Ryan Joseph Burns: In Conversation
The hottest day of the year and most likely our only week of summer. I think a
cold pint is in order. Flicking through my notes I can't help but be distracted by the tennis on the TV behind the bar. The French Open men's semi finals between Novak Djokovic and Rafeal Nadal if my memory serves me correctly. Early conversation is dominated by tennis, I almost forget we are here to talk about music. As we got back on track I was curious to find out what the conversation would serve up - sorry.
Americana influenced song writing Ryan is influenced by artists such as Ryan Adams and Jackson
Browne. “I suppose I depends what they have heard. I suppose most times when someone asks you what your music is like you’d say ‘It sounds like’ or ‘It’s got bits of this and bits of that’. I suppose really I would say it’s country music. It’s a very basic thing country music. It can be so many different things rather than just say country music, Americana, singer/songwriter."
"I sing ‘I don't know’ quite a lot I don't know if it's maybe because I don't know what I'm singing so it's a physiological thing but I sing the words ‘I don't know’ over and over again like all the time."
Ryan recalls the time when he heard a certain song by a certain someone. "Any band there’s always like a word. For me there’s darlin' I say darlin' quite a lot. I wrote a song about two months ago called ‘Dear Darlin’, and I was really happy with the title. Sorry I'm saying two months ago that was last august I wrote that. So I wrote this song ages ago and then what about a month ago this song, Olly Murs comes out. And I was like right I'm changing the word I'm changing the title I'm changing everything."
There was always a defying moment for Ryan or almost a eureka moment. “The Ryan Bingham gig.” The opportunity to support an Academy award, Golden Globe and Grammy winner doesn’t come along very often so this was an opportunity grabbed with both hands. “I really kind of got my act together for that gig. Before I kind of played gigs and thought everything would just kind of come to me. And that gig I thought wait a minute this is a good opportunity.”
One thing that is definitely in the pipeline is plans to write arrangements for songs and have a backing band for live shows. “I’ve said to different people so many times that I’ll play this gig and I’ll get a band and then I’ve kind of backed away after a while I’ve been like no I’ll do it myself it’s too much hassle. On my mailing list I was sending out an email and I was telling people that the King Tut’s gig was happening. While I was writing the email I was like d’you know what I’m just gonna say it’s a full band show.” I get a sense of excitement when Ryan is telling me about the King Tut’s gig. “It’s exciting I mean it’s given me pressure.”
“I love writing with other people because the different ways people write.” He goes on to explain “I could probably sit and write lyrics but my problem is when I write lyrics, If I’ve not got a song and a melody to put the lyrics too I end up writing too many lyrics for one line.”
I must admit half way the conversation we have been distracted by the brilliant tennis being played by two of the greatest players ever to pick up a racket. Half way through writing this interview I am also distracted my some wonderful tennis being played. Anyway back on serve - I mean topic.
An album in the works perhaps?
“I have been trying to record an album for a year and a half and I’ve just been trying to find the right person to work with. But every time I work with someone I’ve really enjoyed working with them it’s nothing against that person or persons but I let people take too much control of my music. At first I’m thinking this is great, this is really exciting, this is not how I thought this would go and that’s an exciting thing at first. But then after a while I’ll listen to it and I’ll go back to the demos I did on that Home Recordings and I’ll listen to them and I’ll be like ‘that’s how that song needs to sound’.
“I’ve got this home set up just now and what I’m trying to do is – I think my problem been I’ve never had arrangements sorted for songs It’s always been like percussion and just things I’ve picked up around my house. I’ll shove it in and see how it sounds and if it doesn’t sound very good I’ll take it out again. I’m trying to get these arrangements sorted so that in the head I can go right If I get musicians in now to record an album I can then say ‘I want you to do this’.”
A Ryan Joseph Burns album is an exciting prospect. “Hopefully I will have the album recorded at least, before the end of the summer.”
cold pint is in order. Flicking through my notes I can't help but be distracted by the tennis on the TV behind the bar. The French Open men's semi finals between Novak Djokovic and Rafeal Nadal if my memory serves me correctly. Early conversation is dominated by tennis, I almost forget we are here to talk about music. As we got back on track I was curious to find out what the conversation would serve up - sorry.
Americana influenced song writing Ryan is influenced by artists such as Ryan Adams and Jackson
Browne. “I suppose I depends what they have heard. I suppose most times when someone asks you what your music is like you’d say ‘It sounds like’ or ‘It’s got bits of this and bits of that’. I suppose really I would say it’s country music. It’s a very basic thing country music. It can be so many different things rather than just say country music, Americana, singer/songwriter."
"I sing ‘I don't know’ quite a lot I don't know if it's maybe because I don't know what I'm singing so it's a physiological thing but I sing the words ‘I don't know’ over and over again like all the time."
Ryan recalls the time when he heard a certain song by a certain someone. "Any band there’s always like a word. For me there’s darlin' I say darlin' quite a lot. I wrote a song about two months ago called ‘Dear Darlin’, and I was really happy with the title. Sorry I'm saying two months ago that was last august I wrote that. So I wrote this song ages ago and then what about a month ago this song, Olly Murs comes out. And I was like right I'm changing the word I'm changing the title I'm changing everything."
There was always a defying moment for Ryan or almost a eureka moment. “The Ryan Bingham gig.” The opportunity to support an Academy award, Golden Globe and Grammy winner doesn’t come along very often so this was an opportunity grabbed with both hands. “I really kind of got my act together for that gig. Before I kind of played gigs and thought everything would just kind of come to me. And that gig I thought wait a minute this is a good opportunity.”
One thing that is definitely in the pipeline is plans to write arrangements for songs and have a backing band for live shows. “I’ve said to different people so many times that I’ll play this gig and I’ll get a band and then I’ve kind of backed away after a while I’ve been like no I’ll do it myself it’s too much hassle. On my mailing list I was sending out an email and I was telling people that the King Tut’s gig was happening. While I was writing the email I was like d’you know what I’m just gonna say it’s a full band show.” I get a sense of excitement when Ryan is telling me about the King Tut’s gig. “It’s exciting I mean it’s given me pressure.”
“I love writing with other people because the different ways people write.” He goes on to explain “I could probably sit and write lyrics but my problem is when I write lyrics, If I’ve not got a song and a melody to put the lyrics too I end up writing too many lyrics for one line.”
I must admit half way the conversation we have been distracted by the brilliant tennis being played by two of the greatest players ever to pick up a racket. Half way through writing this interview I am also distracted my some wonderful tennis being played. Anyway back on serve - I mean topic.
An album in the works perhaps?
“I have been trying to record an album for a year and a half and I’ve just been trying to find the right person to work with. But every time I work with someone I’ve really enjoyed working with them it’s nothing against that person or persons but I let people take too much control of my music. At first I’m thinking this is great, this is really exciting, this is not how I thought this would go and that’s an exciting thing at first. But then after a while I’ll listen to it and I’ll go back to the demos I did on that Home Recordings and I’ll listen to them and I’ll be like ‘that’s how that song needs to sound’.
“I’ve got this home set up just now and what I’m trying to do is – I think my problem been I’ve never had arrangements sorted for songs It’s always been like percussion and just things I’ve picked up around my house. I’ll shove it in and see how it sounds and if it doesn’t sound very good I’ll take it out again. I’m trying to get these arrangements sorted so that in the head I can go right If I get musicians in now to record an album I can then say ‘I want you to do this’.”
A Ryan Joseph Burns album is an exciting prospect. “Hopefully I will have the album recorded at least, before the end of the summer.”