In this interview spotlight, I chat with Gordon Thomson about his latest music, challenges, technology and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.

My style is lyric based acoustic rock but lately i have been graduating to a more electric based style the treatment of the song is largely based around the lyrics and what they say to me as a creative feel I try not to lever in a style for the song rather let it dictate to me what it says and the message if any I’m trying to say 

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I have been playing the guitar and writing from the age of 10 and Used it as a form of self expression  and as a therapy to my life these days trained in the arts as a designer my creative instincts are huge and an intrinsic part of my life and the need for a creative outlet through art design and all aspects of the creative field is so strong the second i haven’t got one creative thought in my head for something is almost unheard of and my music has been like a serpent that has twisted itself round my life and my whole being if i couldn’t pick up a guitar and sing and create music then i feel i would cease to exist !!

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

The new album EVENTUALLY is more commercially minded far less about my emotional outlets and situational moments rather more about producing something musically that is more universal and more easily related to But still retaining my need to weave my emotional outlets into the fabric of my songs so that perhaps other people can share my feelings and extract and interpret their own story from its emotional content Perhaps 

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

technology doesn’t help !! it completely transform and revolutionize the music Industry the independent musician as a Whole Giving him freedom to everything he or she needs to produce create and express themselves in a musical form !

It can also suffocate the creative process in too much choice too much sophisticated outlets eg equipment and you can get overwhelmed by the choice and endless parameters of the creative field 

LESS IS MORE as an artist its the one thing to remember Know when to stop know when enough is enough People do not hear half of what is in a song track and doesn’t really care how long it has taken to make and put together most of the time they listen to what they hear and reads what they feel into it Cut the crap and send the message thats why i love Lyrics so much ! you can say so much so quickly with so little let the listener add the rest !!

What was the last song you listened to?

HA Ha I was watching an old series of JUSTIFIED the other night and this great country hillbilly track was playing and I don’t even know the name or the artist but My ears pricked up and the lyrics and the beat were simple strong and raspy and it sent a tingle up my spine and i thought never heard that before How can i get that feel in a song i have just written which just lends itself to that feeling ITs a FEELING and EMOTION thats can just drive us on I will find out who the artist was and the song and make a point of Listening to more and buying it probably In a way thats how I would love my songs to to get that sort of reaction Need that Creative tools for the creative Mind !!

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

I love CDs the quality i love the ownership of good music Vinyl has a quality of its own and it is a nostalgic look back at the sound and feel of where we were and where we came from to now and I hate MP3 the quality is not great and people who listen to Mp3 are missing so much information in a sound track and that is a great shame But it is how things are these days and a lot of people know no different and it goes back to listening and not hearing a lot of what is in the work i keep going on about LESS IS MORE but in terms of quality its the distillation of what is good and what is needed that is important and not what is missing !

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Apple Music and the fact you can access everything you need on the cloud and hear like get play what else do you need don’t want to be sold anything Im not interested in Soundcloud and platforms like that that exploit and use independent musician and give them nothing in return A lot of the music industry is still controlled by very few even now but Independent artist have a lot of outlets for their work but it still very hard to get your work out there !

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Apple music  CD Baby  HearNow  Amazon  Tunecore   its all there trying to get people to be directed to these places is the hardest thing You can be the best thing since the invention of fire but unless people know your out there why would they care and believe me I know even with all the tech at Our disposal it is a hell of a job to create enough publicity to even exist as an independent and coupled with the continual exploitation of ruthless companies to feed of the need for help and a lot get you nowhere and at a cost its a Hard Road !!

Anything else before we sign off?

Less is More ! and good luck to all those independent talented individuals who want to get their talent recognised don’t get fooled by false promises don’t be caught in the trap of the NEED TO SUCCEED it not life and death really its not !