I am in love with your new single “Fading Out”! Can you share the story behind this song and a bit about your songwriting process?
Ned: The song came from lockdown, feeling out of place and born in the wrong time I wrote this song to not only express this feeling, but to connect with listeners who have also felt this way during the global pandemic or in general life. The chorus gives a lonesome melancholic atmosphere, the lyrics coming to the title of the song and the vocals expressing their feeling, one of loss and disappearance, fading out. The 3rd verse moves the timeline along, showing the sun has started to rise, a powerful sight that affects the viewer, singer and therefore listener.
How was your experience studying at the Purcell School of Music?
Ned: Purcell was an incredible time for me. Whilst studying there you are completely submersed in music, studying, listening, playing absolutely everything. You also get so many opportunities with a wide variety of choice, from performance, writing, teaching, outreach work there was always so much to do! I was also very lucky to have made a lot of incredibly talented friends who continue to amazing and inspire me to this day!
Who are some of your biggest influences when it comes to your music?
Ned: When it comes to music I’ve always tried to keep an open mind and embrace/learn something from everything, that’s not to say I don’t have my opinions/dislikes on certain types but I try not to dismiss stuff before I give it a chance! My big influences come from a mix of the true great guitarist and songwriters. Hendrix, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many many others guitarist will always be a monumental inspiration to me, set a bar higher than I could ever achieve but one I’ll always strive to! Then the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, their poetry through song is always something that astounds me day in day out. I’m also a super fan of John Mayer, Coldplay, Radiohead, all these guys to me are just complete genius’ in their own inimitable styles! A huge thing for me in music and all art is accepting yourself and making that your sound, by all means wear your influence on your sleeve and let them shine, but all of the artists I look up to sound like themselves and no one else whilst also openly admitting how much they were influenced by their heroes!
If you had to pick out of all the instruments you play, which would be your favorite and why?
Ned: This is 100% guitar, I started with classical violin when I was 4 and I absolutely loved it, it’s where my passion for music came from and I will always hold it close to my heart, but when I started playing guitar I’d never experienced a feeling like it, I truly felt like I’d found what I was meant to do, like I’d found home!
What do you think is the greatest album of all time? A record you can listen to front to back, with no skips!
Ned: Well that’s just an impossible question! There are so many unbelievable albums, all have their different reasons to take that spot! Jimi Hendrix’ Bold As Love is just a ridiculous album, everything from the guitar to the lyrics, the voice to the production is just unbelievable especially for the time, it still holds up and stands out today! John Mayers Where The Light Is live album absolutely blew me away and still does. I remember first hearing it and just being in shock thinking ‘wow…. So that’s how it’s meant to be done!’. There are 2 albums I know I have listened through thousands of times and I know I will to a thousand times more and NEVER get bored, Coldplay’s Parachutes is outstanding, I don’t think it gets enough credit in the music world for just how good it really is! Fantastic songwriting, incredible work in the studio to take each song from being well written to a true work of art and the vocals have this thing that just hits the soul. The other one I’ve listened to since I was tiny is Keane’s Hopes and Fears, another album that just gets me every time, one I can listen through then hit repeat and go around again and again!
What can we expect from your upcoming self-titled EP? I can’t wait to hear it!!
Ned: This EP means a great deal to me, born out of a sensitive place during lockdown it’s how I coped with everything going on in the world and I hope it helps other people deal and process their emotions as it did for me! It takes a bit of a different turn to the music I’ve released in the past, don’t want to give too much away of course so I’ll jus have to leave you with the fact that I am incredibly excited to hear what you all think and it’s very much the start of something new!
Interviewed By Sarah Curry
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