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A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Sion Hill

After some small technical difficulties and discussions of which mode of contact would be best due to Johnston’s phone’s decision to pack in, I sat down to have a chat with singer-songwriter Sion Hill (Nate Johnston) last week. A lot has happened since our last chat. The world went into lockdown, Johnston’s shows were postponed and he released a new single ‘Speak Up’. Given the fact that everyone now is living a new way of life due to covid-19, the track has been released at the perfect time as it discusses mustering the courage to tell your surroundings how you really feel. ‘Speak Up’ is an infectious, upbeat and utterly radiant tune. It’s quite the ray of sunshine on a miserable day and for Johnson it speaks about his anxiety through a natural upbeat and melodious medium.

“I think I wrote it about a year ago. I suppose a lot of people are thinking nowadays about technology, social media and everything else. I suffer a lot from anxiety and I don’t know where it’s brought on. I’ve always kind of had it but I think there has always been a stigma with talking about that. People are getting up and speaking about mental health issues in the last few years and I think it’s a great thing. With the walk into light and that, a lot more people are aware of it.Especially guys, who are just not very good at talking about their emotions in general. It’s still taking a while but I think people are better at it now, you know at least calling up a friend. In all my tunes I just try and keep a pretty positive upbeat melody and the music is always upbeat but I still try to say something that has some meaning. I mean most of the songs I hear coming out are just the same old story so I’m trying to say something but also keep it upbeat and hopefully that inspires people.”

Johnston slips into country/ traditional folk territory with this track especially with the perky fiddle melody. However it wasn’t his original vision for the track. In fact it was almost different tune altogether.

“ I actually listened back to the original demo I did for the song which is like five munites long.There’s two verses in it and a completely different chorus and its much slower. Its just electric guitar and voice. It was never really intended to go anywhere. It was just something I wrote for myself and I played it for a producer I work with in Hamburg and a couple of lads from another band that were there at the time. There was a fiddle player and we just started jamming and we sped it up slowly because there was a few people around and we were having some beers and we were kind of in a party mood. So we sped the thing up and it worked really well in this more upbeat faster tempo and then the fiddle player started playing this thing. He was actually German so we had to tell him how to change the notes in a way that would give it that Irish feel.

He was a seriously good violin player but it was more in the classical style so we had to get him to venture into this Irish thing. It wasn’t the intention of the song, it just went in that direction and it was cool. I mean the producer I work with, he is just insane with producing beats and finding new melodies and soundscapes so it was just a collaborative thing really the way it developed. The original song is completely different.

It’s really funny, sometimes going back and listening to the old demo, it was a different name on the computer and I was just listening to some old tracks for inspiration. Sometimes I go back to old songs and listen to them again and see if there is something there, you know, why did I stop working on this track, did I work it into something else or can I re-work it into something else and this was one of these tunes. I was looking through stuff and I heard it. I thought how on earth did that become this. It’s interesting how that happens sometimes. Its really cool when you see the end result and go back to the beginning and see how far it came. Sometimes it doesn’t change at all which is also pretty nice. “

Johnston recently represented Ireland performing his new single ‘Speak Up’ in the Free European Song Contest in front of a TV audience of 4 million viewers, finishing in the Top 10. The Free European Song Contest is a music competition in the Eurovision format that aired on German, Austrian and Swiss TV, organised by the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat Media and Stefan Raabs production company Brainpool TV. It served as an alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A surreal experience!

“Its really funny that whole thing. I was probably the first unofficially elected Irish representative for the fake Eurovision. But yeah it’s a shame the actual Eurovision was cancelled. I haven’t been a big supporter of it since Dustin the Turkey was our rep. I just thought after that it kind of went a little bit downhill. There was a couple of nice entries the last few years, the whole thing is just such a big spectacle now but it has a really loyal fanbase.

There is so many people that love that and were really missing it this year. There’s this guy, Stefan Raab and when he heard it was cancelled he was like I want to try and do something along the same lines as the Eurovision. He has a production company and he is a huge German talk show host. He’s actually retired for 2 years but his production company only runs Germany, Austria and Switzerland so he was like look that’s kind of the best I can do, so it was only open for live viewing if you were in those countries unfortunately. So that meant back home people couldn’t actually watch it live or tune in to vote.It was more of a German Eurovision style but it was on the same level. I think there were 4 million people watching and Conchita Wurst presented it. It was still a huge production and a massive audience but its not really the Eurovision at the end of the day. They knew that and they made a tongue in cheek version and they made fun of a lot of the countries but in a nice way before everyone went on.

It was also terrifying with the social distancing, that was still going on over there although Germany is pretty much opened up now at this stage but they were still wearing masks going in between backstage and onto the stage.There was perspex glass everywhere and people were dressed up in these ghostbuster outfits with visors, but it was a pretty surreal experience. It was cool to be able to perform after 2 months without playing a gig. Even though it was only 1 song, it’s still nice to get to stand up on a stage and perform.”

It’s a tricky time to release music as bands and artists can’t tour to promote their tracks. However, Johnston has already broken into the Billboard Top 100 songs in Germany and the Shazam Top 200 charts for ‘Speak Up’ 

“ Yeah its good, I’ve signed with Warner Brother Music but we released this with an independent label. Actually I think it was meant to come out this weekend but we brought it out early…I think a lot of people were shazaming it and it’s got a lot of radio play in Germany at the moment so we will see how it goes. I think it’s really difficult right now to release music. I’ve seen a lot of bands that normally would release an album then do a tour and have postponed the album release so that they can tour it but then some of them have just gone ahead with it. Yeah it’s such a weird time to release music you have so many battles with trying to get things into playlists you just can’t promote the song without playing it live. It’s doing alright though, I think in Germany its doing great. Hopefully it picks up a little bit in Ireland. “

The music video for ‘Speak Up’ was shot in Berlin.However this was not the original plan for the video but Johnston has had to improvise to get the shots he needed including creating fake rain.

“Originally I was meant to film it in Ireland.But that was cancelled obviously so when I went over to Berlin to do this competition. I had to quarantine in Berlin for 2 weeks and then I had to quarantine here for 2 week when I came back to Ireland. So that was 4 weeks for a 3 minute and 21 second performance its ridiculous! but we were just there and originally I filmed myself with a webcam playing the song and lots of different clips. I put it together and it was pretty cool but the label were like we want an actual video so I put all that work in and had to scrap it.

I called up some friends who work with a band in Germany called Giant Rooks and Milky Chance and they go around with them and do these live videos and photography and stuff. They came over to the apartment and I said let’s just walk around and film. I like their style I like their vibe its quite personal and sometimes that’s nice just the personal introspective look at the artist. I went for a walk and they came to the house, played the song a few times, went out, walked around the streets, drove through Berlin for a bit and that was it. Nothing major but sometimes its nice to just have a look at the artist just walking around singing the song.

Actually we used the film directors car. He had an old Mercedes Hatchback from like the late 80’s or early 90’s or something.It was quite a cool car to drive, the gears are really sticky and it actually has some decent acceleration on it as well. It was meant to rain that evening and it didn’t so we went down to this sort of car park old petrol pump place. It’s in the video, you can see me walking around there where I parked up. [We] tried to mimic the rain and the lights. [We] basically just put all these random things into the car and then just got one of those car wash spray things and sprayed water over the car. There was a girl who had to hold this, I don’t even know what she was doing. I think she had to hold a light and she had a massive rain coat on and she just got soaked by this thing for 10 minutes. You do what you gotta do to get the shot but its pretty fun being on these sets sometimes.”

Johnston always looks confident and at home in his videos.I wondered was he always confident in front of the camera or is it just something he has had to get used to.

“ Oh I’m not confident in front of the camera at all. I hate it but you have to do it. At the beginning, one of the first tracks I released we did a video that wasn’t released [ for it ]. It was with some directors that wanted a group of people, a few of them were dancers and I’m rubbish at dancing and they were like just do some dancing while your walking toward the camera. I was like, what! get me a choreographer, I’m not a dancer. It was the first music video I had done, the first video I had done since I was a kid when we just filmed things with little cameras running around the place playing Lord of The Rings, but now I’m more comfortable with it. I kind of know how it works.

I have a good few friends who are filmmakers and photographers so I chat with them a lot about how it works. Obviously it’s pretty interesting to hear about it first hand and to be honest I’ve done it enough times so it’s fine.I just prefer being behind the camera but in the end its difficult to convince the label guys and the management that I shouldn’t be in the video. Although I’d love to be able to film a story and maybe have a cameo or something or just not be in the video at all but they want you to be in the video unless you are like an indie rock band.

It’s a brand in the end and you have to represent the brand, but then, Ed Sheeran, I think his first video, The A Team song, he’s only in like one clip, Hozier’s not in Take Me To Church. There are so many videos like that in the pop realms, because obviously when you go down into indie territory, rock music it’s often just a story. You’re not always going to have the band or the artist in the video.Sometimes it doesn’t matter, it is just an artists thing anyway. In the pop industry it’s rare that you don’t have the artist and it’s rare that they are not singing to the camera as well. I always find that a bit strange because it’s more of a hip hop style to actually sing to the lens. The hardest thing when you are on film or recording your own voice is listening back to it, especially with other people but once you do it and put it out there you get so much encouragement from people and you realise that people really appreciate when you do that because it’s not easy. Most people know it’s not easy. It gives you a confidence boost for the very first time you do it. It’s just the first initial get up and go that’s difficult. It’s like anything, like going for a run. Once you get out there you’re grand but initiating the run is horrific.”

Last time we spoke Johnston told me he had a new album in the works. Thankfully the lockdown has not slowed the progress of the album too much, although he has had to do a lot of remote collaboration with his band to lay down the drums etc. 

“Yeah it did but it’s almost finished. I had one more session left to do that was cancelled..the ones I have done… my drummer, he’s got a studio in his house. So I sent him the tracks, he recorded some stuff, I sent some stuff to a violin player to put some things on, I sent some stuff to another guy who plays keys. Most of it was finished, half the songs are actually done.The rest of it, a lot of it has been done remotely and it’s really interesting sending it because when you are in the studio you can influence what happens and tell them what you want but when you just send something over to a drummer and say, yeah play on it and send it back. It’s going to be pretty cool to hear what they try and do to it. It’s coming along. I think it should be finished by the end of July. We have a session set up for mid July. I don’t know when it will come out but it’s nearly done.”

Johnston was due to perform at a number of music festivals and had the Last Minute Tour postponed which opened up his schedule a little. He has made the most of his time and has a few things planned for the coming months 

“It’s not the worst thing, I think when I spoke to you last I was in Hungary. Those were the last gigs I played and around that time they were saying things were closing down and my tour was sort of being postponed around then so I knew it was coming. That was early March. I don’t know, you just have to make the most of it. I’ve been just writing songs. I think that’s been better for me right now. Just having time for myself, I think most people have benefited from this if you have a garden or an outdoor area. The weather has been nice so you have time to go out in the garden and get healthy. That’s sort of what I’ve been doing. I think tour life is not the healthiest so I probably saved myself a couple of years in this last few months.

It’s still quite busy though, I mean I went to Germany and I did that and you have to get up in the morning you can’t just be lying around the place. For me I just tried to get fit, start eating healthier, focus on myself and spend a couple of hours a day just writing. There is a lot of crap that comes out of it. After a while you kinda think yeah I need to travel and I need to meet people and go out in public and see things to find inspiration. I find it gimmicky writing from things you see online.I want to get back into the world. I think a lot of people need that. Writers, artists, musicians especially if you are writing lyrics you need to go out in public there is only so much you can do from your bedroom.

I’m doing a couple of these street music festival things. There is a couple around mainland Europe, in the Netherlands, one in Hungary again. I don’t know, they seem to like me over there, they keep asking me to come back. Which is nice I really like it there it’s beautiful.So I’m doing a street festival where they have a couple of small stages and they limit the amount of people that can come in and watch. Apart from that we are rescheduling some dates for September/October but I don’t know we will see what happens. I think things are opening up a little bit but it’s just hard to actually make a plan.I know loads of people have already set out tour dates but I’d be afraid of it being cancelled again and it’s just a nightmare when that happens.”

Sion Hill as an artist is gaining traction and his new single ‘Speak Up’ is a delight to the ears. He is developing his sound allowing the beautiful soulful tones of his debut album  ‘Elephant’ flourish and blossom as he adds catchy pop elements and warm folk hues into the mix. Each of his releases have been tight, vibrant earworms. Johnston’s knack for sweet melodies make his tracks dangerously addictive. If his velvety tone, passionate vocals and swaggered personality alone don’t pique your interest then the upbeat sunny glows that surround his tunes, rich musicianship and irresistible hooks will get you for sure. 

Watch the video for ‘Speak Up’ below 


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With – Alfie From Hudson Taylor

I had a chat with Alfie from Hudson Taylor last week about their new single ‘Favourite Song’, their music writing process and how they create those perfect harmonies. Between a little banter about the lull in the sunny weather and the shock of a  bird flying into Alfie’s window during our conversation which was apparently “the most exciting thing to happen in a while” Alfie explained how he has been spending his time on lockdown as well as his inspiration for ‘Favourite Song’.

Five years have passed since the release of their debut ‘Singing For Strangers’ – which charted at number three in Ireland – and in that time the brothers have been hard at work crafting the songs which make up “Loving Everywhere I Go”. The album, which was recorded in Seattle, Nashville and Dublin. It features the hits ‘Feel It Again’, ‘Run With Me’, ‘Back To You’, ‘What Do You Mean?’ as well as current single ‘Favourite Song’ and went straight to number one on the Irish album chart. Hudson Taylor are also the first Irish artists to top the charts in the new decade.The duo put a lot of work into the album and were chuffed with how it all payed off.

“ Yeah it felt absolutely amazing. We worked hard on this album for the best of three and a half years, it took us all over the world and lots of our friends and family are involved in making the album and the whole campaign and lead up to the release of it was just amazing. We got to meet so many people that were listening to our music. We went around and promoted it all over Ireland. So yeah the two of us were so delighted on the day we found out.”

Hudson Taylor have taken their time releasing their tracks and although they have plenty of music and EP’s out there ‘Loving Everywhere I Go’ is the duo’s second album. They don’t try to rush their music but allow it to be created at a pace that is right for them.

“We had released a lot of EP’s in between our albums. So we have two albums out and I would say technically three albums out and then about eight EP’s which would amount to, if you counted up all the songs and you had ten songs on each album, I think we’d have six albums out by now. So that’s what we did to bridge the gap. Our label chose to do that while we were out touring in other countries, so we could delay the album so we could play to more people and release more music in the meantime before committing fully to an album. I think that was the idea but I think there is no right or wrong way to do it really. Some people may write very fast and might write an album in a year and they might have the visual concept ready and their music and everything else ready and they can do that.Other artists I think, yeah sometimes it does take time. If I was to say what are we going to do with our next album?, I would say yeah it’s not going to happen in a year.It could be another three years or something like that. I haven’t even thought about that yet.”

‘Loving Everywhere I Go’ is an energetic rich album brimming with vibrant passionate musicianship, utter joy and hope. Their new single ‘Favourite Song’ encapsulates this perfectly

“Well, the chorus was just in my head. I dont know why Favourite Song came into my head. ” you are like my favourite song” ( lyric ), .. maybe I heard it in passing or maybe I said it but it just came into my head.Then I put that to a little tune and wrote the rest of the chorus. Harry was due to come over, we were due to do a bit of writing with some friends of ours in the UK and just before we got into the studio I sang it to Harry and said hey what do you think of this idea, its called Favourite Song. He loved it and said yeah lets work on it with the lads. So we got in, the lads started making up a track and I wrote down a couple of the verses, the boys helped me a little bit and that was it. We sat on it for about 9 months and when we came to looking at recording and putting together our second album that song came into play and then recording it was a whole different beast.”

‘Favourite Song’ is quite the contender to be everyone’s favourite song this summer. The duo released it at a time when everyone was on lockdown and it was the fun golden ray of sunshine we all needed.

“We released ‘What Do You Mean’ prior to this that came out when our album did around February and we were due to release another single before we started gigging again in the summer but obviously that didn’t happen. I always thought Favourite Song would be a good song to release in the summer because it’s got that certain thing about it. So I was happy that everybody else agreed that it would be a good song to go with and then this happened. I think we delayed it a little bit just because we didn’t know what was going on and we wanted to give it the best and as much time as we possibly could. Other than that we kind of planned to release it anyway and it just so happens that it is upbeat. Hopefully it is what people do appreciate at this time and help people for a brief moment forget about what’s going on and maybe move around.”

There is plenty happening in the world at present and some artists feel compelled to write about the topics in the news. Alfie takes a personal and perhaps emotional approach to world events

“ Well, the personal experiences, kind of is new as well for me. I could write a song about what happened to me on a day where some world event happened and I’ll feel a certain way because of that world event and that will inspire my writing. I love talk radio, I love hearing people’s stories and telling my own stories. There would be lines in the album that were inspired by something that happened on that day or a big world event. I think all that stuff, if you’re tuned in and listen to the news it will affect you. It’s dark or moving in whatever way, shape or form and it will influence your life. I tend to write about things that influence my life so it does creep in, absolutely. Now, I have not been able to get Coronavirus into a song nor will I try. Really it will be more the effect it has on us all and myself and my surroundings.”

Music has the ability to relate to and move people. One song can evoke and connect with people in so many different ways allowing the listener to express their feelings through someone else’s words. Hudson Taylor fans bellow out their lyrics at the top of their lungs and I wondered what were Alfies thoughts on how his lyrics reach people and how they connect with the duo’s songs.

“ I think with most of our songs, certainly the lyrics I write have to mean something to me otherwise there isn’t really a point in doing it. Unless of course it’s a fun song and you’re trying to write something meaningless then that’s different. If it is a song that’s about something affecting you well, it has to mean something to you and if it means something to you it most likely means something to someone else. So I try and be as honest as possible without obviously telling everyone what I had for breakfast. Being straight up with emotions I think helps me to write songs and I just think what’s the simplest way to describe how I’m feeling now and often the simplest thing is the best way.“

With the gigs, I love hearing people say they relate to a tune because often it’s completely different to why I wrote the song. They have taken on their own meaning and getting their own story and I think that’s what it’s all about. I really like that a song I wrote about my partner could be someone’s wedding song and it means something completely different to them.I love that and I love hearing other people stories and connections.It’s something that is quite special with music “

This is only their second album but it feels like Hudson Taylor have been a household staple forever. In the twelve years since they began their journey they have gained a steady and dedicated following. But Alfie doesn’t feel pressure to follow up previous successes with each release

“ Some maybe yeah, I try not to. I try to write music that I like to hear. Often if I think about what’s on the radio or if you try to write a song that would sound good for this and that it doesn’t work, for me anyway. For some people it might work. I just try to write catchy melodies or catchy lyrics that I want to hear or that Harry might go, oh that’s nice. It’s just following your instincts really, thats usually where it all comes from. So in that extent I suppose we are able to know from the songs we have released what songs get played on the radio and what songs don’t. We are lucky enough to know that and that gives us a little bit of an indication. But then of course there’s trends all the time and you can be just lost in making music for the radio.

It’s pretty hard to do, if it was easy everyone would be doing it. So we just try and write music we like, that means stuff to us and then hopefully it will mean something to our audience and if our audience like it enough then the radio might pick up on it and if the radio pick up on it, it might get exposed to more people. I still like to think our music is word of mouth and that a good song will hopefully get heard. I tend not to think about it too much but I feel very lucky to get played. I just learn from what we have done so far and take that into account.”

Hudson Taylor have been doing a live stream each week which has been a great way to give people a taste of that live vibe. However they are no strangers to this medium of performance. They were doing this nearly 10 years ago to reach a larger audience.

“Yeah we started very early. In 2008 / 2009 we were doing live streams from our family home in Dublin, performing to all sorts of people all over the world and then we stopped using all that stuff as we got more busy with gigs. So now we are finding ourselves back on it. Obviously everything has changed but we have an idea of what to do and we have a load of songs to play and loads of different ways to play them and they have been really fun.

We have been asking people to request songs and we are doing it for everybody who has been supporting our album and would have been seeing us at gigs. It’s just something that we are enjoying doing and it’s just keeping us engaged in music and hopefully keeping other people engaged and giving people something to watch during these mad times.Its quality over quantity like how much do you go on and how good is it.

We have discovered that we both can’t play on Instagram, it will just be one of us so that will be more relaxed. Its like busking, I like it. The YouTube stuff is a little bit more organised.I think about them as if it was a show or if it was something I was watching on a TV show. The beauty of it is its live and its not too over thought but still a high quality thing.

I’ve learnt loads in the process. I’ve learnt with recording myself at home, like I’m so used to having an audience so now I’m just singing into a camera, no ones there and its the weirdest thing ever.I’m starting to get the hang of it now. I don’t take many selfies and I’m not like that or used to that so its been weird getting used to it. But we got there in the end. Harry has been amazing; he edits it all together and makes it so slick. But its been fun.”

Hudson Taylor have beautiful harmonies that no matter the circumstance they can provide an amazing show and their perfect blend has been something the duo have had all along.

“That’s our thing you know, the vocals and then us being brothers and what we both individually bring to the project.That’s our thing.We grew up listening to a lot of music with harmony in it you know Simon & Garfunkel,The Everly Brothers, The Beach Boys,The Beatles. Harry was in a lot of choirs and I was in a few choirs as a kid. Harry has always been the harmoniser. I picked it up over the years and I can now sing harmony but it took me a long time to learn it.The blend has always been there from the very beginning. When we started singing songs together I start singing the melody and boom Harry was in on the harmony. It was always natural and then when we went into our own songs, you know we can write a song thats good to sing harmonies too and a song that isn’t good to sing harmonies too that takes a lot of experimentation. But its something that we are very lucky to have.From the first time we started singing together that was the story. Harry has been great at it really , He has such an understanding of harmonies. Since I can remember you could be any situation and a song comes on the radio and Harry’s there singing the harmony. It’s embarrassing at times but its served him well.”

It was quite a shock at first finding out all the gigs planned have been cancelled however Alfie is enjoying the time he now has and making the most of it.

“ Absolutely, at first I was watching everything happen and I was in the UK. Things were going on in the UK and everything had shut down in Ireland. It was just a really confusing time, I was in a complete freak. I was told, yeah you’re going to be going… you’re not going to be going.We were due to go to Denmark and tour all over Europe. I was really worried about it and now in hindsight I just don’t look at the gigs I missed. I just don’t look at the festivals that are happening this weekend or whatever. But I’m enjoying it in whatever way I can. I haven’t spent this much time in one place in 10 years and thats been really nice. I’m with my partner and my dogs. I’ve never had this much time to think about what we have done. We are all grounded. For now we are going to keep on doing these live streams, gonna keep making noise about Favourite Song without leaving the house.I hope to be writing more songs and getting lots of inspiration and doing other things while I can’t be on the road. My friend owns a cafe I might jump in and help out with that. I really like the atmosphere there. I think it might be good for me and something a bit different. He plays great tunes as well. We are keeping ourselves busy with the live streams and that.”

Hudson Taylor have the deft ability to create pop tunes that are sure to put a spring in your step and a smile on your face. They blend emotive songwriting and lush harmonies to make enjoyable and rich songs that exude energy and passion. Whether it’s a live stream or a sell out show they are definitely worth checking out.

You can stream ’Loving Everywhere I Go’ below 


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Isaac Butler

I caught up with Dublin singer-songwriter Isaac Butler to chat about his recently released new single ‘Paranoid’ and how he’s keeping busy during lockdown.

 ‘Paranoid’ is a great track filled with summer vibes, rich instrumentation and Butler’s sweet musicianship however the lyrics have a melancholic tone that candidly details the breakdown of a romantic relationship. Hindsight gave Butler an easier perspective on the tracks theme providing him with the ability to take an upbeat stance musically on the topic

“It wasn’t a difficult song to write, no. I think it’s because it is brutally honest. I wrote it in like half an hour. I wrote it on an acoustic guitar.It’s a really simple song structurally.It’s brutally honest so I mean I wasn’t really looking for places to take the lyrics from and Its probably the most personal song I’ve released so far. Definitely the most honest. I wrote it about something that was so far back in my past so I wasn’t still personally affected by it. It was a nice song to write because it was so autobiographical.

 I’ve listened to so many interviews of great songwriters and artists that I love. Brandon Flowers of The Killers is one of them and he says that something happens to him and then he has to take time to almost process it. Like say something happens the day before and you write a song, maybe sometimes that happens for some people but it doesn’t for me. An event might happen in my life or to a friend or to me and I would come back to that like six months later and that’s when the song seems to come because you write it from a place of hindsight. It’s not like you’re really happy about something that happened yesterday or you’re really sad and you write a super happy song or a super sad song, you have that time to reflect and get every angle into it. It’s funny because you listen to the song first and you think ‘oh ! It’s a happy summer song‘ but if you put it under the microscope and listen to the words and take away the production and stuff it’s actually really cynical which I love about it.

My favourite songs are the songs that are angry or sad songs that sound happy. You know the Shawn Mendes song ‘My Blood’, it’s super upbeat and even production wise there’s big guitar parts and it’s quite rocky with a festival feel but it’s a song about anxiety you know, it’s a dark song and it sounds great. The 1975 are so good at it.A lot of their songs sound really happy but their lyrics are actually almost shocking at times which I think is really interesting.That’s kind of what I try to do.I think it went well.”

‘Paranoid’ has an insanely catchy, electronic vocal hook that just sticks in your head all day. Butler told me how he came up with the hook and the process of making the features the track pivots around

“The day I wrote the song I demoed it up with Robert Grace, he produced the song.He also helped me write it. From the get go we had that hook, the do do do do and that’s actually just me talking into a mic and he kinda messed with it on the computer and we built the entire song around that. I like to call it catchy but I think it’s getting quite annoying for people.I think it’s one of these songs that doesn’t leave your head so people are loving it at the moment but I’m gonna fear for my email and my messages in like 10 months when people are sick of it and want me to shut up.Its funny but I love it. The electronic production was definitely a decision we made early on “

This isn’t Butler’s first time writing a vocal hook or melody that sticks firmly in your head. His knack with earworm melodies feature in nearly all his releases in some shape or form and he clearly has a talent for writing tracks that appeal to his listeners considering his previous releases ‘Moon Song’, ‘Rescue Me’ and ‘Young Forever’ have together racked up over 1 million streams on Spotify so far.

“ I really love having a hook. As of late I tend to write songs around a melodic hook or a chant. When we spoke last, when I released ‘Young Forever’ we talked about the ‘oh oh oh’ and I started with that for that song and I have another song coming out called We Were Alone and I wrote it around a line that said and ‘we were alone oh oh oh oh’, you know I love writing around a chant. For me the whole thing about doing this is doing it for the live show. Which is a bit bleak because there are no live shows now but I love creating that atmosphere in a room or at a festival or wherever, so people can hear something and by the time the second chorus comes around they know it.For me going to gigs, that’s what I love. Just being able to sing along. I don’t always do it and I don’t feel like I have to put in something like that but if I can I do like to do it.”

Even with the covid-19 lockdown Butler has still managed to record a music video for ‘Paranoid’. It hasn’t been easy for artists trying to create content and learning new IT skills while dealing with cancelled shows and festivals this summer. Butler’s headline show at The Sound House is now rescheduled to 9th October 2020, with all original tickets valid for the new date. It’s a difficult time to navigate through but Butler has taken it in his stride.

“ Well normally I would have my good friend Peter Barnes who has done every video so far, but I can’t meet him now unfortunately. So I shot it yesterday in my room. I won’t give too much away but it’s me in my room and there’s gonna be three of me in the video. It’s like three little Isaac’s interactions with each other. It could be dangerous but no it’s good. It’s fun and I shot it on my iphone and I did it myself with help from my family.It’s funny the Covid thing has forced me to learn how to do some of the stuff on my own. I would have alway gone to Peter, let’s say and he’s still editing the video for me but I shot it myself. Even all the graphics for ‘Paranoid’ and the promo graphics for before the song came out I did myself and that was just because I was forced to learn how to do it, which is great! 

I felt kind of terrible about things at the start of this because I had to postpone a headline show and had all my festivals cancelled, I had a Kodaline support slot lined up for June for one of their Olympia shows. It would have been amazing, it would have been my first time in the Olympia in front of a sold out crowd. You know it’s a similar kind of music, I think the crowd would have enjoyed it, I would have loved it obviously. So that was a bit of a kick in the teeth but listen everyones in the same boat and I’m in no way complaining but it was definitely a bit of a blow because I’ve spent the last two years building and then when things finally started to happen I’m swept under my feet a bit and that was tough to take but I’ve been productive in other areas. The live shows are gone but I’ve been writing loads, creating content and figuring things out. I’ve got a new logo made , I did my first brand collaboration with River Island and that was really cool. I did some live streams with you guys. I did one with Hot Press. I’m keeping busy you know but I’m buzzing to get back out playing live. I’m excited because all of these new songs I just want to test them out.”

So here we all are in a crazy lockdown pandemic and Butler is whacking out wonderful live and acoustic versions of his tracks on his social media with a sublime Ukulele version of Paranoid most recently. He is becoming quite the tech savvy pro at it at this stage. His content is to a very high standard with wonderful background settings. 

“Oh I’m not tech savvy at all. I should be but really I’m not. I’m living at home and I’m the eldest of five so I have two sisters and two brothers and I’ve got my mum and dad here so they are all keen to help.It gets them off the couch.We’ve got a little stone sort out-house thing at the back and it’s really lovely for the live streams. It’s nice for me and keeps the content fresh so I’m not just in my room or whatever. It’s nice especially in the long evenings when the sun goes in a bit and I put up fairy lights and candles and it creates a nice little atmosphere.”

One perk to being able to do the live streams is that fans still get to hear some exclusive unreleased songs. There are a lot of comments from fans during Butler’s live streams asking what songs he will release next. At the moment Butler is focusing on Paranoid but is thinking of which of his many unreleased tunes is next to be released. 

“ It’s tricky. I mean ‘Paranoid’ came out about three weeks ago.I’m still going to let that one breathe. It’s funny because you put in so much effort for the pre-promotion for a song and then you put it out and it’s out and you have to then keep going after it. As in let’s say for my first release ‘Moon Song’ nothing really happened for 3 or 4 months and then it got picked up by a TV show so there is all that kind of stuff, especially because in the initial push on ‘Paranoid’, people seem to like it and radio really like it which is great. It got 2fm track of the week with Eoghan McDermott and Doireann which was amazing and it also got selected for FM104 Select Irish for the whole month of June so that also kicks in next week.So I’m just going to see how that goes and ride that little wave for a little while.The video is going to be out hopefully next Friday, if not the Friday after, so that will be an extra little push.

 I’m going to let Paranoid breathe a bit. Yeah I have songs ready, it’s just about picking which one. People seem to like ‘Good Enough’. See this is where it’s tricky for someone trying to establish themself..do I put out another song that’s like Paranoid or do I put out another song that I love, it’s tricky to know. There’s loads of new people liking Paranoid so do I stick to that style for the next one? To be honest, I think no. I think I’ll put out the music that I love and that I think is great. It’s quite difficult now to really establish yourself with the whole streaming world. You know the way people are releasing singles instead of albums and EP’s. I think that is great because you can play around with different sounds like what I have done with Paranoid.

Paranoid is a really different song to Young Forever. It’s nice though it leaves doors open.It means I can mess around with things. I was always thinking do I have to be confined to one particular sound or genre and I just don’t think you do anymore. With the singles I think you can bring out two completely different songs and it not be weird. I write lots of different types of songs and I don’t think I should suppress that. If I write a pop song I shouldn’t be afraid to put synths behind that or if I write a band song like Young Forever I’m not afraid to put out a song like that.You can do it all live so why not? You do run the risk of confusing people but I don’t really think it’s an issue. If I think about it too much I will freak myself out. But it’s going really well and I’m going to just keep going. 

So what has Isaac Butler got planned for the rest of lockdown? 

“Well the rest of the never ending lockdown, I dont know. I’m going to keep going with the Paranoid stuff. I’m doing a couple of writing sessions a week whether its myself or with other people just to keep building my live reel of songs so when I need them they are there.I don’t think I’ll ever be scrambling for songs because I have spent the last three years writing and I do have a lot of songs that I believe in and I think will see the light of day eventually but yeah I think my plans for now are just keep going as I am and look towards maybe doing some sort of gig like a social distance kind of Covid gig in September/October. Have you seen the Gavin James Drive In thing he is doing? Obviously Gavin has that massive audience and he is like super established and I’m a huge Gavin fan so I’ll probably go to that but I think I’m definitely toying with the idea of that but to a smaller scale.There are people who want to come to a show so I want to do one. Even if it’s like 20 cars in a car park. Something like that could be cool.So I’m putting my attention to that.So basically, keep the Paranoid dream alive,then the follow up song figure that out and sort the campaign for that and then maybe look towards doing an outdoor gig somewhere”

Isaac Butler is a singer songwriter who writes catchy, heartfelt tracks and it’s great to see his live streams present his wonderful tunes through the perfect medium that is his voice and guitar  (or Ukulele at times). I’m sure when everything is back to normal his live shows are going to be hot topics of discussion. If he pulls off that drive in show I will be there for sure! 

Stream Isaac Butler’s new single ‘Paranoid’ below 


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter, Video Interviews

A Chat With : Sam Ludlow

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

A Chat With, Indie, Indie Pop, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Miles Graham

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

A Chat With, Indie, indie rock, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : Columbia Mills

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

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Sion Hill

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

Watch the video for ‘Last Minute’ below 


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Alt Rock, indie rock, Interviews, New Music, Video Interviews

A Chat With : Emily 7

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

A Chat With, Indie, Indie Pop, Interviews, New Music, Video Interviews

A Chat With : modernlove.

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