Miles Graham Interview

Miles Graham took a break from milk bottles and nappies (he’s the father of twins) to talk to us about his first single “All So Innocent”, his upcoming album and his wish of eating steaks with Michael Jackson and Bill Withers.

You’re releasing your debut album early 2014, how would you like to introduce yourself to the audience, as this is their first contact with you?
MG: Well, the first single from the album is “All So Innocent” and that was out the 24th of June. I suppose it’s a grower of a track. It’s just a lovely kind of soft song; there is so much punchy songs made to fit radios’ expectations. So it was nice for me to start with just a nice, simple song. I’m very serious about my song writing; I put a lot into it, you know. “All So Innocent” was a nice start. That doesn’t answer your question at all! (laughs)

It’s fine; I actually wanted to ask you more about your first single! Like, would you say it defines you and your style?
MG: I don’t know if that defines me. I think probably, if you listen to the whole album, you might not even get me! Because I’m quite diverse, in my writing, and none of the songs do really sound the same. I like to think that each song has its entity. A song rules. It rules over me, as an artist, over everything. I look at songs as concepts, stories. You really have to listen to the whole album and then, you might get to know me, but that would probably take a couple of albums.

So, you’re Irish but, listening to your songs, I thought you sounded a bit American. It made me want to go on a road trip on route 66. Is that the kind of feeling you wanted to give?
MG: You can write that I have a pint of Guinness in front of me, while it’s just an apple juice (laughs). Like everything, though, it all comes down to influence. I was heavily influenced by American music and songs. Ever since I was a kid, I listened to a lot of soul, jazz and blues. Those songs really caught me, you know. It doesn’t matter: if someone is living in a place for so long, they’re gonna take on the environment and music is part of that. But you still try to remain true to yourself, to your roots. So, yeah, soul music is a big influence.

You’ve been called a “younger Van Morrison”; Tell me how different from him you are.
MG: I’m taller (laughs)! Van Morrison is a brilliant songwriter and singer and he’s written some great songs. It’s an honour to be compared to someone like that. You always get compared to other artists. I don’t know what happens in people’s brains: “Oh, he’s like Paolo Nutini or James Morrison.” I like to think there is something unique there. I kinda worked on these sounds. I had to learn the cords as well, like anybody. I like to think that in the past 4-5 years, - it sounds a bit corny but -I found myself. I love these stuffs I’m doing: passion, music, emotion, everything like that!

Do you have a twitter?
MG: Yeah, I only just started one so it’s pretty new to me. It’s a good way to build up followers and expose my music. – Asks his PR: “What’s it called again?”- Miles Graham fans. I’m thinking about changing the name so it’s not confusing for people and they know it is me running it. We’re going to have a meeting about that (laughs)!

So you do realize that social media are a big part of the game, now?
MG: Yeah, it is important. I have to admit that I’m not great at it.

How different is the process of writing lyrics to the process of writing music? And which one do you enjoy the most?
MG: The lyrics can be the hard part sometimes. If you haven’t got a concept…When you write a melody, you get an inspiration and you’ll write something, or you’ll sing something. If you sing a melody or play a couple cords and that’s the inspiration. I was in the studio yesterday with my producer Richard Causon, we were done with rehearsing and we just started playing a couple cords and Richard was buzzing. As a musician, as a songwriter, as a creative person, that’s the exciting part. When you’ve kind of have found something fresh, something new. And once you get to that stage, then you have to do that inspiration justice. It then comes down to the lyrics and you have to have a good story, a good concept. Co-writing is different; it’s a different environment.

If the world was perfect and you could be anything anywhere, what and where would you like to be?
MG: If the world was perfect? Like I could be a superhero or something? (laughs) Where are we going with this? If the world was perfect, yeah, I’d be sitting here with Bill Withers and Michael Jackson. I’ve seen a documentary and the guys were just sitting there: there was Muhammad Ali, James Brown and Bill Withers and there were all sitting there and having steaks. I’d like a steak with…yeah I don’t know where we’re going with this (laughs)! It’d be great to play with those artists. Bill Withers in particularly. They were serious funk, soul performers. And to sing and to perform with them would be amazing. Musically, that’s what I’d love to be able to do.

What about the superhero wish?
MG: Yeah, I do wish I could be a superhero. I like Superman. He’s the best superhero!

Miles Graham’s next single “I’ll never let you down” will be released later this year. In the meantime, you can visit his official website milesgraham.com