Exposed Vocals Interviews Mitchell Kersley

My name is Mitchell Kersley, I am a 20 year old singer songwriter originally from Bognor Regis in the South of England. Like most musicians, music hooked me from a young age; although, I am the first in my family to become a musician. I was brought up mainly listening to what my mother would listen to and also my older brother; he would play a lot of Michael Jackson, who I became a huge fan of whilst growing up.

Oddly I don’t remember when I started to sing; all I remember is that suddenly I could just do it. I think it surprised me more than anyone! But I was shy and barely sang in front of anyone, until I decided to audition for a choir at my school when I was around 10. I got the part of lead and slowly after that, grew my confidence over a couple of years. After some people had told me that they liked my voice, I decided that I wanted to seek the help of a vocal coach to help improve my technique and hopefully make me a better singer, so being the angel she is, my mother did everything she could to try and afford the sessions each week. I was about 13 when I started lessons but after a couple of years of private one to one vocal sessions, I decided to leave and try to train myself from what I had learned.

I decided to make a youtube channel “MitchKersleyMusic”, which had videos of me singing to various backing tracks and even writing my own lyrics to backing tracks I had found online. The channel was a success with over 2000 subscribers, although at the time I got a lot of stick from various people, even friends, about putting these videos up. It is difficult when you are young and posting stuff like that online; I got a lot of positive reactions which was amazing… But also got some negative comments. I remember that I used to go to a lot of house parties when I was around 14/15 and sometimes I would get lads I didn’t even know saying “Aren’t you the kid from Youtube” and then rip it out of me for posting the videos.

After all the hard work on to my Youtube Channel, a jealous ex girlfriend decided to hack the account via my email and delete everything I had done. It was a major set back for me, so I turned my back away from singing for nearly a year to concentrate on studies and obviously because I was making a lot of time to be a teenager!

The best decision I ever made was in 2012, when I decided I wanted to take music seriously and make a career out of it. I applied for the music course at college and after an audition, I got in. I also decided I wanted to start writing my own original songs and to do that I needed to play an instrument, so I decided to teach myself Piano and Guitar alongside my music studies at college.

It was also then though however, that I had learnt that I had a serious stage fright issue. I struggled to sing in front of crowds with out shaking and being extremely nervous. I now know that stage fright is something that takes a long time to try to conquer and is always going to be there, no matter how small it is, just hiding. I had also started to put some of the songs I wrote online on a new Soundcloud page and also made a Facebook page for myself and since then the reactions and support has been stunning.

After two years of studying, writing songs and just loving playing music, I finished my course, achieving the highest possible grade you can get. It was now that I was looking at studying at a further level, and applied for many music universities. The auditions for each one were an absolute roller coaster ride and in the end I had to make some hard choices on where I wanted to attend. In the end I opted for BIMM London (or then known as Tech Music School). One of the only contemporary music schools in London, which was an absolute honour and privilege.

Studying in London also meant that I had to fly the nest and leave my mum and live a new life in London with four of the best people I may ever meet (my housemates). I have now finished my first year in London and have already achieved so much. After 6 months of moving here I was picked up by AEC Management and am now signed to their A&R Dep. I have also played many gigs around the capitol and even been asked to feature on a compilation CD of songwriters from the UK that will be distributed by Sony. The views and likes on my videos and music links have been rising also with more fans of my music reaching out to me each day which is literally incredible.

I have two years left on my course and I am absolutely buzzing for them, the next two years are going to be huge for me and a real make or break. i just want to thank everyone who has helped including all the other musicians I have ever met who have all each taught me something new and helped me to become a better musician myself.

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

Mitchell Kersley: Through Twitter, I started following them after I saw them on my suggestions feed. Shortly after I received a DM asking me if I wanted to do an interview, which was pretty cool and obviously I said yes.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Mitchell Kersley: I grew up in a small village called Pagham, which is situated in the south coast of England. Like most musicians, music hooked me from a young age, although I am the first in my family to decide to become a musician. I was brought up mainly on what my mother and older brother would listen to; my older brother would play a lot of Michael Jackson and The Chilli Peppers, I ended up being a big fan of both growing up. I started singing from an early age and never looked back really… It began from singing in the shower, to the occasional performance at school and then, in my teens I decided to take my singing to the internet. I created a YouTube channel at the age of 15, which featured videos of my singing, mainly just covers to a backing track. The channel hit moderate success with around 2000 subscribers, but unfortunately, the whole channel was hacked and deleted, which was a real set back for me at the time, as I had put so much time towards it. Although, honestly now I am kind of grateful for the fact the channel got wiped; thinking back to some of those videos really cringe me out! After contemplating life and just being a teenager for about a year, I decided to study music, which in all honesty is the best decision I ever made. I have been studying music for three years now and moved to London last year to study it at degree level. In the past three years i have learned so much, meeting some amazing musicians and some awesome people who I am still friends with now. Studying music helped me to improve my technique and confidence hugely. It also got me to start songwriting, which is now one of my biggest passions. I always used to write lyrics for songs, even at a really young age, but picking up the guitar and piano a few years a go encouraged me to start writing my own original material; and now I have a large catalogue of songs I have wrote over the years. Over the last 6 months, I have been gigging and promoting myself endlessly and ended up being signed to a management company which was amazing. I also picked up a tonne of gigs and also radio interviews around London, with amazing support from others online also, so things are going great at the moment!

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Mitchell Kersley: Oh god, I could rant on for hours about this, I know many musicians have different opinions. At the end of the day, the music is the artists product; like a painter has their paintings. It should always be the artists decision on what they decide to do with the music they have created. In my opinion, as long as the music sharing isn’t pirated or illegal, then there is no real problem. As technology is advancing, so does the way we listen and consume music. The trick for an artist who wants to be successful and have longevity in their career is to keep up with this ever changing industry and finding ways to exploit things like online music sharing, for example when Radiohead gave away that single for free and in return gained loads of free publicity and subsequently sold a tonne of copies of their album at the time. With my music on Soundcloud, I currently give away my songs on there for free, as they are not final mixes and only a couple of them will be on my first album which I hope to release reasonably soon.

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?

Mitchell Kersley: I don’t want to sound condescending to any musician starting out. I am still on my path to be at where I want to be and have no idea how many more steps it will be until I will get there. Although, the last 10 months of being in London and being involved in the industry, meeting managers, label owners, producers and other musicians, I have learned a fair bit about this 65 billion pound industry, so my advice to anyone who decides they want a career as a musician, is to persevere and keep grafting, never give up. It is so hard to get yourself into this industry and you will get a lot of rejections, you’ve just got to find that person who believes in you and your music and then you can build a career. Also, song write as much as possible!

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Mitchell Kersley: Of course! I’m only human at the end of the day. Every performer makes mistakes, no matter how much you practise, its just how you get through those mistakes that defines you as an artist and really determines whether the performance is a success or not. It’s easy to pull faces or get frustrated after a mistake, maybe a missed chords or singing the wrong words, but you’ve just got to smile and move on. A bass player who took a masterclass at the university had an amazing quote for when you make a mistake on stage. He said ” Once you’ve made a mistake, forget it, don’t let it haunt the rest of your gig, otherwise you end up playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. You essentially limit what you are capable of.”. I’ve always found that incredibly true and inspiring.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Mitchell Kersley: Currently I do not tour, although I am planning to in the future, although I have done a fair share of gigs in London recently, which has been great. I look forward to playing in more places around the UK, and hopefully one day around the world, its a real dream of mine to play my music all around the globe in different countries.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Mitchell Kersley: Funnily enough, the most useful tool I have had for my songwriting is my phone. The recording feature has been like an angel to me. Like a lot of songwriters, I suddenly get a melody or lyrics or chord sequence in my head and often in inconvenient places where my instrument isn’t there. So I usually just sing it into my phone so I don’t forget it. There is no worse a feeling than suddenly coming up with a killer melody and then forgetting it later on in the day. In terms of inspiration, it comes from everywhere and anywhere. It can be the most random things that set off a songwriting idea, like reflecting on past feelings and emotions, something I have read that day or a song I might hear that inspires me. Also, I have never stuck to one songwriting technique, I just write down whatever is in my head as quick as possible and then let the creative juices flow, and just see where it ends up. I guess that’s what writing music is about, just being experimental and creative and just trying to stay true to yourself and what you do.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Mitchell Kersley: Yeah, I have a Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud and Instagram pages where I share my music and try to keep people up to date with what I am doing. Creating a Facebook page was a real game changer for me, I got contacted by so many people who had stumbled across it and liked what they saw, its a great way to share what you do. If anyone was ever interested in my page links, they are:

https://www.facebook.com/MitchellKersley

https://twitter.com/MKersleyMusic

https://soundcloud.com/mitchell-kersley

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Mitchell Kersley: Haha, I have a collection of songs that I have bought on iTunes since I was about 14. Some of them are incredibly embarrassing! My music taste has changed a lot since I was younger. I was obsessed with Rascal Flatts at one point, when I first started getting into listening to Country music, they did a song with Justin Bieber, thats probably the most embarrassing one! My music taste is so broad now though, I listen to literally everything, although I try to avoid cheesy pop music now!

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Mitchell Kersley: Thats a good question! I think any musician would invest that money and time into their career. I would spend the money on recording an album and promoting it over the 6 months. With that kind of money it would mean you wouldn’t need a label to help you out, which means potentially a bigger income at the end of the day and you wouldn’t have to worry about giving away the rights to your music.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Mitchell Kersley: Just a Mac currently, with Logic installed with a MIDI keyboard. My home recording is not too advanced! Hence why I often seek the help of producers and using their studio, I have also used the studio at my Uni too. A friend of mine, also called Mitch has been absolutely amazing and been giving me free recording at his home studio, which for any musician is a huge help! Shout out to him!

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Mitchell Kersley: Through the internet mainly; and also through gigs over the mic. Facebook is a great one, and also Soundcloud. It is essential not to throw your work in other peoples faces. You will find some musicians constantly post their music to pages repeatedly, which is fine don’t get me wrong! But some people may find it annoying, so I try to just share my music with the people I know want to hear it, then occasionally share it with others, however much I try, my music isn’t going to be everyones cup of tea, so I don’t want to annoy them with in constantly appearing on their computer!

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Mitchell Kersley: Oooh thats tricky… One of my biggest idols is Elvis, he is a huge inspiration for me, it would of been amazing to perform a long side him. Although, also I am a huge fan of Elton John, so that would be amazing too, I have always wanted to meet him, I get a lot of song writing inspiration from him.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Mitchell Kersley: The next year should be a big one for me. I feel like I am making good progress now, been signing a couple of contracts and feel like I am getting the right people on board to really help me achieve what I have set out to do. I have a radio interview next month where I will play a few songs live on air which I am buzzing for!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Mitchell Kersley: Sleeping during the night… I would probably have money too! I’m kidding, god knows. I wouldn’t know what to do if I’m honest! Probably be like a Disney Prince… Or an ice cream man, just for my pure love of ice cream.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Mitchell Kersley: Yes I remember, it was “Elephunk” by the Black Eyed Peas, I was about 8 or 9 I think, I had a small CD player in my room and would play it in there, I would always get told to turn it down, it was a quality album man!

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Mitchell Kersley: I try to stay organised but that never happens! I keep a diary with all gig dates etc. but thats about as far as it goes! As a music student as well you kind of get used to having no money!

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?

Mitchell Kersley: Hopefully some new music and more performances! We shall see though, I will be working hard to try and do as much as I can and also hopefully gain some more fans! Yeah so watch this space! Hopefully you will hear some more of me in the next year!

Randy M

Since 2008, I've been dedicated to supporting unsigned artists through ExposedVocals.com, evolving from platform creation to in-depth music reviews and artist discovery. I showcase talent, amplify voices, and share industry insights from legends to empower the next generation of musicians.