Exposed Vocals Interviews Murray Gardiner
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide
to sign up?
Murray Gardiner: Found you on Twitter
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you
decide to become an artist?
Murray Gardiner: I grew up in a small town called Stroud in Gloucestershire. It’s the same place that Laurie Lee was born and where his book Cider With Rosie is based. It’s a beautiful place with lots of history and lovely countryside. The Beatles played there once before they made it big. That’s a real point of pride in Stroud. At least it was until Paul McCartney said in an interview that it was a terrible gig. Which is quite funny don’t you think? My parents were both big music fans and my dad himself a musician so I grew up around a lot of music. I first played in a band when I was 13 years old and I knew straight away that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life. But I didn’t get into writing songs until some years later. And even then it took a while to get good at it.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your
inspiration behind it?
Murray Gardiner: It’s my real name! I’d considered going out under a pseudonym or a band name but where I’m at right now in my career I find it extra important to be as real a person as possible. When I made my album Barebones I really wanted to disprove the bloated celebrity ideal we’re all fed year in, year out and show that people who make music are normal people with normal lives. You don’t have to be from California and on crack and have the word “hawk” in your name to be a great songwriter or a great artist. You just have to be passionate and talented. That’s all it takes to make good music. Everything else is industry bullshit. And the Internet has spent the last decade and a half trying to tell us that we don’t need the industry anymore.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever
give your music away for free? Why?
Murray Gardiner: Generally I do believe that music should be paid for by the consumer. It costs money to produce a record and it costs money to distribute a record so I don’t see why the consumer shouldn’t be expected to pay for it. Having said that, Barebones is available through Spotify and I do (currently) have it available to stream on Soundcloud too, both of which are at no cost to the listener. I’m not a big name so at the moment I need to get my music into as many ears as possible and the best way to do that is to have it readily available on as many platforms as possible. I don’t think mp3s are the best format for listening to music but it would be remiss of me to claim that online sharing doesn’t have its uses for artists.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any
smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Murray Gardiner: The best advice I can offer is to work hard everyday and don’t take no for an answer from anyone. Most promoters are just about the bottom line so cut that middle man loose and try and do as much of it yourself as you can. I actually have a blog (https://
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you
handle that?
Murray Gardiner: All the time! I often gig solo acoustic so I can just pretend that’s the way it’s meant to be and nobody argues. Whatever happens – just keep smiling.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you
think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Murray Gardiner: I toured internationally for two years as a gun for hire with a theatre show. Lots of good memories seeing different places and lots of laughs with good friends. But the majority of the time was spent in a van staring at a motorway. Touring is nowhere near as glamorous as people presume, especially when you’re just a jobbing musician. It’s a lot of hours hanging around, eating nothing but Macdonalds because they’re the only thing open at 1am. And an endless hunt for wifi at every venue.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What
is your usual songwriting process?
Murray Gardiner: It’s a very mixed bag. Some songs can fall together quite quickly, maybe a day or two. But a lot of the time I’m just piecing ideas together slowly over weeks, months, sometimes years in order to get something which I think works really well. Generally the more time I have to just sit down and strum and play, the more productive I become. A lot of the songs on Barebones were slow burners. I had the chorus for “Say What Now” two years before I had any verses. As far as inspiration goes I try and read as much as possible, watch a lot of films and try to converse with interesting and intelligent people. It only takes one sentence from someone to spark an idea or complete another. People are the most interesting things around. And funny too. The older I get the less I find comedians funny because the people I know just come out with the driest, funniest things imaginable.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you
use to share your music?
Murray Gardiner: I do have a band website www.murray-gardiner.com which I run through bandzoogle. The album is available to download there. I also distribute through www.awal.com who place my music on all the necessary digital distributors like iTunes, Spotify and Amazon etc. Again I also utilise Soundcloud as its good and embeddable. Is that even a word?
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find
on your mp3 player?
Murray Gardiner: I’m fairly shameless about my tastes. I kinda like anything as long as it’s got some honesty about it and some kind of musical integrity. I also find I never grow out of all the stuff I used to like before I knew anything about music. When I was younger I was massively into 80s cock-rock like Bon Jovi and Whitesnake and you’ll still find a smile on my face when anything like that comes on. Those bands had awesome guitar players if nothing else. On the other end of the spectrum I’m very partial to The Dixie Chicks.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off,
what would you do? How would you spend it?
Murray Gardiner: Well if I had half a million dollars I wouldn’t take a year off! Instead I would put all that money into marketing and promoting my work and making more records. But if I did find myself with time off and money to burn I would probably fly to New Zealand to see my sister. She’s been living out there for a year or so now and I haven’t seen her in all that time. I’m worried she might have changed a lot though. She took a job at a snowboarding resort so I fear the next time I see her she may refer to things as being “rad” or “gnarly.” And that wouldn’t do at all.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Murray Gardiner: God! Don’t get me started. I was running Pro Tools 8 from an Mbox Mini on a PC but recently invested in a new iMac and Kontakt 5 and so far nothing has worked! The Mac doesn’t support the Mbox, nor does it talk to my M-audio Keystation. And buying new Pro Tools hardware is a nightmare! What’s wrong with Avid these days?
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best
for you?
Murray Gardiner: Social media. Everytime. One of my previous bands got together when MySpace was really popular and we were on it all the time just adding people and talking to fans and connecting with our fanbase 24/7. Twitter and Facebook aren’t quite as good as the golden age of MySpace but they’re still well worth it. And free!
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or
Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Murray Gardiner: Can you imagine being a piano player in New York in the 1930s and 40s and getting to play with great singers and orchestras? Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, that kinda thing. Such a great time for making records. Or I’d love to play keys or 2nd guitar for Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I’ve seen him there a few times and it’s always such a special venue for him. Plus some of his records have been really important records in my life. His album From The Cradle completely changed the way I listen to and play music.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to
talk about?
Murray Gardiner: Just more songwriting and hopefully another record in due course. I’d also really love to do some film or TV work and would love to produce an album for another artist.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Murray Gardiner: Cooking and Baking. I absolutely love cooking and baking. I now only eat bread that’s been baked by my own fair hand and last Christmas I made my first ever Christmas pudding which was a massive success. I’m also getting more and more into Asian cuisine. I’m forcing my girlfriend to learn how to use chopsticks.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What
was going through your head?
Murray Gardiner: I had mainly compilations on cassette when I was really young but I remember my parents signing up to some kind of mail order CD catalogue and I was allowed to choose one disc each time there was a delivery. My first choice was Guns ‘n’ Roses Use Your Illusion 1. A kid I knew at school really liked it so I gave it a shot. It was cool. I still have it now.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while
trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Murray Gardiner: I won’t lie, being a musician and trying to lead some semblance of a normal life is hard. Damn near impossible a lot of the time. I try to see my family as much as I can so that if there are periods when I’m away gigging a lot they don’t feel too neglected. Sometimes when work dries up it’s necessary to take other jobs to make ends meet. You basically just have to juggle and improvise as situations come up. It’s hard to know where you’re gonna be from month to month. Planning ahead is a real gamble as you may have to drop everything if a good opportunity comes up.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Murray Gardiner: I’m hoping to gig a lot more this year so tweet me (@murtyjoel) and tell me to come to your town!