Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I come from the industrial swamplands of the Potteries in the West Midlands of England. I’ve never considered music as a career choice – it’s just something I started as a teenager and never stopped writing or performing; like if a shark stopped swimming, that kind of thing.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: I try and keep a healthy mix of new and old: so lots of Jeff Tweedy’s work, Andy Shauf, Dog Daisies, Kevin Morby, new Arctic Monkeys alongside Springsteen, The Pogues and Jonathan Richman.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: Probably the Beatles. I went through a punk and grunge phase when I was in High School, but it wasn’t until I got into Sgt Peppers that I started writing songs.
Q: You have just released your new EP, ‘I Dream Of You Tonight’. Is there a story behind it?
A: It’s a set of songs that try and capture the feeling of living in a village in the Staffordshire Moorlands: slow and peaceful, but also with that sense of helplessness and entrapment.
Q: What is the message of your music?
A: I go out walking at night, these songs are reflections of what’s going on in my head when I’m on my own on cold, dark nights. I guess, if there is a message here, it’s one of self-reflection; embracing your internal monologue.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: I try to create imagery that it real and honest and then echo that in the fabric of the music by building it all around an acoustic guitar.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: I’m only doing it for me, a kind of therapy. If anyone enjoys what I make, then that’s a bonus. I figure that, this way, the music is more honest, more real. I started writing to the crowd in my previous project which is why I had to end it.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: I gather up little ideas for lyrics and snippets of melodies and chord progressions on my voice notes. I’ll then sit down and match a lyric to a melody or progression and take it from there. Usually, if I’ve pieced but together well then the song will mostly form itself. If it takes a long time; it’s probably not going to feel good to play.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I dunno – it always kills you a bit when you play to an empty room or you put something out and there’s little response. But I’m just starting out, so I’ve got to remember that I’m building something from the ground up.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: As Bob M, I’m too early in to think about success any further than just getting some songs together and recording an EP. But in my career I’ve played some beautiful shows – notably an album launch at a haunted pub that has since burnt to the ground… that’s a story in itself.
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