Owen Duff - intoxicated by London

With influences stemming from Rufus Wainwright & Sufjan Stevens and with a vibe reminiscent of Anthony & the Johnsons Owen Duffs new EP, Under, documents his arrival in London and his enamoured view of the city.  Owen has linked his music to interesting concept videos for each of the songs, including one using Google Earth to map out the song's narrative.

I recently got the chance to ask Owen some question and talk about what inspired the new EP:

What inspired the project?
For me songwriting or making anything is often a process of sublimation, whereby whatever I'm writing or creating helps to resolve or at least express thoughts and feelings that I may not be consciously aware of. The songs on the Under EP are a good example of that, I wrote them a long time ago in 2003-4 when I'd just arrived in London.

It seems London was your primary muse for the EP, is that right?
I had all these romantic notions of what it would be like to live here so moved down in a very cavalier way, without knowing anyone or having a steady job to go to.  The reality of it hit me pretty quickly and overwhelmingly, and while I was determined to stay it took me quite a while to find my feet. The song London You're My High is very ambivalent; on the one hand it's sort of a love song to the city but on the other it uses the dark imagery of addiction, which I think expresses how I felt at the time - intoxicated by London but also finding it pretty bleak.
The reason I kept the songs on hold for so long was that I wasn't able to record on a real piano at the time I wrote them. It was only more recently, when I paid to go into a studio and record a whole heap of things on a real piano, that I was able to get versions of the songs that I was happy to release.
 

Owen Duff - Morning Finsbury Park

There was actually a 'twin' EP to Under called 'Over', which was much bigger sounding, and more upbeat, with drums and trumpets and stuff, and then a whole instrumental section where a Steve Reich-esque arrangement of 'London You're My High' plays backwards over an electronic beat. It was quiteinteresting as an experiment but overall it didn't really work. 

Why did you decide to link the songs with videos?
The video aspect is something I've been meaning to get into for a while - I studied TV and Radio Production at university so it's something I've done before and have a long-standing interest in.

How did you come up with the idea of linking the song with google earth?
Because I'd written 'London You're My High' in my first year of living here I wanted to do something that summed up what had happened to me since then. I started drawing up a sort of bullet-point list of the big events in my London life from the past six or seven years, and then I got to thinking about the places those things had happened, which led me to plot out their locations on a map, which is when I had the idea to use Google Earth. I started off with quite specific descriptions but then made them more vague, partly for aesthetic reasons but mostly to make them universal enough that others would be able to identify with them.
 

Owen Duff - London You're My High

What came first the idea for the project or the songs?
Well the gap between the songs and the videos was obviously pretty long, but the ambition to make an EP or album about this city arose at the same time as writing the songs, so those two aspects were of it were simultaneous.  A big influence was New York Tendaberry by Laura Nyro, which I played constantly when I first moved to London. That album is still one of my absolute favourite things to listen to, and I think its central concept of a romantic paean to a big city very much resonated with me in the early days of being here.

 

You can find out more about Owen on his site owenduff.co.uk and you can download the Under EP from his bandcamp page for free.

An Interview with Dead Cities

Continuing the string of interviews I've posted with local musicians and bands about how they go about writing their songs I recently got the chance to interview Ryan Wyatt, bass player with the multi instrumentalist Liverpool Folk-Rock band Dead Cities.

So in the beginning, what made you want to write songs?

Nothing really, Martin had a few tunes and hadn’t played for a while so me and Oli started playing on top of them and they sounded pretty good so we carried on for 3 months or thereabouts before we realised we were a band.


Who influenced you as you began writing?

Probably Martin without sounding cheesy, just because he had these songs lying about and me and Oli just threw anything over them we thought we could add.  After a while when we started doing songs from scratch with each other, I think it was obvious that people like Neil Young has an influence on us as a band and Led Zeppelin for me are always going to influence ideas I come up with.  The Beatles too and anything more contemporary we listen to as a whole together – Wild Beasts, Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes – there’s a lot of stuff in there.



So how did you all come together as a band?

I already knew both Oli and Martin, and they had played together in The Alterkicks. I had been playing in a few different bands around the same time, as well as my flat being in the same building as Oli’s, so it just kind of happened by accident really. Me and Oli had played in a few bands together already before Dead Cities, and as we lived in the same building as each other, and with Oli’s bedroom becoming a kind of local rehearsal room for bands we played in it, seemed the obvious choice for Martin to use me and Oli as the rhythm section.

Where did the name “Dead Cities” come from?

Martin had come up with a joke name which we would refer to ourselves as but when we realised we were turning into a band we just chose the name “Dead Cities” from a song title we had.  We managed to cut out all of the stresses involved in naming a band which is usually the biggest pain in the arse when starting a new project.


What would you say inspires you when you all write?

Wouldn’t be able to say to be honest as it can come from a film, book, concert you have been to, a noise you hear. For me I don’t really write as much as I usually help arrange or come up with melodies on top of existing chord structures so it is usually just something you think will add to a song for me.


You all play various instruments (live) but what’s you’re individual instrument of choice?

It would definitely be the bass as that is what I have played for 10 years in different bands and when people ask me to play with them it is usually to play bass. It’s the one instrument I feel completely comfortable on and never feel out of my depth on it. Since staring Dead Cities I have taken a real shine to the ukulele and find myself playing it everyday

Old Man (Live)

When you come to write a song do you find you always approach it in a similar way? Or do you have a formula as a band? (Do you write the songs as a band or do you write the lyrics and then approach the music as a band?)

It can work in different ways really.  Most of the time Martin will come in with a chord sequence and a melody and me and Oli will add what we think suits the song. It can result in me changing around different instruments to see what fits and Oli doing the same, then if we feel a song needs a change in direction or needs added sections one of us will usually come up with the idea of where to take it and it usually works without anyone thinking differently.  Sometimes we will literarily just write a song on the spot or in the studio and just take it there and then.


You grew from an acoustic band but have been branching out introducing other instruments, where do you see your musical direction going next?

Don’t have a clue and I would think that none of us do. We work on songs together and if they sound right they are in and if they don’t they will be put aside and we will work on something different. We might have 3 that we are working on all with different instrumentation that will sound like us but don’t sound alike so I think the sound always changes but can so easily come back to what it was we were doing at the start.  It’s all about how the song we are working on at the time feels. If it needs to be big it will end up big but if it needs to be soft it will be soft so I don’t think we ever have an idea of what the next track we work on will sound like.

What music are you all into at the moment?

I am into blues and have been for years and that is mostly what I listen to but I find I end up listening to a lot of music I hear friends playing or even listening to friends’ bands that I really look up to. At this very moment though it is The Movie Soundtrack to The Last Waltz by The Band which I just managed to get hold of at a record fair so that will probably be on my record player for the next month.


How would you describe your music, genre wise?

I wouldn’t know how to describe it really. If you say Folk people will expect Folk if you say Indie people will expect Indie and if you say Pop people will expect Pop I just say it’s a bunch of songs where we pass instruments about and try and create different sounding songs with just the three of us.


What's coming up in the summer? Recording?  Gigs?

I would imagine we will be going out and gigging over the summer as well as writing and looking at getting together more recordings for an album we hope to release this year. Unfortunately with being unsigned and some members working jobs and some unemployed the summer isn’t much different then other times of the year so you find you still push on and work as hard as any other time of the year. We have gigs starting to come in with Liverpool Sound City and one or two festivals so we will see what comes in and where they take us but in the mean time I suppose we will still just be writing, recording and drinking all of Oli’s tea and eating all of his digestive’s he tries to hide from us.

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You can find out more about Dead Cities and check out some of their music at: myspace.com/deadcitiesband

An Interview with... Me

I haven't interviewed myself that would be slightly egocentric! But when my EP was released a couple of days ago the label I'm on asked me some promotional questions here they are in full:

1. When not making music what do you do?

I’m a history student at Liverpool University, UK so that takes up a lot of my time, I also teach people to play the guitar which is pretty satisfying, but not as satisfying as writing music.

2. What was the first album you ever bought?

I’m having to think really hard about this. It might have been an Oasis album? Or it could have been Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, I think it was Oasis, Dylan came later.


3. Who are your biggest influences?

I’ve had so many different phases of influence, when ever I discover new music it seems to spark something new in me when I’m writing songs. I’d have to say the band that made me want to pick up the guitar was Led Zeppelin; Jimmy Page is a brilliant guitarist. Zeppelin’s acoustic stuff like Hats off to Roy Harper, Bron Yr Aur and Battle of Evermore led me to folk music. I found Bob Dylan, he’s probably one of my biggest influences his lyric’s ability to create imagery are incredible. Neil Young too he’s in the same league as Dylan for me.

4. Favourite piece of equipment, software or instrument for getting your
sound?

I’d be lost without my guitar I'm rarely parted from it. Software wise Steinberg’s Cubase 5 is what lets me capture everything I make.

5. What is the biggest challenge you face in getting your music out?

The biggest challenge is getting it to the people who want to hear it, I’m on most of the major social networking sites. For a long time even my friends didn’t know I wrote music. But I found Myspace a few years ago and that changed things. But I think lately Myspace has been in decline so I’m trying to find new ways of making my music available. It’s a matter of the people who are passionate about music, discovering you I have to make it as easy as possible for them.

6. What was the most memorable party you have ever played at or been to?

The most memorable place I ever played was a festival in Liverpool, my band played a set in the pouring rain, in front of maybe a dozen people but that didn’t matter it was probably the first time I enjoyed playing live.

7. What's your opinion on the current copy right system, is it working
or does it need to go?

I think the music industry as a whole is suffering from a lot of problems. The copy right system we have at the moment does need some reform. I think the Creative commons license concept is great though. Things have to be fair, fair to the consumer and the musicians making the music.


8. If you weren't making music what would be your outlet?

I used to like art in high school and I often thought about studying art at college. I like creative writing too, short stories that sort of thing. So maybe I’d try those.

9. Where do you want to be in 5 years time?

Ideally I’d like to be making music, whether it’s paying my bills or not isn’t really important at the moment. I’m studying for a degree so that’s my fall back.

10. Anything else you want to tell people?

Hmm. I guess if you’ve read this you’re interested in my music and who I am so thank you very much.

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My EP is available to preview now along with 2 free downloads.  It's on sale for just £2, please go and download the free tracks!   CLICK HERE NOW

An Interview with Rob Clarke.

Rob Clarke is a Liverpool based singer/songwriter his new album 'Portraits' is out next year. His work has an honest tone and quality which makes his finely crafted music all the more listenable. The Liverpool Echo has praised his work as being "memorable songs that... evoke the spirit of Liverpool." Rob spoke to me about his upcoming album and about how he goes about writing.



So in the beginning, what made you want to write your own songs?

I was listening to Gimme Shelter by the Stones - had it on downstairs loud enough I could hear it upstairs in the bath- I knew some other people who played guitar so I’d thought I'd leave that to them – didn’t want to follow the herd so to speak – but then it just suddenly struck me I was prepared to do whatever it took or spend any amount of time to play guitar even a bit, even just a few notes or chords...

Who influenced you as you began writing? Do these people still influence you?

From there I always wanted to write songs, everyone that I admired did that and it became the biggest part of it almost straight away – I was trying to write songs before I could play to any standard at all really and I soon found that was pretty much the best part. Have you read Shakey?(The biography of Neil Young by Jimmy McDonough) To me if I’m not sure about something I always try to think what Dylan or Neil Young would do – and if that doesn’t work I think what the Beatles or Stones might do – so they pretty much cover if for me.

Your song Long Way north, has some strong imagery, it reminds me of early Bob Dylan, would you say Dylan is one of your influences?

Yes, a friend of mine offered to get me a copy of North Country Girl when I said I’d heard it ages ago and was trying to remember it but he took a long time to give it to me – after a while I thought it must be easy to play from my memory of it – it didn’t occur to me to get it off the Internet for some reason – anyway in doing that I ended up doing my own type of version, thought that would be more productive.

So that’s how it happened – it was that and also playing in folk clubs where a lot of the songs people sing have narratives to them so I’ve also been influenced by that sometimes as well. Funny though when I play it very few people seem to pick up on how similar it is structurally...



What’s you’re instrument of choice?

Guitar is good, also piano although it sometimes seems more difficult to write on...

What would you say your muse is, what inspires you when you write?

Songs are all around but in saying that they can be easy or difficult to find depending on your state of mind. I think you can write about absolutely anything, anything that’s happened domestically or socially, people you come into contact with and especially things or events that go on in the world or where you live – I’m surprised really that more people don’t write songs about some of the big things that actually happen in the world for good or bad – maybe that’s a part of 'dumbing down'? John Lennon or Dylan weren’t afraid to write songs about real subjects... so what’s to fear? To me a song is basically just your own point of view about something - the judgement about how good or bad it is for later...

Once you get in the zone you can write about anything really – the ideas are all around but once you come out of the zone it can be difficult to see that – Recording and rehearsing can break the flow because you almost inevitably get into a different mindset...what does that tell you – stop rehearsing and recording!

Your song North to West, from you’re forth coming album, is just you and a piano do you favour a stripped back sound?

Yes very much – I like real sounding things but then again I like electric guitar as well so I want to do that ASAP as well...

How do you approach song writing, do you find it is different each time or do you have a formula?

No formulas for me anyway but wouldn’t rule anything out -instinct is probably better though...

You have a new album coming out soon called Portraits, what's the album have in store for listeners?

Ten stripped down acoustic portraits of people and in some cases animals... so if that’s your bag this one’s really for you! The publicity for it will say something like ‘Or an artist, two footballers and a hedgehog’.

How would you describe your music, genre wise? A lot of musicians struggle or are reluctant to categorise their music.

I’m trying to make it timeless I think.


Rob's new album 'Portraits' is scheduled for release on the 28th of February, you can find Rob's critically acclaimed previous album 'Long way North' available to buy on his myspace page here. Also on his myspace you can find his upcoming double A-side single, 'End of the End/Tracey Emins Blues' due to be released in early February.

An Interview with Aclaimed Norwegian Songstress Ragz

The first musician I spoke to for my series of interviews, songwriter-to-songwriter, was Norwegian born Ragz Nordset. Based in Liverpool she has recorded two EPs Little Stings & Love You Still and played with the likes of Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons & David Ford. Critically aclaimed, described by Liverpool.com as 'Startlingly original' and The Fly Magazine has described her as an artist who bares her "soul through beautifully crafted songs", she gave me the chance to see what inspires and drives her to make music.



Starting at the beginning, what made you want to start writing your own songs?
I can’t remember how old I was, but at some point as a young girl, I started writing. It was just this emotion or vibe inside me and it somehow made sense to make that into songs. As silly as it may sound, it has the same effect as hunger or thirst. If I feel hungry, I eat and if I feel a certain way, I write.

Who influenced you as you began writing?
I grew up listening to my dad’s vinyl collection which contained everything from led zeppelin to Motown and think that was already in me when I started writing my own songs. It’s hard to say what bands or which music influenced me early on, but I actually think the biggest influence was just my big brother. He played guitar and that’s how I started too.

What is your instrument of choice? Do you find that playing other instruments inspires you differently?
My instrument of choice will always just be my voice. Guitar and piano comes as a joint second. Even though I love playing both piano and guitar, they are still just a way for me to carry or inspire motions in my voice. It would be the same way with any instrument really, they trigger different emotions in me and that way inspire different kinds of melodies and songs.

What would you say your muse is, what inspires you when you write?
My muse... I suppose my muse is my life. It’s all based on pure emotion – any changes in myself or people around me will, if it’s significant enough, almost force me to write. The need to tell, express, release or scream about something will, more often than not, become a song.

How do you approach song writing, do you find it is different each time or do you have a formula?
I wish I had a formula, but the only thing that is always the same is the decision and need to sit down and start something. The melody, if I’m patient enough will come alive through the chords I try. I never know how it’s going to pan out, but I hear that is a normal observation for most songwriters.

You're Norwegian, so I was wondering did you start writing/singing in your own language and then switch to English? Did you find this difficult when writing?
I’ve sang both Norwegian and English songs whilst growing up, but I’ve always written in English. I suppose that’s because most popular music was in English in Norway when I grew up. I never thought ‘bout it till a little over a year ago and decided to change my approach a little. I only wrote my first Norwegian song last Christmas, whilst visiting family in Norway. I’m trying to write in both languages now, but it’s still easier in English. Ask me again in ten years and that might have changed.

You've supported the likes of Laura Marling & Noah and the Whale - artists coming from the London folk scene. Do you see yourself as having a lot in common with them style wise?
This is a bit of a difficult one as I still struggle to find artists that I feel I properly share ground with. Regardless of where I am, I stick out like a sore thumb, style wise. This because my music might look folk based (girl with acoustic guitar), but I actually don’t think I fit the folk genre in its traditional sense. On a personal level I feel like I’ve connected with many artists from different scenes. Style wise, I’m still developing.



Are you writing at the moment?
I haven’t written a song for a few weeks now, due to touring and travelling, but there are a few brewing at the moment.

What's coming up for you, any gigs or recording?
We’ve just finished a tour, but there are some northwest based gigs coming up for ‘Liverpool Music Week’ and other events. As for recordings, I reckon early 2010 will bring some studio time for us.

A lot of musicians struggle or are reluctant to categorise their music. How would you describe your music, genre wise?
It’s always about the song for me, which sometimes makes it hard to categorize, but at the moment I would refer to it as acoustic pop/rock. You never know though, as soon as we get the right producer involved, this might change depending on what suits and completes the songs. We shall see.


Ragz' music can be heard on her myspace: myspace.com/ragzmusic. Her EPs Little Stings & Love You Still are available to download, you can find the links on her myspace. Her finely crafted songs coupled with her brilliant voice make her well worth a listen.
I hope you enjoyed this first installment, the next interview will feature liverpudlian singersongwriter Rob Clarke.