I'm Not A Singer/Songwriter
What Is And What Should Never Be
On the eve of Salterszo's twelfth musical release 'Most Popular- EP' I ask Steve about his ambitious task of tackling a new genre... Pop.
"I suppose the obvious question and place to start is Why?"
"Well I was thinking about what I had produced before and thought about a change in direction. I asked myself, could I actually write outside of my comfort zone?, and if I could, then why not try a new genre. If I am a songwriter, shouldn't I be able to write songs for whoever or whatever is asked of me?"
"But aren't you a singer/songwriter? After all it's you that writes your songs and sings them too!"
"Well no, I'm not a singer/songwriter. Someone like Adele, she's a singer/songwriter.
Singer comes first, it's all about Adele's amazing voice. That's what her fans like her for, that's what she's noted for, and then it's about the song, melody, chorus etc after that. For me it's the opposite. I'm all about the song first, the melody, the arrangements, the hook lines, the choruses etc. My singing will always be secondary. I hate my singing voice but when you're flying solo, on a budget of zero, then who else can sing them. Someone's got to! and fortunately or unfortunately that task falls to me."
"Did you not feel that given you have a small audience that this might be a venture too far?"
"No, I think it's more dangerous as an established artist to try something new. Take for instance, Tom Petty, you know what you're getting, but say Tom decided to do an EDM Album, people would freak out! For me being relatively unknown, trying something new carries little risk at all. Let's be brutally honest here, who cares? If I do this or that there's barely a ripple in the pond that is the music industry, so no, I'm at complete liberty. There's no A&R or management, or producer, or label making excessive demands, I guess that's to my advantage and grants me carte blanche."
"So now the EP's out how do you think you've done?"
"I don't know really. That's all down to the listener, they are the ones who decide if it's good or bad, they are the ones to decide if it will have wide appeal and be accepted. The hard part is getting people to listen. Sure I can upload to all major digital music retailers and music streaming services, blag about it over every social network there is, but whether people can find the needle, that is my music, amongst the giant haystack of tunes out there, well... I don't know."
"Everyone is pushing something these days. With social media there's lots of go listen to my new tune, like me, subscribe, please comment, hell, people are even paying for those things to get noticed. I like to believe it's all about the songs, if they're good enough, people will find them and if they're not, then they'll pale into insignificance."
And with that Steve readies another brew. I loved his honesty, his candidness, a lot of what he says is perfectly true. Will the music industry or public sit up and take notice of his work or this new venture, who knows, but what I do know is this, there is without doubt a vast array of talent out there that never appears on the mainstream radar, but if you're sick of hearing it, then grab a spade and start digging, you'll be surprised about the little gems you may dig up and find.
Jeff Johnson
(GratisMusic Reviews)
