Who are your three main musical influencers?

My first major motivation and inspiration to pick up the guitar was Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page. I bought the compilation album ‘Mothership’ from HMV when I was about thirteen years old, it was via a recommendation from a mate who was mad on classic rock. Didn’t take much listening to sort out my first guitar starter pack and try riffing like Jimmy, I even named my cat after him. He always played tasty improvised guitar in his solo and rhythm playing which is ingrained within my playing to this day. It’s a complete hassle for sound engineers and videographers as instrumentally I never play any song the same way ever!

Alike Zeppelin I bought a (then reasonably priced) Oasis album from HMV, years on until now so many songs Noel has penned are still fresh and enjoyable as ever (especially after a few vodka and cokes). Creatives can use artistic expression as therapy and as a way to express negative and sad themes a lot, but Noel has a fantastic use of positive themes that must connect to a global unconscious given the worldwide success and connection of those songs.

Through the many different music and social circuits I’ve matured through, I’ve always felt a great connection to Noels tunes. Whether that’s his working-class punk-esque identity and beginnings, the stadium rock star attitude or the heartfelt ballads he creates, he’s managed to craft such a brilliant canvas for the listener to project their own meanings and/or emotions onto, which I’ve always appreciated.

My third is a constant rotation of whichever live artist is performing at the time. Watching artists in my field perform to an audience live gives me a second-hand buzz and anxiety itch to get on stage myself, whether a small local or major name. When I started song writing I attended so many live gigs and saw so many artists with different aspects to learn from. It’s a testament to live music really because that spark only really ignites when the performer is there in the same space as you expressing themselves, once the moment is over you can’t re-feel that connection.

What would you say your biggest musical achievement is so far?

My biggest musical achievement is staying true to myself and managing to stay afloat whilst purely being a creative – not as easy as it could be! I used to visualise myself performing while listening to a dodgy MP3-player in bed before school as a kid, albeit I was the drummer! (Which wasn’t as easy to practice in an attached house with an unplugged electric guitar…) So basically my biggest musical achievement is being and successfully staying a proper massive CHILD!

Being able to get up on stage as a solo artist every night is also a considerable on-going musical achievement. Before picking up the acoustic guitar I performed in bands, so to step on stage and bare my soul to a crowd as an individual I think will forever be a daunting task, especially when rusty! In my early performances I had some absolute catastrophic disasters which I will save for another time haha but to #shrugemoff and move onwards to the next night is an adrenaline-fueled constant achievement.

What are your plans for the near future? Do you have any recent or upcoming releases?

My plans for the near future are to remain present, consistent and and continue making friends and opportunities through my work alongside building a healthy catalogue of material, but really the bottom line is to continue having fun the best way I can! Regarding current releases I’ve put out three singles with accompanying B-sides and music videos so far this year with more material locked and loaded for the near-future, I’m hoping to one day have a situation viable with being in the studio fulltime releasing all the music my heart desires!

Hopefully we won’t be hokey cokey-ing back into lockdown after this removal of restrictions so one of my main intentions is to jump back onto the live circuit and make up for lost time! I had big ambitions for my live performance numbers in 2020 until lockdown hit so I have a year and a half of tunes to be belting in due time! Anyone got any lozenges?

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