Back with latest release ‘Brown Eyes’, Piers is a smooth artist armed with an uplifting sound. The songwriter stopped by MoggBlog HQ to chat about music recommendations, the new single and how the internet has impacted the industry.
What made you decide that music is the right path for you?
Ever since I was a small child music has always been the thing that I gravitate to. There’s a certain release that I’ve found that comes from playing music and creating sound that you don’t often find elsewhere. The composer Stephen Sondheim once said ‘If I can’t fly, let me sing’ – An amazing reflection of the places music can take you I think, perhaps further than you could ever fly.
What’s your writing process like? Do you write the music or lyrics first?
Like many artists I think my answer would be that the process tends to be different each time. For me it often starts with a melody that’s grown out of a chord sequence on the piano or guitar, and gets fleshed out a little with some strange and random words until it starts to evolve into real sentences. I then would take the words that stuck to begin with and try and work around those to make a theme or story that makes sense. I suppose i’m informed by the ideas as they show up – to take them where I think they want to go.
Give our listeners some music recommendations that we should check out!
My very first thought from hearing this question was song I overheard when I was at college. I’d overheard a few people discussing the lyrics to the song and that how in their opinion these are some of the most beautiful and delicate lyrics they’d ever heard. “If you must die sweetheart, die knowing your life was my life’s best part’. You by Keaton Henson. The words are sung with such fragility but yet speak so loudly.
Tell MoggBlog viewers about your latest release! What’s the inspiration behind that?
My latest release is my second single ‘Brown Eyes’ it’s a fun upbeat song with lots of life. The initial idea for the song came about with a slow acoustic blues riff with a southern American feeling, I’d began writing a few of the words and started developing this theme and idea for the overall song. Over time as I played around with the ideas it developed and became a little faster in tempo and I began playing on the electric guitar. With a little more grit came a little more energy and the lyrics flowed with the rockier sound. I was looking for some help with the production over the second lockdown in the UK but was struggling with knowing where to look with everything being restricted. I discovered a website for connecting musicians with each other looking for different services and skills. I found a great producer on there and sent him the foundation for the song and in no time we had the end result – it was a really easy process.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
The internet has completely changed the dynamics of the music industry. It has opened up a vast new world of exposure and opportunities, particularly for younger or less established artists. The instant access to an audience in all corners of the globe has meant that the traditional stages of an artists career development are no longer necessary. It has freed the artist in the sense that they can have more control over how they put themselves out there. The danger with the instantaneous nature of the internet though is that it nurtures a climate of fast paced relevancy. Something is popular one day and dated the next, this can sometimes push artists into having to follow trends in order to stay visible or relatable.
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