NEW SINGLE PETTY GIRL OUT 18TH OCTOBER
1.Who is ‘ Alfie Erskine ’
I am a 20 year old singer songwriter, from Liverpool, I have three great musicians behind me who I owe so much to for just taking that risk on me. I love writing songs, I believe it’s what I was put here to do, I write at least 4 full songs a week, it’s what keeps me so sharp, it’s just a proper tranquil place for me, always will be.
I love writing indie anthem sort of tunes like ‘Petty Girl’ however lately with my further upcoming tunes I dabble into the pop genre. I think I’m just a super ambitious guy and I’ve always thought if my fellow ginger Ed Sheeran can play Wembley then so can I, I’m not sure how much hair colour plays into ability but for the sake of that story let’s hope it’s a lot. I’m just a lad from Liverpool who enjoys normal stuff like football and the ale, who at the same time dreams of playing Glastonbury.
2. For someone that is yet to discover you, how would you describe your music?
I think my first track ‘Petty Girl’ is a super catchy indie track yet my locker is full of pop, funky bass lines and even slow songwriter tunes, I think if you’re a fan of indie, pop, songwriter and dance you’ll love what I have coming your way
3. What inspired you as an artist?
I remember being obsessed with Tyler, the creator as a young kid, from like 2012 onwards, I just loved so much how he branded himself, the clothing line, the skit videos, the music videos, just everything was so cool. I think he was my initial exposure to the fact being an artist can be so much more than just music and I loved that. I remember his attitude and stage presence was unmatched when I first saw him in Ventura, 2013 I think.
4. What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands?
Honestly, a couple Guinness followed by a five-minute vocal warm up and I’m raring to go. Making sure them high chest notes are warm is all that matters!
5. Where do you feel you fit into the music ?
I’d love to climb the support slots first and start building the name, and hopefully eventually make my way onto some festival bills. I think I can see myself eventually being one of them singers you see in the charts and think it’s probably just shit pop but then you watch a couple interviews and come to a few gigs and clock that I’m “actually quite decent”.
6: What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
Not to be cliche but my scope is pretty huge, I first fell in love with rap music and the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler, The Creator and Joey Badass, until I was exposed to Frank Ocean, and specifically a song called Forrest Gump (also my favourite movie), and that’s when singing and singer-songwriters became my obsession and career envy.
I think disliking a genre is crazy. Everyone’s music is their art, their bared soul and a part of them, unless it’s AI, even then it’s a compilation of human emotion from gathered data so even that’s kind of beautiful in way.
7. Is there a story behind the new single ’“Petty Girl ’?
“Petty Girl” is about miscommunication in a relationship, about the time when it hurts so much that things are so different and you don’t even feel like you can get through to the person you love without having to make them laugh or make sweeping gestures to even get that tiny bit of attention, I think the title is a means to belittle the issue at hand, that she’s just being Petty when realistically there’s a deeper rooted problem within the relationship that she isn’t fighting to deal with.
8. What would you say is your greatest strength as an artist?
A lot of people tend to tell me my vocal range and skills are my best attribute so yeah, I’d possibly say that.
9. What would you say is your greatest weakness as an artist?
I think I’m sometimes prone to being eager and overly ambitious, which sounds like a great thing but sometimes it gets me carried away and things that might be out of reach at times I just see with a sort of Sky is the limit tint, which can disappoint you when things don’t unveil as you wanted. Sometimes I’ll rush things along in excitement and get impatient with long processes, which has hurt me in the past, for sure.
10. What can fans expect from your new single ‘ Petty Girl’
Mostly I hope this is a great introduction to my music and to me, I think people can expect a great music video and a catchy song but I will say, the next couple of songs to come are off the charts, and I might even say better than Petty Girl, but again that’s every artists cliche.
11. What music artist would you say have influenced your work?
The first big “Petty Girl” influence that jumps to mind would have to be Paolo Nutini, followed by bands such as The Kooks and Catfish and The Bottlemen or even Mumford & Son’s, with this track, as its stylistically evident, I wanted it to capture the late naughties/early tens and that acoustic driven yet exciting sound that was so prominent 10/15 years ago in indie.
12. Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
A dream artist would be Bruno Mars for me, I think he must optimises everything about music, from songwriting to playing live and let’s not forget his show stopping voice, however I think this one should be a tad more realistic so I think I’d say probably my favourite artist at the minute, Nieve Ella, I can’t wait to see her career path flourish and yeah a collab with Nieve would sound super interesting I think. A band called the Kowloons as well are incredibly talented I’m not sure how that would work but we’d make it happen.
13. What was your worst performance?
Played a local gig earlier in the year on Slater Street and two songs in the power to two of the guitars completely caved in, it was my first time experiencing a performance malfunction, but it has definitely built me to know what to do this time. -Standing there waiting for it to be fixed proved not to be the solution.
14: What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it?
You get a lot of people who tend to be doubters and super-pessimists in life, sometimes it can feel like you’re surrounded by them but being true to your ability and sure of yourself, without being cocky, is the key to progress as a rookie musician. Only other obstacle I can think of is once I went away for a month and didn’t sing, when I came back I was almost certain I’d lost all vocal ability. A month later it was pretty much all back thanks to the steamer and a few vocal lessons, it shot my confidence in the rehearsal room and at the first gig back that’s for sure.
15: What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?
I tend to work by myself when songwriting – door locked, acoustic in hand and pen and pad on the table. Literally all my free time when I’m not working is songwriting, I’d say I spend upwards of 30 hours songwriting a week, you should see my voice memos, think it takes up 23GB now. I reach a sort of flow state, creating demos on Logic to then send off to my producer and band and wait to get the “Wow, That’s great” or “Decent” the latter often means it requires TLC, luckily the latter is less common. When we rehearse and add finishing touches onto songs however we do it in the rehearsal room as a full 4 piece band and that’s fun. I love hearing everyone’s ideas sometimes, be it an alternative structure or a stop or an extended intro, when you combine the right people that’s when music really comes alive.
16: Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?
Hopefully playing arenas and meeting my favourite musicians and people in the world, however I think if i was to meet Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran or Van McCann or any other hero of mine I’d probably just stumble over the same three words for half an hour or ramble about their unreleased songs until they walked off.
I’d hopefully be three albums in maybe, first one gets well received and now the third one people aren’t as wow’ed anymore, because I’ve switched up the sound…tends to be the way.
17: The UK seems to have gone in to melt down regarding the Oasis Reunion, are you bothered by It?
I am definitely bothered by it, I love Oasis, especially Noel and have seen them both respectively however I didn’t get tickets. I think I hyper obsessed over them a few years ago that I’ve sort of purposely been not listening to them since because I overdid them, resulting in my lacklustre efforts in getting hold of a
ticket.
