Example talks 'writer's block' and the Troubles with John Kearns
Elliot John Gleave, aka Example, has told John Kearns the Troubles has made Belfast music lovers among some of the best audiences in the world.
The Kickstarts singer was speaking after he released his new single The Answer, the third record from his upcoming sixth studio album.
Elliot said he has always enjoyed performing in the city:
“My favourite crowds have always been, Belfast Dublin, Glasgow.
“People just speak their mind, when you go to Scotland and Ireland and you’re chatting to people, they just say what they’re thinking and there’s no messing.
“There’s nowhere else in the world that has that.
“Even when you go to these tropical countries that have…the most beautiful women and everyone’s wearing no clothes, everyone’s got a tan and the sun’s shining, the vibe’s never as good for some reason as…Belfast and Glasgow.
“When you think about the weather and the history of some of these cities and the hardship that people have been through, the only thing you can do really to get through all this is to laugh and smile and drink and that is the perfect mixture for my music.”
Example makes his return after some time out to spend time with family.
The 35-year old rapper said despite the break, he was still trying to write new material but struggled to nail the sound:
“I haven’t stopped recording the last four years.
“Obviously I got married and had kids, people don’t know but I’ve still been gigging and a lot of Ibizas and Mallorcas but I haven’t toured properly since 2014.
“I’ve still been writing content and there was so many different emotions and I was…just really missing being on stage…I had that moment where I was just like the main guy and you realise that you can’t obviously ride that wave forever.
“There’s so many ups and downs and I’m very thankful for what I’ve had but I just was really missing out on being on stage and then I went into the studio just after my son was born in September and I wrote three songs in two weeks and they’re all going to be the next three singles.
“And it’s because I just think I relaxed and had fun and wasn’t trying to write hits.
“Because when I did Kickstarts and Changed the way you kissed me and Stay Awake, those were just me going into the studio and having fun.
“These things can happen so quickly and so naturally that there wasn’t even time to think about why it was working or how I wrote it and what the public wanted or what the radio wanted.
“The moment I had time off to start thinking, I overthought it.
“You know when people say they have writer’s block and a difficult second album, I had that but after album five.”
With The Answer featuring as ‘record of the week’ on Cool FM’s drive this week, it would seem he has definitely got his MOJO back.
But Elliot says he was concerned at how fast the song came together:
“I used to be scared about writing songs quickly because I thought it would maybe cheapen them or they were lacking focus.
“Then I watched this documentary about John Lennon and Paul McCartney would come in and they’d just have a song title and just start singing that over some cords and then the whole song would write itself.
“Going to the studio is like going to the gym, the more you do it, the quicker and the better you get at it and that’s probably why I managed to write my next three singles in the space of ten days.”