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14 October 2024

Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Ferndown based artist Southside Willy to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I’m based out of Ferndown in Dorset, but grew up in Bournemouth… I actually started in a band back in college (I’m 38 now, so we’re going back a bit!). We were heavily influenced by stuff like Funeral For A Friend, Saosin…that kind of emo/post-hardcore stuff, except we were nowhere near as good! We evolved our sound a few times and changed our name once, but it was basically me on bass and the lead guitarist (and chief songwriter) who were the constants right from the beginning, forming different line ups around us. Last time we actually released anything together was 13 years ago now! There’s been a few times over the years we talked about coming back, and actually kind of did after lockdown with a new name and another evolution to the sound, but I had to drop out unfortunately before we got as far as gigging and releasing anything new. They did without me and it’s awesome stuff!! (SLOWAVE if you want to check them out!).

I actually started making my solo hip-hop stuff very casually while we were locked down. It started as a bit of a joke and something I could do alone and from home… I was basically a parody character releasing these really rubbish raps about stupid stuff (the first being a song about lockdown). But I think once I’d built up a bit of confidence making my own music, along with getting fed up of interacting online in character, that’s when I rebranded and started just releasing songs as myself and putting a bit more effort in.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Well since growing up playing in a band the influences were more along the lines of Funeral For A Friend, Deftones, Saosin, stuff like that. Now I’m probably still influenced by bands I like, but also acts like Atmosphere, Dr Syntax, The Streets etc. Though I don’t think I really sound like any of them… I feel like it’s more a lyrical influence in that I’m very much myself, no front and no fake posturing. It’s not all serious, there’s jokes and it’s just very honest and down to earth.

How would you describe your sound?
Mostly good fun UK hip-hop with rock and pop influences woven in. There’s funny moments without it being all out comedy rap, and there’s more emotional moments. Like I said before, down to earth lyrics with the music itself being a bit all over the place. It’s not radio rap, it’s a bit quirky. But not in an ultra experimental way, just me having fun.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My last big release was my debut album Dad Bod… there was an unplanned single that came about later as a reaction to the riots called To Be Frank, but I’m actually still very much focused on the album, putting out music videos for it. It’s the perfect intro to Southside Willy if you’ve not heard me before, I feel like I really managed to capture every aspect of my sound on that album. It can be a bit rough around the edges, being totally self produced, mixed and mastered… but I’m very proud of it! It’s a lot about family since it was put together around the time we were having kids. Or we had one with another on the way, very close together, so it’s a little time capsule of that time in my life.

What’s your local music scene like?
It’s weird… when I was in a band it felt like there was so much going on! There were a lot of other local bands, we all played together, knew what was going on in the scene. I’m a bit out of the loop with the rock scene in Bournemouth these days (Ferndown itself has no music scene at all, so Bournemouth is still my closest one), but there’s always gigs going on. I just don’t have the time and energy to be going to them all like I used to… I’m a proper homebody these days! The hip-hop scene here had a dip for a while, I remember it being really good, and then I think a lot of the more well known artists moved away and the main promoters stopped putting shows on. But it’s coming back! We’ve got Verb T putting on regular nights now, think he lives this way now, so that’s really cool for us! I’d love it to be bigger though… I try to do my bit, I actually run a playlist on Spotify and YouTube of every artist who is, or has been based in Dorset which I update all the time (Dorset Got Bars Yo!)… I haven’t added Verb T yet, but I can’t decide whether I should being as he’s on a totally different level, and has so much music and features out there it’d take over the playlist! I might do at some point. I’d love there to be a huge local scene though, where everyone knows what everyone else is up to.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
I’m still putting out music videos from the album… I’ve got two out already (Embarrassment and Tadpole), one ready to go and planned for this month, I’m thinking maybe the 21st, or that week. Closer to Halloween since I’ve gone for a spooky theme. I’d love to do a video for every song on there, but we’ll see how that goes, I’ve definitely got plans for others though, and started work on one that’s going to take a while to put together.

And as for new music, I want to put together an EP of older unreleased songs that didn’t fit on the album. I have stuff I’ve been sitting on since I started writing as Southside Willy and just never got around to recording and releasing as singles. I feel like I’ve really found my sound now, so it’d be good to get these older ones out there and really start focusing on where I am now.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
I’d love to do like a rock/rap crossover collab… maybe with a punky band would work well. I haven’t thought of anyone specific, but that would be right up my street! Other than that a track with Dr Syntax would be awesome, I feel like we’re very much the same wavelength with the sort of stuff we rap about, there’s differences in themes, but it’s in there. I’ve come across some awesome smaller artists too I’d be keen to get on tracks, I’ve already got names in mind I’d like to reach out when it comes to it… but I’d definitely be up for including some other artists on the next album (yes, I’m already thinking about that!).

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
I don’t know about funny to be honest… but then I’ve only done a few shows. Fun fact though, my first ever show as a rapper was a competition, I won it and got like £20! My last one I got on stage in my wife’s (fake) fur coat with a dummy on a chain round my neck for a laugh. My wife didn’t know until I put it on haha!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
If you like hip-hop that doesn’t take itself too seriously, you might like me. If you don’t like hip-hop then you might still like me because I don’t take myself too seriously.

You can find out more about Southside Willy via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Linktree, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok or YouTube.