Interviewed by Katie Beaton
Just before Christmas, I chatted to GULZ, the self-taught singer, songwriter and producer about his new single “Welcome Home” and his latest EP "Wait. What?”. We discussed the difficulties and joys of songwriting, social media marketing and the rise of DIY bedroom pop genre.
What do you think the main difference is between the Newcastle and London live music scene?
The London one is a lot bigger and there’s a lot more music going on. I think that’s got a lot to do with the fact that London’s more diverse; the Newcastle scene is a lot smaller, there’s fewer venues. [London's] got quite an eclectic mix of genres and people.
Do you think there’s any genres in London you wouldn’t find in Newcastle?
I’d probably say grime and other genres associated with Black artists, as Newcastle’s a lot less diverse
You write, record and produce, what’s your favourite part of the process?
Definitely writing. Recording's alright but I think when I write something, that’s the very beginning of the song-making process. When I finish writing a song I think, “Oh yes I’ve got that down”, and when I start recording it opens up a whole new can of worms. There’s so many different elements to recording and producing, it’s a longer process and I’m quite impatient. I like to get things done quickly. Production-wise, you really do have to take your time. There’s so many options and sounds to explore.
What do you find the complications are, in the process of putting pen to paper?
I need something to write about that’s authentic but also not cringe. Because obviously, you can always find yourself in that trap. When you’ve got nice sounding, happy sounding chords, especially pop chords, you can easily find yourself writing really cheesy lyrics to it and that’s the thing I want to avoid. Authentic but not cheesy.
What methods do you use to try and avoid cheesy lyrics? Do you base it on your own personal measurement of what is and isn’t cheesy? Or do you think it sounds a bit cheesy to me but to most people, it would probably sound alright?
That’s probably the hardest thing to do when trying to balance it up internally. I guess it would be, even if when the end product sounds cheesy. It applies to the majority of stuff, I think; but if it’s true enough and I’m being honest enough, I think that overlies it.
What topics do you prefer to cover in your lyrics? Do you think there’s an active decision?
The way it works for me is that I write the chords first: the melody comes first. The lyrics I do after cause it's not my strong point - also I try and fit well-sounding lyrics to the melody, rather than the other way round. It’s not the Bob Dylan way of writing poetry and putting random chords on top of it. I try and make the music first, whether it’s on the guitar or the piano.
Would you place the hook as the most important thing in your music?
I think something's got to sound good before you put lyrics on top of it. Otherwise, it's not necessarily music, it’s just spoken word.
Are your lyrics based on your own personal life experiences?
Not really. I think so far the stuff I’ve released has been about themes. But the latest song I’ve released was personal: that was about boredom and longing to be back living a normal life with your mates, going out and stuff. I think the more time we spend in isolation and in this COVID nightmare, the more personal it'll get, just because I have no outside inspiration.
The new track you released is notably more upbeat than your earlier ones. Do you think that’s gonna be a new direction for your music?
I don’t think it's necessarily a new direction, I just think it works with the song. At the time I was listening to a lot of The Strokes and 90s American garage rock and all that stuff - songs about being back with your mates and having a good time. So my output was always gonna be more high-energy than the other stuff.
Doing the whole creative process by yourself must have the potential to be quite daunting. When you first started making music, did it seem like almost an impossible task?
It was actually quite deliberate. I’d written a few songs on guitar and I wanted to release them, so I looked up studio time but it’s ridiculously expensive. I also didn’t have a clear vision at that point so didn’t want to spend lots of money without really knowing what I was doing. So I bought a home DIY set up and learnt the process really slowly that way until I got to the point where it was good enough for a demo or something, and eventually got to a stage where I was comfortable with things. I was just doing things bit by bit, I always thought at some point, something was going to come in and help me out, but it hasn’t got to that bit yet.
You said earlier you didn’t have a clear vision then, do you think you have a clear vision now?
In terms of both recording and production, it's a lot more clear. I’m far from being perfect or even great or good, I’m very much at a beginner level but the more I record, the more comfortable I am with it, the more I can experiment and the more I think I can get from the song.
There’s been a huge rise in DIY bedroom pop genre recently. What do you think the appeal of the genre is?
A lot of things. I think its the fact you get full control over your work. I think how it used to work is that you become your own commercial product with people writing your songs for you. But I think [DIY] gives you complete control of the whole process. So the final product is yours. But I suppose with bigger label structures you wouldn’t get that form of control. Also, probably just money as well I guess. Studio time is crazy expensive and unless you're signed to a major label, you wouldn’t get the opportunity to do that.
What do you think the appeal of bedroom pop is - not to artists but to listeners? Why do you think the genre's now just as popular as super polished, mega-produced pop?
I think it is a bit of a phase at the moment, all these bedroom pop artists. Maybe it’s just because people have more control over their work and so the stuff they release is more authentic and people relate to it more. That would be a textbook answer, but in truth, I’m not actually sure if that's the case or if it even is a phase. But, even then, I think big labels are starting to get on it and so it is starting to become more commercialised already.
Now that you’re so used to having so much control over the whole process, would you want to let go?
I think the lazy side of me would definitely want to let a bit of it go. It would be nice, wouldn’t it, to just have someone doing the work for you. But the creative side is like the entire point - I'm not trying to be lazy. I'm doing it just because I enjoy it.
I do love the creative control but on a slow day, it’d be nice to have some help.
Is it ever difficult hearing the sound you want in your head and then getting it out of software?
Yeah, that’s the most difficult part of it, you hear something amazing in your head and then 99% of the time, it doesn’t translate to a computer trying to make that sound. The best producers are the ones who can do that.
Your recent EP's called, “Wait? What.” - that's a very intriguing title for a project .
It was from the song, the first song. There’s a big change in it: it goes from a chill sunny afternoon vibe to then being quite heavy with a rock riff at the end. I guess I always thought when I was writing it, that people would be thinking "wait, what?", when they heard that change. Before then it was called Seasons, but that’s quite boring and I think Justin Bieber had a thing out called Seasons at the time. I can’t compete with Justin Bieber so I changed it.
What would you say are your main inspirations for your music?
The EP is massively inspired by the Arctic Monkeys, but I’m edging away from that generally as I’m becoming more open-minded and trying to listen to more genres. There’s Sam Fender at the moment, he’s from Newcastle. I’m quite an old soul when it comes to music; I love David Bowie and The Beatles. I think that’s the basis of good songwriting but obviously, production has evolved a lot since then.
Why do you see them as the basis of good songwriting?
It’s very basic, 4 chord sequences. Very easy music to learn and play but it makes such acoustically pleasing music - it's so easy to listen to. Literally the definition of easy listening.
Would you say Bowie is easy listening?
Well, I would say it is. I would say the Ziggy Stardust stuff is easy listening, in the sense that the chord progressions aren’t particularly offensive.
Right, final couple of questions before I let you go for big Tier 4 Festive plans.
Live performances are clearly very significant for upcoming musicians such as yourself, what do you think the impact of COVID has been, both on the industry and the artists?
It seems like it’s had a massive impact. Venues are closing down because they’ve had no support from the government. On an industry level, no one's being paid. Touring is how artists make a lot of their money and it's so important for upcoming artists too. Not having that opportunity to go out and play their music to people because of COVID is annoying. You’re restricted to social media and Instagram where you’re all competing for the same digital space. Without live music, I think the whole industry stops. I know a lot of artists have delayed releasing anything until it's all over.
Do you think upcoming artists have any other ways to promote their music now apart from social media? And what impact do you think this limitation to the bounds of social media has on them?
I think social media's a big part of it. If everyone's restricted to being inside, the way you have to market yourself to people is really just online, for the most people to see it. Then one of the repercussions of that is that artists are all having to share the same digital space.
It's a lot of harder, figuring out what makes someone click on your music over someone else’s music. If you’re both competing on Instagram, that’s kinda difficult. The people who will do well out of it are the people who are well tuned in with social media, who can think of new fresh ways to keep it interesting. That’s probably the key.
I was reading the Guardian Roundtable with upcoming artists and they were having a really interesting discussion about TikTok.
They were saying artists are now expected to write for TikTok, to create a sound that "catches" in 15 seconds.
What do you think about this?
Yeah, there’s a lot of that sort of thing. It’s bad that people have to bend their genres and music towards trendable and commercially viable platforms like TikTok. That’s what people do now, make a song you can easily make a dance to.
Then there’s the Spotify thing as well - streams only count after you've listened to thirty seconds. So artists now make songs where you have to capture the attention of the listener in the first thirty seconds, otherwise, the stream doesn’t count. So you have artists now changing their songs so the first thirty seconds are really engaging. You don’t have the long mysterious intros anymore, it's less experimental and trying to grab attention straight away.
2020's been a big year of releases for you, with your debut EP and a new single. What are your plans for 2021?
Playing live shows. That’s ambitious but it would be amazing.
[Editor's Note: Finger's crossed! 🥺]
I’m working on another song at the moment, but holding on until it’s ready for release. It’s about being isolated so very relevant to my current state of being trapped by Track and Trace.
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