This weekend I have had pleasure to interview Will Haigh, about his upcoming single, 'Home or Away'. Unfortunately, we were unable to chat in person due to the current restrictions caused by Covid-19 so we recorded the interview over a phone call. We talked about his previous E.P., Lessons From Deception, his new band, the zoom play the single was inspired by and about a new album on the horizon. I've known Will a while now so I was thrilled when he reached out for an interview. You can find the full interview below, as well as the questions and a brief summary of Will's responses.
So, before we get into your upcoming single let’s talk for a minute about your debut EP, ‘Lessons from Deception’. It’s coming up to a year since you released it, how does that feel?
“It’s pretty crazy that it’s coming up to a year since I released my first EP, we’ve not even got a year since I released the lead single yet, ‘Scared to be Optimistic.’ That’s how close the lead single was to the EP, about a month before. It was recorded before the pandemic started, July through October 2019. Most of it was recorded in the summer because I had university in Autumn but then the pandemic hit, and we had a lot of trouble getting the drums sorted. I’m pleased with how it turned out, but I’m looking forward to getting into a professional studio in the future and record songs with higher production and getting my music more clean and polished.”
So, I’ve seen that you’ve got yourself a band together now. So, will you be recording with those in the future?
“Yeah! So, I sort of said this in my announcement video where I introduced the band. The band is mainly there for live shows. The music is still going to be marketed under my name, Will Haigh, but the live shows will be advertised as Will Haigh and the Pro-Vaccers but they will still be there in the studio with me to record instrumentation and such. We all get on well and we’re all really excited to get into the studio together as soon as we can.”
So once lockdown is over and venues re-open, are you hoping to do shows with your band or are you looking at doing a tour?
“We’ll probably start out small and do some local gigs to start with. The first thing I want to do before we book any gigs is to get in the studio and make sure we have the dynamic down and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. Before we get out, I’m wanting to do the virtual live show for the one-year anniversary of ‘Lessons from Deception’.”
Lockdown has been pretty difficult on so many people, especially musicians. I’ve seen that throughout lockdown you’ve been doing live streams of songs, and virtual concerts, just like many other artists have had to do. Do you think that this could have long lasting affects on musicians everywhere, both big and small?
“I was up and coming before the pandemic hit, ‘Lessons from Deceptions’ hadn’t even been announced. It had been teased, but I didn’t have a band together at the time, so it’s been kind of like a blessing in disguise for me to get it out and to get to people to hear it and to attract musicians to join my band. I think it’ll have a lasting impact, but it’s really put things into perspective just how much people need music and how little support we (artists) get from official authorities. We don’t get a lot of funding and such, and new things come into effect that are meant to help us, actually make things more complicated for us. It seems like a lot of other industries out there that take more priority, when things should really be balanced equally.”
So, I have another question about your band, are you hoping to keep them in the long run? Or are you just wanting to keep them for your live shows and continue your solo career afterwards?
“This career is something I’m wanting to build for the long haul. I’m in it for the long haul and I’m hoping the guys are in it too, as far as I’m aware they are from what we’ve spoken about. I’m really hoping to keep them on, I’d hate to have to deal with any line-up changes.”
Now, your upcoming single. It’s inspired by the zoom play, Home or Away. So, is it quite a personal song to you?
“Home or Away is a Zoom Play I’ve been working on since autumn last year. I’ve been working on it as co-director and the lead role. It was originally written as a stage play but then the pandemic hit, and we changed it to a radio play. It was recorded in November but we had some issues with the editing team so there were a lot of complication and we lost the editing team. We wanted to get the show out as soon as possible so we opted to restart the project and do it as a zoom play. The show itself tells the story of a young autistic man named Harry. It surrounds the challenges he goes through in his first year of university, we get to see the various challenges he goes through and it’s a very heart-felt story which I really related to. I went through a lot of struggles in my first time living away from home. It’s quite a personal song. We were going to use the song ‘Home’ by Scouting for Girls for the theme, but we didn’t want to deal with Copyright because it’s difficult getting musical rights for a play or any kind of virtual media. So, I ended up writing the song and I came up with it in about half an hour. It’s only two minutes long but it doesn’t need to be any longer. The entire story of the play is told within those two minutes. Even outside the context of the play, it works well as a stand-alone song, it’s about knowing that you’ve always got people there for you no matter how far from home you are. It’s quite uplifting, and I hope a lot of people see it as inspiring as well.”
You’re releasing the song after your live show on the 2nd, correct?
“It’s going to be out at midnight on the second of April, which is Autism Awareness Day. On the same day I’ll be doing a special virtual acoustic show with a Q and A afterwards. I’ve specifically made the setlist about autism because I want it to be a show that promotes autism awareness and educates people on what it’s like to live with autism in a sense. While also being a very fun and personal experience. There’s going be some songs on there that I haven’t released yet that I have written specifically for the album, which will be the next thing I record. So, you’ll get to hear a couple of new songs early if you tune in. They’re specifically songs that either mention or that I have written that surround what it’s like living with autism so that people can get a better of understanding of what it is whilst also being able to hum along to some catchy tunes.”
In the Zoom Play, you said you are the lead role and you’ve been co-directing it. Has it affected you as a musician in any way, possibly learnt any new skills from doing it?
“Well, I’ve learnt how to write a song for a show or any upcoming media so if I want to make a career out of writing songs for films like how Imagine Dragons are doing now, I suppose that’s a possible career option. Other than that, there’s not really any new skills I’ve learnt as a musician. As a co-director it has given me a new set of people to work with which has been very enjoyable, I love doing that. As an actor it has really challenged me because I’ve never played this kind of role before. I’ve studied acting but I’ve not really played someone who’s on the autism spectrum in this kind of scenario before. Obviously, I’ve lived it in everyday life, but I’ve not really got the chance to play this kind of character in the form of acting outside of being myself.”
So, you said you’re looking to do a new album after your single?
“Yeah, I’m hoping to at least start recording it this year. I’ve started looking into possible producers and recording studios, but nothing is set in stone yet, I haven’t reached out to anyone yet. I have ideas of where I’d like to go to and who I’d like to go to and I’ve discussed it with that band and they’ve given me some additional options as well, which I’m thankful for. At the very least, once we’re in the rehearsal studio and we have our dynamics with each other down it will give us a more certain idea of when we’ll be able to start recording. I am really hoping to start recording it this year because I’ve had the whole thing completely written for nearly two years now. The original intention when I first started writing music was to do an album first, but I had a lot of friends around me asking why I didn’t do an EP first because it would be cheaper and safer as a musician who is just starting up and that’s how ‘Lessons from Deception’ came to be.”
Do you think that was good advice? Or would you have preferred to wait and just recorded the album all in one?
“No, I think it was a good move because I was able to get my music out sooner without risking anything big and even if it hadn’t turned out the way I want to, I’ve still got a second shot because three of those songs I’ll be recording again for the album, so I’ve got a second chance at making those songs even better and being able to do more with the band. “
Are you looking to keep the same style and genre from Lessons from Deception, or will you be changing it up in your coming album?
“I am very much maintaining myself in the alternative rock genre. The three songs, I’m essentially wanting to keep them the same at their core. It’s not going to be one of those re-imagined projects where I completely changed the song. It’s just going to be a re-recording with better equipment. I want to keep the core message of the song; I just want to amplify it to a wider audience. That said, I’m not completely sticking to just pop-punk on the album. There’s songs I’ve written for the album that delve into different sub-genres of rock. So you’ve got an indie song on there, even some really heavy rock that almost falls into some type of metal territory towards the end of the album. You’ve still got the typical alternative rock tunes on there inspired by the likes of Foo Fighters and Green Day, but there’s a wide variety of genres on the album. Every song is going to be different, but with a consistent sound.”
Do you think you’ll be doing some more promotional shows after this Autism Awareness show?
“The only one I really have planned is the Lessons From Deceptions one year anniversary show. I’m hoping to do a Lessons from Deception tour next year. I know the EP will have been out about a year and a half by then but I haven’t been able to do a proper tour for it and I would at least like to before the next era with the album kicks in. I want to get the most out of this whilst I can. I don’t want to close off this era regretting that there were certain things I didn’t do. I’m really hoping to get it sorted once we’ve got the band together, again I can’t say when it will be. It might me winter this year or possibly spring next year.”
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