1- What is one of the first songs you remember liking as a kid?
From a young age, I loved Neil Diamond, two of my favorite tracks were “Forever in Blue Jeans” and “Sweet Caroline” another great track is from Status Quo “Rockin all over the world” This brings back memories of meeting my cousins in Australia and going to Kangaroo Island. Those sounds were an early obsession of mine and always had to listen to those songs in the car with my parents.
2- What influenced you to get into music?
This was a bit of a happy accident really! I had just finished an Extended Diploma in games design but had no desire to enter the games industry. Later on, I found a HNC in Music Technology and had to provide some music I had made and at that point, I had no music… so I needed to create something, and fast... I had always wanted to make something similar to Klayon's (AKA Scandroid) sound with elements of Dance With The Dead, so I did just that, creating an early version of my first single “Traveler”. So really it was a bit of motivation driven by necessity that finally pushed me into making music and here I am!
3- At what age did you start playing/singing?
This was a long time ago when I started producing music if you can call it that. I discovered a basic DAW called Music Maker Jam at fourteen and just started to make music that I would listen to, I would make: Rock Music, Pop, Electronic and Experimental tracks, I would also dabble in a bit of Dubstep (I had a Skrillex faze and liked Bangarang a little too much!)
4- If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself after finishing school?
Get into music now, you have a lot to learn and will still have much more once you reach my age.
5- What are some of your favorite songs at the moment?
That's such a difficult thing to answer as I have so many! Firstly there's Dance With The Dead. I love their music so much and three of my favorite tracks are “Blind” “Eyes Of Madness” and “Robeast” all have a great sound and they really influenced my music in the “Travelers Collection”
Scandroid: (from Detroit) is also a big influence, I was really into his music way before Dance With The Dead, the Scandroid project was “Klayton’s love letter to the 80s.” My favorite tracks from him are “Shout” a Tears For Fears Cover, he does a great job with it especially with the music video! Another is “Dark Tide” A collaboration with Megan McDuffee, the feeling you get from this track is something else.
6- Do you listen to your own music?
Definitely! A chef has to sample his dish. I’m always listening and looking to improve so I listen everywhere, in the car, on my speakers, headphones, large rooms, and outside just to pinpoint anything I don’t like, then I make a note of it. My track “Retro Future” is something I listen to a lot as it's my best track which is why I’m putting it on Spotify (But by now it's already out)
7- Which musician would you like to collaborate with next?
Personally, I would love to work with Megan McDuffee, Klayton, and The Midnight. Recently I have been talking to Elixir and love her sound so above all I would like to work with her to create a nice 80s track. Elyxir did an amazing job on “Sweet Dreams” and I wanted to do something similar.
8- What is one of your favorite memories so far in your music career?
Haven’t been making music seriously for very long, I actually started about seven months ago so I haven't had the chance to make many memories yet. However, it has to be during my time speaking to other artists, and eventually featuring them is by far the best memories made. I get to find out what they are all about and their stories, I especially like to find out what drove them to create music.
9- What advice would you give to someone that is just starting to get into music?
If you think it's something that you wanted to get into then go for it! Pretty much anyone can get into it and you have so many options. There's plenty of people out there who are willing to help, I have built a community of people who support each other, and My Feature Friday is for just that too! It gives smaller artists a place to get their music heard and hopefully it's enough of a boost to really establish themselves in the industry.
SynthPrincipal consists of one main artist Dan (Producer), taking influences from the likes of Dance With The Dead, with a sprinkle of Scandroid (AKA Klayton) then a dash of Tears For Fears, finally the cherry on top, Jean Michel Jarre.
Check out SynthPrincipal's profile page by clicking below:
Comments