0:00

Hi and welcome to the R2RB Indie

0:02

Artist Podcast Series . Today I

0:04

have Xavier J from

0:06

the UK with me . And Xavier J

0:08

, thank you so much for joining me . How are you ?

0:11

Good , thank you . Thank you for having me on .

0:13

Oh , you're welcome . What part of the UK are

0:16

you from ? I'm

0:18

from Cornwall in England

0:20

, which is like the southwest

0:22

part Okay

0:24

, and we were talking about the weather before

0:26

we got started . You have the wind and not

0:29

so nice weather , and I have lots of pouring rain

0:31

coming down here in the states yeah

0:33

right , all right

0:35

. So I'd like to ask two questions to get us warmed

0:37

up . Um , if you could have any

0:40

superpower , which one would you have

0:42

?

0:42

um , I

0:44

think I would like to be able to freeze

0:46

time . Um , yeah

0:48

I think it'd be good to

0:50

kind of have like be

0:52

able to freeze time to do like the boring

0:54

admin sort of stuff . So

0:57

then , when I can unfreeze time , be able to

0:59

like enjoy myself oh

1:01

, I like that .

1:02

I like that perspective . I'm gonna have to think about

1:04

that one myself . What's your favorite

1:06

app on your phone and why ?

1:09

um , I think I'd have to say youtube

1:11

. Um , just because of the sheer

1:14

range of stuff

1:16

there is on there , because like I've used it for

1:18

like learning music theory

1:20

, but also for kind of comedy

1:23

, but also learning like science stuff

1:25

, it's just there's just a lot on there

1:27

so there is a lot on there .

1:29

You're right , and and I I do the same thing too

1:31

. Um so , who

1:33

is xavier jay ?

1:35

I'm 17 , from

1:37

the uk . Um , I'm a

1:39

bit of an introvert . I guess the

1:42

main thing that you need to know about me is that I'm

1:44

just very passionate about

1:46

creativity and kind of like

1:48

expressing myself , and a

1:50

lot of that's through music , but also through

1:53

like visual art as well , so that's kind of

1:55

my main thing

1:58

.

1:58

I guess yeah , no , absolutely

2:00

. So what first got you into music ?

2:03

um , well , I've kind of music's

2:05

been a part of my life since I was basically

2:08

a baby , because my

2:10

parents are both very

2:12

much musicians , very musical

2:14

, and so I was kind of brought up around

2:17

a good range of music and

2:19

I went to a lot of music festivals

2:21

. I think my first one was when I was like six

2:23

months old . So it's

2:25

just always been a part of my life , I think .

2:27

Oh wow , so are both your parents musicians

2:30

, you said , or just in general , both musicians

2:32

, okay .

2:33

Yeah .

2:34

Oh , wow .

2:35

Not by trade , but they both have music degrees

2:37

. Oh wow .

2:39

Oh , that's cool . And do you play an instrument

2:41

? Do you play an instrument ? Do you play

2:43

the guitar ?

2:44

Yeah , so I play guitar and bass

2:47

and a bit of keyboard

2:49

as well , but

2:54

yeah , I also sing , so that's kind of my main thing .

2:55

Well , here in the States it's high school . Where are

2:57

you in your schooling ?

3:00

So I'm in sixth form . I

3:02

did do a bit of research beforehand and I

3:04

looked at what it is in the US and

3:06

I think at the moment I'm in the

3:08

equivalent of grade 12 , which

3:11

is year 13 in the UK . Ok

3:14

, yeah . I'm just about

3:16

to finish .

3:17

Oh nice , and so will you be going off

3:19

to university . Yeah

3:25

yeah , I've got a place to study music , so I'm really looking forward to it

3:27

, oh it , oh very cool . Is it in the UK or are you going somewhere in the UK ? Yeah

3:30

, oh nice . Oh my gosh , that's great . So

3:32

who's inspired you to make your music

3:34

?

3:34

well , I think it's . I've got a bit of

3:36

a bit of a story going on there

3:39

, um , because obviously I've grown

3:41

up around music but I didn't , for

3:43

some reason it didn't really click in my head that it could

3:45

be something that I do with

3:48

my life , I guess . Um , and

3:50

it was . I started

3:52

listening to a lot of like sort

3:55

of the soul scene in the

3:57

UK and I really got into this

3:59

artist called Leanne La Havas and

4:02

her . She plays guitar

4:04

and she sings and her style

4:06

of guitar playing was really

4:08

new to me and that's kind of what got

4:10

me into playing guitar initially and

4:13

then kind of led me down that path of right

4:15

. I'm going to write my own music and try and

4:17

make my own kind of expression and

4:20

have my own journey .

4:22

And that you've had .

4:23

Now you have six releases right

4:25

yeah yeah , and

4:28

so tell us about the six releases and in

4:31

the inspiration for those um

4:33

well , they're all songs

4:35

off this album that I'm working

4:38

on called is it just a thought ? And

4:40

they're all kind of they sit in

4:42

this sort of , I guess , jazz

4:45

tinged sort of vibe

4:47

, but then I like to kind of

4:49

experiment with incorporating other

4:51

genres into that . So , um

4:54

, so like 6pm , for example

4:56

, has kind of there's more like alt rock elements

4:59

in there yeah and then

5:01

I've also got like rain , which has

5:03

got a bit more of a folk influence

5:05

. So I think a lot of my works

5:08

kind of centers around like jazz , harmony

5:10

and like sort of I guess , soul influences

5:13

as well . But then I like to experiment

5:15

with other genres as well in there .

5:17

Yeah , when I first listened to you , I

5:20

had to go back and listen to you and

5:22

then I had to put all the pieces together

5:25

and so , yeah , there's that jazzy

5:27

, folksy rock , all

5:29

those undertones , into your music , and

5:32

I thoroughly enjoy it

5:34

. So do your

5:37

songs tell

5:39

a story ?

5:41

Yeah , so the

5:44

album itself has

5:46

it's kind of like a

5:48

running theme of like . The

5:51

theme was kind of centered around like the

5:53

summer , I guess , and

5:55

it's like following a day so

5:58

like 6am 6pm , and

6:01

there's definitely a story there with it's

6:03

kind of following my experiences

6:06

from like age 16 to

6:08

17 , um , and a

6:10

lot of it's kind of struggling with growing

6:12

up , and then also there's elements of like

6:15

an unrequited love in

6:17

there as well . It's kind of those

6:19

are like the two main themes , I guess , and it's just

6:21

very it feels quite it feels

6:24

quite like teenage angst in

6:26

a way oh my gosh

6:29

, exactly .

6:30

And yet , and you have this platform

6:32

to be able to express those

6:34

feelings . And you know there's there's

6:36

always somebody else that has been where

6:38

you are and their story's going to be different

6:41

, but it's always nice for you to be able to

6:43

connect with those other people yeah

6:45

, definitely yeah and

6:48

so what's your writing process like then ? Do

6:50

you write do the music

6:53

, do the music right , do

6:55

both um , it tends

6:58

to start with a guitar line .

7:00

Um , usually I'm like I'm

7:02

not ready for how , but it's kind of like starline

7:04

sort happens and I kind of play

7:06

around with it a bit and have some sort of structure

7:09

and then at some point

7:11

it will just kind of click and all these like lyrics

7:13

will come out and all the emotions will suddenly be there

7:15

and I'm like , oh , this is a song now , all

7:18

of a sudden . But yeah , it

7:20

tends to start with a guitar line and

7:26

then kind of I find the meaning and the structure and the lyrics

7:28

.

7:28

Along the way have you found yourself in a peculiar

7:30

place , and all these thoughts are running through

7:32

your head and you just have to like find a place

7:34

to sit and write yeah

7:36

, so it tends to be .

7:39

I don't . I think most of literally

7:41

all of my songs have been written

7:43

just from my bedroom , just because

7:45

it's like . It's like I just kind of

7:47

get home like de-stress and then

7:49

it's just kind of all like pours out your sanctuary

7:51

yeah , pretty much yeah

7:54

, yeah .

7:55

And so what do you have ? What are you working on now

7:57

?

7:58

um , so I'm just finishing

8:00

. The last kind of touches of the album

8:03

is pretty much there , um

8:05

, and then I've also got some

8:07

other stuff on the side which

8:09

I'm trying not to focus too much on because I want to

8:11

get the album finished . But I've got

8:13

some more electronic stuff

8:16

in the pipeline , um , and

8:18

then some more kind of similar sort of vibe

8:20

to the album , but I

8:23

don't know when that's okay , if that'll go

8:25

anywhere , but it's just kind of on the long on

8:27

the side cool , very cool um

8:29

.

8:30

Who does the artwork ?

8:32

uh , I do , um , I I

8:37

always do . I've kind of been

8:39

a bit of a painter and a drawer

8:41

as well from a young age

8:43

and it was kind of the only other thing I

8:46

considered pursuing other than music , um

8:48

, so yeah , 6

8:50

am and 6 pm , that was a painting

8:53

I did , and then the cover

8:55

for the other ones are just kind of pictures

8:57

I've taken and sometimes like

8:59

edited and played around with . But

9:01

yeah , I do oh , awesome

9:04

.

9:04

yeah , I was looking at that as well and I was

9:06

wondering if it might be you who did the artwork

9:08

. I like

9:10

them a lot , absolutely . Thank

9:13

you , welcome . Let me ask you this

9:15

because this is a question I've been asking a

9:17

lot of my guests about how do you

9:20

feel about the music industries these

9:22

days , especially how streaming has affected

9:24

indie music , artists and also

9:26

ai , artificial intelligence

9:28

? Um , a good thing or a bad

9:30

thing , or we need to learn how to incorporate

9:33

it the correct way . That

9:35

was a lot , no worries

9:39

.

9:39

Um , I think , in terms of streaming

9:41

, I think there needs to be

9:43

a shift in how

9:45

artists are paid , particularly

9:48

, and kind of how indie

9:51

artists are supported , because I mean , I've

9:53

found particularly like

9:56

obviously I'm not making any

9:58

sort of money off of my music , but like there's

10:01

just such a low pay rate and

10:04

it's so hard for indie artists

10:06

to get in there . I think there needs to be some sort of shift

10:09

in the streaming platforms . Um

10:12

, and then in terms of AI , that's

10:14

kind of I've got . This is a bit of a special

10:17

area for me because , um

10:19

, alongside my A-levels , I

10:21

did this thing called an extended

10:23

project qualification , which

10:25

is like worth half an a level

10:28

, which is like a UK thing . Um

10:30

, and I did mine on AI

10:33

generated music oh wow , um

10:35

, and from what

10:37

I gather , I don't think in

10:39

terms of AI generated music , I don't

10:41

think there's much of a threat there just because it's

10:44

not very good

10:46

. It's still quite lacking

10:49

. But I would say , in terms of

10:51

the way like chat

10:53

GPT can be used , I

10:55

think if it's used correctly

10:57

, it can be a great tool , but then it

11:00

can also be a bit of a threat in terms of

11:02

how much it can do in

11:05

terms of , like , retaining knowledge and yeah

11:08

, I think it . If it could be , if it's used

11:10

right , it could be a fantastic tool

11:12

, but it's a bit scary yeah

11:15

, I agree and and other

11:17

people have said the same thing .

11:19

as long as the AI is used

11:21

in to the right

11:23

way to help other people , then

11:25

it will be a good thing , but

11:27

of course there's always the bad side of everything , right

11:30

?

11:30

Yeah .

11:31

Always , oh my gosh . And then the streaming With

11:35

the indie artists . It's such a

11:37

hard uphill battle with

11:39

making any type of money from

11:42

streaming and the platforms of

11:47

money from streaming and the platforms the other platform that I find interesting that

11:49

some of the indie artists have said to me and perhaps something you can look into

11:52

as well is now getting onto radio

11:54

shows , either

11:57

terrestrial or online

11:59

that that's helping them also

12:01

to maybe not so much to

12:03

make them , you

12:05

know , make money from that , but to get out there

12:07

more to be heard to help

12:09

them in their endeavors

12:11

as well . So yeah , it's a tough industry yeah

12:14

, it's not like it used

12:17

to be and everybody works so hard

12:19

and so passionate about . You know what you all

12:21

do with your music and artwork apps

12:23

. You know it's . It's a shame that it's come to

12:25

this , but hopefully that shift is coming yeah

12:28

, I hope so yeah , absolutely , you

12:30

know , especially for somebody you know young

12:32

, like you . And well , do you want

12:34

to do ?

12:35

you do your music full-time um

12:37

, I thought I would love to . Um

12:40

, I think I think that's part of the reason why I've

12:42

tried so hard to get

12:44

started now

12:47

rather than later , because I

12:49

want to . I do want to take it somewhere

12:51

and I'm hoping that if I start

12:54

now , at like age 17 , then

12:56

hopefully when I get to that point

12:58

where I'm a bit more grown up , it

13:00

might be sustainable , hopefully

13:02

yeah , I mean , you know , as you

13:05

know , they'll say you do the work and it will

13:07

show in the end .

13:08

So you know , starting out where you are

13:10

and putting so much of your

13:12

desire to succeed

13:14

at it , you will Thank

13:16

you I hope so

13:18

you will . What famous musicians do

13:20

you admire or who's your influencer

13:22

? Anybody .

13:25

Oh , I think I could

13:27

think of so many artists . I mean

13:29

, I try to listen to as much

13:32

music as I can because I think I

13:34

find sometimes there's an element

13:36

from a completely different genre that I'm like , oh

13:38

, this would really fit here , break

13:53

those genre barriers . So like artists like Radiohead or like

13:55

Bjork or I guess , leanne La Havas , um , but yeah , I try to take as inspiration

13:57

from as many artists I can really yeah

14:00

, I I'm very eclectic in my music

14:03

as well .

14:03

I'll listen to any genre , because otherwise

14:06

you don't , you might miss somebody yeah

14:09

, you know , in each genre , you genre , you

14:11

will find something you like . I

14:13

follow Santel and he was

14:15

the one who had put that post up . Don't

14:19

not listen to a genre because you think

14:21

you're not going to like it , and that includes rap

14:23

and all

14:25

the way to classical music .

14:27

Yeah , definitely .

14:28

Right , there's always something good . So

14:31

what's the best advice someone has given

14:33

you ?

14:35

um well , I can't

14:37

remember who gave

14:39

me this advice particularly , and

14:41

it's really simple advice , but I

14:44

think the best advice I've had is just uh

14:46

to ask um to

14:48

do stuff . Because I think like a

14:51

great example would be like I didn't

14:53

think I could do music

14:56

tech as an A-level subject

14:58

because I hadn't had the GCSE in

15:00

music , which is the other qualification

15:03

in the UK . But

15:05

I asked and I could , and if

15:07

I hadn't asked I wouldn't have taken it and

15:09

then I wouldn't have , uh , started

15:12

learning how to use , how to produce

15:14

music and record music and then I wouldn't have

15:16

started , like releasing my own

15:18

music . So I think asking is just such

15:20

an important thing to do because no one's

15:22

going to assume that you

15:25

like know

15:27

what's going on , I think . So just

15:29

ask absolutely .

15:30

I like that . And what's the worst that they're going to say is

15:33

no , and then you just move on to the next right

15:35

yeah , yeah , absolutely

15:37

yeah , and , and so one of the questions

15:39

I was going to ask you , you know , do you record

15:41

, you produce , you engineer , you

15:44

master , you do all , the all

15:46

the work yourself ?

15:47

yeah , I mean it's probably a bit rough

15:49

around the edges .

15:53

You're doing it , thank you , yeah

15:56

, you're doing it and , as you said , being

15:58

you know where you

16:00

are in your career . You're just and

16:02

you're going to learn and it's we're , believe

16:04

me , I'm still learning . So

16:07

it's always that continual learning

16:09

process and asking questions

16:11

. I mean that's two great

16:13

attributes to have .

16:16

Yeah , Thank

16:19

you . Yeah , I'm still learning .

16:22

Yeah , don't worry , you'll be learning all along the way

16:25

, you and me , right Until

16:27

you're ready to retire and

16:31

if I didn't keep asking questions and keep

16:33

learning , I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing at this

16:35

stage of my life . So , yeah

16:38

, never stop reinventing or redoing or

16:40

whatever you love doing . I just

16:42

love this conversation with you

16:44

because , when I had said in the beginning

16:46

, when you popped up on History

16:50

Feed , it's like oh , who

16:52

is this young man ? And let me listen

16:54

, because I believe , and let

16:56

me ask you this question um , do

16:58

you feel that the indie artists

17:00

all over support each other

17:02

in a big way ?

17:04

yeah , I mean I'm I'm

17:06

pretty terrible at um , keeping up

17:09

to date with social media , which

17:11

is not great , but from the

17:13

stuff that I have seen , it's been so supportive

17:16

and everyone's so nice and

17:18

gone like this is like welcome

17:21

to this really cool community

17:23

that's really supportive

17:25

of each other . So , yeah , definitely .

17:28

Yeah , I find that the indie artists are are

17:30

the biggest supporters , supporters

17:32

of each other . So

17:34

what else do you like to do besides your music

17:36

? I know you're really busy with school and

17:38

your music , and do you have any

17:40

other outside interests besides those two , or

17:42

do do those two things consume you right

17:45

now ?

17:46

I mean at the moment , yeah

17:48

, but um , when I have more time

17:50

, I do really like , uh , drawing

17:53

and painting , um

17:55

, and I think I like to kind

17:57

of express myself visually and by

17:59

hearing , I guess both

18:03

ways , yeah , um , I

18:05

also I think I'm quite interested

18:07

in just the world

18:10

itself . I like

18:12

I wish I had more

18:14

time to just kind of experience

18:17

everything in life

18:22

have you done it ?

18:22

have you done any traveling yet out of the UK ?

18:25

no , I'm in the process right now of trying to

18:27

get my passport application

18:30

through and my photo keeps getting . Photos

18:32

keep getting rejected , so really

18:35

yeah , it's really annoying

18:37

. I keep on taking new ones and I spent like

18:39

uh like six pounds

18:41

on like a proper like photo booth

18:44

one and that got rejected too are

18:46

they telling you ?

18:46

what are they why ?

18:48

uh , the first time it was like my picture

18:50

was too blurry , and then the second time it was

18:52

like I wasn't looking at the camera , even

18:55

though I was . But

19:01

yeah , hopefully .

19:01

I can get it sorted so I can have a bit of an explore . Well

19:04

, Xavier , Jay , well , tell everybody where they can find you , where

19:06

they can find your music .

19:11

Well , I'm on most major streaming platforms , platforms , um . Find me

19:13

on bandcamp as well , and then I'm

19:15

on facebook , instagram

19:18

, tiktok and youtube , as

19:20

like xavier j music , or

19:22

just xavier j , I think .

19:25

Um , yeah , just most

19:27

platforms pretty much yep

19:30

, I found you on bandcamp , so so follow

19:33

him . Like him . Comment share , because

19:35

all the indie artists that just helps

19:37

them , uh , get bumped around and

19:39

seen by everybody . Um

19:41

, xavier j , thank you so much for

19:44

sitting down with me and talking

19:46

about you , and I look forward to following your

19:48

career thank you , yeah

19:50

, thank you for having me on here nice

19:58

to speak to you , thank you . Yep , I'll have to check in

20:00

with you and and honestly , uh , keep tabs on you . Thank you

20:02

. Is there anything else you'd like to share that we

20:04

haven't touched on ?

20:06

uh , no , keep

20:09

an eye out for when I get my

20:11

album release sorted . Um , yeah

20:13

, do you have an idea ? I'll be soon okay , you do

20:15

.

20:15

It is going to be soon . All right , cool , I'll keep everybody

20:17

updated on r2rb as well and

20:19

thank you , if you let me know we can do some

20:21

promotion for you prior to the

20:23

release , so I have fun doing that , um

20:26

thank you yeah , yeah . Well , thank

20:28

you all right , xavier , I'm going to let you enjoy

20:30

the rest of your day and , uh , we will talk

20:32

soon yeah , thank you you're

20:34

welcome , thank you .