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Ever wondered what the next generation of breakthrough artists will sound like? Steve Cole went along to PRS for Music’s Class of 2011 event to meet some of the society’s youngest, brightest members who are leading the way.
It was clear from the off that this year’s event was packed to the rafters with a surprisingly diverse group of songwriters, who had journeyed from all corners of the country to be at PRS for Music’s head office in London.
Class of 2011 was a celebration of the society’s youngest members, and this new generation of talent, aged from 16 to 19, revelled in the opportunity to speak with experienced songwriters, promoters and broadcasters about their budding careers.
It was clear from the off that this year’s event was packed to the rafters with a surprisingly diverse group of songwriters, who had journeyed from all corners of the country to be at PRS for Music’s head office in London.
Class of 2011 was a celebration of the society’s youngest members, and this new generation of talent, aged from 16 to 19, revelled in the opportunity to speak with experienced songwriters, promoters and broadcasters about their budding careers.
Number one hit-maker Wretch 32, BBC 6Music broadcaster Matt Everitt, The Bedford promoter Tony Moore – himself a singer-songwriter – and PRS Chairman Guy Fletcher OBE were all on hand to dish out inspirational advice and insider knowledge.
It’s only the second year that PRS for Music has run the event, but a few of last year’s youngsters are already making waves in their respective scenes. Manchester dubstep producer Numan Khan has remixed Crookers and Miike Snow, and won early support from Fact magazine, while jazz-folk singer-songwriter Lucy Zirins is headlining the Orkney Blues Festival later this month.
This year’s class included a grime MC, a Welsh psych band, a prog-pop outfit and a singer-songwriter from the Isle of Wight, who were more than happy to talk to M about their fledgling careers.
Maxsta
It’s only the second year that PRS for Music has run the event, but a few of last year’s youngsters are already making waves in their respective scenes. Manchester dubstep producer Numan Khan has remixed Crookers and Miike Snow, and won early support from Fact magazine, while jazz-folk singer-songwriter Lucy Zirins is headlining the Orkney Blues Festival later this month.
This year’s class included a grime MC, a Welsh psych band, a prog-pop outfit and a singer-songwriter from the Isle of Wight, who were more than happy to talk to M about their fledgling careers.
Maxsta
Maxsta, aka Ian Koromah, is a 19-year-old rapper from East London’s grime scene, who has been rhyming ever since he can remember. Amazingly, he believes that he only became a ‘proper rapper’ when he turned into a teenager. ‘It was when I started making actual recordings, I’d say that was at about 13.’
Although the grime scene that Koromah grew up in has a reputation for futuristic programmed beats and mashed-up samples, he is decidedly old-school when it comes to writing lyrics: ‘I just use a pen and pad, dude. The themes and stories come from what I see when I look around. Life in East London, life as a young man growing up. But when I want to think of a concept, I just look around or think “what have I been through lately?”’.
Rated as one of the best MCs on the block, Maxsta has worked with the biggest names in the genre, including Wiley, Dot Rotten, Flowdan and Ghetts. He puts this down to sheer hard work: ‘I did it by doing enough to get my name out there so much, that they pretty much didn’t have a choice but to give me a call.’
He recently signed to the RCA record label, but confirms, ‘The plan is what it always has been - to release great music, be successful and stay grounded’. And, although he’s ploughed most of his PRS for Music royalties back into his career, he’s also gone in for a bit of retail therapy. ‘I think a large amount of it went on studio time, but I probably just went to Selfridges with the rest’, he laughs.
www.maxsta.co.uk
Misty Miller
Although the grime scene that Koromah grew up in has a reputation for futuristic programmed beats and mashed-up samples, he is decidedly old-school when it comes to writing lyrics: ‘I just use a pen and pad, dude. The themes and stories come from what I see when I look around. Life in East London, life as a young man growing up. But when I want to think of a concept, I just look around or think “what have I been through lately?”’.
Rated as one of the best MCs on the block, Maxsta has worked with the biggest names in the genre, including Wiley, Dot Rotten, Flowdan and Ghetts. He puts this down to sheer hard work: ‘I did it by doing enough to get my name out there so much, that they pretty much didn’t have a choice but to give me a call.’
He recently signed to the RCA record label, but confirms, ‘The plan is what it always has been - to release great music, be successful and stay grounded’. And, although he’s ploughed most of his PRS for Music royalties back into his career, he’s also gone in for a bit of retail therapy. ‘I think a large amount of it went on studio time, but I probably just went to Selfridges with the rest’, he laughs.
www.maxsta.co.uk
Misty Miller
Talented singer-songwriter Misty Miller is only 17, but she’s already been tipped as one to watch by the online blogging community and tastemakers at The Guardian newspaper. She’s been hard at work writing and recording her debut album while doing her GCSEs, and is also becoming a fixture on London’s live music scene with regular gigs around the capital.
Her songwriting has been equally influenced by her own experiences and the work of other artists, while the challenge of putting on gigs has been an inspiration in itself, she explains. ‘When I’m playing live I learn more about how I enjoy performing, which inspires me to write.’
Excited by her new batch of songs, Miller’s current favourite is Best Flood. ‘I think because of the way it makes me feel when I sing it, I wrote it almost as a message to myself.’ The idea of writing for other artists intrigues her, but Miller says that when she works on a song, it’s usually the idea of performing it that will help her finish off the final pieces of the puzzle.
The singer-songwriter and ukulele player, who’s been dubbed a cross between Lily Allen and Laura Marling, has also taken her brand of crafted folk-pop around the UK, using her PRS for Music royalties to fund the trip. Performing live is certainly where Miller feels most at ease, but she’s quick to add: ‘The more I go in to the studio, the more at home I feel. It’s a different kind of energy.’
The demands on young artists can be huge and Miller sums it up when she confides, ‘It’s a heavily creative career, and I love that, but it can eat you up a little.’ She deals with the challenges by making sure she has control, insisting that as long as she stays true to her music she will be happy.
www.mistymiller.com
Max Brodie
When I’m playing live I learn more about how I enjoy performing, which inspires me to write
Her songwriting has been equally influenced by her own experiences and the work of other artists, while the challenge of putting on gigs has been an inspiration in itself, she explains. ‘When I’m playing live I learn more about how I enjoy performing, which inspires me to write.’
Excited by her new batch of songs, Miller’s current favourite is Best Flood. ‘I think because of the way it makes me feel when I sing it, I wrote it almost as a message to myself.’ The idea of writing for other artists intrigues her, but Miller says that when she works on a song, it’s usually the idea of performing it that will help her finish off the final pieces of the puzzle.
The singer-songwriter and ukulele player, who’s been dubbed a cross between Lily Allen and Laura Marling, has also taken her brand of crafted folk-pop around the UK, using her PRS for Music royalties to fund the trip. Performing live is certainly where Miller feels most at ease, but she’s quick to add: ‘The more I go in to the studio, the more at home I feel. It’s a different kind of energy.’
The demands on young artists can be huge and Miller sums it up when she confides, ‘It’s a heavily creative career, and I love that, but it can eat you up a little.’ She deals with the challenges by making sure she has control, insisting that as long as she stays true to her music she will be happy.
www.mistymiller.com
Max Brodie
Max Brodie is beginning to make a name for himself as a talented young media music writer. The Chester-born 19-year-old began his musical career in band The Vallums, but decided to move into production as the performance side did not appeal to him. He is happiest in the studio, he confides.
Brodie started classical guitar lessons at the age of six, and developed his musical style from a range of influences. He now teaches guitar, alongside composing and producing from his home studio.
He began developing his media music skills by creating for other artists and producing other peoples’ work, using these collaborative experiences to inform his own compositions. Once armed with the skills and experience he needed, he started the hard graft needed to get noticed in the media music world.
‘I just cold emailed about 200 companies, sending them a show reel,’ he explains. ‘From that about two or three replied and I started from there.’
Then, once he had made a few contacts, things began to snowball. ‘I started helping them out and doing a few free bits. They discovered what I was good at and if they were doing adverts they’d ask me to do guitar parts or whatever, and then on to full jobs and that’s where I am now.’
While youth is an obvious strength for Brodie, it can also be a disadvantage when pitching to clients. ‘A big challenge is getting respect as a newcomer. I never really write my age on these things because I would automatically be dismissed.’
www.maxbrodie.co.uk
Penguin
Brodie started classical guitar lessons at the age of six, and developed his musical style from a range of influences. He now teaches guitar, alongside composing and producing from his home studio.
He began developing his media music skills by creating for other artists and producing other peoples’ work, using these collaborative experiences to inform his own compositions. Once armed with the skills and experience he needed, he started the hard graft needed to get noticed in the media music world.
‘I just cold emailed about 200 companies, sending them a show reel,’ he explains. ‘From that about two or three replied and I started from there.’
Then, once he had made a few contacts, things began to snowball. ‘I started helping them out and doing a few free bits. They discovered what I was good at and if they were doing adverts they’d ask me to do guitar parts or whatever, and then on to full jobs and that’s where I am now.’
While youth is an obvious strength for Brodie, it can also be a disadvantage when pitching to clients. ‘A big challenge is getting respect as a newcomer. I never really write my age on these things because I would automatically be dismissed.’
www.maxbrodie.co.uk
Penguin
This three-piece from Wakefield consists of 19-year-old Matt Cornish, Joel Small and Danny Prochera. The band rehearse every week religiously, and a song will often pop up from an idea that one of the band has brought in, which is then developed by all three of them.
Small says that although they rehearse regularly, inspiration can strike him at unpredictable moments. ‘A lot of lyrics come to me just as I’m going to bed, which is a bit inconvenient, really!’ he says.
Penguin’s songs aren’t of the story-telling type, and instead they lean towards the abstract. ‘For a lot of the lyrics we go in for clever wordplay. We concentrate on the music a lot and make sure the lyrics are up to scratch afterwards,’ explains Small.
They have been playing together for five years now, and admit that they formed a band in the first place out of boredom. Small says: ‘We just liked music for recreation at first. We really loved the Foo Fighters. Joel stumbled across Biffy Clyro, which opened doors as now we can’t get enough of new bands coming out of Scotland.’
In 2010, Penguin won the Centre Stage talent competition organised by Martin’s House Hospice. Their prize was to play on the on the BBC Introducing stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals, which won them new fans and introduced them to some useful contacts. They have since won a battle of the bands competition in Leeds, using their winnings to help fund their very first EP with producer James Kenosha, who has worked on albums by Leeds bands Pulled Apart by Horses and Dinosaur Pile-Up.
www.myspace.com/3penguinsuk
Sen Segur
A lot of lyrics come to me just as I’m going to bed, which is a bit inconvenient, really!
Small says that although they rehearse regularly, inspiration can strike him at unpredictable moments. ‘A lot of lyrics come to me just as I’m going to bed, which is a bit inconvenient, really!’ he says.
Penguin’s songs aren’t of the story-telling type, and instead they lean towards the abstract. ‘For a lot of the lyrics we go in for clever wordplay. We concentrate on the music a lot and make sure the lyrics are up to scratch afterwards,’ explains Small.
They have been playing together for five years now, and admit that they formed a band in the first place out of boredom. Small says: ‘We just liked music for recreation at first. We really loved the Foo Fighters. Joel stumbled across Biffy Clyro, which opened doors as now we can’t get enough of new bands coming out of Scotland.’
In 2010, Penguin won the Centre Stage talent competition organised by Martin’s House Hospice. Their prize was to play on the on the BBC Introducing stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals, which won them new fans and introduced them to some useful contacts. They have since won a battle of the bands competition in Leeds, using their winnings to help fund their very first EP with producer James Kenosha, who has worked on albums by Leeds bands Pulled Apart by Horses and Dinosaur Pile-Up.
www.myspace.com/3penguinsuk
Sen Segur
Welsh band Sen Segur hail from the county of Gwynedd, home of the Snowdonia National Park, and craft songs in their native tongue. The trio of Gethin Davies, Ben Ellis and George Amor combine twangy bass, Hammond organ and prog-style guitars to make a distinctive sound that follows a long lineage of innovative acts from the region, including Young Marble Giants and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.
Davies describes how they got started: ‘The two founder members, myself and the drummer George, wanted to make music and got in touch with Ben as we knew he could sing. We had a jam and went from there.
‘A lot of our inspirations are Welsh, like Super Furry Animals, but also some outside of Wales too, such as Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine and Soft Machine,’ he adds.
Despite all band members being just 19 years old, their lyrics are eclectic, far-reaching and display a maturity beyond their years. ‘One of our songs is about the Olympic swimmer Duncan Goodhew,’ says Davies, ‘While another is a protest song about a village in Nova Scotia, which was bulldozed about 50 years ago to make a bridge to the Canadian mainland.’
It’s been a busy year for Sen Segur. Their debut EP came out in May on small indie label Recordiau Cae Gwyn Records, and they spent the rest of the summer promoting it and performing at festivals around Wales. ‘We played three gigs at the National Eisteddford and the Gyl Gardd Goll festival in Bangor alongside Gruff Rhys, Echo and the Bunnymen and Badly Drawn Boy,’ Davies confirms.
The band are now busy writing songs for an album and single to be released in early 2012.
www.sensegur.bandcamp.com
Emma-Jane Downing
Davies describes how they got started: ‘The two founder members, myself and the drummer George, wanted to make music and got in touch with Ben as we knew he could sing. We had a jam and went from there.
‘A lot of our inspirations are Welsh, like Super Furry Animals, but also some outside of Wales too, such as Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine and Soft Machine,’ he adds.
Despite all band members being just 19 years old, their lyrics are eclectic, far-reaching and display a maturity beyond their years. ‘One of our songs is about the Olympic swimmer Duncan Goodhew,’ says Davies, ‘While another is a protest song about a village in Nova Scotia, which was bulldozed about 50 years ago to make a bridge to the Canadian mainland.’
It’s been a busy year for Sen Segur. Their debut EP came out in May on small indie label Recordiau Cae Gwyn Records, and they spent the rest of the summer promoting it and performing at festivals around Wales. ‘We played three gigs at the National Eisteddford and the Gyl Gardd Goll festival in Bangor alongside Gruff Rhys, Echo and the Bunnymen and Badly Drawn Boy,’ Davies confirms.
The band are now busy writing songs for an album and single to be released in early 2012.
www.sensegur.bandcamp.com
Emma-Jane Downing
Singer-songwriter Emma-Jane Downing grew up in a musical family and developed an interest in songwriting, production and performance at a very early age.
She recently moved away from her home on the Isle of Wight to study at Leeds Metropolitan University, which has helped the 19-year-old understand more about the technical side of creating music. ‘It’s given me a much broader experience of different software applications like Logic, Ableton, and Adobe Audition, as well as Pro Tools and Sibelius,’ she says.
As well as learning to use production software, Downing has also invested in some proper studio kit. ‘I have bought myself a new M-Audio controller keyboard, studio condenser microphone and other equipment with my PRS for Music royalties, which has given me a huge advantage as I am now able to record my own music live.’
In turn, Downing says that playing live gigs has helped hone her songwriting skills, and she admits she’s gained much more confidence in her own music.
www.soundcloud.com/emmajanedowning
The Class of 2011 are: songwriter and producer Fred Cox (19), East London grime MC Ian ‘Maxsta’ Koromah (18), progressive pop band Egyptian Hip Hop, singer-songwriter Misty Miller (17), media music composer Max Brodie (19), Matthew Thompson (17), Welsh psych band Sen Segur, songwriter Baz Barwick (19), Leeds indie outfit Penguin, Isle of Wight’s Emma-Jane Downing (19), London-based singer-songwriter Fabio Lendrum, Northern Irish dance music producer Ryan Thompson (19), Londoner Lea-Anna Gallimore (19).
She recently moved away from her home on the Isle of Wight to study at Leeds Metropolitan University, which has helped the 19-year-old understand more about the technical side of creating music. ‘It’s given me a much broader experience of different software applications like Logic, Ableton, and Adobe Audition, as well as Pro Tools and Sibelius,’ she says.
As well as learning to use production software, Downing has also invested in some proper studio kit. ‘I have bought myself a new M-Audio controller keyboard, studio condenser microphone and other equipment with my PRS for Music royalties, which has given me a huge advantage as I am now able to record my own music live.’
In turn, Downing says that playing live gigs has helped hone her songwriting skills, and she admits she’s gained much more confidence in her own music.
www.soundcloud.com/emmajanedowning
The Class of 2011 are: songwriter and producer Fred Cox (19), East London grime MC Ian ‘Maxsta’ Koromah (18), progressive pop band Egyptian Hip Hop, singer-songwriter Misty Miller (17), media music composer Max Brodie (19), Matthew Thompson (17), Welsh psych band Sen Segur, songwriter Baz Barwick (19), Leeds indie outfit Penguin, Isle of Wight’s Emma-Jane Downing (19), London-based singer-songwriter Fabio Lendrum, Northern Irish dance music producer Ryan Thompson (19), Londoner Lea-Anna Gallimore (19).
