Ghostpoet - Mercury and Musica

Ghostpoet took time out to talk with Pulse Radio's Sean Taylor, just days before he took to the stage to perform at the Mercury Prize ceremony. Speaking to Ghostpoet about his nomination, music, and the trials of learning to perform live has got Pulse even more excited to see him at the upcoming Musica festival. For your chance to win tickets to see him at Musica, read on.

Pulse: What does the Mercury Prize nomination for best breakthrough act mean to you? I'm feeling humbled to be part of such a prestigious award and it's not something like, "Yeah im gonna win it!”, I don't think like that at all. The exposure that it's been able to give me will hopefully build my career so that I've achieved something more than just a prize.

You’ve worked with Kano and other great MC’s, but who is the biggest musical influence on you? I admire alot of MC’s, but I admire alot of other different artists as well. I admire the The Clash for example, so I wouldnt say MC’s alone, but I do admire people like Kano, Wiley, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal. I wouldn't say that they are the biggest influence on the music, as I really try to incorporate as many genres and sounds as possible in to my work.

Do you write your raps to your beats, or write your raps first? I write my music first and foremost and from that I treat the lyrics toward it. The music is the torch bearer for the tune and I try to tap into that music and work out what it's saying. Once I've found the direction of it, I go to a verse, then a chorus, and take it from there.

Have you found that your move away from grime has given you more freedom as an MC or is there still more work to do? I guess now it's nice to be seen for that and accepted for what i'm making now. I hope to be a mixture of genres. I'm not saying that I'm unique, just that I have my own voice. I hope I can keep doing what I'm doing, which is just making music for me; a reference to the life and world around me.



Your new album seems to have moved a little towards traditional instrumental production sources than your previous EP; what drove you to move this way and should we expect further moves towards a live band sound? I count myself as an electronic musician - thats what I am - I can't play instruments per se, so I enjoy and relish making music via computers and working out things that way; so there's going to be more electronica. But definitely, live, i want to incorporate instruments as long it's working for the projects I'm doing and makes sense, then why not.

How do you feel about the Liiines remixes by XXXY and Koreless? What brought it about? It's always been a case of having remixers who will have their own interpretation of my tune, and I guess being a highlight track on the album, it was always going to be more on the electronic side. But I guess I was also looking for interpretations away from the original and something for different audiences, so i was really happy with them.

You mentioned that you used to find live performance a bit of a trial, how did you manage to get through that? I guess, the guys I used to do grime with helped because it's like a team effort, but it's difficult because in the beginning, it's just that idea of being judged; all the lyrics and music and how it was received, learning to accept people making their own minds up and not over thinking it. I'm striving to have fun with it and not think that everything has to be perfect. - it can't be - so accepting that, and just enjoying it.

What do you enjoy most about performing live now? Just the reaction that music can have on people, how they react to it and the energy you can produce from playing live, it's so unique and not something you can have at home making a tune!

What’s happening with you and the The Streets' Mike Skinner right now? We've worked on a couple of demos and I guess it's something we want to develop over time. It's not got a schedule. He is definitely a man of experience and it's something i'm hoping for in the future - but to what aim, who knows? He’s an amazing artist, anything he does turns to gold. I hope I can learn something from him and together we make something interesting.

Who are you looking forward to see at the Musica festival in Sydney? Ghostpoet: It's going to be a mightily interesting experience as I've never been to Australia before. I'm really looking forward to seeing Tiger & Woods and finding out who they are. SBTRKT, I've seen and played with many times before and is always a good watch, but with Tiger & Woods I'm intrigued. Also you know, I'm looking forward to going to the beach, the BBQ's and the sunshine. Any sun is extremely welcome.

When is the next Ghost Tape Mix coming out? I want to make a new one, I just have not had the time, but I want to make them more in the style of a radio show, as a kind of presenter. I really enjoy making them. Why dont we make a special over in Sydney? An on the beach Ghost Tape Special ?! [Stay tuned - Ed]

Ghostpoet on Pulse

Win tickets to see Ghostpoet at Musica festival here.