Hey, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What have you been up to over the past year in this big old mess?
Thanks for the chance to chat. I have been very busy the last year, I have been working on my own music, and have 6 songs all ready to go and will be releasing them over the next 6 months or so. I have also been co-writing music to be pitched to major label artists with my co-writer and friend Joseph Alonso. And have had a lot of great feedback from the industry, although this has not (so far) turned into a cut. But have had such luck in finding a person with all the connections in Nashville ‘The Connector’ and Song Promoter Chris Keaton.
I’m very interested in how you started your adventure with music, and did you know from the beginning that this is what you wanted to do?
I started playing guitar in the mid 1990s after being inspired to play by the band Oasis. And started messing around with writing my own songs in the late 90s/early 2000s. But then, like many, I decided to get a ‘real job’ and started working a 9 to 5 for the next 15 to 20 years and didn’t pursue music again for a couple of decades. Then I joined TAXI Music, in around 2018, and got inspired to write and wrote about 10 or 12 songs over the space of a year or so. And met my co-writer Joseph Alonso through the Taxi Forum actually, and we have written 20 or more songs with the view of pitching to Nashville Artists through Chris Keaton.
During this time I also found out that a colleague and friend of mine, Yury Kogan, ran and owned a recording studio, Black Pearl Studios in Melbourne, Australia. After a visit to the studio Yury suggested I should start writing my own music again and he would help me record it. So I wrote a few songs and started recording them, the track list started growing and at the moment I have 14 at varying stages of completion, including the 6 I will be releasing over the next 6 months or so with the first track being ‘Chesapeake’.
Congrats on your new release, ‘Chesapeake’. Can you give us some insight into it?
I wrote the song mainly because I love the work ‘Chesapeake’. But I had to give the song more of a meaning than just the word Chesapeake, so I just googled it and the first few photos I found showed the bay being a very dark and expansive body of water, somewhere you could really get lost in. So I created the story around a couple growing up, meeting and getting together in the town of White Stone (on the Chesapeake). And ended the story by one of them giving their life to the Chesapeake. So, although the production and melody may seem positive and uplifting, the story has a darker and sadder edge.
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as an artist?
I am constantly listening to music, whenever I get a spare moment, or go for a walk etc… I always have a notebook with me to take down notes, ideas and fragments of everyday conversations so that I can hopefully, one day, turn them into a song. I am always working on a lyric, melody or topline of a song, be it my own songs or the co-written songs I work on with Joseph. I also co-produce my own songs, and my co-written songs and sing on the male songs we write (we get a session singer to sing and female songs we write). So every day I work on something musical, be it the perfect word or line for a song, a chord progression or a memorable, hookish melody.
What should we expect from your next releases in terms of style and sound? How different are they going to be compared to your previous works?
Well, I would characterize ‘Chesapeake’ as being something that Van Morrison would release, I suppose in style anyway. My next couple of releases I have cooking are a lot more country, even western sounding, something closer to Willie Nelson. So, I have a bit of variety in my style and like to change things up a little.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
I am currently based in Melbourne, Australia, which has a thriving living music scene (of course, notwithstanding the two and a half years that we dare not speak of). However, I was not really active in the Melbourne scene due to the long hiatus I had from creating music that I mentioned earlier on. I was however somewhat active in the Dublin, Ireland scene in the late 90s and early 2000s where a lot of great Irish acts that are still writing and playing today started. That scene exposed me to the soulful singer/songwriter and neo folk influences that were still heavy in the Dublin air from the music of the great Folk Revival heroes like The Dubliners, The Chieftains the Wolftones, to name a few, that was the soundtrack to the city in the 1970s and 80s. And of course, the great Van Morrison (and Irish legend) was a great influence on my music.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
I would love to play the Opry (Grand Ole Opry), as it is just the mecca for aspiring country artists and legends like Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard etc… have made the place legendary. But on a more personal level I would love to play the Whelan’s Pub on Wexford Street in Dublin, as this is where I spent many a Sunday listening to the up-and-coming singer songwriters in Dublin applying their craft and baring their souls to a packed crowd in the front bar. And I even got the chance a few times to borrow a guitar and sing a song or two. So going back to that place as a songwriter after so long would be a great experience and take me full circle with my song writing.
Can we expect a new EP or an album from you in the near future?
I will be realising a single every month or 6 weeks for the next 6 to 8 months and will be testing the waters to see if an EP or Album would be well received, hopefully by early to mid-2024 a Album will be coming out.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs, and what have you got planned for 2023?
As mentioned, I will be releasing music and testing the waters for now. So I do not have any plans for live gigs in the near future, but will be working hard behind the scenes, releasing music and possibly collaborating with content creators to get my music and story out into the world.
