I had a chat with Dublin multi instrumentalist Sam Ludlow best known as the drummer in grungy disco band Munky a few weeks ago. We talked about his debut single ‘Antwerp’, the inspiration behind the track and what his plans are for upcoming releases all while Sam showed some interesting culinary skills.
Watch the interview below
Author : Danu
On Wednesday afternoon I spoke to singer songwriter Miles Graham (who was sitting having a cuppa in sunny Sligo) about his new single ‘Don’t Change’ and upcoming EP. Originally from Dublin, Miles Graham is a musician & Indie Soul Singer/Songwriter that has been described as a talent rarely found, possessing a warm, magnetic voice and songwriting talent reminiscent of early Van Morrison. What sets Graham apart is that he marries this with the commercial appeal of James Morrison and Ray LaMontagne.
Miles has been establishing his reputation relentlessly since first hitting BBC Radio 2’s playlist in 2015 with ‘I Can’t Love You Again’ and then with high profile Billboard Dance hits with Don Diablo and L’Tric. His new release ‘Don’t Change’ is quite the step away from the dance tracks. I wondered if he approached the writing process differently
“I think it’s definitely evolved to a certain extent. The dance music was totally out of the blue. I didn’t expect to do that at all. If you listen to the record that we put out ‘I Can’t Love You Again’ it was just a ballad-y love song and I got a call from Neon Records in Australia when the record was doing the rounds in the UK and they wanted to do a dance version of the song and they wanted to use the vocals. So I sent over the vocals and they asked me to re-record it in a different tempo, which I did but it just wasn’t really working for that particular song.So they ended up sending me some other music and asked me to write for that music. So I ended up doing that and I came up with a record called ‘1994’ for L’Tric and they released that.It was like number 2 in the UK club charts and number 3 in Australia and it was all very much a surprise. It was a side track to what I do but it obviously led me on to recording with Don Diablo and other DJ’s . It was fun and exciting. House music and dance music is such an interesting genre of music with so many different genres within it. It opened my eyes I think. The melodies that they use sort of changed my thought of melody.. Maybe because I knew I was writing for a young audience who are into pop melodies and just listened to the house and dance music that was going at the time, but it was a very fun experience but I’m not sure whether it has affected my own music that much, maybe a little bit, yeah.”
It can be daunting for an artist to release music to the public especially as a singer songwriter, (as it’s just you there is no band or other band members to share the load with).With the success of previous tracks Graham feels pressure with this new release
“Yeah absolutely. I always knew that with the likes of Don Diablo they have huge fan bases so there is less worrying about how well the track is going to do initially. You are just kind of putting yourself out there and because I’ve been doing the dance records I’ve come away from my own material quite a bit. But I do feel the pressure, I’m terrified, I’ll be honest with you I am nervous because it’s the most personal record that I’ve put out.Even like back with ‘I Can’t Love You Again’ and other songs I would have released and written back then, my writing would come from stories I might have heard of other relationships and put them into a fictional narrative, but this time around it’s definitely more personal.”
‘Don’t Change’ has a retro soul vibe and sleek presence, the funky groove in the track is extremely infectious
“It’s just something that came up in the studio. I started the song in Dublin with a guy called Greg Malocca who I worked with for many years now and we just got the groove together and we thought yeah lets do something a bit different and we got this Niall Rogers type of guitar line that we really liked and I had the rhythm guitar over it and then the melodies start coming and it just stemmed from that really. Lyrically it’s a bit more close to the bone but I wasn’t even thinking of the lyrics starting off, it just all comes out in melody initally.You don’t really know what you’re writing about until it’s done but it wasn’t a conscious decision, it just kind of came about.”
One stand out aspect about ‘Don’t Change’ is how Graham puts an upbeat and colourful perspective on the melancholic theme of a break up. It gives the track the ability to cheer up a possible saddened listener?
“Thats nice. That’s lovely to hear. It’s my one goal as a songwriter you know, because that’s what I get from music. If I listen to a song and it lifts me or inspires me or makes me want to dance or if you have that hair standing on the back of your neck – it’s those moments within songs that I’d aspire to have as a songwriter.So it’s great hearing that. This song in the chorus is basically saying don’t change who you are. Obviously the verses are about heartbreak and relationships and they are toing and froing between that but as it gets to the chorus it’s like look, whatever happened happened and I hope that you don’t change and that I don’t change in the process of the turmoil that comes with it, It’s that kind of positive feel. There is one lyric at the start of the song, “kept the colours of the moment” it means you can focus on the bad stuff in a heart break or in a relationship but you can also focus on the colourful things and I think that helps.It helped me through a breakup situation and I hope it helps other people.
When writing songs sometimes the initial idea an artist has in their head can be difficult to achieve in the recording process. Graham tries to keep things simple when approaching the producer etc with his ideas to get them just how he imagines them
“ It can be difficult, yeah. That’s probably the first thing that comes to mind when you have this vision in your head and nobody else knows what it is. The producer doesn’t know what it is, if your writing with someone else they don’t know what it is, so you have to get your point across.I think the best way of doing that is just strip everything right down to just sitting at the piano or with your guitar or whatever and just have the root notes. You might have a bass line or a guitar lick or just some chords and just be honest with the melody and with your idea. The production can go around full 360 with whatever way you want to produce it.But it can be difficult to get your imagery or idea across.”
‘Don’t Change’ was recorded in London with producer Paul Herman (Emeli Sandé, Dido, Corinne Bailey Rae) someone Graham has alway been a fan of and someone who shares his love for soul music
“ I’ve always been a big fan of Pauls.I know he did the Dido record and co writes but what really drew me to him as a producer was his work with Corinne Bailey Rae. It had that more soulful side and then I discovered the Dido music as well.I’ve always been a fan and I actually met him about 5 years ago. He was over doing an IMRO talk and I was heading to London the week after so he invited me down to the studio and very kindly gave me some good advice and I went on my journey and funny enough 9 years later I ended up working with him. Fortunately, since I’ve been working with peermusic London he was introduced to my music again in the form of a few demos and he said he wanted to work with me. He has definitely brought something to the table. In his work that he has done he focuses a lot on backing vocals and harmonies and he is really good at that. In the studio he was really pushing me to get a performance out of me.We were on the same page from the start because we both have a lot of soul music influences so I think those influences have become part of the EP as a whole.”
Graham has a velvety soulful tone to his vocals however at the start he wasn’t particularly happy with how his voice sounded
“I think melodies come naturally to me because I’ve been listening to soul music from a young age. The only singing lessons I’ve ever had was from a famous jazz singer Honor Heffernan, that was way back maybe 15 years ago. I was singing a little bit not like myself before that.I think everybody is starting to kind of sing the music that they like.Whether it be Ed Sheeran or whatever. You know people who are just starting and in their teens they just sing like who they listen to. I didn’t have a deep voice, I had a mid tone, a kind of high register and I didn’t like that about my vocal. I wanted to be a more low tone soul singer. She brought that out of me a bit and I began to use my natural tone and natural voice.I didn’t like it at first but it wasn’t until I put out some music and I was getting some good feedback and that, so it seems to be going ok. I was in no way confident at all to start.I had a lot of confidence in the song writing.I knew I could tell a story, write a lyric and I was pretty good rhythmically with lyrics and making them flow and I got a lot of fun out of that. I had a lot of belief in myself as a songwriter but as a singer that’s another thing and as an artist and putting yourself out there.It was a bit more personal. It’s not something that I really wanted to do from the start.I was just looking for publishing or whatever but it was when the publishing companies, record companies and just general audience gave positive feedback about my voice that I started to pursue a career as an artist.”
The connection an artist gets at a live show is incomparable and for Graham it is an important experience. So to achieve this everyone has to adapt with the current lockdown times.
“I love the connection with people and live is the best way to play the music and experience the music.Even if you listen to records of live performances they are the ones that really get you.I do miss the live connection, obviously with the lockdown and everything. I have been doing some personal gigs on zoom and instagram live for fans that have connected with me and are in their homes in Germany, Scotland and America from back a few years ago and have stuck with me. I just go on and play a few songs and whatever. It’s been a bit of fun actually.I did one with Hot Press last friday. It’s amazing how quickly the industry has adapted. Everyone is on live stream now.The internet where I am isn’t that great. Actually just before lockdown I went to get new broadband. The one I had wasn’t great but I’m still waiting on it so I’m just using the hotspot on the phone at the moment.”
Graham’s advice to budding young artists displays both the dreamer perspective and reality of the occupation as uses his experience in the industry so far to conjure some wise words
“Get ready for a really hard road.Believe in yourself. I know it sounds very cheesy but I think be as true to yourself as possible and try to connect with your audience. There are so many different genres of music and music is like food. You either like salt and pepper or you don’t, you know?. It’s important to channel into the right audience.Which is not easy to do but if you can manage to do that from the start hopefully you can build a fan base.Just be true to your music and don’t try to be anyone else.”
Miles Graham is gearing up to release his EP in the coming months with tracks that “are all very different”.
“ Choosing the songs for the EP was very hard.I have written so many songs but to get them all on an EP and to give people an idea of myself as an artist. There is one, kind of R&B soul tune, the melodies are quite R&B and then there is a ballad where I’ve got some lovely strings orchestrated by Sally Herbert in the UK who has won an award for orchestrating strings for the Plan B record The Defamation of Strickland Banks and shes amazing.I’m very lucky to have her talent on the record .There is another track called ‘All The Right Things’ which is the title track of the EP. I’m really excited about that track.It tells a story of my musical journey.It’s kind of funky and upbeat but it’s very different to anything else that’s out there at the moment I think.It will be interesting to see what people think of it.”
Sounds like Graham has something special planned for his upcoming EP. I can’t wait to check it out.
You can follow Miles Graham on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/MilesGrahammusic/
Stream his recent single ‘Don’t Change’ below
Author : Danu
We caught up with Fiachra Treacy from from Irish indie-rock band Columbia Mills to talk about the release of their new album ‘CCTV’, how they craft their tracks and melodies.
You guys have released your sophomore album ‘CCTV’ how does it feel getting to share these tunes with the world?
As we produced the album ourselves, we have been very involved throughout the whole process. This can be great as we make sure the album is exactly how we want it to be. The downside to it is that you become immersed in a bubble. The process from writing, rehearsing, structuring, production, artwork, packaging and posting the album out can become a bit overwhelming and its hard to see the wood from the trees. By sharing the music to the world you begin to see it (or hear it) through other peoples eyes (or ears) and it gives us a renewed vigour and love for the music. The songs take a new life and its very exciting to see where they go.
You guys are always developing and layering your sound and this has resulted in ambitious, passionate and impactful pieces of music. Do you guys strive to add new dynamic layers to your sound and keep moving and progressing in new exciting ways with your music?
For us the most important thing is that we have songs. Once we have the song then we can work on the development of the sounds around it. That is where we have so much fun. We throw tonnes of ideas from guitars, drums ,drum machines, bass and synths and then we pare it back to whatever compliments the song. If it doesn’t compliment the song then we get rid of it.When making an album we thrive to make sure there is a uniformity to the sound of the songs without them all sounding the same. We spend a lot of time going through different sounds to find a balance between our post punk routes and the more contemporary electronic sounds that we love. We will allow a song go to places in a rehearsal and see where it ends up. If we can keep it interesting without being too self indulgent we will record it and try get it on the album.
You guys provide some first rate musicianship and songwriting, talk us through your song writing process ?
As I said the song is always the most important thing for us now. The lyrics, the story behind the song, the feeling it gives us, the place it brings us in our minds. It must mean something. I sometimes write a song and it just doesn’t make sense to me, I can’t relate it to any experience I’ve had, or anyone I know has had, so it doesn’t get used. The initial seed of the song can be planted in so many ways and that’s what makes us a band. There is a lot of songs I may bring fully formed or I can take an idea from a rehearsal, a beat , a synth line, a guitar line, a bass line and start singing over it. It will then get stuck inside my brain and its given a bit of a rinse through whatever is going on in my head. I tend not to write anything down until its nearly finished. Unfortunately for me that usually occurs at the worst time. I’ll run to the toilet and sing it into my phone or write it down on a scrap of paper. Some of the best stuff tends to come at that point between being asleep and awake. It works wonders for my insomnia. It’s also great to have music we recorded from rehearsals or parts that we send to our what’s app group that I can work on when these feelings come. I now feel like this is something we do, we write songs, its no longer a step into the unknown.
You have injected some synths and electronic elements into this album especially in ‘Isolate’ and the latter half of ‘Car Crash TV’
We have to attribute the electronics in both of those songs to our newest member Ken. Ken joined us at the beginning of writing this album and he adds so much to our sound. I remember he sent me back ‘Isolate’ having put his electronic parts on it and I just said ‘fuck yea’ that works. It’s got a disco ‘Donna Summer’ vibe that none of us would have thought of. It took the song to another place and gave the album a special moment. The latter part of CCTV came from one of our first rehearsals with Ken. As I said it was always important to let a song go somewhere and see where it ends up. We had the start written but it didn’t tell enough of the story so we let it grow and go into an electronic crescendo with Ken. This really helped finish the story and made so much more sense to us.
I love the heartfelt melodies you guys provide. They are filled with nostalgia and powerful rushes of emotion for example in ‘Car Crash TV’ ( such a wonderful song) – How do you come up with these?
I honestly don’t know the answer to that. It’s why I completely adore music. To pull something from your mind that works or to find something melodic that can create a feeling of nostalgia or emotion is truly magic. I can’t read or write music and I’ve never learned an instrument correctly so I rely on my mind to conjure up melodies. I sometimes find myself humming something and realise that it doesn’t exist or I wake up with a melody that was left there while I slept 🙂 I have always loved emotionally charged music and have listened since I was a very young child. Even now I will listen to any genre of music if it makes me feel something. That to me has always been so important. The words will come from whatever is going on in my life.
Likewise you guys flood your songs with beautiful lamenting or western-eque guitar lines that sort of tie the songs together with a sublime delicate thread. But perhaps what makes these so great is where and when you place these guitar lines in the song. How do you guys decide this?
Again it’s a group decision to compliment the song. The placement of each part, and in particular the guitar parts, is so important for us. Ste will gladly stand still for 4 minutes and not play any guitar and then play where it’s needed. It’s not a trait that many lead guitarists have. There is nothing worse than someone self pleasing (or wanking as we call it 😉 over a song and destroying the beauty. Again our ethos is to compliment the song and then get the fuck out of the way. Ste’s love of that twin peaks sound with lots of reverb gives the guitar lines space to breath.
The songs have a strong country – esque backbone which I think is what gives them the heartwarming and wholesome tone. Is this a trait you guys actively try to maintain through your songs?
It is funny you say that as it was the first thing Rob Kirwan (produced our first album) said. We are a country band with an indietronic sound. Country songs will always tell a story and contain a lot of heart, be they happy or sad. We honestly never tried to do this but I guess its the nature of writing from the heart. I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Dr Hook as a very young child so I can thank my Da for that. I was always trying to figure out what songs were about, and loved when someone would tell me the story behind it and everything would click. For me music has always been story telling and I think that’s the main trait of country music.
You guys write songs that really hit home with people and evoke an emotional reaction,does it surprise you when you hear what other people are taking from the songs or how they interpret your music and lyrics?
It has always been important to leave a lot to the imagination when it comes to lyrics. Not to give too much away and allow people to fill in the blanks. I’ll certainly guide the song towards a particular situation and they all mean something very particular to me but letting people create their own world within a song is very important to us. It is very rare that people get the total wrong idea but that’s fine. Most people will find the mood and connect it with an event in their own lives and I love that. That’s what the music is for. To escape and to relate. To feel someone else has gone through the same experience and you are not alone.
There is a twilight hue over each of the tracks with a sort of desert vibe. Was this a conscious decision to create that atmosphere within each track?
Again you’ve hit the nail on the head. We talk about the desert vibes a lot. We use the guitars and synth pads to create a space that allows the song just enough space to breathe which stimulates evocative thoughts to emanate (well that’s the idea)I think it was definitely a conscious decision when we were creating our sound but I think now it is just ingrained in what we do.
”Stimulates evocative thoughts to emanate” What a wonderful and poetic way to express the process. For you guys what is the stand out track on the album?
This has changed so many time for us which I suppose is a good sign. Speaking for myself ‘You’re not the answer’ really hits me as it was written from a very personal place. At the moment though I’m really buzzing from ‘The Greatest Love’. When we recorded the album I think Car Crash TV was the one. This will all change once it’s out and you start hearing other peoples experiences with the tracks.
Was it difficult choosing what tracks you were going to put on the album and in what order?
This was much easier than we thought it would be. We managed to play them all live at some stage (in some form) before we finished the album and we could see what worked and what didn’t. There were a few songs that we played too much and the magic you get from recording something new had gone so we set them aside. When making ‘an album’ of songs , we really think about ‘an album’ and will write songs that tell a certain story overall and individually. This certainly helps to whittle them down.
You guys have garnered huge radio support here and in the UK including John Kennedy Radio X, RTE Radio 1, Ed Smith (Today FM) choosing you as his Play Irish Artist of the week and ‘Recent and Decent’ on Today FM, Dan Hegartys (2FM) Track of The Week, and heavy rotation on Paul Mc Loones Today FM show, as well as heavy airplay across all national and regional radio stations. That must feel pretty good. Can you remember the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?
First of all, we are so thankful when we get support from radio. We really don’t expect it. We haven’t written any nicely packaged 3 min songs yet so when we get radio play we know it is because these people genuinely like our music and it blows us away. The first person to play us was Paul McLoone and he has gotten behind us ever since.Our manager sent our first single ‘Never gonna Look At You The same’ in to him and he played it that night. I tuned in the rest of the week and heard it while driving alone. I got quite emotional and felt a lot of self doubt lifting. It was quite an experience. We put everything into music and make a lot of sacrifices, so to hear it being played on the radio is an amazing boost and gives you the feeling that you are doing something right.
Due to this strange covid 19 times your show on the 24th April has been postponed and rescheduled for September 18th what can fans expect ?
It will be a very emotional night so expect an outpouring of emotion from us. Knowing now how fragile things can be, there will be no holding back.We will be celebrating the release of the album but it will now be much more than that. Celebrating being able to be together again, celebrating live music, celebrating life. Having been unable to play live has helped us realise how much we need to do it, so we plan to leave everything on the stage that night. Hopefully people will have taken the songs to their hearts by then and we can make this the best gig we’ve ever done.
Do you guys have any advice for someone who wants to start a band?
Pick like minded people to play the music you love with. Don’t change to get on a certain scene. Scenes end and the only constant that remains is the music you love yourself. Play the music you love and you will never let the stumbling blocks trip you up for too long. Don’t be afraid to write a song.
Get used to €2 chicken fillet roles.
What’s next for Columbia Mills?
We are writing album number three so we are diving in again while all this is going on. We are really buzzing from some of the ideas so can’t wait to finish some of them off. Once we can rehearse we will be putting a new live show together for the Autumn gigs. We will also flesh out the new songs and hopefully get them recorded very soon.Apart from that it’s impossible to tell. We would love to tour this album and will do everything we can to do so. We are hopeful things can get back to normal and we can push on from here.
You can stream ‘CCTV’ below
Author : Danu
I spoke to singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Sion Hill aka Nathan Johnston on the phone. I became extremely envious on hearing he was sitting outside as it was a glorious day in Hungary ( it was 20 degrees ! ) where he was playing a show that night. Johnston has been steadily building up an international fanbase since he began his career playing in Dublin’s bars and venues. Now based in London, he has also spent time living in Berlin, where he adopted his moniker as a homage to his Irish roots. As well as making appearances at music festivals across Ireland and Germany, he has supported the likes of A-ha, Jim James, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Alice Merton, Lilly Among Clouds and Pete Doherty.
We took a nostalgic look back at Johnston’s move to Germany from Mullingar once he signed to Warner Music Germany.He chuckles at the prospect of that move being quite daunting
“Not really. To be honest I moved to Dublin initially after Mullingar. I went to Trinity for 2 years and then I got offered this contract and I moved from there but I had been away quite a lot when I was younger and I went to New York twice for J-1s so I had been to a big city before. So it wasn’t like I left Mullingar and went into the unknown.But yeah I moved from Dublin to Berlin.I lived there for a year. It was a pretty manic place to be honest, I think it’s changed a little bit now it’s become more popular in the last few years. When I went it was snowing. I had my guitar in one hand and a massive suitcase with my whole life packed into it in the other hand. I was meant to meet a friend to stay with him but I couldn’t find his house for like, 3 hours so I was just trudging around in the snow with all of my possessions, everything to my name in my hand so that was pretty terrifying to be honest.But after a few days you get settled in.Its like moving anywhere it’s a bit scary at the beginning but you just gotta go into it full on and give it your best shot.”
When asked about his knowledge of German and whether or not he was familiar with the language Johnston laughs
“No unfortunately when I was in school I chose French over German at the time I prefered the French language to be honest it’s just much more beautiful it’s not as harsh and throaty.It took me a bit of time. I can speak a bit now but to be honest in Berlin everybody speaks English. The first day I went into a cafe and I ordered a coffee in German and it was an Irish fella serving so you don’t really need German there but I think they do really appreciate it when you do make an effort, because even though they love to speak English they like to practice their English and they are all so good at English so it doesn’t really matter but they like to see you try to speak German.There is a beauty to the language though.They have words that we don’t have in English to describe specific things. Like in English if you have somebody with a sweet tooth, we don’t have an actual word for that we just have a sentence whereas in German they have just one word which is Naschkatze and it’s quite a funny word for them. I use it pretty much every live show I have over there. I say “Ich bin eine Naschkatze” I don’t have very much German but I have these few expressions.I think it’s pretty interesting that they have some words that describe a whole sentence.There is beauty to the language that is way more broad than English. English comes from the Germanic language anyway so a lot of it stems from German.At the beginning it doesn’t really sound very nice but after you get into it it is pretty cool how you can describe things in a way we just can’t do in English. It’s like Irish, it’s another layer worse than that like there aren’t many words in Irish. We just have to use these idioms to express them whereas German has one word that can describe all of that. However some of them are like a sentence smushed together like they stick 7 words together …. Oh sorry I’m going into way too much detail into German but it’s pretty interesting.Like the word for airplane in German it’s not very creative it’s just “Flugzeug” which literally translates to fly- thing . The word for drums is “Schlagzeug” which is literally hit – thing. A lighter is “Feuerzeug” fire – thing.They kind of stick things together but that makes it easier to learn after a while its just the grammar that can be difficult.
After some chuckling about the relevance of the German language and its parallel to Johnston’s career we move on to the actual music and how he creates his tracks.
“I just listened to a lot of blues music when I was growing up about 14 or 15 years old. I got really into Jimi Hendricks, Otis Redding- a lot of that 60’s soul stuff I was a big Beatles fan since I was a kid but I actually started off listening to pop punk like Green Day, Blink-182 and Sum 41 that sort of stuff. I was like 12 or 13 listening to that sort of stuff and I learned the guitar because of those songs and because they were so easy to learn. Once you learn a power chord you can pretty much play every single Green Day Song. So I did that and because I knew how to do that then I went into learning seventh and Major seventh and things like that and I got into the blues. I was in school with this guy, his name is Joey Weidner and he has actually got quite a bit of followers on Instagram now for playing blues guitar. We formed a band at about 14 or 15 and I think he got me into the blues a lot more.So I just started playing that and listening to it a lot more and it just rubbed off on me. But I have always been much more interested in the American side of guitar based music rather than the UK sort of post punk thing that my dad would have been into like The Cure or The Smiths or bands like that like Led Zeppelin. Although I like that too but I think the soul side really attracted me.Especially because there is so much beauty behind the words. There is so much pain behind a lot of it as well. It’s not that I resonated with that or anything but I think they were able to convey their pain through this style of singing this style of music and I loved it and tried to bring it into my own thing.Although I took a modern approach to it as well. It’s got a lot of modern embellishments to it and different keyboard sounds and things like that.”
Johnston has a very smooth velvety voice with a warm rasp that is quite luring yet versatile allowing him to bring a modern twist to his soulful or indie pop tracks. Finding and becoming comfortable with his tone wasn’t really a problem for him, just something to get used to.
“Yeah everyone does, it’s like listening to a voice message.When you record a voice message and send it out to someone and listen to it back, everybody hates that.I hate listening back to my own voice as well but after awhile you become accustomed to it. You just have to do it. The more you practice and the more you sing and work with it and develop it yourself the more accustomed to it you become and after awhile you forget about whether you sound like an idiot or not. I went through a lot of phases as well when I started off. I really had this strong American accent which had come from all the artists I was listening to like Green Day and Blink -182 songs and all that which was the most nazely horrible American accent. So after awhile I just tried to develop it and make it into something. I tried to have a little bit of my own Irish accent in there but my accent has fairly watered down from all the travelling as well. When I went to Germany at the beginning people found it hard to understand me sometimes. So I had to tone down some of the more intense sides to the accent.Get rid of the “Shmoke” and actually pronounce my words properly.My dad is also quite well spoken and he always tried to encourage me to speak properly.You’d get the ol’ wooden spoon on the back of the hand you know. But I think with the voice the more you practice the better you get.“
Johnston released his debut album ‘Elephant’ in 2017 featuring some wonderful melodies, sun sprinkled vibes and oodles of soul. Each track flows smoothly into the ears; it’s a compact and impressive debut.
“All the tracks are sort of experiences I had growing up. Some of them I wrote when I was 16 or 17 years old. You know early first love, moving to the city was a big inspiration. I think a lot of that album has first time living in a big city as the backdrop to it. ‘Circus’ is about New York on J-1 and that overwhelming feeling of being in this gigantic place, feeling like, am I just another face in the crowd.Dublin is very small compared to other cities but it is much bigger than living in Mullingar so a lot of it came from that. People always ask do you write the lyrics first or the music first but that really just depends on the song.I don’t think anyone every single time writes the music first or writes the lyrics first. It depends on how you are feeling. It might start off with a riff and that riff brings about an emotion or reminds you of a certain time or place.Or I might have some lyrics written. I’ve had lyrics written and I’ve put it to music by chance.Generally it’s by chance you can’t really force it. With regards the flow it just came like that. At the time I was listening to a lot of The Beatles early stuff and I was listening to a lot of singer songwriters like Bahamas, John Mayer in particular I was quite obsessed with him when I was 16. A lot of his stuff is very smooth sort of soul pop tunes but he has something to say in the lyrics. It’s not just oh I miss my girlfriend which a lot of singer songwriters do and I liked that he had something to say whether its what it’s like growing up in school, or what it’s like having your first love or what it’s like just to live in a big city but putting it to something that is easy listening. I wasn’t really listening to anything really hard core or intense at the time so I suppose what I was listening to sort of influenced how the sound was going to be. It was always going to be a bit more smooth and easy listening because of that.’Beaches’ is a bit more upbeat than the others but it’s still smooth and you could listen to it before you go to bed. It’s not going to wake you up or anything.”
Earlier this year Johnston released his new single ‘Last Minute’ It’s a smooth, groove-drenched number as Johnston dips slinky 60’s -esque swagger into a fizzy pop sprinkled melody to create something truly infectious and timeless. The track is about when Johnston missed his train from London to Liverpool for a writing session with his producer, Rich Turvey (Blossoms, The Choral). Johnston and Turvey decided to build this experience into a portrayal of a budding relationship that is overshadowed or propelled by his latecomer streak.
“I’m currently working on the rest of the album with him (Rich Turvey). I met him through another producer in London called Dan Dare who mainly produces grime music.Hes a good songwriter and he has a side project called SLANG. I asked him if he could mix some songs that I had recorded myself and he recommended I work with Rich and he put me in touch.Rich said to come up and meet him and have a chat and we could do some writing and see if we work well together.So I booked a train for the next week and that morning I overslept. I missed the train and I was 3 or 4 hours late and this had kind of been a recurring theme in my life over the last 3 or 4 years I had just been really bad at time.When I got there and we sat down to chat I was like look I’m really sorry and he was fine he said let’s just write a song about that.If that’s the theme of your life at the moment that’s you in a song.So I came up with this lyric “ You know I didn’t mean it , I just always leave it to the last Minute” which was sort of an apology not to one particular person just to everyone. I’m not doing this on purpose you know like I know its a flaw and I’m trying to improve and I’m not going to blame it on my Irishness anymore. But yeah Rich is a legend. I went up to record with him like 3 weeks later and the exact same thing happened and he was like man I just knew you were going to miss the train.He’s a super chill guy to work with and he’s able to laugh it off.He’s got a lot of experience he’s just got two number one records with Blossoms in the UK over the last few years. He’s got a lot of success but he doesn’t really get a lot of recognition for it. Because the music industry in the UK is very much about the producers in London that are doing big pop acts. Even though the ones like Rich who is up in Liverpool has two number one albums and still somehow he doesn’t get the recognition but it doesn’t phase him.He is very relaxed he was like… 4 hours late.. ok.. I’ll just do something else and I’d be the same. Sure someone being late is annoying but if you just let those things bother you too much you will just get caught up.I think that’s why we work well. He’s a bit like myself but he’s better at time keeping. However I don’t like keeping people waiting for a show. They have waited already through a support act and the time in between and that’s annoying.”
Johnston has an upcoming album in the works so with the slight change in tone in ‘Last Minute’, it leaves a curious intrigue as to whether this next album with follow the more pop side of Last Minute’
“There are a couple of tracks on the new album that are a little bit more pop and upbeat.But I think the main reason it’s like that is we were trying to capture what it is to be always late and leave anything to the last minute. So we had that driving beat the whole way through.The drumbeat, it just doesn’t stop, it’s just kick and snare the whole way through. We don’t have any cymbals on the track it’s just a vibraslap instead of cymbals.We did that because cymbals can slow things down a bit.We wanted to have this driving thing like I’m always running to catch the train.Its a little bit more pop-y and I think that’s something to do with label people they can kind of push you in a certain direction.But I try to keep it as organic as possible.while still being a little bit more radio friendly. Also the last two tracks are singles and with singles you want to get radio play and you want to push them so people can listen to them so you don’t want a song like ‘Before You Go’ on the radio because its slow and a bit long. ‘Last Minute’ is only about 3 minutes long so it’s kind of quick to the point and says it all.I think a lot of the tracks on the next album are similar to the last record.and some are a little like ‘Last Minute’ so it just depends on the day. If I want it to be a little more of a soul track or a bit more pop it depends on my mood. “
Johnston has a very sleek 50 /60’s rock ‘n’ roll swagger in his appearance, slicked back hair and all while adding a modern touch. With social media artists are under more visual scrutiny than they ever were however how an artist looks and their style has always been a big part of branding
“100%, absolutely, but it’s also important to be authentic.I don’t think it works if you’re not authentic.I think people can see through it if you are trying too hard. I wear my own clothes. Occasionally for video shoots or photo shoots I might have a stylist who comes on set. Generally I wear what I like.I like dressing a certain way and I like to keep that apparent through the brand.But also if you look at The Arctic Monkeys which I’m very influenced by as well. I think my voice when I was younger was influenced by Alex Turner and the way he sings but I think if you look at their style it changes with each album.They have a different image for the band so the beginning, the first album was 16, 17 year old teenagers from northern England that have mod haircuts, Fred Perry and really messy guitars up really high and don’t care that much and then when they did AM it was all leather jackets slicked back hair this sort of 50’s style.and now the new record they have long hair, beards, this whole 70’s style.They have a very specific image with each record and I think that is really cool actually.But then again you have artists who just have a hoodie and a pair of jeans on stage and nobody bats an eye.It depends on the person but I think if its authentic people will get it.”
It’s difficult for a singer songwriter to keep things interesting in a live show. Johnston plays with a band for some of his live shows. He has played support slots with the likes of A-ha, Jim James, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Alice Merton, Lilly Among Clouds and Pete Doherty. He is becoming very comfortable with the live setting
“I like to shake it up but I do play on my own and with a band. If I have the band with me I will always do a couple of songs on my own just to show a different side of me and to do something a little chill.I really like to get the audience involved and get them to sing along.People find that cheesy sometimes but if you do it in the right way it can be really lovely. I’m not a great dancer so I don’t do too much dancing about the place but my bass player is always rocking and stuff so that keeps it alive. I think it’s really important what music is playing before I go on the stage.I have a playlist with a few songs that are a sort of intro before I come on the stage and I think it also matters what plays when I come off the stage.The order of the songs is important.It always depends on the gig if its an intimate show and people are sitting down or if it’s in another country and people don’t understand what I’m saying, like right now I’m playing in Budapest in Hungary.most of the audience aren’t really going to speak English so I’ll have to keep down on the chat. Sometimes it can be a bit more daunting when you have a band behind you because of the sound on stage you can’t hear your voice as well.I tend not to use in – ear monitors.So with the monitors on stage if it’s a small venue it can be hard to hear your voice.”
Sion Hill plans to have a show in Ireland later this year but for the moment you can catch him live at the dates below. Keep an eye on his Facebook page here for more details : https://www.facebook.com/sionhillofficial/
APR 11 2020 SEAN ÓG BAR & RESTAURANT, DONEGAL
APR 19 2020 THE FIDDLER, KILBURN, LONDON
APR 21 2020 HEBELBUEHNE, HAMBURG
APR 22 2020 PRIVATCLUB, BERLIN
APR 23 2020 GROOVESTATION,DRESDEN
APR 27 2020 CHELSEA,VIENNA
APR 28 2020 ZEHNER,MUNICH
APR 29 2020 NACHTLEBEH,FRANKFURT
MAY 01 2020 BLUE SHELL COLOGNE
Author : Danu
We sat down to have a chat with Scott Bellew and Kyle Bellew from Dublin alternative rock band Emily 7 in The Button Factory Dublin. We talked about their recently released EP ‘Minty’s Indie Club’, their relentless gigging and what it’s like being a new band in Ireland.
Watch The Interview Below
Author : Danu
We sat down to have a chat with Cian McCluskey, Barry Lally , Daniel Rooney and Graham Fagan from modernlove. before their headline show in The Sound House Dublin. We talked about how they craft their tunes, live shows and the band gave some solid advice for bands starting a career in music
Watch the interview below
Author : Danu
We sat down to have a spontaneous chat with Claire Miskimmin and Lyndsey McDougall from Belfast band New Pagans before their set supporting Palaye Royale at The Button Factory Dublin. We talked about the band’s sound, their influences and their new single ‘Admire’.
Watch the interview below
Author : Danu
We sat down to have a chat with Isaac Butler in The Library Bar at Central Hotel Dublin. We talked about how he crafts his songs and his inspirations as well as how he likes to conduct his shows. Isaac also performed two acoustic tracks for us ‘Young Forever’ and ‘Good Enough’ check them out below.
Author : Danu
