Following the release of his latest EP 'You & Me' we sat down with the highly talented, multi instrumentalist Myles Newman to talk about his inspiration, approach to writing, music videos & future plans...
Describe your new EP 'You & Me' in three words?
Rock ‘n Roll bedroom
Did anything change in your approach to writing for this project compared to your previous?
Not really, I was in living in London when I recorded these songs which I suppose gave me a slightly different approach to recording as I was in a different room to my previous songs. Songwriting wise it was the same as always; music first lyrics after! I wrote and made demos of Sophie, You & Me and You Know last summer.
Who or what were the biggest inspirations when recording your new EP?
Well - George Harrison, JJ Cale, Ry Cooder 10cc, Steely Dan, Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young... all the usual suspects. I fell in love with New Morning by Bob Dylan whilst making these songs too which is such an amazing album and 10cc were quite a notable influence, their production style is so unique and i love their songwriting; it’s so clever and funny whilst also being so tight as musicians. Love em!
Is there one song on ‘You & Me’ that has an extra special meaning to you and could you tell us more about that track?
I suppose You Know is a genuinely meaningful song lyrics wise, as it’s about me reflecting on being a musician and not really wanting to do anything else. It’s also a bit of a double meaning thing where I romanticised about being hopelessly in love. New Day and You&Me are about fictional lovers and Sophie is a bit of a ironic song which has quite a personal meaning which I don’t think I want to share right now, not in an upsetting way or anything but time will tell ay?
What is the process like when conveying your sound into a visual, specifically with your latest music video for ‘You & Me’?
The music videos for You&Me and Sophie were such a blast to film. Myself, my friend Darci Davies who filmed, directed and edited both videos and my friend Harry Wooten-Robert went down to my Mums place in North Wales to film the two videos over a weekend. We were on a time crunch because Darci had to be back on the Monday for another shoot and we filmed them on that one weekend in March were it was really hot. We just got super lucky I guess. We filmed the Sophie video first and we knew we wanted to go all out and make the shots beautiful, still and have incredible landscapes or whatever we could find in the area and have me playing the different instruments. You&Me however, as it was a bit of a shorter, cheeky and upbeat tune we wanted to match the attitude of the song. We were originally going to have me cycle around the beautiful scenery and then just wind up going into the ocean fully clothed at the end, as if I’m constantly searching for something but I just never find it, but we couldn’t fit a bike in Harry’s little Citroen so I ended up running round for a whole day and then just walking into the sea. In the same shoes as Forrest Gump has in the movie which was totally totally on purpose...
Is there a certain place where you feel the most creative?
At home, in my bedroom mostly. But recently I’ve gotten sudden urges to create whilst I’ve been out and about doing whatever it is I’m doing, kind of like withdrawal symptoms I guess.
You have traveled quite a bit performing your songs, what has been the biggest highlight of your gig experiences?
There’s a tune we play at the end of our set called Freeborn Man by Glen Campbell, its our chance in the set to go a little crazy and we love it. It’s my favourite though because my close friend Luke, also known as El Cid, shows off his incredible pipes to the people watching. Playing that at the Sophie release show at the Night Owl in Birmingham a few months back was amazing. Love ya Luke.
Which of your own songs is your favourite to play live?
Either Little Message or Miss World honestly. We jam Little Message for ages if we’ve got enough time in the set, which is always fun as I’ve got some amazing musicians in my band. Miss World is just such a happy song, it’s the final song we play and it seems to be the one people know the most so that’s always great to see people singing along and dancing to it :)
When writing and creating a song do you always have performing it live in mind?
Yes absolutely. There isn’t a better feeling than jamming up there with my closest mates, so when I’m recording a drum track I’m thinking about how Mark will interpret the parts and put his own spin on things, same with lead guitar parts for El Cid and any other wacky instruments I find places for. It’s the best feeling ever when we really get comfortable with rehearsing the songs and start jamming them and having all sorts of funny sections and solos.
What’s next?
Well hopefully I’m going to play shows until the end of the year. I’ve recently acquired a bunch of funky instruments and cool new gadgets to play around with so Ill come up with something to follow up this EP soon, I know what I want the next lot of songs to sound like so i'm going to try my hardest to get them exactly like I want them. Until then, come to a show and say hi!
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