In this interview spotlight, I chat with Jamie Blackburn about this 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.)
I’m from the Isle of Man, a small island in the UK. I am generally a moving target when it comes to music. I have a huge range of influences which bleed through to my writing. You’ll hear elements of Rock, Country and Blues within the music and a heavy influence of Hard Rock in the vocals. I move between acoustic and full band stuff usually.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I started playing guitar when I was about 14 and since then I haven’t been able to put the damn thing down. I started to focus on playing live and producing music when I was about 16. The audience’s reactions are what keep me going. There is no better feeling than knowing a song you’re singing is moving a room full of people. I’m always on the search for the best song I’ve written and I hope I never find it.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
“Four Walls” is taking on a shape that I didn’t expect when I started it. The album itself was born out of the current situation (COVID 19) and remaining indoors. What else is a musician going to do when they are stuck indoors other than write! Haha. The album is almost like a diary of my thoughts while in lockdown. Each song/thought is expressed through a different genre to convey the tone of the entry. The more dark songs are heavy, the bright ones are pop-y. It’s a wide range of genres and I love that.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Getting your name above the noise is incredibly hard. It almost seems that in order to gain recognition you need a gimmick. Something that blatantly separates you from the crowd. The downside is the more gimmicks the less content and it all sorta turns into a popularity contest. I truly believe there are people out there looking for precisely what indie artists are putting out but there is a lot of junk in the way.
What was the last song you listened to?
Messengers by Jared & The Mill. If you haven’t checked them out then you owe to yourself to do so. The harmonies are shimmering and the structure is perfect. Go listen to it now, I’ll wait here. C’ya in 5!
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I like each for different reasons. CD’s may be a cut above the rest as I spent a lot of years gathering a formidable CD collection. There was nothing quite like buying a brand new album, taking 30 minutes to open it because of all of the damn security tags, finally opening it and putting the disc into a hi fi and reading the lyrics booklet as you listen. The first album I ever bought was Ride the Lightning by Metallica and it blew my mind! I love owning a physical copy because it’s a momento to the time you spent with those songs, but MP3s and streaming make it all so much easier.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I personally prefer Spotify. No particular rhyme or reason to it, its just what I know. All of my stuff is across every streaming platform but Spotify always seems to be my default
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I guess Twitter is the easiest place. YouTube is great for that too. Send me a message however you can. I wanna hear from anyone that has an opinion on my songs or even just music in general.
Anything else before we sign off?
Let’s catch up after the album is released! It’s coming out on my birthday (31st of July)
