‘ The music crosses lots of different genres and styles, but if it’s not your vibe that’s totally fine! ‘
New EP ‘ Tales of the Twisted Prince’ 31st October 2024
1.Who is ‘Master of Mischief’
An antisocial emo edge lord…
I’m a songwriter, musician and songwriter from North England. I was originally born in Manchester. I wear a mask as part of my image/aesthetic for a number of reasons. It’s not because I hate my face. I love my face. But as cliché as it sounds, I want the music to speak for itself. Plus, it creates an air of mystery and intrigue. I’ve always loved masked bands and thought they were super interesting. Slipknot, for example, they were always way cooler before everyone knew what they looked like. And more modern bands like Ghost and Sleep Token. I feel like not knowing fully what someone looks like adds a little spice to the mix.
I also just genuinely love masks. I have a whole drawer of them at home. I’m like, a spooky Halloween boy. Hence why I’m dropping the EP on Halloween.
And on a more deeper, metaphorical level…we all wear masks. Some more than others. But everyone has a mask. We’re not the same people at work as we are at home. We’re not the same people with our family as we are with our friends.
On a less deep level, they’re just fun to wear. I love theatrics.
2. For Someone That Is Yet To Discover You, How Would You Describe Your Music?
My tagline is “electronic music for emo edgelords”. Because sonically it’s really hard to describe the specific genres the music fits under, and I’ve always been an emo alt kid at heart.
The music covers a little bit of everything. It has glitchy synths. It has a bit of techno, a bit of dubstep. It has screamo moments. It has some kind of dark wave, synth wave, cyber industrial vibe. I don’t really think too much about genre when I’m creating. I just do whatever I fancy. Makes it way more difficult to pitch, but my single has been doing okay so far so I know the right audience is out there.
3. What inspired you as an artist?
I’ve been in bands my whole life and although a couple of them came close, none of them ever really worked out. It’s a tough industry out there and so many bands for whatever reason just don’t make the cut. I often found it wasn’t even to do with the music most of the time. It was things like the drummer leaving after two months and having to find another one. Or the bass player is in 5 other bands and doesn’t have enough time to commit. Or the guitarist is getting married and decides to quit and settle down. Or two members have an argument and can’t work with each other anymore. Or someone moves far away and can’t make it to practice as regularly so things fall apart. It’s always the really boring, mundane stuff that causes a lot of upstarting bands to break up. Then there’s the thing of having to consult with four or five other people about when to meet up for practice, or what shall we post on our socials next, or what do we think of this mix. ‘I like the chorus’, ‘I don’t, I think it needs more’, ‘can we add this bit to the bridge’. All those extra conversations you have to have during the songwriting and recording process too. I kind of got sick of all that and decided you know what, I’m just going to do everything myself.
It’s the first time I’ve fully embraced an entirely solo project but I’m so far loving every minute. The only person I need to consult with is myself. And I always know what I want. My background in music has helped develop my ear, so I know what sounds good (at least to me!), and I play four different instruments so it was fairly easy to make the leap.
I also wanted to do something that was very different to what I’d worked on in the past. I’ve always been interested in electronic music and had a little dabble here and there, but never fully produced it properly.
I knew from the start I wanted it to have a theme, an aesthetic, a vibe, and that it would mean something, while also being fun and mysterious.
4. What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands?
I haven’t performed live yet with this project as it’s brand new, but I’ve been in plenty of bands before. This is actually my first solo project. Prior to this I’ve always been part of bands playing on the live scene. I don’t have any particular preparations or diva demands. I just like to have a couple of beers before I go on. Not enough to be drunk, but not stone cold sober either. Just a little to take the edge off, you know. I do get a bit nervous before getting up on stage.
5. Where do you feel you fit into the music ?
Well, it’s dark electronic music for people who are into multiple genres. For listeners with an open mind, and people who are willing to experiment. The music has a bit of a deeper message too, and the lyrics are designed to make people think and feel.
6: What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
I love alternative music, emo, industrial, metal, black metal, things like that. I am pretty open minded and will usually listen to anything, hence why I make weird music. I love all styles of electronic music. I love hip hop. I can vibe with a bit of country from time to time but not a massive fan. Same with pop music. Some of the chart stuff are bangers for real. I don’t really listen to classical but I don’t HATE it. If I had to pick a genre I actively disliked it would probably be jazz. I don’t know why, it just grates me.
7. Is there a story behind the new EP ‘Tales of the Twisted Prince’ ?
Yes actually, there is!
It’s probably not amazingly obvious just by listening to it, but I had a whole story from start to finish in mind when crafting the tracks and choosing the running order etc. I love a good story and concept, I like it when artists do that. Not necessarily when it’s a full, clear and obvious story, but I enjoy it when records at least have some sort of running theme.
‘Tales of the Twisted Prince’ is about someone who gets tempted down a dark path in life, and the consequences that come from those choices he’s made. That’s the surface level story but it has a wider, real world meaning. It’s about the concepts of good and evil, and how society perceives those concepts in an often simplified, black and white way. Everyone has the capacity for ‘good acts’ and ‘bad acts’, and our perception and judgement of what is bad or good is often entirely subjective. One person’s hero is another person’s villain. One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. So, who is to decide what is bad and good? It’s also about acknowledging that ‘shadow side’ of ourselves and accepting it, rather than trying to bury it, hide it and ignore it. Because then we are the ones in control of the darkness. Like I said earlier, it’s designed to make people think, and my whole project will explore concepts and ideas like this in a subtle way. Although you can just enjoy the music without all that too, as it’s not a super obvious meaning. It’s all about levels, man!
8. What would you say is your greatest strength as an artist?
I’m super determined, focused, dedicated, committed. I take knock backs well – which is important in this industry, you need a tough skin – and I don’t mind spending hours and hours on my craft. I spent a year on this EP, now I’m spending all my time promoting it. I spend about 2 hours per day on promotion, and coming up with content for my socials.
9. What would you say is your greatest weakness as an artist?
I’m super determined, focused, dedicated, committed. That can sometimes be a weakness because I end up being a bit of a perfectionist and not knowing when to let go. I’m also a control freak so I’m not good at delegating. I like to manage everything myself, which means I can get snowed under and overwhelmed by having too many tasks to do and not enough time to do them in.
10. What can fans expect from your new EP ‘ ‘Tales of the Twisted Prince’
Well, I’ve already talked about the story and concept behind it all…so they can expect that! But really, that’s only if they want to dig deeper. Overall, I just want people to feel SOMETHING when they listen to it. To connect with it in some way, even if it’s in a way they can’t quite put their finger on. Some of the best music I’ve listened to and enjoyed, it’s just a vibe. It’s an inexplicable thing you can’t always verbally explain. But listeners can definitely expect lots of darkness, synths, breaks, drops, weird distorted vocals, some screamy bits, and plenty of fun. I had so much fun making this EP so I hope people have fun listening to it too.
11. What music artist would you say have influenced your work?
That’s a really tough one. As I mentioned earlier, I’m a bit of an emo kid. I’m heavily inspired by emo and alternative music, and a little bit of metal. I love the likes of My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold and Black Veil Brides. One of my favourite bands at the moment are Bad Omens, and Sleep Token. In terms of more electronic stuff I love Enter Shikari because they kind of cross genres which I vibe with. BMTH too. And then obviously The Prodigy. Love a bit of Pendulum too. Youth Code, Death Spells. Stuff like that.
My music is a little bit of everything.
12. Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
I’d love to produce an official remix for a big alternative or metal band. Take one of their songs and then add my own little parts to it, some cool synths and beats and drops. Maybe someone like Black Veil Brides or Bring Me The Horizon. Or Yungblud. He’s a cool dude.
13. What was your worst performance?
I was playing drums for a band when I was 17 and we had a New Year’s Eve show, playing just after midnight. I accidentally got really stoned beforehand and when it came our turn to play, I was really struggling. The rest of the band kept turning back to look at me and encourage me to speed up, because I was playing all our songs way too slow! It was super embarrassing cause it was a packed out show. After that I never smoked pre-gig, only a couple of beers.
14: What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it?
Life is a whole series of obstacles. The more you go through it, the more you encounter, but personally I’ve found that the more you encounter, the easier it gets. I’m not sure I can pick out one in particular which was worse or more difficult than others, but then I’m also generally a pretty positive person. I don’t believe there’s anything life could throw at me that I couldn’t handle.
15: What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?
Right now it’s just me and I like it that way. I’m not opposed to working with others and doing collabs, but the core process is just me in my house with my Macbook and Logic Pro X.
I often get random lyric ideas as I’m trying to fall asleep or when I’m driving. I write them down on my notes app to refer to later. Sometimes the lyrics also come with a melody that just pops in my head. Normally I can recall the melody later even if I just write down the lyric.
When it comes to actually producing the music, I normally have a riff, hook or melody idea in my head. I find a synth sound that I like. That can sometimes take some serious time. Then I record it just to get it down. I can always mess with it again later. But I record the basic hook, then start to build the track up from that. Other times it starts with the beat, then I just start jamming over the top of it, and a random hook will come out of that. Then I build up the track and figure out which of my weird notes app lyrics will work with it.
16: Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?
Literally anything could happen. This time two years ago I wouldn’t have expected or predicted to be doing this right now. Life is unpredictable and everchanging. To me, that’s part of the thrill though. Who knows what’s going to happen. You can make plans all you like…doesn’t mean they’re going to happen. Things change. Life throws you curveballs. Your priorities alter, your tastes differ or develop. I just keep an open mind and roll with the punches. That’s not to say I don’t have a plan though…
Once the EP is out I’ll be promoting that for a couple months, then I’ll drop another single round Christmas, another one in February 2025. The plan is to drop singles every 2 months or so while I continue to work on the next EP. The second EP will be out either end of 2025 or beginning of 2026. Then more random singles. Once I’ve done two EPs, I intend to work on a full album, and just continue to build things up and get more hype and press for the project, build my audience and fanbase. So I guess, in 10 years time I hope to have 2 EPs and 2 full length albums, and a decent looking fanbase I can maybe go out and perform live to. Haven’t figured out the live element of this project yet, but I’ll get there.
17: The UK seems to have gone in to melt down regarding the Oasis Reunion, are you bothered by It?
I grew up in Manchester…liking Oasis is kind of compulsory. They were definitely a big influence on me growing up. I love their whole rock star attitude. They really encapsulate the whole persona and lifestyle in a colourful and fun way. The reunion was definitely a big deal for me. I remember when MCR got back together in 2019 I was so hyped about that. And I said “the only thing that could be bigger than this is an Oasis reunion” but it was a joke. I never actually expected them to get back together since Noel and Liam hated each other so much. If those two can make friends again, anyone can. It just goes to show…time is a great healer. Some people say it’s just a cash grab, but I think it’s genuine. Liam is loaded, his solo career’s been going great, so he’s not doing it for the money. I hope they put out another album.
18:Your Top 3 Overrated Musicians, who when you hear them you think ‘ How The Fk………….. ?
Oh man. Contentious and controversial question. Music is so subjective so it’s always going to be a matter of opinion. Personally I’ve never vibed with Green Day. They have 2 or 3 good songs but mostly they all just sound the same. I went to see them live once and they were so boring. I know that’s such a hot take because loads of people love them. I feel the same way about Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy. Handful of good songs, but mostly just meh and overhyped. A lot of bands get overhyped to be honest. And a load of pop stars get overhyped obviously. Taylor Swift, for example. What’s all that about
