Your
name:
Jon
Townley.
Where
are you from?
I
was born in Birmingham but grew up in Hartlebury, which is a small
village in North Worcestershire.
Name
of band:
Swiss
Water Method.
How
would you describe yourself?
An
acoustic guitar based singer-songwriter specialising in maudlin
Sadcore musings with a smattering of Americana for good measure.
Who
are your main influences musically?
I
listen to a lot of music so therefore I'm influenced by a great deal
of artists spanning a variety of different genres. My main
influences, and hopefully this comes out in my music (not too much
obviously!) would be Red House Painters, Death Cab For Cutie and
Jimmy Eat World. However, I'm also influenced by Joni Mitchell,
Sufjan Stevens, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams...the usual
suspects I would imagine in the kind of thing I'm doing. Lyrically,
apart from the above I look up to Morrisey and Paddy McAloon (Prefab
Sprout) a great deal - I think each of them injects a certain black
humour into their work and also a stark honesty which can be cutting
yet almost shows a fragile vunerability. Aside from these I'm also
influenced by ambient artists such as Brian Eno or Stars Of The Lid
and post-rock, mainly Mogwai and Low Level Owl-era Appleseed Cast. I
think when you're writing songs but such a huge lover and collector
of music, it's hard to pinpoint specific artists. I mean I'm really
into jazz too but there's no way it comes out in my music, I'm not
that musically gifted!
What
do you hope to achieve in music?
The
one thing I really want is people to
relate
to
it. I don't want people to dance, or sing along or whatever, I mean,
obviously if they want to that's great but I'm not writing these
songs to be enjoyed if that makes sense. I want these songs to make
people feel something, give catharsis or open old wounds. I don't
want them just to be throwaway tunes for people to vaguely listen to.
The best type of music evokes emotions in people and this for me
would be the biggest achievement. Whether it be in the lyrics or a
certain chord progression as long as it stirs the emotions, I'll be
happy.
What
has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
I
don't really have one yet!
And
what’s the moment you want to forget?
I
think, back in the days of Myspace, I put a few recordings which are
just terribly, terribly recorded :-D I was still learning home
recording, and I still am, and listening to them now gives me a "what
was I thinking?" moment. So I'd like to forget those bad
recordings!
If
you could choose one of your songs as an advert for your music, what
would it be and why?
Well,
it's not my personal favourite but I guess All She Can Take as this
seems to be the song that I get the most compliments about. However,
Honiton for me has a special meaning to me as it was written about a
good friend of mine and also lyrically it's possibly the song I'm
most proud of
Where
can we listen to it?
Where
can we find out more about your music?
Swiss
Water Method on Facebook, @SwissWaterMeth on Twitter and the above
Soundcloud address. Also I have videos on YouTube of me performing my
own songs:
Anything
else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask?
Would
I like a record deal? Yes. :-D
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