath & Slade
I learnt to play drums and percussion when I was eleven and have been involved in music one way or another ever since. I turned professional and was on the road (with different bands) during the 1970’s. Then later I worked in education, teaching in the Music, Broadcast and Television studios at West Bromwich / Sandwell College, learning keyboards as I went along.
Q: Can you describe the musical style of Relax Listen in three words?
A: Rock, Pop and Smooth Jazz (Instrumental).
For songs you really need to listen to my Joint work with Paul Harper, together we formed “Harper n Hubble music in 2016 and released our fifth album in February this year entitled “Just another day”.
You can read the Bored City Review of “Just another day” here:
Don’t forget to come back and finish reading this interview though afterwards.
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: I consider I have friends rather than fans and I keep in touch with them through the normal channels, such as Facebook. I have friends of wide-ranging ages, but my music tends to attract the more mature audience anyway.
Relax Listen is mainly instrumental with the odd song in fact the first album to feature songs was “Relax Listen with friends”, which also started the “Harper n Hubble” collaboration.
Q: You have just released your new album, ‘Retrospective’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Retrospective in this case is to look back at works that I have produced in the past. Technically this is the fifteenth Relax Listen album and eleven of the twelve tracks featured are taken from previous albums with the seventh track, “Adam’s Song” being recorded in a 16 track Analogue studio at the college, it is also the only track I’ve ever done which features myself on lead vocal. As previously mentioned, other than the “With Friends” album this is the second album to feature a song rather than just Instrumental tracks.
Q: What is your favourite track from the album and why?
A: If I had to choose a track it would be “Adam’s song” I wrote and produced it using an early 16 track analogue studio at West Bromwich College where I worked.
My eldest had just been born and during the Easter student break I had the studio to myself. This was before the sequencer was invented, in fact the latest tech was the ZX spectrum.
I brought the colleges Yamaha DX7 keyboard into the control room so that I could operate the desk and B16 tape machine by myself and laid down the basic piano tracks. I then crammed the drum kit in and added a beat, followed with more keys and then my vocal. After the holidays during downtime a couple of my students added acoustic and electric guitars for me and after I had completed a final mix it was complete.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the album, “Retrospective”?
A: To date I have released fourteen albums for Relax Listen and five more with Paul for “Harper n Hubble music”. This is a Retrospective album which looks back at music that I have produced for Relax Listen over a number of years. In general, I chose tracks for this project which have been most popular in the past, except for Adam’s Song which has never been released up until now.
, in the past
Q: What has been the most memorable concert or performance for Relax Listen so far?
A: Relax Listen is studio production based and is a way to get my music out there.
A: So, there are no plans to ever take it out on the road. Harper n Hubble music however is a different ball game and can be engineered for live performances.
I was previously on the road with three bands in the 1970’s, but many of the venues don’t exist anymore in our area and the ones that are still here don’t cater for original music anyway, instead only hiring tribute acts.
Q: Reflecting on your body of work, each song holding its unique significance, could you share a particular track that stands out to you personally? What makes that specific tune special, and why does it hold a place of pride in your musical journey?
A: The first track on this Retrospective album is “Classic Durasic”. Its original title was “Classic Durasick” but the “K” got lost in translation somewhere. In the early days when I was teaching in college music technology was brand new, and I needed to set assignments for the students to work on, so one that I came up with at the time was to create a track using three sampled loops as well as overlayed sequenced instruments which they had to play for themselves, so I created this track for demonstration purposes.
The track found it’s way onto my first album “Gallery a collection of pictures” which was released on the third of August 2010 and within a few weeks the track gained a life of its own. The German YouTube gaming channel “Broken Thumbs” used it as their theme tune and the next thing, I knew the track iTunes charted in France, Germany and Luxembourg. Beau Burnham also picked it up and included it in his Rant which made the track even more popular, which fortunately still continues today.
Q: Exploring the diverse creative processes within the music industry is always fascinating. Could you provide insight into Relax Listen’s unique approach to crafting music? From the initial spark of an idea to the finished song, how do you navigate the creative journey and bring its musical concepts to life?
A: The creative processes for this album have been the same for all of my albums. I sit down in front of my studio in a box and work out a Piano riff, building up the track as I go along adding drums initially to keep in time, bass, strings and other keyboard-based instruments. I work the same way for Harper n Hubble tracks, except we may start with an acoustic guitar first if it’s Paul’s idea for a track. In fact, Paul has composed and added vocals to a number of Relax Listen tracks giving them a re-imagining.ectare
Q: As we wrap up our conversation, looking ahead, what aspirations or dreams do you have for Relax Listen, and what message would you like to share with your fans as they continue to accompany you on this musical journey?
A: Music is something I just do, it’s a part of me, I have worked in the industry off and on for many years, I find that when contact with the industry is good it is very good, but this industry also has a dark side to it.
Like most musicians you hope that whatever you produce will be liked. I still get a kick out of someone who takes the time to contact me and to let me know that they have liked something which I have had a hand in producing, so drop me a line anytime at relaxlisten@gmail.com.
Harper n Hubble music and Relax Listen can be found at:
https://www.harperhubble.com/relaxlisten
