What was the beginning point for your music career? How did it all start?
I had a heavy rock / punk band not long after I left college called The Future based in Nottingham, it only lasted 8 or 9 gigs, but I made some lifelong friends from it. Good people and good times.
Was there any bumps on the road? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with?
Oh lots of bumps, especially after I formed Prime in 2014. Band members leaving, wanting to come back, then leaving again, fights, fallouts, missing guitars, car crashes, money issues… You name it, we’ve had it. Would I change much? Probably not. I’d take a bit less shit from people, for sure.
What is new with Prime (UK Band) at the moment? What would you like to share with the world?
We have our final music video (Shot By Taz, and out November 21st) and single (coming out on December 1st) and it’s a song written by our guitarist Chris D. Bramley called ‘Sorry’. Probably the most easy-going single we’ve put out to date as our past stuff was high energy rock. As our previous video-maker Bad Friday said to me in London the other week: “Prime are going out in a very laid-back fashion”!
What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?
Being onstage at the o2 Academy with Prime, supporting some great and well-known bands, and our last ever gig – despite awful sound – was a nice wrapup to what we did live, in front of around 700 people at The Winding Wheel in Chesterfield.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Classic rock is our main influence, and then circling around that is punk, funky basslines and some powerful drumming. We also weren’t afraid to strip the songs back and go acoustic, as we had pretty good harmony vocals live.
What is your creative process like?
It’s a mix of myself and the guitarists sitting down and composing a song, getting good riffs and a loose vocal harmony first, and tightening up lyrics later. I never usually start with the lyrics, as I like the music to inspire me. Also, jams in the studio with the band have been quite productive, and finished off with some of our best songs, like ‘In Summer’ or ‘To Be Or Not To Be’.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Maybe an independent comission could come in and get rid of some of the dross bands that don’t take what they do seriously, as there’s a lot of clutter to sift through online on streaming sites and social media. Also bring back the independent charts so we can get rid of crap like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift pop stuff and focus on real music from the underground, as the charts are a rigged and archaic joke.
If you were asked to give a piece of advice to upcoming bands, what would that be?
Same thing as above, take what you do seriously and put in as much effort as you can into getting your music out there. Quality music is great, but if it sits on a shelf it doesn’t really mean much does it?
What has been the best performance of your career so far?
I think the peak of Prime was a gig at Nottingham rock venue The Old Angel around 3 and a half years ago, I just remember it being near-perfect up on stage. We’d played the o2 Academy Sheffield the night before and we were tight and had a great energy.
If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
I would have written much more, as I have finished a couple of film screenplays and really would like to get into a more visual film medium now that Prime (UK Band) is finishing. I’m pleased to get our last single ‘Sorry’ out there this month so that I can work on more ideas next year.
