Ballard

I was reading an SOS article about the recording of You Really Got Me and it got me thinking. It still sounds great, no matter what I listen to it on. A lot of old songs do.

They also, however, sound quite different compared to the latest Lily Allen single or Athlete’s latest effort to be the cool Coldplay. They don’t sound very ‘now’. They’re a lot quieter for a start. And they don’t have the latest vintage synth sound (there’s an oxymoron) or the latest vocal compression effect. Mostly, they’re just a band recorded and mixed simply. Occasionally there’ll be a bizarre reverb or phase effect but apart from that they’re pretty simple.

It got me thinking. If I want a successful career as a ‘now’ artist, I have to compete. I have to have the latest sounds on the singles; I have to have it mixed by Chris Lord Alge or some such legend; I probably have to have the life squeezed out of it in the never-ending quest for more volume.

I can’t write alone either. I will be forced to team up with another pop wannabe. If I’m lucky I’ll get to write with the head of Epic, Amada Ghost (she actually wrote You’re Beautiful by James Blunt). If I’m not so lucky I’ll be working on some beats with Calvin Harris.

And then there’s the endless round of photo-shoots, interviews etc. Not much time to do anything else. I’ll probably be at a party with Rio Ferdinand and Cheryl Cole rather than writing music.

I don’t, however, want a successful career as a ‘now’ artist. I want to do what I’m doing now. I’d maybe like a more rewarding job but not much else. And I think that helps my music.

The Mexican band...

I don’t have to worry too much about my sounds. It doesn’t matter if my guitar sound is a bit shitty or the kick doesn’t have much click. I can record stuff that I like and not worry about anyone else. I can write what I like, in any style I like (I can even go Mexican if I want to, but that would never work…) without having to pander to the press.

I don’t have to compete in a volume war either. It’s not as if it’s going to get played on the radio. If anyone hears my music they probably want to hear it, they’ve probably already paid for it and that means they’re not bothered if it’s the same volume as the preceding track, they’ll just turn it up (and it will probably be more sonically dynamic than the preceding track anyway.)

I don’t even have to be an awesome singer, just as long as I sing with passion, with character and as long as the song is decent. By being a small, independent artist in the true sense of the term I only have to appeal to myself and if anyone else likes my material they genuinely will like it.

In the independent music world – or at least, in my independent music world – the song is king and nothing else matters.