Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I grew up around older siblings that when I was very young were blasting out Bowie, T Rex, The Sweet, Thin Lizzy, Rush. A real mixed bag but always guitar led. My dad was always playing The Beatles, Wings (Denny Laine’s son did our sound at a gig recently), as well as old time jazz etc. My brother gave me a 7” record of Sweet Suburbia by Skids when I was 10 years old and as soon as I heard Stuart Adamson’s guitar, I knew I had to forge a path in music as a guitarist somehow.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Victory Through Sound”?
A: We plan to keep on releasing music fairly regularly and support it with live shows as much as possible, hopefully playing further afield. We’re looking to do more this year with promotion but we are also a bit more holistic in our approach and understand we need to get it to the right audience. That may be through targeted playlists as well as better tailored shows and support slots.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: I’m listening to Ecca Vandal who I think is quite mesmerising and Sleaford Mods who have been around a while but I believe are culturally very important and authentic in their style (as well as being all round lovely chaps). Also loving Tom Smith’s (Editors) new album. I’m almost piecing my writing together constantly. Writing down words and phrases, singing melodies into my phone etc. usually in public, but I may not use them immediately. I always have a stockpile of ideas. My songs can reference painters, writers, philosophers, actors etc. or can be very autobiographical. It depends which strong ideas come through.
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the song, “Hey! Bones.”?
A: It’s pretty much a mid-life crisis theme touching on mental fragility as you get older, weathering life’s challenges and having to dust yourself down all the time. As always, I usually wrap up these melancholic tales in a pop hook. This was no exception. I briefed our engineer to make it sound big and ‘poppy’, with the reference track being ‘Ways to Fake it’ by CRX. I think we achieved that. We were really chuffed with the production by John Nicholls at Audioracket in Hastings, UK.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
A: Triumphant?
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Hey! Bones”?
A: It actually came together quickly as a song but we started rehearsing it with our previous drummer Matt who left due to other commitments, then we had a slight pause while we recruited our new drummer Ash. We then went into record it. The recording process was very laid back for this and it went very smoothly. This was maybe the first record where everyone really contributed equally musically. There’s some great work in there. The bass and drums are phenomenal and Yuko always comes up with some unique guitar parts. We kind of sampled her guitar on this and dropped them in which worked well.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: The general message with some is usually one of hope I think. Even the darker lyrics like in ‘Saturday is Only Good for Fighting and Falling Apart’ which covered a breakdown and alcoholism has a hopeful underbelly. Or ‘The Design in the Stars’ inspired from a poem by my good friend and poet Derrick Brown is about humankind coming together and being good to one another in times of adversity. But there’s other themes in there – conspiracy, childhood, Steve McQueen!
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: Stuart Adamson if he were still with us, maybe James Dean Bradfield? Graham Coxon? Ian McCulloch? Green Gartside? Billy MacKenzie? Oopphhh…tough question… and more than one. Sorry.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: It is harder than it ever was. I was signed to a indie label then had a worldwide distribution deal with Sony in my old band at the age of 22/23. It all seemed fairly straight forward at the time. Hone your talent and that doesn’t mean you need to be the best. Develop your style, listen to a varied and wide range of music. Don’t get put off or distracted by ‘the noise’ of other artists on social media etc. Stay focused and believe that what you are doing is right. Don’t be swayed by opinion or try and sound like someone in particular. Invariably you will, but make it your own. Be nice to people – engineers, promoters, other bands. Connect with your audience.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: You should have signed with EMI when you had the chance and not turned down that Channel 4 series, you arrogant idiot!
