Interview: Five Minutes with V Pages
With a new single out this week (24 June), Grammy Award Winning producer and engineer Dom Morley aka V Pages (pronounced “Five Pages”) took five minutes to answer our questions.
Hi there, how are you and what are you up to today?
Very good. I’m mixing an album (producer / engineer is the day job) for an amazing Chinese dark-electro band at the moment. I don’t understand a word of the lyrics, but the tracks are incredible!
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
The sound of Chvrches or M83 suddenly discovering the first Verve album.
What are the 5 albums that have influenced you the most?
Verve “Storm In Heaven”
Chvrches “The Bones of What You Believe”
M83 “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”
The Pixies “Surfer Rosa”
blindoldfreak “EP1”
…are what are influencing what I’m doing now. Ask me next year and you’ll get 5 different answers!
Which other artists are you into at the moment and why?
Ciaran Lavery – I mixed some of his stuff recently and he’s amazing. Like an Irish Ray Lamontagne.
Solomon Grey – their debut came out recently and it’s so widescreen and enveloping. Really beautiful.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – synth hero!
Are there any key pieces of equipment that you are using to define your sound?
I have a massive modular synth I call “The Dark Eye”. That’s a huge part of what I do. If you go to my studio’s Facebook page (Flint Barn Studio) you can see what I mean.
What would you say some of the challenges artists face today in the music industry?
Finding an efficient way to make music pay is probably the biggest. It’s never been easy – and that’s a good thing – but now recorded music generates so little the focus has shifted to touring, syncs etc to make ends meet. While those things are all fine, the end result is that it’s much harder for artists to get the time and mental space they need to make great records. And without a great record, you’ve got nothing!
Where do you gather songwriting inspiration?
I’ll often listen to music from other genres (Mozart is working for me at the moment!), and try and get to the way a piece of music makes me feel – then aim for that same emotion within the sounds that I make. That normally works as a starting point, and then I try and let the track take a life of it’s own.
Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when put music together?
I’ll normally start with a tempo and a chord structure for a section. I then build on that with drums and more layers before I think about where the arrangement should go in terms of different sections. I tend to find myself in a position where I’ve got about 32 bars of massive layers and then have to pull it apart to get a song structure in place. Then, if I feel it needs vocals I’ll figure out who I know that would be a good fit for the track, and then try to persuade them to get involved!
What’s the best gig you have ever done and why?
Still not played this live yet. This has really come up as a studio project, but I’m looking forward to taking this out on tour.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
Probably a psychologist. That’s what I was planning on being as a teenager, until I got a job in a recording studio.
Do you have any particular gigs or festivals that you dream about playing?
Primavera looks amazing (I’ve just been getting jealous over a lot of my friend’s Facebook posts about it), but I think Glastonbury would be the big one, just because it’s The Big One!
If you could perform alongside any other band or artist, who would it be?
If we’re talking fantasy and I’m allowed to pick ANYONE then i’m going to say Jeff Buckley. It’d be a weird musical fit for a gig, but I wouldn’t care because I’d get to see Jeff Buckley play live!
Do you have any information regarding upcoming releases, projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
My single “I’ll Stand” is available to buy & stream on the 24th June, and then the E.P. “After The Storm” is out on 5th August.
You should buy them.
I’m SURE you’ll love them!
Follow V Pages:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fivepagesband/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/v_pages
Sundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/v-pages
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTRhTZWrwUV7uh_JvJ7YMYg
