Latest / The Christian Reeve Podcast / Mary Hennessy | The Christian Reeve Podcast #227

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Mary Hennessy | The Christian Reeve Podcast #227 · The Christian Reeve Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to another episode of Christian Reed
• 0:02
  podcast. Today's guest is a
• 0:04
  singer-songwriter hailing all the way from Liverpool.
• 0:06
  Her name is Mary Hennessy. Welcome to the show.
• 0:08
  How you doing? Hello.
• 0:10
  I'm doing good. I'm happy to be here.
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  Excited to see what we're going to talk about as well.
• 0:15
  I'm happy to have you here. Yeah, I'm doing well.
• 0:17
  I'm doing well. Happy to to have you here.
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  Obviously. As I said, been following your
• 0:21
  stuff for for a couple of years now and I feel like you've kind
• 0:26
  of like stepped it. Upper gear, I don't know,
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  creatively speaking, maybe there's something there that's
• 0:32
  changed. But before we get into all of
• 0:35
  that, I wanna kind of just take it all the way back and sort of
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  talk about how you kind of got into music and songwriting in
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  general, cuz I think there's always an interesting story
• 0:45
  there from person to person. So how did you get into it all?
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  And so. Well, I mean, I I've played
• 0:52
  guitar. Like, I only really played
• 0:54
  guitar acoustically since I was maybe like 11 or 12, but I never
• 0:58
  really understood the guitar at all until I properly 19/19/20.
• 1:04
  And then before that, when I was about like 15, I used to really
• 1:08
  enjoy writing poetry. I didn't know as much anymore.
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  But then that sort of like gradually developed into like
• 1:16
  songwriting and I think my first like song that I wrote.
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  Was maybe when I was about 17, probably like posted it on
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  YouTube or something and I kind of remember which which one it
• 1:29
  was for sure. But I think it sort of came
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  about from those two things. So like coming together, yeah,
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  it's it's quite a similar sort of story that I think most
• 1:41
  musicians have, isn't it? You know, you kind of you find
• 1:44
  yourself kind of playing around with stuff.
• 1:45
  It's the same for me. I trained my bike when I was
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  like 11 for a guitar and then we'll see back in the row
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  stairs, the Internet was still and it's like it's sort of
• 1:57
  infancy, like there were stuff online, but like online guitar
• 2:00
  for example isn't wasn't what it is today.
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  So I was just sort of learning with chord books and hopelessly
• 2:06
  failing and such. But yeah, like it's it's just
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  like you're just a lot of time. It's experimentation really,
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  isn't it? And one thing I found very
• 2:16
  interesting, like it's interesting because, and maybe
• 2:21
  it's just certain parts of the country, but there are like
• 2:22
  particular cities that seem to breed like a lot of musicians.
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  Like right now I'm in Manchester.
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  Obviously don't need to tell you about the cultural impact there
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  from a music standpoint, but you're in Liverpool and you
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  know, Liverpool gave us The Beatles, for example.
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  And what I find interesting is that you're still getting a lot
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  of amazing acts coming through Liverpool and Manchester.
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  For example, I found a really, really good artist from
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  Liverpool called Strawberry Guy. Is his name something like that?
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  And similar to yourself making moves on places like TikTok and
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  then kind of ended up touring etcetera, etcetera.
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  So I guess what my question to you is, is like, could you talk
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  us through Liverpool's kind of current music scene and how it
• 3:15
  compares with, you know, the history?
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  Because obviously it must be. I know, I know, like even from
• 3:20
  people I know from Liverpool, it is sometimes quite tiresome
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  people going on and on and on and on about The Beatles.
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  I know there's like a tourist shop every five like meters in
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  Liverpool, But like from your perspective as a musician, like
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  how do you interpret? It.
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  I mean, I love The Beatles, so I'm always happy to have that
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  reference point there. But with the music scene in
• 3:44
  Liverpool, it's definitely really like, I mean, I'm sure
• 3:48
  it's like this in other cities, but maybe because it's like a
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  smaller city, I guess it's just really like community based and
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  you can find loads of like helpful things if you're an
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  independent artist as well, if you just like let you like.
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  Look at the right places on stuff.
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  And one example recently I did this thing was like Sound City,
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  which was like this free like 10 week course where you could sign
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  up to it. And maybe there was like 10 to
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  15 of us who got into the course and it was really good.
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  Like each week, like a different guest speaker would come in from
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  like a different facet of like the music industry.
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  And like, you could just ask all like the questions you have
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  because sometimes I think it's hard to find the info you need
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  to sort of like just take that little step further because it
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  can just be really confusing. And sometimes, I don't know,
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  like people can like Gatekeep or like, yeah, I don't know.
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  It's just like a weird environment sometimes, but
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  there's just loads of things like that.
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  Like people are just so willing to like help you out and.
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  People are so willing to like answer your questions if you
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  have any and just be really supportive of founds with music
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  stuff in Liverpool. And and yeah, it's just it's
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  nice to be able to like reach out to someone and ask for their
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  support or like see if you want to support them doing a show.
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  Because I'm like trying to get in to do more live shows a
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  minute because I'm super experienced with that.
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  Yeah, I really need to like, hopefully get good at that and
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  just figure out. What I want the different live
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  sounds to be, but I found loads of help there as well with like
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  local Liverpool artists. And it's just it's really nice
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  because it it can be quite like daunting and confusing
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  sometimes. But then it feels like everyone,
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  like not everyone, but I mean some people just really know
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  what's going on in the music scene like with the live stuff
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  as well. And if you're just getting into
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  it, it's really important to just have people there to sort
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  of like. Teach you things and make you
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  aware of how things work and stuff.
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  So I found that people are super helpful.
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  It's nice I have to say like because I started doing music
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  like properly when I was about 1718 and I did it on and off for
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  years and I did the whole circuit growing up in London and
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  stuff. And what I've noticed and this
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  again, this was like 10 years ago, the live scene and the way
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  that is approached is more or less somewhat the same.
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  Like certain things would be a little bit different, but it's
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  mostly the same. But like the industry itself and
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  how you get into it and how you set yourself up totally
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  different. You know, back in my day, it was
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  back in my day, Back in my day it was all just like, you know,
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  giving out EP's, trying to just play as much as possible,
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  hopefully, maybe get noticed, maybe get signed.
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  And I feel like now as an artist coming in, obviously you've got,
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  you've got more options. But as far as like looking at it
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  from a business perspective, it really depends what your
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  individual goals are. Because I've had a lot of
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  musicians on the show and like their goals have been different,
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  like some are trying to get that big record contract, others are
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  very happy with the independent kind of route.
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  And that seems to be more I guess the desired route because
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  as an artist you get to keep full control of of you know
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  your, your work and obviously you know you're looking more to
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  maybe distribute your music versus because obviously like
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  Simon with a major label gets you access to other things like
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  marketing exposure etcetera, but you can do that yourself.
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  And that kind of brings me to one well the way that I
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  discovered you, which is TikTok. So I guess there's a few
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  questions I could ask you on that.
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  But let's start with like your kind of just thoughts on that
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  from a from a music perspective, like how do you view TikTok as a
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  tool for musicians? I think it is kind of incredible
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  how it like it's like kind of like free marked in I don't know
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  like you can just post whatever you want yourself and like have
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  the like potential to reach like a whole bunch of people so many
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  people from all like different parts of the world.
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  There's no like limit on like how much you can post or what
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  you. You can post and you can sort of
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  just decide that for yourself. I think it's it's good as well
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  like have defo like even when you just as like you know a
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  consumer on tik toks going for the few page or whatever there's
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  so like there's just like so many like musicians and like
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  arts and creative people posting stuff on there.
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  You could just forever be like discovering people on it.
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  So I think I mean. I know like the music industry
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  like is super like oversaturated and stuff and it can be like
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  hard to find people you like or just kind of good creators in
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  general with all like the scares that go on about tick tock and
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  like banned or like copyright or whatever.
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  I don't even know if any of that's ever going to come like
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  to be true. But I don't know.
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  I definitely just like encourage anyone to sort of take advantage
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  of it, because I mean. TikTok for me, like just you can
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  just post silly stuff as well. Like you can just like take the
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  pressure off, you know what I mean?
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  It's just helped me kind of like find like a new audience and new
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  people. Like, I don't know, it's it's
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  seems a lot easier to reach people than like YouTube and
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  Instagram maybe or maybe I'm just using those other social
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  media tools just wrong. But yeah, I think it's, I think
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  it's great. I have to say like your approach
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  to it is quite interesting. I've seen a few musicians like
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  yourself approach it in a similar way, which is that like
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  your your personality seems to come across quite a lot in what
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  you choose to to put forward. Like I can't exactly put like a
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  descriptor on it. Maybe it's kind of I don't want
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  to like commit to one specific thing and then have to put it
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  back. But it's it's like so I
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  discovered your videos through just like you know you'd be
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  playing a particular riff or something and there's like a
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  vibe like a kind of chill kind of vibe in the air that comes
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  across and it kind of I feel like that's good as well because
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  it gives you an idea of okay. This is what this artist might
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  be like if I was to see them live as well.
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  It's it's kind of like an intimate kind of vibe something
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  a bit different and obviously you mentioned there about the
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  industry being oversaturated. So you're always looking for
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  people that are offering something a little different.
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  But as you mentioned there the way you approach each social
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  media platform totally different.
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  And I don't know I feel like the way that you're doing it is is
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  like spot on for example. And this this prompted me to get
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  in touch with you because you dropped this track telling me to
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  blame and I heard like maybe 20 seconds of of the chorus and you
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  were just doing like a dance to it or something.
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  And and I'm looking at it and I'm like this could I could see
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  a lot of people using this because it's got like that kind
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  of hook that would like draws you in.
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  But that's all you need. Like some of the best songs I've
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  discovered over the last two years have been because I heard
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  20 seconds of a hook like even as part of a trend or I know
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  sometimes it'll even be something totally unrelated, but
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  they just happen to continuously lose this particular trend as a
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  particular music for it. So I guess I guess my question
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  with that is like what's your kind of like approach your
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  mindset to like clipping up and and approaching YouTube sorry
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  YouTube TikTok videos that is there a particular mindset or is
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  it just kind of like this to see what happens I?
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  Feel like it? Definitely.
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  Has changed from what it used to be or it's I'm still deciding on
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  how to like post the best stuff then if that's the right way to
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  use on there. Like the right stuff maybe.
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  But definitely you find little things that work like with what
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  you were just talking about then, like using the hook,
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  keeping the video short, like having like text on the video,
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  having like you know like a face in the video and as well I
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  think. That song is definitely more
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  like hookier, just like catch here, probably better than the
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  other songs. So maybe that's why that one is
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  sort of like like worked a bit a bit better with that use of
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  TikTok. But I just, I feel like I find
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  little things that work. But then I get like sometimes I
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  take it well too seriously where I'm like I don't want to be like
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  post the same things blah blah blah blah.
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  Then I'm not sure like what am I doing like.
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  It's an app like, I don't even remember what I just saw like on
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  TikTok like this morning or the other day or whatever.
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  Like I think it's good to be a bit chill about it and a bit
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  silly with it like I used to. I think when I first started
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  posting on TikTok it would be like okay.
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  I'm gonna do covers, learn songs on the guitar.
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  Post that because that was like familiar to people.
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  I know I enjoy watching covers. It will.
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  It's a thing that maybe will get someone watching and hopefully
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  introduced into my music if they like it.
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  But then I feel like I'm doing less covers now.
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  And like you said, like you were saying, trying to put more of my
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  like personality into it. And even that can be a bit
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  tricky sometimes because it's like then you just get like
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  insecure in yourself. And you're like oh God oh I
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  don't want to be like cringe or weird And then it's it's you're
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  like no, stop taking it seriously again.
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  I need to just be like chill with it And that's definitely
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  the best way that I can like upload videos on there because
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  it is it's just you know it's tick tock.
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  I need to need to remember that hey you man, I just use it as an
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  advertising tool. Like I I built, I built my
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  community there. I brought them over to Twitch
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  into other places and I've I've built it up overtime and I still
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  pop over there every once in a while.
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  But yeah, it has changed a lot and it's kind of sad.
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  I mean it's I don't want this show to be all about Tiktok, but
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  since we're talking about it, it's just all about money now.
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  And don't get me wrong, I realize it's a business, but
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  like, I don't get that vibe as much on the other apps.
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  Like, yeah, I know YouTube, you know, it's just endless.
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  Advertisers and Instagram kind of the same thing.
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  But at least like when you're using those apps, it's not like
• 14:41
  thrown in your face every five seconds.
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  Whereas like obviously as a creator, I mean, I don't know if
• 14:46
  this is the same for everyone. But like when you log into like
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  your dashboard or even if you just look at the notifications,
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  it just says it's like 15 different ways you can make
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  money. And it's like great, But like,
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  maybe I just want to like promote some stuff to my
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  audience or like interact with them.
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  Like not everything has to be about money, you know?
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  And it just, I don't know, It just, it droves me nuts because,
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  I mean, I got the app in like, I don't know, 2019-2020.
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  I didn't really understand what it was like.
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  Most people, I figured like, oh, this is just for the young ones.
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  This isn't for me. I'm like way too old for this.
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  And so I just kind of, like, didn't really take it too
• 15:23
  seriously. And then obviously the pandemic
• 15:25
  hits and it's like, all right, well, I don't know, Everyone's
• 15:29
  using this script. It's just a bit fun.
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  And then like over time you start seeing like creatives
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  using it and using it successfully.
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  And I was like, huh, okay, maybe there's room for me to do
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  something here, cuz in my own life it's acting and music and
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  etc. And I've seen a lot of people do
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  it successfully. And now we're at a point where
• 15:54
  that's kind of past and it's like there's this big battle on
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  the app cuz you've got all these people doing like these.
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  God awful like I don't know I don't even know what to call it
• 16:02
  like these. I'm sure you've seen this MPCAI
• 16:04
  thing lately but it's just like someone and I'm like I don't
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  know like they get gifted like an insane amount of money to to
• 16:13
  to I don't even know to do to do what.
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  And I'm thinking like that money could go to someone talented
• 16:18
  like Mary who actually has a talent that you could enjoy.
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  But no, they'll people will give their money away to these idiots
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  and I don't know, you can make the argument people you know,
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  they spend the money on whatever they want to spend on their
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  fine. But I don't know.
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  I just, I just try to focus on what I'm doing and what the
• 16:39
  people I like are doing. But I don't know, it's I don't
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  know how long this app has to last, but might as well get the
• 16:47
  most out of it. But anyway, moving on, one thing
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  I'd really like to know is, is what are your kind of goals in
• 16:56
  the music industry? Because as I mentioned at the
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  top of this, the industry's changed a lot now and as a
• 17:03
  musician, it's a lot trickier to make money now compared to how
• 17:08
  it used to be. Not impossible.
• 17:09
  There's plenty of ways, but a lot of the ways of making money
• 17:11
  now will be to do with, yeah, getting on the on the gig
• 17:15
  circuit and and getting those bigger shows or selling
• 17:19
  merchandise or just trying to get as many streams as possible.
• 17:22
  But even with that, like ironically what used to be the
• 17:26
  key selling point, you know how many records you sell or I guess
• 17:30
  now how many streams you get, is no longer really like the main
• 17:35
  way that people get money in this industry like it.
• 17:37
  The whole thing has flipped on its head.
• 17:40
  So what are your goals? What are you trying to achieve
• 17:44
  with this? Yeah, definitely.
• 17:48
  Just getting to a point where like I have some sort of like
• 17:54
  insistent audience or consistent reach because that's just so
• 17:58
  hard to like breakthrough in that way.
• 18:02
  Like even on a like smaller scale that would just be like
• 18:05
  ideal. But like, I know what you're
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  saying. It's just it's so hard to get
• 18:11
  like, into the music industry. And there's just so many
• 18:14
  different ways you can go about it.
• 18:16
  And even then, it's not like a guaranteed, like, linear way of
• 18:22
  like having a career. I think you've got to sort of
• 18:25
  have like multiple sources of income you do, and hopefully
• 18:28
  they'll all relate to music in some way if you want to, you
• 18:31
  know, make money off of it. But I'd definitely love to be
• 18:36
  able to get to the point where, like, I'm in in music in some
• 18:40
  way, like. Obviously the main thing is just
• 18:44
  being like a like a composer, writer, sort of like independent
• 18:50
  artist type thing. But it's just feels, I don't
• 18:54
  know sometimes like is that kind of like never ending struggle
• 18:58
  just because there are like so many people making music, like
• 19:03
  there's so many people to listen to, like, I couldn't even like.
• 19:09
  Name all the like artists I've even like downloaded on Spotify
• 19:13
  or whatever because it's like you just, you know, you go on
• 19:16
  the app, maybe you like, listen to all the playlists.
• 19:18
  Sometimes you don't even know what you listen to and you just
• 19:20
  enjoy it. I don't know it's it's it's
• 19:23
  hard, but I get. I get what you mean.
• 19:26
  Like I'll object just for a second, but like.
• 19:27
  Yeah, Yeah. Obviously when we were growing
• 19:30
  up, how old do you know, like? 24, 24, OK.
• 19:34
  So I'm sorry, we've got a few years on you, but I imagine you
• 19:37
  probably might have experienced music the same way growing up
• 19:40
  that, you know, you'd listen to the whole records or you would
• 19:46
  use things like iPods and Spotify, sorry, not Spotify, the
• 19:51
  earlier equivalents of that. But like you'd still listen to
• 19:54
  like full length records. But as you said, now it's
• 19:57
  totally different. Like, I will go out on my way
• 20:00
  personally to to to listen to all those songs, but that's just
• 20:03
  how I grew up with music. But now I get it.
• 20:05
  It's like you just hear a song that you like as part of a wider
• 20:07
  thing, but people don't even maybe know the names of the
• 20:12
  artists or tracks unless you like, consciously go out and a
• 20:16
  search for that. But I suppose you could also
• 20:20
  make the point that there are just different types of fans and
• 20:23
  music goes on there. There's casual fans and then
• 20:25
  there's. You know, your dedicated fans,
• 20:28
  your gatekeepers, your people that are musician.
• 20:32
  I feel like musicians. When you're a musician, your
• 20:36
  interpretation, the way you approach it's different as well.
• 20:39
  Like, it's like, I give an example, I'm sure you probably
• 20:42
  felt this too. Do you ever get that feeling
• 20:44
  like when you go to a gig and you obviously you're not
• 20:46
  performed in a long time and you just kind of like, I wish it was
• 20:50
  me, I wish I wasn't the same because you're ready.
• 20:53
  You're like I can do it now, but like.
• 20:56
  Not your mind. Know what you mean?
• 20:58
  Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that's that's just a weird
• 21:00
  ego thing or maybe it's just like wanting to the the the the
• 21:04
  need to perform. I don't know, it's it's within
• 21:06
  you. But yeah, point is it's it's
• 21:11
  it's always there, I think. And I suppose finding your place
• 21:16
  in the music industry is, is important as far as like knowing
• 21:19
  how to interact with it. And and again, I want to kind of
• 21:24
  focus more on you because I I think like you're a shoo in
• 21:27
  because you've got this unique persona, which I don't want to
• 21:32
  make you feel good because I'm sure it's just your personality.
• 21:34
  But like that's what differentiates you.
• 21:37
  That's always the draw is because you know, if you're just
• 21:41
  doing the same thing that everyone else is doing, then you
• 21:44
  know, it's it's, you know, a tadpole and an ocean.
• 21:47
  But if you're doing something a little bit different, it
• 21:50
  differentiates you, and I can't really think of anyone I would
• 21:55
  compare you to, which is great. That's a good thing, right?
• 21:58
  That's cool. Like I wrote in my notes here,
• 22:01
  you have a pretty unique and laid back vibe.
• 22:04
  Do you often get told this? Let's start there.
• 22:08
  That's a good question, I think. Yeah.
• 22:11
  Sometimes people do say that I mean.
• 22:16
  I don't know if it's because maybe it's because I'm like
• 22:18
  really like anxious. I can get like socially anxious
• 22:20
  as well and like set in social situations with others like not
• 22:24
  at all. So maybe I'm just like sort of
• 22:26
  like chilling the call, like try not to be too, I don't know, in
• 22:31
  the middle of things. But yeah, I feel like I'm, I
• 22:34
  mean, I like to think I'm easy going and like kind of always
• 22:39
  trying to think of like understanding the perspective.
• 22:44
  Of the other person. Because it could be really easy
• 22:46
  to just like, I don't know, be too serious about something or
• 22:50
  get annoyed or get wrapped up in your own thoughts and kind of
• 22:53
  like not consider what other people are sort of thinking and
• 22:57
  feeling or what their context is.
• 22:59
  And then sometimes if you think like that or try to remind
• 23:02
  something like that, it can kind of like calm you down.
• 23:06
  I don't know. I think it's nice to just yes,
• 23:09
  just be, be, be, be chill and just like it's OK.
• 23:13
  It's fine. I don't even know if that, like,
• 23:16
  made any sense or if I articulate things in a way that
• 23:19
  made sense. But like, yes, hopefully,
• 23:23
  hopefully, I did. What do people in the comments
• 23:26
  section normally say? What was the kind of general
• 23:30
  feedback you're getting from your fans as long?
• 23:34
  As I get like the main comments I get are when it is on Tiktok
• 23:41
  and maybe. The video's done a little bit
• 23:43
  there. Then the other ones, and then
• 23:48
  the comments sort of come in. I don't even know.
• 23:51
  I could try. I could try.
• 23:52
  Fine. So I can't even think any on the
• 23:54
  top of my head. But like, I don't even know.
• 23:57
  My God, my brain is like so awful.
• 23:59
  Trying to think, trying to, like, do a brain game.
• 24:02
  See if I can think. Funny.
• 24:05
  Yeah, definitely. Maybe the ones where I'm being a
• 24:09
  bit sillier kind of get. More interaction, more people
• 24:13
  like, Oh yeah, you know, I'll check this out or the kind of
• 24:17
  like like in the sort of overall vibe, but I'll probably, I'll
• 24:22
  probably after this, I'll probably go go back and look at
• 24:24
  that now and like look out for that.
• 24:26
  That's interesting. Okay, I'd be remiss if I didn't
• 24:31
  ask this. So inevitably as a musician, as
• 24:35
  a creative, you put yourself out there, sometimes you get some
• 24:38
  not so pleasant comments. How do you approach that?
• 24:43
  What's your kind of approach to, you know, Chris and?
• 24:49
  It's definitely something that has only been a recent thing
• 24:55
  where I think I've only had like, I mean, I want to say like
• 24:59
  videos pop off, but it's not as if they've got like 100
• 25:02
  thousands like views or anything like that.
• 25:04
  So it's usually on the ones that have more views, maybe there's
• 25:06
  literally like one or two comments, so just like.
• 25:10
  A troll or just like a person who didn't like it or didn't get
• 25:14
  the like joke or the song or whatever and just decided to
• 25:18
  like spend time telling me, tell me why they didn't.
• 25:22
  It's like, OK, but I think whenever you don't like it's a
• 25:27
  it's kind of it's kind of cool. I don't know.
• 25:29
  I find it kind of cool but also funny and also sometimes.
• 25:35
  Obviously, like, maybe it would hurt, but I, like, want it to
• 25:38
  hurt. You know what I mean?
• 25:39
  Because then I can sort of just get over it because I feel like
• 25:42
  it just doesn't, doesn't really matter.
• 25:44
  I mean, what would really hurt is if like, obviously someone
• 25:49
  like proper, just like ripped apart.
• 25:51
  Like the music of the song, like told me why it sucked.
• 25:55
  And then I'd probably be like crying alone for three days, but
• 25:59
  that felt. Yeah, for them, invite them in
• 26:03
  because hopefully that means the video or the music or the
• 26:07
  reaches doing well. So yeah, it was interesting.
• 26:12
  Like I've had a very love hate relationship with hate comments
• 26:15
  over the years and for the most part I always say like, you
• 26:21
  know, if it if it's constructive, great, brilliant,
• 26:24
  You can learn from it. For sure, like I I received one
• 26:27
  of my acting the other day and I looked at it and the the guy was
• 26:30
  really pleasant and I was just like.
• 26:32
  Oh, wow. OK, cheers.
• 26:33
  Yeah, nice one. But mostly it will be just like
• 26:36
  horrible. Like you're the shits, no one.
• 26:39
  Know strange at the end of the day I I will say this I I want
• 26:45
  those kind of comments because I don't.
• 26:47
  I don't like the whole, you know censorship like I think you
• 26:51
  should. You should be able to tell
• 26:53
  people that they are the shits if that's what you want.
• 26:56
  But, but, but but I don't know. I I do think it's it's it's
• 27:02
  weird, isn't it? I don't know, like if I don't
• 27:04
  like something, I just scroll. I just move on.
• 27:07
  I don't feel the need to to to another person.
• 27:11
  I don't know. I wonder if it comes.
• 27:15
  It could be jealousy I suppose it could be frustration.
• 27:21
  I had a troll in a live stream the other day and I was just
• 27:25
  very like just having a good time.
• 27:28
  And I was just like, you know what what's the end game here?
• 27:31
  And they just, I don't know. They tried to I don't know what
• 27:33
  this. I think TikTok lives have
• 27:35
  changed now. So you get like people who will
• 27:39
  put like a kind of like a strike thing on it.
• 27:41
  Like they'll warn you like, oh, like it got flagged for like
• 27:44
  bullying and harassment. And I was like, that's bizarre.
• 27:47
  And all my audience is like, what?
• 27:49
  Because I I just, I was just asking this person.
• 27:51
  I was like, what's the deal? That was what's the issue.
• 27:54
  And then that got, that got like flagged up And I was like,
• 27:58
  right, OK And I just kind of said, yeah, one of my mods that
• 28:01
  muted them And then they, you know, they left.
• 28:04
  And I just said like, well, hey, listen, if you're still here,
• 28:06
  like, I don't have an issue with you.
• 28:07
  I don't take myself too seriously.
• 28:08
  I take my work seriously, but not me.
• 28:13
  Hope you're doing all right, you know?
• 28:14
  But I don't know. I think I, I, I, I think for the
• 28:20
  most part, with the trolls and with the horrible comments, it
• 28:23
  is jealousy. It is, you know, annoyance,
• 28:27
  frustration with people putting themselves out there and and
• 28:31
  maybe they wish they could do the same, or maybe it annoys
• 28:33
  them that people are trying. Or, you know, sometimes people
• 28:36
  get like a snapshot idea of you and that's it.
• 28:42
  They're committed to that. They're like this is what they
• 28:44
  think you are. And it's like, well, you don't
• 28:46
  know me, You've been here 5 seconds, you know?
• 28:48
  Or maybe you're projecting something.
• 28:51
  I don't know. But it's interesting because,
• 28:55
  and I don't know, maybe you connect with the same thing, but
• 28:57
  like when you put your music out there, you know you're right
• 29:01
  about things close to your heart experiences, whatever your
• 29:04
  perception of the world. And you put it out there and
• 29:07
  it's like think for many artists it's just a kind of his, his how
• 29:13
  I see things here's just my thoughts and feelings.
• 29:15
  But it's it's not like you're forcing it to the world.
• 29:18
  You're not telling the world like this is how it is.
• 29:20
  It's just kind of this, this is my art.
• 29:22
  This is what I think. And if people like it, great,
• 29:25
  and if they hate it, all right. But that's kind of good cuz you
• 29:29
  know it's subjective. Which kind of brings me on to
• 29:33
  the next point with your songwriting, What's your process
• 29:40
  exactly? I never know how to answer this
• 29:45
  question. I think definitely if I've.
• 29:52
  Been good. And if I've been playing the
• 29:55
  guitar more every day, sticking with it and if it also maybe
• 30:02
  coincides with like a feeling like maybe I'm kind of like
• 30:07
  ruminating over something or like deepen my feelings about
• 30:10
  saying thing. And then that always like
• 30:15
  inspires me to sort of like open up my like notebook and.
• 30:20
  Write stuff down or I definitely.
• 30:22
  I'm like, okay. I want to try and write
• 30:24
  something about this, like. But I feel like sometimes I'm
• 30:27
  trying to get out of that where I'm like waiting for a feeling
• 30:31
  to happen and like waiting to be inspired to write something
• 30:35
  because I know that's bad. Because you can like, get out of
• 30:37
  the habit of writing. And if you're out of the habit
• 30:40
  of writing, it's definitely, I think kind of hinders it.
• 30:43
  You've got to. Keep it consistent and like,
• 30:46
  just be there for yourself. And even if you like writing
• 30:49
  something every day and it's all just like shit, then eventually
• 30:53
  hopefully you'll like something that you've written and maybe
• 30:56
  it's a little bit better or like you think it's a little bit
• 30:59
  better than all the stuff you've kind of been writing.
• 31:01
  But defo, if I'm just in my feelings and if I've just been
• 31:07
  like playing rounds, and then I'd sort of like put feeling
• 31:12
  that I'm healing. And then hopefully communicate
• 31:16
  that with words through the song, sort of.
• 31:20
  That's usually the way I go about it.
• 31:24
  It's similar for myself as well, although I differ with you and I
• 31:30
  go through cycles. So right now I haven't written
• 31:33
  anything in like 4 months. Granted, acting is my focus and
• 31:39
  stuff, but with music I always feel like exactly like you when
• 31:43
  you're up in your feelings. Like for me it's like therapy.
• 31:46
  It's like okay. Instead of sitting, being
• 31:48
  depressed, I'm just going to put it into the guitar.
• 31:51
  And the guitar can take the depression and I can just, I
• 31:55
  don't know. And it.
• 31:55
  But then that's weird as well, because you know, there's these
• 31:59
  songs I wrote like 2-3 years ago or even longer and they'll be
• 32:02
  like about, I don't know, like break up or or like something
• 32:05
  really horrible that happened. And there I am playing it like
• 32:09
  several years later and like there's a disc connect in or
• 32:13
  it's like an attachment thing where you feel it because you
• 32:17
  remember how you felt when you wrote it, but you don't feel
• 32:19
  that way anymore and you've changed and you've grown since
• 32:22
  this point. So then it's like, kind of
• 32:24
  disconnected. And it's weird.
• 32:26
  Like, I wonder, for example, what it must be like for someone
• 32:29
  like, I don't know, Taylor Swift, right.
• 32:31
  She wrote all these breakup songs.
• 32:34
  And then and then, like, they become hits.
• 32:36
  And then so now, like, maybe seven or eight years later,
• 32:38
  she's singing a song about some dudes dated like, 10 years ago.
• 32:42
  And I wonder, like, does she ever think about that?
• 32:44
  Oh, this is kind of weird. You know, Like, still talking
• 32:47
  about this. Like, I'm a different person
• 32:48
  now. Like, what is it?
• 32:49
  Or maybe maybe it's like full disconnect where you're just
• 32:52
  like, it's just a song. It's a feeling, but I don't
• 32:56
  connect it to anything. Do you feel that way about your
• 33:00
  music? Does it connect to you really,
• 33:02
  really personally? Or is it just thoughts and
• 33:06
  feelings contained within a song?
• 33:09
  Yeah, I know what you mean with that.
• 33:12
  Definitely. The further I get away from a
• 33:13
  song, the more. I just feel like if I were to do
• 33:18
  it now, I would defo change it. For example with the alias songs
• 33:23
  I wrote more around the ages, like I don't even know,
• 33:27
  18/17/19. The lyrics sometimes make me
• 33:30
  feel really just like sick inside.
• 33:33
  I'm like Oh my God, like I just want to like like change them.
• 33:38
  But then you can't, I suppose, because that was like your brain
• 33:42
  and your sort of. Way of going about things then.
• 33:46
  And yeah, like, it's FO, but it's kind of nice like as well
• 33:53
  with some songs because it it's like just reminds you of that
• 33:58
  like experience you went through all that time.
• 34:02
  And you can just like carry it with you if you want to carry on
• 34:05
  singing it, or carry on having it be a part of your like
• 34:10
  discography or whatever. Deffo loved that aspect of it.
• 34:14
  It's like a weird nostalgic thing because Deffo still
• 34:19
  attached to, like, loads of like, old songs that I've
• 34:23
  written. But yeah, some, some.
• 34:25
  Do you make me cringe? I'm like oh Oh dear, I I do I do
• 34:29
  similar to you but I'll often If it's an older song and I don't
• 34:34
  like the original composition but I'll never change the lyrics
• 34:37
  but I'll always I might sing it or like perform it slightly
• 34:42
  differently and and. Right.
• 34:45
  There's this one loves the couple of love songs I wrote.
• 34:48
  Like one of them I wrote maybe like nine years ago.
• 34:52
  And then the other one I wrote maybe five years ago, four years
• 34:56
  ago. And I sing them totally
• 34:58
  differently now. But I've become a bad performer
• 35:01
  in that time. So there's that element.
• 35:03
  But right there with you, like, it's like nostalgia.
• 35:06
  It's like putting yourself back in that moment.
• 35:08
  And it's a weird feeling because now you're introducing something
• 35:12
  old to a new audience and it's new to them, but to you it's
• 35:16
  like gold and oldie like it's a weird feeling, but I think it's
• 35:23
  good, you know, it's good to rework things.
• 35:27
  I always get a little bit sad when artists sometimes
• 35:29
  completely change something. Excuse me?
• 35:34
  They used to do a certain way because often that becomes
• 35:37
  beloved by the fans and they wanna hear it that particular
• 35:44
  way. I'll give you a really good
• 35:45
  example. Have you heard this new Pink
• 35:51
  Floyd's Redo of Money? No.
• 35:55
  When was that released? This is like really recent or
• 35:59
  yeah, like in the last couple of weeks Roger Waters.
• 36:04
  Now I will say this, I've looked into his more recent rework and
• 36:07
  songs and he does them like totally differently and nothing
• 36:11
  like the originals. And that's his right, you know,
• 36:13
  it's his vision. But it sucks.
• 36:18
  And I just, I just been honest like and this this new one.
• 36:22
  See, I don't mind artists trying something different and doing
• 36:26
  reinterpretations of things, but like, I don't know if this was
• 36:31
  supposed to be like a statement. I guess it is like he added all
• 36:35
  like instead, for example, he took all the original like
• 36:39
  iconic solos out of money because basically he's doing a
• 36:43
  redo of or redox or whatever of Dark Side of the Moon for its
• 36:48
  50th anniversary, right. And so he it comes out in like
• 36:52
  October this year and he's he's released money as the kind of
• 36:55
  type to the track, like the introduction and it's got
• 36:58
  everything removed. There's none of the cash
• 37:00
  registers downs. There's none of the iconic solos
• 37:04
  where the solos would be. It's just him going like welcome
• 37:09
  to hell, like welcome to rooftops, like, I don't know
• 37:14
  what the fuck. Is going on.
• 37:15
  I need to listen to this. Yeah, I I it's 10 minutes of
• 37:19
  just. I don't know what it is.
• 37:23
  I don't know. I don't even know what to.
• 37:24
  Yeah, What do you what do you call that?
• 37:28
  And it's ironic like we were talking about criticism earlier
• 37:31
  and that that. Shoot me, all right.
• 37:34
  The Internet agrees with me. It's there's nothing wrong with
• 37:37
  with trying something different and and doing your
• 37:42
  interpretation of it. But like Roger, this is what
• 37:45
  bothered me, Roger Waters said. I'm essentially like he's he's
• 37:53
  trying to kind of like readdress their original message And he he
• 37:57
  he does say that like the original was great and brilliant
• 37:59
  and he's very proud of it still, etcetera.
• 38:01
  But this is to kind of expand upon what he said back then
• 38:06
  because he, I don't know, he guess he felt like the message
• 38:09
  wasn't really addressed properly and like he's trying to do that
• 38:13
  now. But then when you listen to the
• 38:15
  track and you see what he's saying, it's like really, I
• 38:21
  don't know, is this just like hyper political thing where it's
• 38:24
  just like. Coming off a bit like a bit too,
• 38:28
  too much like too forced or something just like unaware or I
• 38:35
  mean I've seen a lot. Like, I mean, I don't I'm not
• 38:37
  the world's biggest Roger Waters fan or whatever.
• 38:39
  But like I've seen some stuff in in the media lately, like I saw
• 38:42
  at one of his live shows a while back, he did some stuff that was
• 38:48
  really like anti-Semitic or something.
• 38:50
  I don't know, something like that.
• 38:52
  I don't. I didn't even like.
• 38:54
  I didn't even know that's awful. It was mad.
• 38:58
  And he like, was he trying to even like, readdress as well?
• 39:02
  If he's doing stuff like that, it's like it kind of it's it's
• 39:05
  it's well. Negates the whole thing, maybe.
• 39:07
  I don't think he's so strange. I don't think he himself is.
• 39:10
  Is like necessarily like a bad person.
• 39:12
  He's just look he's an older guy with I see it with a lot of
• 39:20
  musicians because I know I'm like that you know bagging on
• 39:23
  Roger Waters now you see it with all sorts of people.
• 39:25
  It's like Radiohead like when they're like oh we're never
• 39:28
  going to play creep fuck creep like because you know that was
• 39:31
  you know we're we're not that with this big.
• 39:33
  And look I I adore Radiohead, OK.
• 39:36
  But at the same time look that it's OK you change your your
• 39:41
  sounds and you know bands find their sound and that error of
• 39:46
  where they did creep that wasn't their sound but there's some
• 39:49
  amazing tracks on that album and the Creep is is outstanding.
• 39:54
  But it's a shame that they they feel that way.
• 39:56
  Like I I feel like your progression over time is
• 40:00
  something you should be proud of.
• 40:01
  I mean, as you spoke about with yourself, like you don't look
• 40:04
  back and think, oh, you know, I maybe you do think, oh, I wish I
• 40:08
  was this way, but then it's progression.
• 40:10
  It's like over time. You grow as a human being, so
• 40:14
  naturally your music and your art is going to is going to grow
• 40:17
  because you get more comfortable with yourself.
• 40:19
  You can articulate yourself better, etcetera, etcetera.
• 40:23
  But I don't know when artists go back and always like just try
• 40:28
  and change the past. I don't know, I don't get it.
• 40:31
  And okay, granted Roger Waters isn't exactly like trying to
• 40:35
  trying to say like this is the replacement.
• 40:36
  But he's trying to say like, I guess like this is more in line
• 40:41
  with the vision that I had for the record.
• 40:43
  And I'm like I'm just so glad that that that we got the
• 40:47
  original and not this because I think it's it's left a lot of
• 40:50
  people wondering like what is this like it's just, I don't
• 40:56
  know like go go check it out and have a listen.
• 40:58
  So what you think? I don't.
• 41:00
  Know I have no idea about any of that.
• 41:02
  Like we have so many. I just, yeah, I'm going to.
• 41:08
  I'm gonna listen to that today. I'm probably as confused, as
• 41:11
  confused as you. Like, What the heck is going on?
• 41:14
  Well, a lot of, I mean, I will say this, a lot of artists do do
• 41:17
  this, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it so long
• 41:20
  as you don't try to kind of like cancel out what you did before.
• 41:24
  So like, I think Paramore is a really good example of this.
• 41:28
  They started off as this like pop punk band, released some
• 41:32
  absolute classics, experimented a little by their federal fourth
• 41:36
  album, and then they fully transitioned to more like pop
• 41:39
  kind of vibe. And a lot of people didn't like
• 41:41
  it. But tough shit, like it's what
• 41:44
  they want to do, you know? And it's it's that's their
• 41:47
  vision and then they roll with it, but they don't try and
• 41:49
  change the past. Same with bringing the horizon.
• 41:53
  They changed drastically. They went from this really heavy
• 41:58
  metal core sound to pop metal. If that's even if they pan, it's
• 42:03
  the thing. I don't know, it's weird, but
• 42:05
  they they experiment, they try different things and but they
• 42:08
  don't. They don't like try to like
• 42:10
  change what they were. They're proud of it.
• 42:12
  They're like this is progression over time.
• 42:14
  This is what we want to try now and this is what we did then.
• 42:18
  But we're more than happy to play these songs too and we'll
• 42:20
  play them in the original manner and I don't know, I I feel like
• 42:24
  that is more fun for fans, certainly cuz you can see that
• 42:29
  progression over time and you can enjoy the progression over
• 42:31
  time, but I don't know, that's just my $0.05 on that.
• 42:38
  Yeah, definitely it is. I do know what you mean.
• 42:43
  Like I feel like with pop stars, I mean to use like all the
• 42:46
  examples obviously with like David Bowie or like.
• 42:52
  Like Madonna or something like change your whole like visual
• 42:58
  aesthetic style, go with like the current, like trends in like
• 43:03
  music or whatever. Change your whole thing.
• 43:05
  Do it really well and then maybe your fan base can like follow
• 43:10
  you through that. Like change regression is so
• 43:13
  cool, but I know what you mean with like if you get if you
• 43:16
  discover an artist and then. You find maybe like only one of
• 43:20
  their albums or something is like that particular sound.
• 43:24
  They did it really well and they do all the other sounds really
• 43:26
  well too. It would, yeah, that would that
• 43:29
  would hurt me as well if I knew they weren't going to like,
• 43:33
  perform those songs live or I'd never get the chance to see them
• 43:35
  live. And I was like really super
• 43:38
  attached to the mode that was like my favorite thing.
• 43:41
  Yeah, that will bum me out. It's interesting you brought
• 43:43
  those two examples up as well because with Madonna and David
• 43:47
  Bowie, essentially what they did every single time was
• 43:50
  reinvention. Every album is, especially with
• 43:54
  Bowie was a different character and what I found interesting
• 43:59
  about Bowie was that he would mix up with his shows.
• 44:01
  So like by the 90s, he was doing kind of more like dance style
• 44:06
  stuff. And he would often like divide
• 44:09
  his shows into all the new stuff.
• 44:11
  And then with the older stuff, he'd mix it up.
• 44:14
  So a lot of it, he might just play the original way.
• 44:17
  But other songs he might kind of experiment.
• 44:19
  So you might hear like, I don't know, the dance versus the like,
• 44:23
  space on it or something. Yeah.
• 44:25
  But he wouldn't do like all of them like that because that
• 44:28
  would just be like pain. And I think he realized that.
• 44:32
  But I don't know, I feel like those artists get like less flat
• 44:35
  for it, whereas other artists do, which that puzzles me
• 44:39
  because it's the same thing. It's you know what I mean?
• 44:43
  Like it is. And and also also you don't want
• 44:46
  to be boring because like okay. I can't believe I'm saying this,
• 44:49
  probably sacrilege, but sorry, sorry metal fans.
• 44:52
  I love Slayer. I think Slayer is an absolutely
• 44:55
  fantastic band, but a lot of the records do sound the same.
• 45:00
  Not all of them. They they did experiment a lot
• 45:03
  and they did try a lot of different things.
• 45:05
  So you can't say that they didn't try and reinvent
• 45:07
  themselves because they did. But what they did is kind of
• 45:10
  like if you if you were to look at it like a spiral, it like
• 45:12
  started out as like glam metal, believe it or not.
• 45:15
  And then it went to. Yeah, and then went to fresh
• 45:17
  metal. And then they did that for a few
• 45:18
  albums. And then in the 90s they kind of
• 45:22
  jumped on the whole new wave of heavy metal vibe and tried a lot
• 45:26
  of different things and then that pissed a lot of people off.
• 45:28
  But again, you know, I think for a band at that point that would
• 45:33
  have been going like 10-15 years, you want to play
• 45:35
  something different. You want to play music that is
• 45:39
  more interesting, challenging, different from what you play.
• 45:41
  You want to take some risks. And a lot of bands around the
• 45:44
  same time did that. And then when they entered like
• 45:47
  the 2000s, they were kind of back to what they were
• 45:52
  originally doing. And then it just kind of became
• 45:54
  like quite Sammy after that. But there's still some classic
• 45:58
  tracks that maybe a better example might be like Motörhead.
• 46:01
  I think maybe because the Motörhead, a lot of it sounds
• 46:05
  very similar. It's all great, but it's you
• 46:09
  kind of, you know, you're getting a lot of the same and
• 46:13
  that. And that's the other end of the
• 46:14
  spectrum, I think, is that like, if you don't take any risks, you
• 46:18
  risk kind of every record sounding somewhat similar and
• 46:21
  and nothing really particularly standing out.
• 46:24
  Now when you think of Motörhead, you think of like, and this is
• 46:28
  more mainstream fans. I I realize, like actual
• 46:30
  Motörhead fans would be like, what are you talking about?
• 46:31
  There's like hundreds. And I'm, hey, listen, I get it.
• 46:34
  They're great. I've seen them live amazing.
• 46:36
  Definitely one of the top five bands I've ever seen in my life.
• 46:40
  But as far as like identifiable songs that you could pick
• 46:45
  straight away, I feel like a lot of their earlier stuff, like
• 46:48
  early early stuff is the stuff that you'd pick out.
• 46:51
  You know, your ace of spades, overkill, etcetera.
• 46:54
  You might not be as familiar with like some of the newer
• 46:57
  stuff that they've done, so I don't know.
• 47:00
  I felt like reinvention for an artist is important for fans
• 47:05
  because they get something different every time and in who
• 47:08
  knows where the what kind of breakthroughs the artist might
• 47:11
  make also keeps it interesting for the artist because if the
• 47:15
  artist isn't interested guess what artist probably is not
• 47:18
  gonna to keep writing because you just get bored.
• 47:22
  Like I I didn't used to get the whole writers block thing.
• 47:24
  I never used to understand that. Why you know why did Eminem take
• 47:27
  five year break And now I get it.
• 47:29
  It's like you you get like you get creative block or you get
• 47:34
  like less infused or you need time away and then when you come
• 47:37
  back you're you're inspired again, you're motivated and
• 47:40
  you've got something you know to to contribute, you know.
• 47:45
  But let's get back to you. I found this this interesting,
• 47:52
  so I wanna see where we go with this.
• 47:54
  Talk us behind the story behind the song you are most proud of.
• 47:59
  Ooh, here song I'm probably most proud of at the minute.
• 48:09
  I think would be the track 3:00 AM, which is one of the ones off
• 48:16
  my new album, like one of the latest songs on the album.
• 48:20
  So that sort of ties in to what we talked about before with like
• 48:23
  nostalgia and stuff like that. And I defo like I was just like
• 48:30
  the moment I wrote it. I was like, I want to record
• 48:33
  this like so bad. I just like put it straight up
• 48:35
  onto YouTube. I just knew I wanted that one to
• 48:38
  be. In an album.
• 48:40
  So I just felt the most like attached to it and I was just
• 48:44
  really happy with the way like the sound of it came out like
• 48:48
  all the sort of like lush, like. I mean, it was on MIDI, but like
• 48:51
  MIDI like string sounds and like, it was just so atmospheric
• 48:55
  and it just still like brings me that very like specific
• 49:01
  nostalgic feeling of what I was like writing about with that
• 49:07
  song. I just yeah I just that's defo
• 49:10
  one of my one of my favorite ones off the album and and as
• 49:15
  well over the weekend I did with like a video like production
• 49:23
  company and we recorded a music video for it and it was like the
• 49:29
  first like proper like thing I've ever done like that it was
• 49:33
  it was the the people who who like.
• 49:37
  Did it. They were so like lovely, really
• 49:39
  like incredibly creative. Had like plans the whole day
• 49:43
  out. They were just absolutely
• 49:44
  amazing. And now I'm like and as well as
• 49:49
  well with that song. I was like, that is the one.
• 49:51
  I like want to do music video, the most full.
• 49:53
  I've just got an idea of what I want it to be in my head.
• 49:56
  And then it actually happened. I was like, well, that's
• 49:59
  madness. But yeah, so I'm like really
• 50:01
  looking forward to seeing that music video now.
• 50:05
  Can't wait? Cool.
• 50:07
  What kind of themes do you typically explore with your
• 50:10
  lyrics? Daffo nostalgia, main one.
• 50:17
  And probably just feelings of like maybe where I'm feeling
• 50:24
  something and the other person isn't.
• 50:26
  Or maybe where like I can't communicate something.
• 50:31
  Or maybe I'm like struggling to like get something out and then
• 50:36
  maybe? Again, out Are you still alone
• 50:39
  when you're writing the song? It's like, maybe that's just one
• 50:42
  way as well. I don't know what the right word
• 50:44
  to use for that would be, and what else?
• 50:47
  And daffo. Just like feelings of like love,
• 50:51
  whether it be like platonic love or just like romantic love or
• 50:56
  like the biggest themes I I'm inspired by when I'm writing
• 51:00
  songs. Just pretty much, pretty much
• 51:03
  all of them as we move it forward.
• 51:09
  Got a couple of questions to ask you that I ask every guest
• 51:13
  Intrigued to get your thoughts on these questions.
• 51:17
  What's the best advice you've ever received?
• 51:20
  My gosh, that's really good question, one that's come to the
• 51:25
  top of my head. Defo was a piece of advice where
• 51:31
  which relates to being like an artist in the music industry.
• 51:34
  You've got to just. Take You've got to take yourself
• 51:38
  seriously. You've got to be there for
• 51:39
  yourself. Because, I mean, you can't
• 51:41
  expect anyone else to really, when everyone's doing their own
• 51:45
  thing. I mean, people are always
• 51:47
  willing to help out, be there for you, work on things with
• 51:50
  you. But I feel like if you don't
• 51:52
  take yourself seriously, then no one else is.
• 51:55
  And I mean, you've got to just if you actually want to do
• 51:59
  music, especially that part of music, you've got to just.
• 52:04
  Really try and be there for yourself and not kind of like
• 52:08
  half hearted, I think. I hope I said that.
• 52:11
  Well, but yeah, that that's stuck in my brain and when
• 52:16
  someone gave me that advice, so I was like, yeah, that's so
• 52:20
  true. You got to kind of like go out
• 52:23
  what you want to be sort of seen as or people just not really
• 52:28
  going to give a heck, you know what I mean?
• 52:31
  So that's for sure. But I really think about it.
• 52:34
  You have to take a real big gamble on yourself and it is
• 52:38
  scary. You know, like I don't often sit
• 52:41
  and think about how I'm perceived because I know if I
• 52:46
  did, I'd probably start freaking the fuck out.
• 52:49
  But at the same time, like, I totally agree with what you're
• 52:53
  saying. You have to be your biggest fan
• 52:55
  because who? Who is going to do it for you?
• 52:56
  Like you might get friends sometimes, you know, promote you
• 53:01
  or or say a good word. And I I've, I've had that and
• 53:03
  and thank you so much to everyone who's ever shouted me
• 53:06
  out, supported me, etcetera. I do appreciate it.
• 53:09
  But the reality is, like you said, you got to shop for
• 53:13
  yourself. You got to throw yourself out
• 53:15
  there, you got to keep trying and there's going to be a lot of
• 53:18
  failure. There's going to be a lot of
• 53:19
  rejection. There's going to be a lot of
• 53:21
  crappy comments. There's going to be, you know,
• 53:23
  everyone's got something to say, but what are you trying to say?
• 53:27
  And I think that's the important focal point, especially as a
• 53:31
  musician. You know, you're putting this
• 53:34
  out there. It's going to divide people.
• 53:37
  You're going to have your fans, you're going to have people that
• 53:39
  care, you're going to have people that don't care, you're
• 53:40
  going to have people that hate, people that love, etcetera.
• 53:43
  But the only thing that really matters is that you're getting
• 53:46
  out there and doing your thing. And like I feel like for example
• 53:50
  with with you and your career, the best thing you could ever do
• 53:54
  is just keep being you, you know, cuz that's what people
• 53:58
  were, you know, falling in love with with your music and stuff.
• 54:01
  Like that's what I loved about it when I heard those tracks,
• 54:05
  certainly me to blame. And also Rollerblade, I really
• 54:07
  like that song as well, thank you.
• 54:11
  I feel like with those tunes, other than them being good
• 54:14
  tracks, and I feel like there's been a step up in your
• 54:19
  songwriting and I don't know, maybe you're in like a creative
• 54:23
  wave now that's different from previous times.
• 54:25
  Maybe you're feeling yourself more more confident.
• 54:28
  I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, keep it up.
• 54:33
  But I think the thing that really comes across with the
• 54:38
  whole thing, not just the music but also like the the the
• 54:42
  images, like guys, if you go and listen to Mary's music on like
• 54:44
  say Spotify or Apple and you see like the imagery, the videos,
• 54:48
  there's a picture. There's a picture of you that
• 54:50
  stands out in particular. I think it's on see if a
• 54:54
  Rollerblade or or or it's only me to blame, but it's it's a
• 54:59
  view like running through like some sort of, I don't know
• 55:04
  flowers. I don't know, I can't explain
• 55:06
  it. You know those those like
• 55:07
  beautiful. Yeah, I know you now I tunnel
• 55:10
  things. Yeah.
• 55:11
  But it's like you run in, you got a smile and it's like it
• 55:15
  puts forward your personality in a very interesting way.
• 55:21
  And I think that is the draw right there is like when you can
• 55:25
  get that from an artist, that's what separates them.
• 55:28
  And I know I covered this earlier, but like specifically
• 55:30
  with you, there's something there that you're tapping into,
• 55:35
  and I think it's just important to keep tapping into that
• 55:37
  because that's where the magic is.
• 55:43
  So we'll move it on. What's the biggest life lesson
• 55:46
  you've learned so far? Biggest life lesson Defo.
• 55:53
  I think you've got to just like push yourself to do things that
• 55:59
  make you uncomfortable, even if it is like a super tiny thing.
• 56:03
  Like a massive thing. Like for example, I don't know
• 56:06
  if this is just really silly, but sometimes I I get anxious
• 56:11
  like just going like outside by myself because I'm like with
• 56:15
  what you were saying before, like being perceived or just
• 56:17
  like being out in the public and when it's really busy, I'm just
• 56:19
  like Oh my God, I'm stressed. All these people you feel like
• 56:22
  you can't fully like kind of like be yourself or relaxing
• 56:25
  that way. So I think doing small scale
• 56:29
  things like that, which is probably a silly one.
• 56:31
  And then? Many things for me personally,
• 56:35
  like performing like open mic nights, gigs, like supports,
• 56:41
  lots. That makes me feel like excited
• 56:46
  because I want to do it, but also super, super uncomfy just
• 56:50
  because it makes me so anxious. Singing in front of people like
• 56:54
  I'm fine. Like playing guitars like fine,
• 56:56
  but like singing and like what you've seen before because like
• 57:00
  you're singing such like personal.
• 57:03
  Intimate things as well. There's that whole aspect to it
• 57:06
  as well. Like, it's just, Oh my God, it's
• 57:09
  terrifying. Like, I've literally done like a
• 57:11
  handful of actual gigs, but every time before I've got onto
• 57:16
  like the stage, I've just been absolutely, like, shitting
• 57:19
  myself. But I mean, you're you're only
• 57:22
  going to be, like uncomfortable for so long.
• 57:25
  And it's like definitely the more I'm doing it, the more used
• 57:29
  to it. I'm getting and hopefully I can
• 57:32
  get to a place where I can actually perform well and
• 57:35
  perform how I see it in my mind. But yeah, just do uncomfortable
• 57:42
  things as often as you can cuz that pushes you into new places
• 57:46
  in life and then that's important.
• 57:49
  Yeah, didn't agree, more wise words.
• 57:51
  And it's interesting that you mentioned as well like
• 57:53
  vulnerability cuz like I said, I was introduced to you and
• 57:58
  everything you're about through just just guitar videos.
• 58:03
  I can't specifically remember if it was covers or I think it was
• 58:06
  more just you playing like interesting riffs or whatever.
• 58:10
  And I I always just found the the videos were interesting
• 58:15
  because of like the way you'd shoot them.
• 58:18
  Like you looked quite pensive in the videos and it's quite like
• 58:22
  in a chill backdrop and it it kind of gives us a sense of your
• 58:26
  personality and and like almost like you're sitting listening to
• 58:30
  like your friend play some music or something.
• 58:32
  But when I heard the music were you singing?
• 58:36
  That was the first thing I kind of thought was there's a sense
• 58:38
  of vulnerability that there's like, I don't know if it's just
• 58:43
  that's what your voice gives off or it gives off other things but
• 58:45
  like it was and also I'm just really into like Spacey chill
• 58:49
  shit. So there's that.
• 58:51
  But that that was certainly what came across and I think it's, I
• 58:56
  couldn't agree more like you, you gotta force yourself guys,
• 58:58
  if you're listening, put yourself out of the comfort
• 59:01
  zone, go into the unknown cuz that is where you will truly
• 59:05
  find who you are and what you're capable of.
• 59:09
  And it's so important to be in that place as we drop into a
• 59:13
  close. Do you have any upcoming
• 59:15
  projects or some final thoughts that you'd like to share with
• 59:17
  our listeners? Upcoming projects?
• 59:22
  Definitely What? I just slid in before about the
• 59:24
  music video. I have no idea when it'll be
• 59:27
  out, but I promise it will be so cool and incredible and amazing
• 59:32
  because the people who made the music video are incredibly
• 59:35
  amazing and put so much of their creativity and time into it.
• 59:40
  Like, I'm just thrilled that I had the chance to work with
• 59:43
  those guys. They were, they were called
• 59:45
  Village Tail Productions by the way.
• 59:46
  I just realized I should have like that should have been the
• 59:49
  first thing I said. So there's that which will
• 59:52
  hopefully be out some point soon and I've got only a couple gigs
• 1:00:00
  lined up but they are all Liverpool based.
• 1:00:03
  One is like a super chill like stripped backed one in a new
• 1:00:09
  place called Arthur Fact which is in Liverpool and then couple
• 1:00:13
  other ones are like later down the line and which are both
• 1:00:16
  again in Liverpool in I think they're both in Leith.
• 1:00:21
  Which is down on Ball St. I still don't know if I want
• 1:00:23
  that to be acoustic or if I want it to be full band because I'm
• 1:00:28
  still trying to get both sounds kind of there and final parting
• 1:00:34
  thoughts. I don't even know defo just
• 1:00:41
  going to go with the do uncomfortable things because
• 1:00:44
  that like all the uncomfortable things like that's just like on
• 1:00:49
  the other side of what you wanna be.
• 1:00:52
  It's like you wanna get what's in your head out into your life.
• 1:00:56
  And the only way to do that is annoyingly by being
• 1:00:59
  uncomfortable. And that is just a fact of life.
• 1:01:04
  So I think that it's like I went to do a trial shift the other
• 1:01:08
  day for just some small job. And I didn't wanna go.
• 1:01:12
  I found comfortable, yeah. But then I got there and like,
• 1:01:15
  everyone's really nice and it's good vibe.
• 1:01:18
  And I was like, I I would, you know, if I'd had just listened
• 1:01:20
  to my feelings, I just never would have done that.
• 1:01:22
  Like, you know, Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 1:01:25
  You gotta do that. You gotta push yourself out
• 1:01:27
  there. And like over the last four
• 1:01:30
  years I've had some amazing experiences.
• 1:01:32
  Cuz this very reason. Just, yeah, Throwing yourself
• 1:01:35
  out there and seeing what the world has to offer, That's the
• 1:01:39
  thing. Like, things happen that you
• 1:01:41
  don't even realize that your brain doesn't even think of.
• 1:01:43
  It's gonna happen in that time because you're too wrapped up
• 1:01:46
  and thinking about how scary and anxious you feel about it.
• 1:01:50
  But then unexpected, positive things always, always happen.
• 1:01:55
  Like, it's just great. Massive, massive thank you for
• 1:02:00
  appearing on the show. It's an absolute pleasure and
• 1:02:02
  I'm stoked to have got to finally chat to you.
• 1:02:05
  So thank you so much. Well, thank you to you as well.
• 1:02:16
  You're always welcome. It's been awesome.
• 1:02:09
  It's been so lovely talking to you and I'm so happy you, like,
• 1:02:12
  wanted me to be on your show. Like, that's so cool.
• 1:02:15
  Thank you. In the future, let us know,
• 1:02:20
  yeah, Let me know if you're in Manchester and I will definitely
• 1:02:22
  be there. Oh yes, I will hopefully soon
• 1:02:25
  love Manchester. Have to get some gigs there
• 1:02:27
  somehow. All right, Thank you so much.
• 1:02:31
  And to the listeners of the Christian Reve podcast, I keep
• 1:02:34
  forgetting the plug. So here's the plug.
• 1:02:35
  Make sure you join the Discord. There's a discord now for all
• 1:02:39
  things me related. The Patreon as well Patreon
• 1:02:44
  exclusive series live with christianreevepatreon.com/christian
• 1:02:48
  Reeve. And yeah, just let me know if
• 1:02:50
  you like this episode and who you'd like to see on the next
• 1:02:53
  episode. Let me know what topics you want
• 1:02:55
  to be discussed. Make sure you go out your way to
• 1:02:58
  check out Mary Hannah. See you won't regret it.
• 1:03:00
  It's amazing she has my personal endorsement.
• 1:03:03
  Take care of yourselves. Be safe, be well, and I'll see
• 1:03:06
  you in the next one.