Well apart from all being absolutely fabulous, they have all influenced the Lawless Luke debut EP. In this blog post I’m going to talk a bit about my musical influences growing up, and the sounds that have shaped my debut EP. As a musician I think it can be difficult when you start to develop your own voice. When first starting out you’re always trying to sound like the artists that you idolise, which is fine and necessary. However sooner or later may want to start developing your own creative voice. It was a long process for me but, through persistence and practice, I think I’ve started to develop a pretty unique musical voice.
I’ve always been drawn to darker music…
As a teen I spent most of my time listening to alternative rock bands like Placebo, Nirvana & Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I also loved the heavier nu-metal sound of bands like Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Incubus, Korn and Slipknot. I like music that has an edge to it, where the artist has something to say. When I got to college I became part of a band called ‘The Nature’ which was a funk rock group. We were influenced by rock artists like Lenny Kravitz, Led Zeppelin & Jimi Hendrix. The lead singer also introduced me to Funk and Soul. I fell in love with the sound, and went to the library to rent out CDs (which I then copied to tape), of bands like Sly and The Family Stone, Parliament, James Brown and Tower of Power.
Experimenting and pushing the boundaries…
When I was 19 I went to Coventry University to study a degree in Music Composition. I’d made the decision that I wanted to pursue music composition rather than a performance degree. The course opened my listening to a broad range of classical artists. I was particularly interested in the atonal and quite frankly superb music of Béla Bartók. In my spare time I was listening to bands like Nine Inch Nails, Tool and Killswitch Engage. The culmination of all this listening experience was the creation of an album for my dissertation, under the name of Steel Box Theories. I suppose you would call it an industrial progressive metal album. You can find the album across all major digital distributors, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.
Developing an obsession with the blues…
The first artist that got me into the Blues, kick-starting my obsession, was G.Love and Special Sauce. That cool laid back sound and sloppy blues style just blew me away. Growing up, I listened to hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. I never truly understood the influence early blues music had on these pioneers, until about 6 or 7 years ago, when I started listening to early blues. I fell in love with the music of Blind Willie Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and, of course, Robert Johnson.
Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed’ was heavier, deeper and more soulful than anything I’d heard before. I mean it sounds like the man is literally just waiting to die.
Couple with that with the melodic but deliciously dark guitar, that is one powerful combination. That was only the start of my obsession; since then I’ve just been devouring music from the blues pioneers. Most recently I’ve been listening to the great blues singers like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, etc. Boy could those guys sing!
Putting my own slant on things…
That brings me nicely back to my debut EP. I feel that this EP is a real mixture of the musical styles and influences that I have accumulated over my (murmurs indistinctly) years on this planet. It’s predominantly blues with a lot of slide guitar, but I think it’s much more than that. Listen carefully and you can hear those influences from industrial, hip hop, metal and rock all blended in. I really hope you enjoy the EP when it’s launched. I’m just getting started, and appreciate that you’re here at the beginning. I’m getting all teary eyed now, so I’m going to leave it there and sign off.
Pre-order now to avoid disappointment
This will be a small scale CD print run. if you’d like to pre-order your copy now you can do that here. By pre-ordering you are directly supporting me, and you can avoid disappointment if you would like a signed CD at the end of the experience. It also helps me manage demand, so a win, win all round.
That’s all for now, not long until the launch and I cannot wait!
Take it easy,
Lawless Luke