OneNamedPeter is a British singer/songwriter. Peter because that’s his name. One because he writes, performs and produces all his music solo. He also makes music videos and designs all his music artwork. He lives at Latitude 50.89 North, Longitude 0.058 East (that’s Sussex, England). And he’s inspired by great singer-songwriters who forged their own path, such as Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Kate Bush and Bob Dylan, and more recent sonic pioneers such as Frank Ocean.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey OneNamedPeter, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Hmmm, I guess I was about one year old. Someone sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at me. I thought: Yeah, nice concept, but I could do it better!”
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
I work as a journalist — that pays the bills — but still manage to find plenty of time to make music.
Your latest release is 'Pan'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Given my name, and my artist name, OneNamedPeter, I was always going to make a record called Pan.
Where did you get the inspiration for this album?
At first I thought it was going to be about the Greek god Pan… but he didn’t really do much, did he? Just chased nymphs and played his flute! So I immersed myself in the world of Peter Pan. What could be more attractive than playing pirates all day with the lost boys and never never growing up?
How long did you work on the 'Pan'? Was it an easy process for you?
I wrote and recorded it simultaneously in fevered bursts of activity over six weeks or so, layering vocals over runaway piano, skittish percussion and sonorous strings and cello, all the while trying to reject any idea of what was normal or logical and going with the words and melodies that came into my head.
How do you know when a work is finished?
Good question. From my experience, it’s always about three stages BEFORE the version you finally arrive at. So you want to hope you saved all those revisions.
Can you write what was your best performance in your career? How do you remember it?
For me, it’s all about studio recording rather than live performance. So the “best performance” is any time I manage to nail a vocal … normally around take 17, when I’ve stopped trying too hard and just let it flow.
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
The music business for me is basically this: I post gems from my new album on Instagram, or TikTok, or Facebook… and, oooh, look, here come the likes and hearts and fire emojis! But they’re all from so-called experts in marketing or seo, saying: “Yo, fam, you super-talented, bro. Give me you $$$$$.” So, yeah, it can be soul-destroying.
Who is your favourite musician?
The goddess: Kate Bush. And suddenly, this year, the strangest thing happened and millions of others agree with me!
What are your plans for the future?
Pan, is short and sweet, and you’d be mad to even attempt dancing to it. But I’m thinking now of an album of radical roof-raising remixes. And it will, of course, be called Pandemonium!