By Chris Rockson

 

I'd heard that there was an act playing a sold-out UK Tour in town this week, so I looked it up on the web, to check out stage times and make sure I could get a pass from the tour manager. No problem, then I thought, 'hang on a minute, why not find out a little more about the guy....let's arrange an interview too'!

So, a quick check of the inbox and a couple of calls later, and here I am, sat in the dressing room, backstage with someone I know little about, but am willing to learn!!....I've always been one for arriving prepared, and had done my homework as best I could, 'cos I like to lead by...oh, hang on a minute!!!! That's the guy's name...the one we're seeing tonight !....well, as I was saying, I like to lead by example...strange name for an artist? Well, let's find out a bit more...

Running a little later than planned, due to the nightmare we Mancunian's know as Oxford Road, I'm invited into the dressing room by Mark, the tour manager, to a familiar smell in the air....No, nothing even slightly illegal, its....its...its...CHICKEN!!!!! Stuck for an hour on possibly the worst road in town, the guys decided to bail and get some nourishing Nando's....

Chilled in the corner, eating and looking relaxed is the guy I've come to chat with, I sit down and turn on the tape....let's see now...

 

SC : Where did you come up with the name ‘Example’ ?

It's comes from my name, well, my initials...E.G. I've had that name for the last seventeen years or so. It seemed like a much better idea back then though....[laughs]

 

 

SC : Which artists had an influence on your musical development at an early stage?

Early On, i'd say it was the likes of Wu-Tang clan, Snoop-Dog that kinda thing, then I got into bands when I was about fourteen, fifteen years old, the likes of Nirvana and Blur, but when I was little kid, I was always listening to Michael Jackson.

 

SC : Your Live act features a band too doesn't it?

No drums yet though, but we will be including them at some stage soon though...

 

SC : Where do you get your ideas for your material? What inspires you to do this?

Well, my old stuff was half 'jokey' and half 'political'...like the song 'What We Made' was about a Nuclear Disaster.....but my new stuff is more about personal relationships and that sorta thing, like staying out all night, Clubbing...it's become a lot more personal as i've got older...some people write about things that they've read in the papers, but i don't think I pull that off too well, so I just write about what I know...

 

SC : You filmed your video for ‘What We Made’ in Chernobyl? What was that experience like, seeing first hand the devastation?

Well, it was quite harrowing, as you'd expect, it's not your typical setting for a music video is it?, in fact, I don't know of any other music videos that have been made out there.. in fact, I'd say that it was two of the most stressful days of my life, 'cos apart from the obvious, the authorities we're just so strict about what you could and couln't do....I've got other video's too where I'm running around a track and in a police chase, and others where i'm performing for the camera,  but that one [ What We Made ], was one of the most unique experiences in my life...not many people get to do that! In fact, I did a little documentary about it whilst I was over there...it's on you-tube!

 

SC : Most of the artists we feature in SoundCheck tend to come from what we would call a punk or rock n roll genre. I personally don’t care too much for classification, so along that line, where do you stand?

Ahhh, good one, I'm the same really...in fact, when you search my album in I-Tunes, it comes up with 'Unclassified'....that's because we didn't give the label a genre...so when we filled the form in for I-Tunes, we put 'Unclassified' as our option/genre...but they won't let you name it as that...in fact, I'd say it's somewhere in the middle of Dance/Rap and Rock I suppose! 

 

SC : Do you see any similarities between what you are doing musically and artistically to that kind of music?

Well, the main link I suppose, is that I'm influenced a lot by bands, more than I am rappers, and I write all of my own lyrics...I mean, a lot of bands these days have their lyrics and music written for them don't they...that's where I differ from a lot of them...initially, I was writing a lot of music with guys playing a piano or a guitar.

 

 

  

SC : ‘Last Ones Standing’ featured a great video and some car chase scenes in a spoof 80’s cop scene. It looked like a fun project. How did that come about? It references Sid & Nancy as well as Jason’s Argonauts in the lyric….do you write your tunes in one take or do they develop over time?

Wow...you're very astute! I always try to get a film reference in my songs, and I studied film at University, and the Sid & Nancy reference is there because the song is about a guy and a girl having a crazy night out. A lot of people make pretty obvious pop videos, I wanted to just do something that was fun and actually, nothing to do with the song whatsoever...to me, 'Last one's Standing' is a pure cop-drama, but lyrically, the song is nothing to do with it. It was more fun than Chernobyl, put it that way!! It was the most fun I've had on a video shoot ever!

 

 

SC : Finally, off the top of your head, rap for me and include the words ‘Soundcheck Magazine’…..

Ha...ok....i'm trying to rhyme stuff with 'magazine'....here, 'We never had a scene, til there was SoundCheck Magazine...will that do?'

SC : Nice One Fella!

 

Example is back out on tour again with 'Faithless' in December, check out his website for dates! 

 

October/November Issue publish date – October 10^th, so you’ll be somewhere between Birmingham and Nottingham….check out the site, and thanks so much for taking time out before your Soundcheck for tonight’s show.

Cheers man, nice chatting to ya!

Chris

Check out Example  RIGHT HERE