Today, we sat down with James and Ryan from Into The Unknown to talk about their writing inspiration, advice for musicians and much more! Be sure to check out their music below after the interview on Spotify!
Interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your
surroundings?
James – “Honestly a lot of the stuff I come up with is just practicing at home, like little exercises for myself or jamming out riffs, and if it sounds cool I make a voice note of it and practice it until I come into the studio to record.
Other times I’ll have an idea of what vibe or feeling I want from a song and sit down to work something out I might say I want a to make something dark sounding so make a riff around that.
You could say Rupert is an influence, as there have been more than once when I have gone in to the studio with just a riff and he then asks ‘So how does the chorus go’ and I havn’t actually written that bit, so we work it out together and the song grows in a way that I didn’t expect but takes a cool new form.
Ryan – “Music has always came from experience and what’s going on at any given time in life, its also a second voice or another language if you will so, my inspiration comes through as a rant via my guitar depending what has been happening and needing to get it off my chest.”
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
James – “A bit of a mix. At one point it was just Queen and Green Day, but Lordi really got into heavier music and it just went from there. Gwar, Slipknot, Children Of Bodom were some of my other early listens.”
Ryan – “I’ve always been around older music, parents listening to the usual soul, Motown as well as some basic R&B and elder siblings listening to classic rock. I grew up listening to AC/DC, Led zeppelin, Aerosmith through to Ten years after, The Doors and Lynyrd Skynyrd.”
Is there someone you looked up as a hero?
James – “Always Dave Brockie, the mans a legend!!”
Ryan – “Seeing as ‘Thunderstruck’ was the first full rock song I ever heard, AC/DC have always stuck close to me so I’ve always looked up to Angus young, the energy he gave whilst on stage and bond between the band and especially his brother and how they blended together so well.”
If you weren’t a musician, would you be doing today?
James – “Hmmm probably doing something else creative, maybe prop design or something similarly artsy. I have always been into practical effects and just creating things in general. I can’t think of a time where I have never had a hobby outside of school or work so I would of turned one of them into a primary interest.”
Ryan – “If only I could be doing this full time! I work in Sales day to day but if I hadn’t delved into the musical world I would have most likely tried to get into technology and delve deeper into software creation as its always interested me and had options to go down that route but Music has always taken precedence.”
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create
music?
James – “Finding similar minded musicians to work with helped for me, so do that. Easier said than done though, so if you are working on your own then a good DAW and a simple audio interface are all you need.”
Ryan – “DO IT! Everyone has to start somewhere and its such a great medium for expressing yourself even if you don’t share this with the world and keep it for yourself I think it’s a good health exercise like meditating for your mental health. Unless you get Gremlins in the studio then it could also be detrimental to your health so seek professionals!”
Music:
