Today we sat down with Ade Fabola to talk music inspiration, what he would be doing if he wasn’t a musician and of course advice for other musicians. After the interview, be sure to check out his latest music video Something Good below! A fantastic song sung and played by Ade!

Here is the interview:

What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your surroundings?

Music is all around us, we live and breathe it everyday. The thing is I don’t usually wait for inspiration. I’m always writing, sometimes writing for writing sake (to process my thoughts), and other times writing purposefully with a view to share it with the wider world. Inspiration often strikes when I’m overwhelmed by an emotion or a thought, for instance love, heartbreak or socio-political injustice. It also strikes when I come across good music (maybe a live performance or a new record) that moves me so much. When this happens I try to immerse myself in a headspace that’ll allow me to put lyrics and melodies together. Sometimes I start a song by noodling around with melodies on a guitar, and then I come up with lyrics based on what’s burning in my heart. Other times I take some words I’ve written and come up with suitable sounding melodies based on the vibes the song is headed in. Sometimes everything comes rushing altogether, all at once. When that happens, I have no choice but to drop everything and give in to the music.

What type of music did you listen to growing up?

Growing up, I remember there was a lot of Reggae music around, as well as lots of western pop and west African highlife music. Bob Marley’s One Love and No Woman No Cry, as well as Michael Jackson’s Heal the World and You are Not Alone come to mind when I think about some of the earliest music I was exposed to. There was also a fair amount of pop – Westlife and Backstreet boys were huge at the time 🙂

Is there someone you looked up as a hero

I’m not sure if I’ve had that many heroes growing up. There were a few mentors and aspirational figures in my life, but they were mostly around me, like my family. Music wise, I admire Bob Marley for his pioneering efforts and being the voice of a generation.

If you weren’t a musician, would you be doing today?

If I hadn’t gotten into music at all, I’ll probably be doing what I do these days anyway when I’m not making music – I’ll be working in tech somewhere as a researcher and/or software developer.

What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create music?

Just do it. Just get started where you are and with what you have, and enjoy the journey from there 🙂