HARRISON WALKER

"My inspirations are quite varied when it comes to music. I’d say my biggest inspirations, in relation to the genre of music I make, are Santino Le Saint and Post Malone”

Born in High Wycombe, living between London and Bournemouth, Singer songwriter and producer Harrison Walker has been Working hard building a nice authentic following for himself. Having studied commercial song writing in ACM London, Walker has spent the past 4 years honing his craft and independently releasing a series of singles that blends R&B, trap and drill, successfully gaining over 100,000 streams to date.

Harrison Walker talks about his latest single ‘Pretence’, staying consistent in music and the inspiration behind it all.

Listen to 'Pretence' below

When was the first time you realised you wanted to be an artist?

I think the first time I realised that I wanted to be an artist on a professional level was not long after I got into music. I got into the game pretty late compared to most people, started music when I was around 16/17 and then decided to pursue it properly not long after this. My original career path was something more academical but once I started playing and realising that I might have something in this I changed quickly and decided to go to university to study it full time.

Who do you get inspirations from?

My inspirations are quite varied when it comes to music. I’d say my biggest inspirations, in relation to the genre of music I make, are Santino Le Saint and Post Malone. Santino especially is one who I really aspire to as he is not massively mainstream right now, he’s just released a new album which I think will do him very well but he’s not on Post level quite yet. One of the more obscure inspirations I have is Jason Aalon Butler, the lead singer of the band Letlive. The band leans more towards the metal genre but I take a lot of inspiration when it comes to his lyrics and the way he writes a story in his song. I find him super clever and different to a lot of other songwriters.

How are you feeling about your latest single ‘Pretence’ recently coming out?

I’m feeling really good about this particular project, it has had a good initial response from people listening and is reaching a few new countries and listeners which is great! Seeing as it is my final release of this year before starting something new and exciting in January I really wanted to end on a good one, Pretence being that song in my opinion. I was very happy with how the song ended up and really hope that people are enjoying it!

What does your song writing process look like? Do you have a melody in your head and then write?

To be honest I rarely will start with a melody or lyrics, I almost always have some music to write to whether it be a beat I have produced or just some chords that I have come up with on an instrument. I think out of all the songs I’ve written only 2 of them have been off a melody that I have already made up in my head. I think the reason I don’t like doing this is because when I put a beat around something or change the tempo or key I hear new melodies that work better with the mood of the song. I also make beats more often then I come up with melodies because I do it just for fun too, so have more to write to in general!

Do you often take periods to take a step back and chill or is it constant?

100% take time to chill out, I absolutely love making music and it is generally my downtime but if I’m going through a period where the creative juices are just running dry I will choose other things not music related to take my mind off things. I like working out and playing games so I will generally focus on these for a brief period of time to get some more inspiration when it comes to my music. If I need to focus on my music for particular deadlines or other things like that then I will knuckle down no problem but I think it is always good for people to take a break and make sure they’re not forcing creativity.

How do you recharge your creative batteries?

Similar to the last question I will take some time to put into other activities that aren’t related to music. What I also find though when trying to get back into a creative headspace is working with people or changing my environment, I’ve recently been working with a close friend of mine and what I find is that we really help each other be creative as if one of us are in the mood to make music it puts the other in that headspace and we usually end up making something awesome. I also go to a studio close to my house, a change in workspace is an awesome way to get creative again, it definitely gets my juices flowing again.

Artist: Harrison Walker

Stylist: Idyllyn Frimpong

crossorigin="anonymous"></script>