“Don’t give up. You never know when success might be just around the corner.”
This is Alan Walker’s advice to all budding musicians, songwriters, DJs and producers. But the half English, half Norwegian electro-house producer and musician has not struggled to find success. Alan’s first forays into music making immediately gained him an appreciative online audience.
“I started creating music on my computer back in 2012,” he recalled. “I’m a child of the digital era and I always had an interest in what could be done with computers. I heard the kind of music other people had made on them and developed an interest, an obsession really, in what I might be able to do.”
Although he was born in Northampton, England, Alan’s parents moved to his mother’s homeland when he was two. They settled in the west coast city of Bergen. The long, cold Norwegian winters were certainly conducive to Alan’s passion for computer generated music.
“The winter weather doesn’t encourage you to leave your nice warm house. I spent a good deal of time in my bedroom exploring the musical possibilities. I should also say my parents were really supportive. They realised I did have some ability and encouraged me to follow my musical dream.”
Posting his songs online saw Alan quickly attract thousands of followers.
“I was a massive fan of the Italian artist DJ Ness. I actually made contact with him to ask how he produced his music. I also took note of the comments made by my followers. I made my music for everyone, not just myself. I also wanted to improve. If technical comments were made, I took them on board and tried variations or remixes to see if I could make my songs sound better.”
It wasn’t long before Alan’s work attracted the attention of record labels.
“My hour-long track, Fade, was the song which really got me noticed. It was edited down to four minutes 20 seconds, issued as a single on the NoCopyrightSounds label and became a major dance hit. This was back in 2014. I then had a couple more big hits last year with Spectre and Force.”
Fade could not be left in the past. As Alan says, he tries variations for each of his tracks and believed there were further possibilities with the song.
“The original single was a long instrumental but I thought it could be condensed into a typical three and a half minute pop song. I also wanted to add lyrics. That’s how I came to create Faded.”
The song has become phenomenally successful. Released last December, Faded has already topped the charts in 15 countries and gone top ten in many more. The official video is now well past the 150 million views mark on YouTube. This is in addition to the more than 95 million views for Fade.
“I’ve loved everything I’ve done with the song. The long original, the shorter single and the switch from Fade to Faded.
“I’m no singer so I got the Norwegian vocalist Iselin Solheim to perform the Faded lyric. Ironically, Iselin has an English connection. She studied at the Institute for Performing Arts in Liverpool. Her vocals are just perfect. They capture the mood of the song. I couldn’t have hoped for anything better.”
Not content to rest on his laurels, Alan has now made yet another version of Faded. Unlike his previous videos, Alan and Iselin appear in the promo for Faded (Restrung).
“This is really for people who don’t like electronic dance music. The song is an electro-dance ballad anyway but I’ve removed all the electronic parts from the original to really highlight the piano, strings, melodies and Iselin’s wonderful voice.”
Faded (Restrung) is a pure and rather beautiful pop song. Does Alan see this kind of work as his musical future?
“Definitely not for the time being. I love Faded (Restrung) and I may well produce similar variations for more of my songs. But I’ve so far created 30 to 40 dance music tracks which I’m happy with. I want to make many more before I’d even consider leaving the EDM world.”
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Volbeat
Danish hard rock trio Volbeat will issue their sixth studio album, Seal The Deal & Let’s Boogie, on June 3.
It is the band’s first new material since the amicable departure last November of bass guitarist and backing vocalist Anders Kjolholm. His final work with Volbeat can be heard on the new album. No permanent replacement has been recruited as yet but Kaspar Boye Larsen will play bass during the band’s forthcoming concert performances.
The Devil’s Bleeding Crown has just been released as the lead single from Volbeat’s new album. A lyric video accompanying the song is available to view at www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlWke6jK4rI
A few song videos, numerous live performances and band interviews can be found at www.youtube.com/user/VolbeatVEVO/videos
Maxwell
American R&B star Maxwell has announced July 1 as the release date for his fifth studio album, “blackSUMMERS’night.”
The new LP forms the second part of an album trilogy which Maxwell began seven years ago with the release of “BLACKsummers’night.” Part two was originally scheduled for issue as long ago as 2011. This was postponed until 2012 and then put on hold again after Maxwell suffered vocal cord haemorrhaging.
Despite his making a full recovery, the album continued to be delayed. In a 2014 interview, Maxwell stated he had been working on it “for the past three years.” A more recent Twitter posting suggested his album would be out during the last winter. But confirmation has finally been given of a rather more appropriate summer release date.
Lead single, Lake By The Ocean, has just been issued. A lyric video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nJkGH80suo
His previous albums, “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite,” “Embrya,” “Now” and “BLACKsummers’night,” are all posted in full on YouTube.
The Story So Far
Fans of American pop punk quintet The Story So Far would be well advised to carefully choose their options if they decide to climb on stage while the band are performing. Stage diving seems to be fine but press the camera button very quickly if you want to take a selfie.
A female fan took too much time during the band’s recent gig at Toronto’s Mod Club. Singer Parker Cannon took exception to her presence and landed a martial arts-style kick on her back which sent the selfie-taking girl on an unplanned stage dive into the crowd.
Response to Parker’s action has been mixed. Some fans were amused and suggested the girl got exactly what she deserved. Others were appalled and highly critical of Parker.
The incident was captured on a fan’s video camera and can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nClngy4-o4
For those more interested in their music, type the band’s name in the YouTube search box to gain access to all three albums released by The Story So Far plus their official song videos.
The Orwells
If The Story So Far’s fracas was a one-sided contest, the same cannot be said of a fight between The Orwells’ singer Mario Cuomo and a sound technician at the Trees music venue in Dallas, Texas.
It seems the technician was angered by Mario spiking his microphone on the stage floor like an American football player celebrating a touchdown after every song in the show. It has not been determined if a polite request for Mario to desist preceded his actions but the technician tried to end the performance early by cutting off the sound and closing the stage curtain.
Mario did not react well to this and an onstage fight ensued. Film of the event was indistinct but the technician seemed to be getting the better of things until the intervention of venue security and other members of The Orwells.
The band have released two albums, “Remember When” and “Disgraceland.” They can both be heard in full on YouTube. Also here are official song videos and live performances. These can all be accessed by typing The Orwells in the website search box.
FOCUSED: The long, cold Norwegian winters were conducive to Alan’s passion for computer generated music.
