Local acoustic artist, Jonny Hands, talks to us about his latest album Thoughts for Company, released November 2009, and the Brum Music Scene. Jonny is a musician from Birmingham, who produces, plays, records (and everything else) all by himself. On his album you will hear a full band and vocals, when you see him perform, it will just be him and his guitar. Where’s the rest of the band? You’re looking at it! Jonny plays all the instruments himself to record his Thoughts for Company album and edits it all together. This one man band talks to Katie Pinner.
Katie. What have you been up to recently?
Jonny. Just recently I’ve released my first full length album, Thoughts for Company it’s called, released that in December so it’s been out a few months, just been concentrating on that, trying to play live as much as possible, do as many as I can.
K. Is it hard to get live gigs?
J. It’s quite easy to find gigs, it’s just the bigger gigs that are harder to come by. There’s always plenty of little gigs in pubs and stuff you can do. It’s getting into the live circuit that’s the hard part but then once you’re in, once you’ve got your name known a bit the gigs come easier.
K. Is it hard to get your name known?
J. Yeah. (laughs) The way I’ve done it, I’ve just played as often as possible and in as many different places as possible, trying to get everyone to know who you are and what you’re doing
K. Are there certain places you know that you can play and get the right audience and some that you would never play?
J. There’s been a few where I’ve played and I’ve thought ‘I’m never doing that again’, like some gigs where you’re playing to four people in a corner, and you learn from the experience of doing gigs like that, but I just love playing so if it is to a few people I’m still happy to play my music for them.
K. What has been your experience of the Birmingham music scene?
J. When I used to be in the band to now being solo it’s a completely different scene.
K. Really?
J. Yeah, I’ve discovered this whole new little acoustic underground scene that I didn’t even know about before, but yeah, it’s good, the acoustic scene seems to be thriving at the moment, I think, and I think it’s only going to get bigger. There doesn’t seem to be as many gigs for bands around in Birmingham, so it’s good for me! You get got know everyone who’s playing around on the acoustic circuit, you end up playing with the same people. There’s a few promoters in Birmingham that are really good for acoustic music, once you’re in with them, you get to know everyone. There are a few big promoters of acoustic music that do quite a few venues around the Midlands. I found that Stourbridge is actually a really good place for acoustic music at the moment a lot goes on there. That’s because one of the main acoustic promoters is based there, it’s a good place to go, people seem to get my music over there. The city centre (Birmingham) is more mainstream, there’s not as many places to play, for me anyway, in Birmingham centre. Digbeth’s always good for venues and gigs, I’ve played there quite a few times, it tends to be the Black Country that’s a good place for me at the moment.
K. That’s strange, because Birmingham is known for bands, that’s where they originated from.
K. How would you describe your music?
J. It’s always a tough question that is! I like to call it alternative folk rock
K. I like that!
J. That’s what I tend to go with.
K. Do you listen to the same sort of music that you do or is it more varied or completely different?
J. I do try to listen to as much variety as I can, but obviously I do listen to a lot of acoustic music, that’s where I get inspiration from. But I do like to listen to all sorts, I think the more you listen to, the more it helps your music grow.
K. That’s why you’re alternative folk rock?
J. Yeah! (laughs)
K. What’s been your worst experience on stage? Was it the four people?!
J. (Pauses). It is the gigs where there’s not many people there or you’ve got terrible sound, but I enjoy every gig, even if it is like that, I treat it as an experience, you know, you can learn from it, I try to make the best of every situation!
K. So it’s not about ‘making it’?
J. I just do it because I love doing it. When I sell a few CDs at a gig or something, it’s a bonus for me.
K. How have you publicised yourself? How do you get people to allow you to perform?
J. Usually it’s over the internet, sending out loads of emails to loads of people, if they don’t reply, sending another one! Just trying to get people to listen to your music is always the hardest part because obviously promoters get sent so many emails, you’ve just got to try and give them something different, get their attention, then usually once you’ve played for someone, and if they like you, and you like them, then you can carry on, they’ll offer you more gigs in the future.
K. Do they prefer to hear you live rather than from a CD?
J. Yeah, I’d say that, most people like to listen to your music on the internet first, and if they like it they’ll invite you to play, then you got to try and impress them.
K. Is it scary knowing they’re there?
J. Yes! They’re usually the ones organising the gig.
K. How do you come up with music and lyrics?
J. I always tend to write the music first, lyrics second, I don’t know why, it’s just the way I work. The way I find it, one day I can sit down with a guitar and write absolutely nothing and I’ll get really frustrated, but then when I say I’m going to sit down and write a song, it just doesn’t happen, but then one day I can pick up my guitar and write five songs, works in strange ways like that.
K. How do you come up with a tune, how do you get the notes in the right order?
J. You come up with a chord sequence first, I’ll be playing around with some chords and I’ll get something going, and once I’ve got the main part of the song I usually put it away for a bit so I don’t over do it and then go back to it, add bits to it.
K. Do you get that eureka moment? You’ll be out somewhere and you’ll think ‘got something’?
J. I do get that, yeah, usually I’ll come up with something then have to quickly record it on my phone or anything I’ve got so I don’t forget it. There’s been a lot of songs I’ve wrote and I’ll go back and think ‘can’t remember that’ and lost it so I try to record as much as possible, then listen back through it all, throw out any bits I don’t like.
K. Ever written anything for anyone special?
J. I always try and write lyrics from personal experiences because then I think the songs more real and I can sing it with more emotion. I try and write things I’ve been through, things that are personal to me, because then I feel that if it’s personal to me then hopefully the audience will get it as well, relate to it. If you sing with emotion, the audience can relate to it.
K. How do you sing with emotion?
J. If I write a song about something personal, every time I sing that song it’s going to take me back to that place.
K. Do you ever get bored of a song?
J. I wouldn’t say I get bored. When you play live it usually ends up different every time, because you’re in a different place, a different audience, I wouldn’t ever get bored of my songs. I don’t listen to my own CD, because I like to keep the songs fresh for when I play them live, try not to get too used to the recording, which is often different to the live versions.
K. Where do you record? How do you find places to record?
J. I record myself, in my own little studio, in my bedroom. My album is totally self produced, self released, it’s all D.I.Y.
K. How do you find out how to do all that?
J. A lot of trial and error! (laughs). I’ve never self released anything properly before so it’s a lot of research, a lot of speaking to people that have done it. It’s quite a long process, I could have released it through a small label or something but then they take a cut of the money, tell you what to do. I do it myself so I get to do what I want which is nice.
K. Did you enjoy doing it all yourself?
J. Yeah I did, it was a lot of work, trying to figure out how to do things, but I think it was a lot more satisfying because when I got the final product and I could hold the album in my hand it was like ‘I’ve done all that myself’. I didn’t just record the music and then send it off, I did it right from the beginning to the very end, I like doing it that way, some people just like to concentrate on the music and then leave it to someone else but I like to be involved in every part of it.
K. How did you get it on itunes?
J. I put it through a company called cdbaby, they put it on loads of different music stores, and they take a small percentage of your sales.
itunes sell my album for £8, cdbaby for £3, yet I get the same amount from both, shows how much itunes makes!
K. How is it different being a soloist as to in a band?
J. The main difference is not having people around you, it’s scary on your own at first, it’s a bit daunting, because you’re used to having the band around you, drums to cover up mistakes, (laughs), then all of a sudden you’re on stage on your own, everyone looking at you, but it’s good. I find there’s a bit more freedom on my own because when I’m writing songs its just me and there isn’t anyone else’s input, which is good and bad I suppose because sometimes you get stuck on something writing a song and if you’re in a band you can throw ideas around. When you’re on your own you’ve got to try and figure it out by yourself. But when I get offered gigs, I haven’t got to check with the rest of the band, there’s a lot less stuff to take to gigs, it’s completely different.
K. Do you ever think of getting back into a band?
J. I think I would if the right opportunity came along, I’m happy doing this at the moment.
K. Would you like to have people in your band, so to speak?
J. I have thought about it, having a backing band. On my album I’ve got a lot of other instruments on there, then when it’s live it’s just me and my guitar. I think it would be nice, maybe in the future, to get more musicians in.
K. Is your aim to make it big?
J. It would be nice to “make it”, whatever make it means, I do it because I like playing live, I love writing, and I love recording, its what I love to do, and if people like it and buy my album, that makes it worth while. It’s nice to know people are enjoying what I’m doing. Hopefully because I’m enjoying doing it people will see that. Making it for me would be to keep doing it, keep getting the gigs, keep making more music, selling a few CDs, to me that’s what it’s all about.
K. Would you ever consider one of the TV talent shows?
J. I’d never consider it, I’ve got nothing against it, things like that, if that’s what people really want to do, the only thing that I don’t like about them is people are doing it for the fame rather than for the music. That’s what people want these days, their 15 minutes of fame, but I never do because it’s not about the music, its about the image of fame and that’s not what I’m in it for.
K. Have you ever sent anything in to any big record labels?
J. No. Don’t know if that’s the road I want to take at the moment. I’ve self released this album and it’s doing quite well at the moment, and I’m happy with how it’s going so I haven’t really got the need for the backing of a big label. I think if I did there’d be a lot of things they’d want to change and I like to do things a certain way, they might not like that, at the moment I’m happy with the freedom of doing it on my own.
K. Are there any artists that inspire you?
J. Big inspiration on me is a guy called Damien Rice. I love his simplicity and the honesty in his songs, that’s something that really inspires me. When you watch him live, he can sing the same song over and over and every time it’s got the same emotion and passion. It doesn’t matter who’s performing the music, if they’ve got genuine passion for what they’re doing, no matter what genre, I think that’s really inspiring.
Album: 'Thoughts for Company' available now on itunes and cdbaby.
http://www.jonnyhandsmusic.tk/
myspace: jonnyhandsacoustic
Cdbaby.com/jonnyhands
Facebook: jonnyhandsmusic
Youtube: jonnyhandsmusic
Youtube: jonnyhandsmusic
Photos curtesy of Jonny Hands