Today, we sat down with Tamala Park Book Club to discuss their inspiration to write music, advice for musicians, and much more! Be sure to check out the music of Tamala Park Book Club on Spotify below after the interview!
Interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your
surroundings?
Recently, I’ve found myself taking a more practical approach to songwriting. I generally want each song to be created with purpose, rather than just doing ‘another one’. If there’s a particular chord, progression, scale, etc., that I want to use, I’ll write a song like that.
For example, our song ‘You Can’t Spell Funeral (Without A Little Fun)’, the verse starts on E7, a major seventh chord. It then moves to A Major, a major fourth, before dropping to A Minor, and ending on B Major, with a Suspended 4th added on the end. It sounds a bit strange but was interesting enough to be used for a song. Then paired with a chorus in D Major, you get this mood shift. To match the song, we wrote lyrics about the struggles of working a day job whilst trying to have a life outside of work; polarising lyrics for a polarising sound. Then chuck in a breakdown for some fun!
Each song is created differently but all have a role to play in our live setlists.
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
50s/60s rock and 70s/80s pop from my parents. Then I went through phases of hard rock like AC/DC and KISS, because that’s what you first learn on guitar. Went from punk rock, to metalcore, to pop punk; these days I’ve added jazz to the list. I still listen to all music that had some sort of impact on me, the beauty is that my list of music keeps growing over time. I’m liable to start the day with some easy-listening jazz, a 60s playlist during the day, and end the day with some kpop. Good music isn’t determined by age or genre, and as an artist, listening to a range of styles makes your own work more interesting.
Is there someone you looked up as a hero?
Artists who are able to have a moderately successful music career whilst also having a day job; I suspect that’s what my future might be haha!
You see bands who split up years ago come back for a tour, and then get back into making music. I’m thinking of bands like JET and Short Stack. It would be nice to have a long career in music like say Paul McCartney, but it’s not a reality for the majority. Being able to live comfortably and do what you’re passionate about I think is a dream for most people, even beyond music.
If you weren’t a musician, would you be doing today?
If music wasn’t part of my life, I’d be probably a chef. Food and music are reasons to live and culinary arts is just as creative as music.
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create
music?
With the range of music recording software, online tutorials and advances in technology, there’s never been a better time to learn to create music. Pick a DAW you can afford (even if it’s free!) and get comfortable with recording yourself. Mistakes are part of the learning process and don’t be embarrassed to make mistakes in front of yourself. Having another person to learn with is also very handy, say another band member. The next step is working out what you want to do with those recordings. You may be happy enough with the recordings as they are, or maybe you want them professionally mixed, or even re-recorded. The learning never stops, I’m still in the thick of it myself. Honestly, anyone out there who likes our music and wants to do it for themselves is welcome to message us on social media for help. You might even hear one of our upcoming songs in demo form.
Music:
