NEWS
EVENTS
Rising Artist: Rhodes
Indie | Monday 9th November 2015 | Alice
We met up with David Rhodes near the end of his UK headline tour ‘Wishes’. David, known predominantly by his last name Rhodes, has seen his profile grow over the past two years after releasing his initial EP Raise Your Love in 2013. We sat down prior to his London show at KOKO in Camden to discuss his latest album Wishes, musical influences and his recent collaboration, ‘Let It All Go’ with singer Birdy.
Rhodes' quiet shy nature was instantly apparent when we began to speak about his initial fears at the beginning of his music career. Rhodes elaborated on how he had never sang due to an intense fear, which many including himself couldn’t understand. Through the encouragement of his musically creative parents, Rhodes is a self-taught guitarist, who always dreamed of being a rock star from his youth.
When I asked about how his music career began, Rhodes divulged his past experiences in bands.
I moved to London and started playing bass in a band, which was great fun and we used to play around Camden all the time. Eventually it got a bit much and I was writing soundscapes. I really wanted to sing but I just couldn’t. I eventually got to the point where I realised that if I didn’t try it would never happen. I eventually did it and began singing by myself when everyone was out, to start getting comfortable. I then began to record myself and showcase it to others. I got the responses of "why have you always been so afraid".
Alongside his fear, Rhodes mentioned the worry involved with living on his own with no money and trying to break into the industry.
It clearly worried everyone, especially my parents. Eventually my stepmum convinced me to sing alongside my dad at a family party. My dad is always showing my work to others so I agreed. Everyone was extremely taken back and I has such positive feedback, so I began to record a ton of songs.
We moved swiftly on to discuss Rhodes' initial expectations of his early EPs and where his inspirations for his songs stemmed from.
A lot is from anxiety and observing things. I write a lot about relationships, not just romantic ones but friendships and family. My parents split when I was quite young and I don’t think they were always aware of how much I was struggling. Writing allowed me to escape. In a lot of memories I remember being a child who wanted to escape to a parallel universe. There’s a song on my new album called 'You and I' which is about a very good friend whom I had been distant with. When we bumped into each other it was as if we had never been apart. He had been going through a rough time, and I wrote the song directly after seeing him.
I generally write about being there for one another a lot. Everyone should be able to rely on somebody, or recognise when somebody is relying on you. I was in a band before, when I left my way of doing it was to distance myself from them, ultimately becoming a recluse. No one knew where I was or what I was doing. It can get quite dark when you’re lonely. I wrote a lot about that. For me there is a meaning, a subject but also a sentiment. So for 'Close Your Eyes', the subject is me overcoming my fear of singing but the sentiment behind it is much more broad than that. People can read what they want into that. For someone it could be them overcoming something. I’m leaving it open to interpretation.
We briefly carried on discussing meanings behind his latest album before moving on to ‘Let It All Go’, his collaboration with Birdy.
It was great. She’s brilliant. It was very natural, organic and raw. No one really interfered. I met her and felt she was very pure and beautiful and not at all contrived, so we sat at a piano for an afternoon and wrote the song.
Within the past two years, Rhodes musical career has soared, having supported the likes of Sam Smith, Hozier and London Grammar. Alongside supporting well-known artists, Rhodes was asked to perform at a Burberry fashion show, which he has described as a huge achievement. With his new album being a huge success, there is no doubt about Rhodes having a bright career ahead of him.
Follow Rhodes on Facebook and YouTube.
