Formula Indie Session – Interview with Summer Sons
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Sitting in the back of my mum’s car listening to her CDs on the car speakers or my CD player and headphones in the back, trying to hold the CD player flat so it didn’t skip when we went over bumps! From my mum’s collection the one that sticks out is Tracy Chapman, I loved her album especially the track ‘Behind The Wall’. It’s a completely acapella track about domestic violence and I remember the simplicity and power of the lyrics and storytelling gripped me and moved me in a way no other art form can.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Grime in the early 00s. Having grown up on imported American music seeing Grime was the first time music felt accessible, witnessing a sound and a feeling that felt local opened the door to creating my own
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Summers Sons & C.Tappin ‘Lightworks’
Summers Sons is me and my brother and we are working with our childhood friend C.Tappin. This album is the sequel to our 2018 Collab album ‘Uhuru’. For ‘Lightworks’ this is the first time we’ve moved completely away from sample based music, with this album being composed with full live instrumentation. We have recruited some of London’s brightest jazz players and this has informed the sound massively. It’s an album about perseverance and struggle, chasing dreams and balancing obligations, storytelling rooted in family and an unbreakable bond between us.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Jazz infused rap for the soul, distinctively London
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Just confidence in myself. I hold myself to a very high standard and in the early days I’d spend a lot of time alone writing and agonising over things trying to perfect them. Now I’m at a point where I’ve done my 10,000 hours and I’ve now got the self belief and trust in my ability to step into a session and produce some of my best work spontaneously.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Something to write on and a microphone. I bought a Neumann U87 a couple of years ago and it was a game changer. We were spending so much time and money on plug ins for mixing vocals and once we upgraded the mic most of that became redundant
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Children Of Zeus are massive inspirations for us. We’ve been lucky enough to tour with them and they are both super humble as well as talented. They’ve got a new album out soon ‘As The World Burns’ so go check that out!
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Personal experience informs everything we do. Our music is deeply personal and full of storytelling. Writing is very cathartic for me. I’ve spoken in depth on everything from the grief of my step dads sudden passing, the birth of my daughter and navigating parenthood, and being diagnosed with epilepsy and all the challenges that held.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
The message is always hope. I use music to process all the negatives and hardships life has thrown at me but I always try to find the silver lining and leave the listener with some optimism.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
The power to connect a room, through words, dance or rhythm. When we gather for a common purpose and a feeling resonates it shows how similar we actually are as human beings. In a world that wants us to feel separate and isolated, there’s nothing more powerful than a space full of people in harmony
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Koko. Iconic venue, I’ve performed there with The Silhouettes Project but would be a dream come true to headline it myself
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
D’Angelo. The greatest to ever do it
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
@summers_sons
@ceetappin
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
To keep having the time and resources to create meaningful albums. Play bigger and better shows. Soundtrack peoples lives with music that really touch the soul
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
It’s less about me and more about what they can discover about themselves. I hope that by sharing my own experiences and my perspective that I can help people to see the similarities between us all and also validate their own feelings through highs and lows
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