You have a new single out
called ‘You and I’. How would you describe it?
Synth-pop
would be the best way to describe it. Some have described it as Human League
meets One Direction, which I think is quite complementary!
It has a real bouncy,
summery feel to it…
Yeah.
The lyrics are a little bit sad. I don’t know how to describe it. There’s like a
lost love feel to the lyrics, but we’ve made it really upbeat and hopefully
people can get on board with it and sing along!
Do you have any particular
influences on your music?
It
was a really interesting one. The guy I made the record with over in America
did lots of pop-rock bands, like Weezer and Motor City Soundtrack, but they’re
obviously keeping track of all the British bands that are going over, like the
1975 and that kind of band that’s becoming big over in the States, so we
definitely kind of channelled that sort of stuff. There’s a band called Prides
as well, a Scottish band, who do that kind of synth-pop, and they’re a personal
favourite of mine, so they were definitely a reference.
Are you a big fan of
eighties music?
I
absolutely am! Everything and anything from that era!
‘You and I’ was recorded in
New York. Was that a good experience?
It
was. That was interesting because I’d had a conversation with Mark, admiring
his work. He’d asked me to send over some of my material and he asked me to
come over and make a record. Obviously I was like ‘I could never afford to
record with you’ but he wasn’t worried about the money and said ‘let’s make it
happen’, so I went over to America and stayed with him and we did some singles.
Was it good to be part of
that scene?
It
was amazing. The Americans have a very different approach to music, and to
Brits as well, so that was nice to see.
There’s also a video out for
the single. What was it like to record that?
Very
painful! They shot a lot of confetti and powder paint and threw me on a
trampoline that I fell off of after about two takes! All that kind of stuff;
all good fun!
Definitely suffering for
your art?
That’s
one way to put it!
Over on your Facebook page
you can listen to an older EP…
I’ve
done a couple of EPs. I did a free one called ‘Heart’ which is when I was
seventeen, and I did a second EP called ‘Flaws’
with a chap called Dan Weller, and that got released when I was nineteen, and
that has on it a song called ‘Minds and Hearts’ on it, which to this day I
still like playing. Obviously when you get a little bit older you look back at
your older material and, not say you’re embarrassed by it, but know you could
better stuff now.
Do you have any live dates
coming up?
We’re
currently in the process of booking some in; we’re just waiting on confirmation.
I’ll be posting all that on my Facebook and Twitter.
How does your live sound
compare to your singles?
It’s
very similar. Being the 21st century we do make use of a lot of
technology, so we’ve got lots of synths on sample pads and I play with a live
drummer. I’m going to play with live synth and keys, and I play the guitar etc,
so we’ve got quite a big sound and hopefully people enjoy it!
And what are your follows up
for the single?
When
I was over in America we did record a second single and that’s all good to go,
and that’s going to be coming out in April / May time, which is all really
exciting, and after that I’m going to be heading back off out to America to
record the single after that! I’m going to be keeping busy.
Finally what are your big ambitions
for 2017?
I’ve
been pursuing music for a couple of years and I’d love to get in a position
where I could say where I’d truly do it full-time, kind of have a fan base so
if someone turns around to me and asks ‘what do you do’ my goal for the end of
the year would be to say ‘I sing’.
You can find out more about Calum and his music on his Facebook page and you can hear this interview and his song on Saturday 4th March 2017 on BCB 106.6FM at 6pm!
