Music Review and Interview with Alex Kyle – Bullet
I love the sound effects and riffs used in this track right from the very start. The electronic distortion fuses brilliantly with the energetic yet simplistic beat. Then the vocal melody hits, and all of a sudden this kind of classic 90’s sounding song comes out, and it’s fairly unexpected on top of the music, but it’s great – it’s got that unique and creative touch that makes a track stand out from the crowd.
I was reminded a little of Blondie at times, melodically I would say, and then occasionally there’s a Beatles feeling rhythm to the words, and I even senses a splash of Beach Boys influence in there, but on the whole it’s all too much to be relevant – it’s an Alex Kyle sound, and it has that very new and now feel to it.
Behind all of this, the music itself has a very experimental nature to it, but not in a messy or disorganized manner – the chords and the riffs and the general musical performance throughout is very skilled and well thought of. Everything has it’s place, it all works and takes the right steps just in time to keep it interesting and compelling throughout. The whole song takes place in just about the perfect length of time. The lead vocal itself sounds great, it sits well within the music, and production wise – it has just enough of the centre stage to really weave it’s way into your mind.
You come away from this one wanting to hear more, the whole sound of it gets caught in your head but it’s so unfamiliar that you kind of have to go back and listen again. It’s a great quality to have achieved, a great balance within the music to make people want to listen again and again.
By Rebecca Cullen
Exclusive Interview:
Exposed Vocals: Thanks for sitting down with us! So tell us your story, what made you decide to become an artist?
Alex Kyle: I was born and raised in Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom in a town called Grimsby. If you recognise the name but can’t think why it might be because Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat, Bruno, Les Miserables fame) has just released a film this week of the same name!
I have loved music, theatre, poetry, art and film for as long as I can remember. I started performing at a really young age; the first play I was in was when I was just five years old. When I was thirteen I asked my father to teach me how to play the guitar, I wrote my first song at fourteen and after a couple of years I finally played my first gig with a band at sixteen. When I was 18 I started to write solo material and haven’t stopped doing that since.
Despite this song writing was always more of a hobby for me and not something I considered might actually become a career. A couple of years ago I finally made the decision to properly make a go of song writing and moved on from recording and producing my own releases to working with a very talented local recording engineer. I can honestly say it has made all the difference and has found me a much wider audience.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Alex Kyle: Well, I have my parents to blame for that one as it is actually my birth name! The roots of my name though are Scottish; Alex being from a very charismatic Scotsman my parents met back in the early 1980s just before I was born and Kyle meaning ‘a stretch of water’ in Scotland.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Alex Kyle: Yes, I am a big advocate for free music streaming and downloads. The internet is awash with so many great unsigned artists that if you want to be noticed you have to do everything you can to have people listen to your songs. As an independent musician I feel that trying to sell my music to people is nothing more than a barrier to them hearing it and, believe me, there are already plenty of those without making any more for myself!
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?
Alex Kyle: I think that the most important things are to have the best sounding record you can afford to make and then promote it as widely and relentlessly as possible. The way I see it as an unsigned artist is that you can’t make huge ripples in the industry with just one platform without the backing of a huge label – instead you have to make as many smaller ripples as you can and hope that one gets noticed.
To that end don’t expect a million Youtube views regardless of how good your material is without being willing to put the time in promote it and network with industry professionals. Once you have a following you are much more likely to open doors to gigs and radio plays.
And finally be polite, supportive, professional, humble and know your intellectual property rights. These are the things people often forget to do well and are the things that will always close doors and never open them if you get wrong.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Alex Kyle: Without wanting to sound cliché I really think that the things that happen in your life are the best inspiration to write songs that people can relate to. The last 18 months have been very eventful for me and have given me a lot inspiration and potential material to work with.
Personally I love songs that have genuine stories behind them even if it is not immediately apparent in the lyrics. For example my single ‘Bullet’ is about my attempts to ‘make it’ in the music industry, ‘By Your Side’ from my last EP is about the final days I spent with my father before he passed away last year, and the song I am writing at the moment ‘Black Ice’ is about how both my wife and I had serious car accidents earlier this year, completely wrecking both our cars on the same morning and within minutes of each other!
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Alex Kyle: Yes, of course. I have my own website where my music can be both streamed and downloaded for free. I try to use as many platforms as I can whilst being realistic about what I can maintain by myself. At the moment I am active on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Soundcloud. I find the more platforms you use the wider your audience will be but on the flip side the harder it is to track which is the most effective in getting website visits, downloads and video plays.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Alex Kyle: Well, after doing all the sensible things I should do such as paying off my mortgage and trying to save something for the future I would be putting the rest into all the creative projects I am involved in.
At any one time I have quite a few plates spinning so my time would be split between getting my new album recorded then gigging it as much as possible, getting my new performance piece ‘I want to be a performer, but my tie is too tight’ toured, releasing the demo for my video game, and spending some time to develop the social history charity group that I am involved with. Needless to say I wouldn’t be finding myself at a loose end! I’ll gladly take a cheque (check) written out to ‘Mr A Kyle’…
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Alex Kyle: I found that getting a bit of following from my local music scene and friends built an initial platform to get my music out to a wider network. Once I did that it the internet has been the best launch platform for me. Being prepared to pay for a little promotion has made a big difference to my audience base, it doesn’t need to be very much money, in truth I probably spend as much a year on guitar strings as I have done on promotion.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Alex Kyle: Yes, absolutely! My main focus recently has been promoting my new music video for my single Bullet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89H78noNSPo). I love the look at feel of the video, the director I have worked with (Sveta Reinish) has done a really wonderful job of creating something that works with the lyrics and style of the song without being too literal.
In terms of new music I have decided to launch a kickstarter campaign to help produce a new album this year. If people are interested in supporting it financially and receiving exclusive rewards they only need to head over to Kickstarter and find my page and make a pledge. It doesn’t have to be much as it all adds up.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Alex Kyle: Something that would require me to be as creative as possible I’m sure. I have always loved performing arts and usually have an original performance in the works at all times, I also am developing a video game at the moment so I would probably be spending some time on that. If anyone is interested in the other projects I am currently involved with they can find out more on my website.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Alex Kyle: Prioritise! Realise that there is only so much you can do with your time and focus on what is important to you. Personally I will fit my music into any time I have free and try and maximise the time I do have. If you were to walk past my house it would not be uncommon for you to see me playing guitar in the kitchen whilst cooking dinner or scribbling down some lyrics whilst I am on the phone sorting out something mundane, like car insurance. As most of my promotion is done online you have to spend a bit of your time maintaining your web presence and keep momentum in your ‘brand’ – it is much easier to sustain it than have to keep building a new audience with every new release.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Alex Kyle: A lot more internet presence from me is guaranteed. My Twitter account is picking up some pace now and my facebook music page will be a good place to see some of my upcoming live gigs that I am having recorded to share with the internet. I am hoping to reach a broader live crowd this year and should be playing some interesting and potentially unusual venues.
I am also aiming to get my first professionally produced album recorded and released this year. I now have all the songs written and I am scouting for either a record label, or hoping the crowd funding project (Kickstarter) will help me to get it made.
