Tag: Ollie Wride (Page 1 of 4)

2023 END OF YEAR REVIEW

Photo by Jori Hulkkonen

Just as it looked like it would be safe to come out to play, there was uncertainty within the music industry again.

What had become the artists’ favourite platform thanks to its low commission and 0% Fridays, Bandcamp was taken over by Epic Games in 2022 but then following a move by employees to unionise, was sold to Songtradr who immediately dismissed half of its staff… in hindsight, despite its proclamation that this platform cared about the music, it looked like this had been yet another start-up by tech venture capitalists. Just as many acts dropped their own websites in favour of Facebook over a decade ago but were then trapped into sponsored posts to reach the majority of their own fanbase, online shops had been dropped for Bandcamp. So, things are back to square one as many consider a rebuild of their web presence.

Meanwhile, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino made a controversial declaration that concert ticket prices were generally too low and that artists could easily “charge a bit more”. While THE CURE notably refused to do this and capped their face value tickets at $20 for their US tour, the Live Nation sister outlet Ticketmaster applied excessive booking extras of more than $20 per ticket for a “service fee”, “facility charge” and “order processing”! With dynamic pricing in place at a number of high profile events and so-called VIP tickets on the rise (which didn’t actually include a meet ‘n’ greet but only a nearby bar and a lanyard), fans had their “FOMO” anxieties triggered and simply paid up!

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

Another artist who kept ticket prices low was Midge Ure who embarked on the successful ‘Voices & Visions’ tour after a year’s delay due to uncertainties over the Covid situation in 2022. Complimented by a straightforward but very effective light show and material from his second and third long players with ULTRAVOX ‘Rage In Eden’ and ‘Quartet’, it was a triumph. He was rewarded with a 70th birthday show celebrating his career at The Royal Albert Hall, which despite its plush surroundings was also kept affordable.

Who says an artist has no control over retail pricing? But one band who were shamelessly happy to charge more for concert tickets, more for merchandise and more for physical releases were DEPECHE MODE. For their first album and tour since the passing of co-founder Andy Fletcher in 2022, the remaining members played the death card with ‘Momento Bori’ and managed to plonk an even more underwhelming arena show into the stadiums of the world… at least the ‘Global Spirit’ tour featured risers!

With renowned UK venues such as Printworks and Moles closing down, as had already been highlighted by Juls Garat of US goth band PILGRIMS OF YEARNING via social media in 2022: “If you’re spending a kidney on DEPECHE MODE tickets and not attending a local show this weekend, I don’t wanna see you complaining that there’s no scene, local venues or new music anymore”. However, one seemingly oblivious Devotee said about the inflated ticket prices: “Really don’t know what the issue is. Happily paid £108.00 for a DM ticket. Would have paid more!!”. And therein lays the problem… DEPECHE MODE played a date at Stadion Wankdorf in Bern and that said it all! As the man who Devotees call a genius once wrote: “Some great reward will be coming my way…”

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

As The Devotees wallowed in their collective misery during 2023, the Stockholm Syndrome was stronger than ever. On the Bratislava leg at the National Football Stadium, one of The Black Swarm commented to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK: “I was there… I must admit, a bit disappointed… but I still love them!!!”. It was business as usual for DEPECHE MODE, with “business” being the operative word. It was reported that so much money had been sucked out of the European alternative music market in particular that a number of acts had to schedule their planned tours to 2024, while others who had made good albums worthy of attention in 2023 got lost in the sea of DM propaganda on the web.

Despite increased ticket prices at all levels, gig etiquette declined to the worst possible standards with the constant chatter and bad manners among some attendees. Surely if you have paid upwards of £30 or more for a show, you might want to pay more attention and enjoy it? ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has never seen it this bad in the 43 years it has been going to concerts, but this entitled arrogance to talk extremely loudly about total bollocks is a undoubted legacy of Brexit and Covid which in combination has normalised a lack of social graces in gathered environments… and when challenged, these total numbskulls become aggressive, pitifully unaware that they are ruining the evening of those around them.

Meanwhile, there was another undesirable element who only go to gigs to post selfies and badly distorted footage on their socials… these were often the sort of people who actually hated the band back in the day, but after 40+ years realised they like the song on the Vitality or Waitrose advert so are sudddenly giving it the big “I AM” about being a fan… but BECAUSE they are only there for one song, they then treat the rest of the gig like they were out with their mates in the pub! 🤬

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

The best live shows of the year came from PET SHOP BOYS and DURAN DURAN with their arena extravaganzas full of hits, classic fan favourites and great staging. Among the album celebrations, CHINA CRISIS ran through their second long player ‘Working With Fire & Steel – Possible Pop Songs Volume 2’ on tour to celebrate its 40th anniversary and founder bassist Peter Hook took the first NEW ORDER compilation ‘Substance’ out on the road to coincide with its expanded 4CD reissue.

“Sweden’s best kept pop secret” KITE impressed with an imitate headliner for their debut London gig and later at Cologne’s Amphi Festival to a much larger crowd, while the return of Ollie Wride to the London stage at The Scala illustrated why he has potential to be the next synthwave artist to crossover into the mainstream.

Photo by Ed Miles

‘Time’s Arrow’, LADYTRON’s second album since their return from hiatus proved to be something of a disappointment while fairing slightly better with its anti-Brexit sentiments, ‘Bauhaus Staircase’ was touted as the final album from OMD; now kissing the strict machine, having previously been supportive of new electronic pop via ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK championed acts MIRRORS, VILLA NAH, VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND, TINY MAGNETIC PETS and SOFTWAVE, their choice of art glam hipsters WALT DISCO as opening act on the UK leg of the 2024 tour was symbolic of the general poor state of modern synthpop ie pop music using synths, particularly within the narrow-mindset of Brexit Britain.

Although the UK was continuing to party like it was 1933, the incendiary language that Cruella Braverman was using was so extreme that she was even dismissed from fronting the Conservative Party new wave covers band A FLOCK OF SIEG HEILS… as a trio of poets from South Yorkshire once said: “BROTHERS! SISTERS! WE DON’T NEED THIS FASCIST GROOVE THANG!”

Reflecting a wider issue, 2023 also saw ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK publish its fewest number of ‘Introducing…’ new artist articles since its inception in 2010 with only Brigitte Bardini and Madeleine Goldstein featured. There were a number of possible reasons…

Photo by Bella Salvatore

“The technology leads the art form and it always has” said veteran producer Steve Lillywhite on a recent Rockonteurs podcast, “if the technology allows you to reference other people’s records… you WILL do that!”. This was summed up by an Apple Mac advert featuring sample-based British pop singer PinkPantheress demonstrating how to have a hit by appropriating a topline from Kelly Rowland and plonking it into GarageBand before processing her voice through AutoTune and nabbing the intro of ‘Gold’ by SPANDAU BALLET… you said it yourself Miss Walker, IT SOUNDS LIKE GARBAGE!

While the accessibility, usability and sound quality of modern tech has totally democratised music making, as another veteran producer Stephen Hague put it to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK “it’s made it far too easy”, with the end result being familiarity and imitation rather than innovation. Now that an acceptable sound is able to be obtained fairly quickly on software such as GarageBand, the level of songwriting has generally declined in many genres. Artists abstain from putting in the hard work towards the actual songcraft because they think their track is already great, as it sounds like someone they’ve based it on!

However, the misuse of “synth” as a description reached a new nadir in 2023. There were those using “synth” or “synthwave” in their brand identity who proudly revealed via their Spotify Wrapped that their Top Genre was actually rock or made bizarre comments like “What I like most about synthwave is the guitar solos”. Meanwhile one artist declared they were synthpop because they had spent their youth “listening to too much Madonna”! But synth music as an enduring form is ultimately doomed when social media platforms using “Synthpop” in their idents think that guitar-based bands like BIG COUNTRY and COCTEAU TWINS are part of it, or compile acoustic playlists!! 🤦‍♂️

“Synth” has now somehow become is a general term for any retro-flavoured pop with an element of shiny artifice whether synthesizers have been used or not! These artists and “content creators” are now too young to understand what “synth” in music actually once meant and probably think the term is short for “synthetic” as in clothes and hair products, as opposed to “synthesizer”.

That said, 2023 was not all bad and there was a lot of excellent music. The song of the year was by the unlikely synth hero in glum rocker Lloyd Cole; while guitars made a more prominent but limited return on his album ‘On Pain’ following 2019’s electronically-dominated ‘Guesswork’, the standout song ‘The Idiot’ saw him provide a touching narrative on the relationship between David Bowie and Iggy Pop as they relocated to Berlin in 1976.

Swedish veterans PAGE took the Numanisation of their poptronica to its zenith by bringing in former imperial phase Numan band members Chris Payne and RRussell Bell on their new album ‘En Ny Våg’. Across the Öresund Bridge, Danish synthpop couple SOFTWAVE showed the world the ‘things we’ve done’.

Photo by George Tripodakis

Another music veteran Ricky Wilde teamed up with NINA to reveal their ‘Scala Hearts’; full of classic pop references and a modern sheen, this was the record Wilde had wanted to make for a few years but hadn’t been able to with his sister Kim. Its creative drive showed and this was also the best long player that NINA had been part of since she launched her solo career in 2011. In a busy year, NINA also found time to satisfy many a red blooded fantasy by collaborating with Kid Moxie on the ‘Lust’ EP released by Italians Do It Better.

The Finns were strong too, with Jaakko Eino Kalavi and Jori Hulkkonen producing two of the best albums of 2023. The former’s eclectic ‘Chaos Magic’ featured Alma Jodorowsky, Mr Silla and Jimi Tenor as special guests while the latter’s ‘There Is Light Hidden In These Shadows’ brought in John Grant, Ralf Dörper, Jake Shears, Jon Marsh, Juho Paalosmaa and Tiga.

While maintaining his front man role in MESH, Mark Hockings presented his solo project BLACKCARBURNING in long playing form and was ‘Watching Sleepers’. Also going it alone, Alison Goldfrapp squarely hit the dancefloor via ’The Love Invention’ with Kylie Minogue’s similarly glitzy ‘Tension’ as its companion. But with ACTORS still busy touring the world, the planned long playing debut from LEATHERS was yet to emerge but there were two new singles in the interim.

METROLAND and side project 808 DOT POP ambitiously released albums in five different formats with exclusive tracks on each between them simultaneously, in a move that had not been seen since 1978 when all four members of KISS released solo records on the same day. Much more discretely, ITALOCONNECTION came up with ‘Nordisko’ which comprised of Nordic pop disco covers. More ambient experiments were served by John Foxx, Vince Clarke, Patricia Wolf, Johan Agebjörn and the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, while putting those ethereal textures into song was Hinako Omori with her appropriately named second album ‘stillness, softness…’

Germany’s BEBORN BETON offered bleak commentary on the state of the planet with ‘Darkness Falls Again’ but encouraged everyone to be dancers in the dark while Chinese band STOLEN highlighted this ‘Eroded Creation’. Within their ‘Circle Of Doom’, NNHMN had pressing matters closer to home while ZANIAS emerged from her ‘Chrysalis’. FERAL FIVE confronted and worked with AI to declare ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ and Finlay Shakespeare tapped into his ‘Illusion + Memory’.

Photo by Tim Darin

Among the promising emergent acts with debut EPs were NEU-ROMANCER and DIE SEXUAL while German solo artists Jennifer Touch and Laura Dre added to their long playing portfolios, as did OHNOTHING and BUNNY X. Fronted by respectively by John Grant and Neil Arthur, CREEP SHOW and THE REMAINDER outlined the benefits of collaboration while CAUSEWAY joined forces with R. MISSING for the single ‘Wear The Night Out’.

Despite having plied their trade for over 50 years, SPARKS continued to be as eccentric as ever and even had Cate Blanchett appear in the video for ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’. With ‘*Happiness now completed’ and Dave Ball returning to the live fold after a period of serious illness, SOFT CELL effectively issued another new album featuring a significant number of previously unreleased tracks including covers of Giorgio Moroder and X-RAY SPEX to provide a much more satisfying listening experience than the parent ‘*Happiness not included’ record. Then there was the unexpected recorded return of CLASSIX NOUVEAUX with their ‘Battle Cry’.

Veteran acts who ceased active operations many years ago got worthy boxed set treatments; TELEX provided ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK with the funniest interview of the year in support of their self-titled retrospective on Mute while LANDSCAPE were comprehensively catalogued by Cooking Vinyl. Not to be left out, the trusty Cherry Red via their Lemon imprint showcased how underrated NEW MUSIK and their leader Tony Mansfield were, especially with the latter’s sound clearly audible in today’s pop acts such as THE WEEKND.

Despite the return of Q, the jury was still out on whether music magazines are still desirable aside from their CD and vinyl artefacts. Meanwhile, music-based social media dumbed down its engagement to cut ‘n’ paste Wikipedia snippets accompanying archive photos or artwork, pointless 26th anniversary posts and non-significant birthday celebrations to attract likes. Comments from the public such as “My favourite album… I wish I still had it!” and saying “Happy Birthday” when the platform wasn’t even connected to the artist concerned only highlighted further the continuing inane nature of online interaction. And this was without those irritating “POV” reels and reaction videos on TikTok and Instagram which were unfortunately prevalent!

The less said about the right wing gammon infested sh*t show that Twitter has become, the better but on the new Threads platform intended to take it on, PENDULUM’s El Hornet remarked “omg threads is full of music industry self help w*nkers making lists about things nobody asked abort! ABORT!” 🤣

With such platforms also seemingly centred around the exposure of flesh with photos “just for fun” be the subject a golfer, gamer, painter, baker, comedian, hairdresser, photographer, psychologist, racing driver, book reviewer, poet, dating coach or Lego enthusiast, is it any wonder that several music artists resorted to setting up OnlyFans accounts to sell nude photos!

With pun totally intended, in this challenging climate for exposure, some acts simply got a bit too big for their boots and were unbearably conceited on their socials with their bragging and frivolous chatter to appease a needy flock who hung onto their every word, desperate to be seen to be “friends” of wannabe stars while crowdfunding towards their spa weekenders and vet bills for their cat… it was therefore ironic that one of these acts declared “Music isn’t a competition!” when it appeared that another band might be taking away some of their limelight! Well, stop acting like it’s a 24 hour edition of ‘The Apprentice’ then!!! 🙄

On the other side of the coin, one too cool for school band took a strange attitude to promotion by refusing to accept questions about their influences while trying to come over like total originals. Despite their inspirations being blatant and obvious to hear, they had a misguided self-belief that they were somehow speaking a new language! But everybody knows they started out by purchasing the sheet music to ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ from a New York thrift store! 😆

A few years ago, a lone British artist was complained about the lack of press attention for their new admittedly good album, but then proceeded not to answer emails containing interview pitches. Artists need to engage, no matter how much they say they hate doing promotion, they can’t have it both ways. The days of RADIOHEAD not doing interviews to promote a new album and letting the music speak for itself are long gone…

With the world now making up for lost time since 2020, it would be fair to say that 2023 has been something of a strange year!


Text by Chi Ming Lai
18 December 2023

A Short Conversation with OLLIE WRIDE

Having lent his voice to FM-84, TIMECOP1983, FURY WEEKEND and SUNGLASSES KID, Ollie Wride is back to follow-up his 2019 debut album ‘Thanks In Advance’.

Evoking a Trans-Atlantic flavour in his retrowave pop, the music of Ollie Wride is almost tailor-made for the American market. New songs like ‘Juliette’, ‘A Matter Of Time’, ‘Victoria’ and ‘The Way I See It’ maintain the standard showcased on ‘Thanks In Advance’, fusing classic synthesized pop sensibilities with melodic FM rock.

He played his first US show at Troubadour in West Hollywood in the summer and has since supplemented this with a wider stateside Fall tour. But he will return to the UK to play a special show at London’s prestigious Scala with support from PARALLELS. After a long flight from the US, Ollie Wride caught up with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to talk about aspects of his past, present and future.

It’s been 4 years since ‘Thanks In Advance’, how do you look back on the making and reception for it?

Time certainly flies… but in a lot of ways it feels like a lifetime ago, so much has happened since then, both on the world stage and in my personal life. I feel it still stacks up, I listened through for the first time in a while the other day and it brought a smile. Diving back in, there were a few moments I forgot, I love it when you’re surprised by what your former self was thinking.

In hindsight the record feels like a concoction of my limitations breeding innovation? There’s a lot of hope and unbridled energy bottled there; I definitely had something to prove at the time venturing out alone – but it also doesn’t feel disconnected from FM-84 where people ultimately came to know me from. The reception was overall, overwhelmingly positive, snagging the top spot on the iTunes charts in several countries was a bonus – it’s something I never expected but it’s wonderful when your creative output is embraced.

The FM ATTACK remix of ‘I’m A Believer’ and its video was a nice way to round off the campaign?

The remixes came later than the original record release, the intention was to bridge the gap between the genre and community that gave me a platform and a slightly more electronic direction than the original release. What better way to cement the remix releases than to hand over the reins to my peers and producers who I was a fan of? FM Attack was among the first artists that I delved into when I was introduced to the genre. His approach stayed true to the original sentiment of the song but also took it far enough that it would resonate with perhaps the more avid synth listener. I was already planning the 3rd video in the trilogy and the track seemed to fit the flagship role to round off the campaign and drive the deluxe version of the record.

Since then you done one off singles with Michael Oakley, Jess Frye and a number of producers like FURY WEEKEND and SUNGLASSES KID, how have these collaborations helped keep your creative momentum going?

I’m always writing and producing, a lot of folks don’t make the connection but everything you’ve heard me on I’ve either written / produced or co-written and co-produced. Something that I have a huge interest and passion for. Rather than being “just the vocalist”, which always sounds like it’s devaluing the discipline of great vocalists and separately skillsets I’ve worked hard at.

I’m incredibly fortunate to do this as my full time job so creative momentum isn’t usually in short supply at my house. That said, occasionally circumstance affords the opportunity to step outside of my usual wheel house and work with friends and other artists in and outside of the genre. In those instances mentioned, Michael Oakley and I have racked up a lot of miles together now. I collaborated and top lined on his last 2 records and he co-produced and mixed ‘Thanks In Advance’, work aside, he’s a close friend and a joy to be around.

Ed Gamper (SUNGLASSES KID) is another example of a chance connection evolving into a close bond. ‘Stranger Love’ emerged out of the early days of the pandemic coming about very quickly from a spark of inspiration I had following one of his social media clips. The chord progression really resonated with me and so outcome the lyric and melody. It’s a mainstay in my show and a personal favourite from the first album cycle. In any instance, I approach collaboration with an open mind and whatever is best for the song attitude. It’s so easy to get in the way of yourself and overthink these things, so the advantages of collaboration practically speaking serve as a wonderful sounding board. Many hands make for light work, but don’t let too many spoil the broth!

You first became known as the voice of FM-84 and there was a new song with Col Bennett ‘Bend & Break’ which came out in 2019, what was the story behind this?

That’s right, we embarked on a pretty extensive tour of North America including a big date at Brixton Electric in London that was a real pinnacle for us at the time. As I recall Col and I wanted to create something that featured an audience participation chant – something that is always given a great deal of thought during the writing process. Essentially, the song is about the pursuit of your passions at all costs and enduring the hurdles and hardship in order to sustain them. It was the first song we had put out since 2017 so it acted as this proclamation that “Hey, we’re still here everybody!” – encapsulated in the line “No our music it ain’t done, coz I found our revelry… on the highways and in the dancehalls that filled our history” something I’m particularly proud of. Col’s synth work on that record is luscious, definitely a nod to Peter Gabriel which is always a good move in my book.

What did you think of Ed Sheeran’s popwave single ‘Overpass Graffiti’? You know, when I first heard that played on BBC Radio 2, I thought it was you!!

Any association with major artists putting out great music into the world is a wonderful complement in my book. Hopefully, it won’t be too long until it is actually an OW record that you hear!

You’ve signed a deal M3 Recordings, how do you hope this will help you in your wider breakthrough?

Yes, I signed earlier this year having being introduced to the label through my dear friend David Schuler (THE BAD DREAMERS). I was so immersed in the creation of album 2 that as I was approaching its completion playing excerpts to my trusted nearest and dearest – the general consensus was, the record deserved a bigger platform and a wider audience… and in order to do that, you need to find the right team to help elevate the machine. Not an easy task, especially being independent for a few years now.

I think there’s a common misconception that signing to a major totally changes your reality, I guess to some extent it informs it, however the work really begins and there’s a process and a consideration to everything. Ultimately, me as the artist has to lead the charge and have the vision but where the label comes into play is helping facilitate that… so I will only have a clearer picture when the campaign gets started and the new album is released! However, I’m cautiously optimistic that being under the Sony Music umbrella will help turn the dial towards 11!

Is it all ‘A Matter Of Time’?

Depends on your outlook really! I wrote that as a quasi self-help exercise or a mantra to live by. We all experience hardship and adversity, but I am someone who tries to retain vehement belief and positivity. Even if you don’t believe… believe, believe, believe! Through trial and error, I’ve slowly learned to only worry / take action on what’s in my control and not what is out of it.

A single ‘Juliette’ came out in 2020, who is she and is this song a pointer of how the new album will sound? Have you altered your approach much since ‘Thanks In Advance’?

Truth be told, the names I opt for are generally selected due to their syllabic nature. The stories and sentiment behind the songs are genuine however. I actually wrote that with my dear pal Josh Dally, who spawned a lot of the lyric on that one – it was somewhat of a role reversal and I helmed the arrangement and production. We’re 3 years on from that cut… so the new album is definitely a step up and away from the first record and collaborations. I wanted to go bigger and have a body of work that sounded like a heavy hitting body of work. So there’s been a huge amount of time and effort building the sonics, production, the entire album features live instrumentation leading the charge and the synthesizers and sequencers are working in service of the songs. Akin to ‘Tango In The Night’, ‘So’ etc…. That’s the biggest distinction.

There was a single recently entitled ‘Victoria’, are we getting a concept album about all the girls you’ve loved before?

I don’t kiss and tell!

On ‘Cherry Avenue’, you’ve let your inner Michael MacDonald come out?

Nice spot! I’m a huge fan of THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, those sketches you’re referring to that I’ve posted on my Instagram are ideas that I’m trying out away from the next official release. I’ve become a lot less precious about sharing works in progress in recent times, given album 2 is on the cusp of release – these additional concepts give a little insight into my process and experimenting with different palettes and feels. I’m a sucker for Yacht Rock and those timeless melodies of the late 70s early 80s, so here’s me picking up the baton.

‘Landslide’ is not a cover of the Olivia Newton-John song but it does feature a funky synthbass… what tools do you like writing and pre-production?

Everything I write starts at the piano, my beloved CP70, from there I build the rhythm track. I try to capture the nucleus of a song very quickly… and from there work on all the clever bits. I think the worst mistake you can make is to lead with the production before you have the song, for me at least, you’ve got to establish the message first and foremost otherwise it’s like building a castle upon sand. I work in Logic, I’m not a huge gear head but I have a few key toys; Dave Smith OB-6, Yamaha CP70 and I invested in a really great vocal chain – UAD 6176 with the optical compressor coupled with SE Electronics Rupert Neve RNT condenser microphone.

‘The Way I See It’ is the newest single, how would you describe it?

It’s the second single taken from my upcoming sophomore record, a nu-disco, funk doused, avant-garde production with all the hallmarks and hooks of sophistipop as a joyous musical recourse to the adverse times we have all experienced these past few years.

Essentially, it’s a song about mindset and how we see ourselves faring against adversity in the world. Initially emerging from the early days of the pandemic, with a new found abundance of time on my hands distanced from friends and family, set against the backdrop of a world that appears to be cracking – there was still a lot to be grateful and hope to cling to. I couldn’t help but take stock of where I am in life and why these relationships matter most; it felt only natural to explore a more contemplative lyric in an attempt to articulate how our lives hang in such a delicate balance between having and losing it all; and the challenges of maintaining positivity against the odds – a concept I feel we can all relate to.

You played your first US solo headline show at The Troubadour in Hollywood, how was that for you?

Humbling, exhilarating, awe-inspiring. As a British musician, venturing to America and selling out what is probably the most famous music venue in the world is the stuff of dreams. You enter the history books when you play there. Having sold it out once before with FM-84, stepping out on my own steam was a nerve wracking challenge, there’s a great amount of expectation and pressure to deliver. It also gave me a renewed confidence having been away for so long. It truly meant the world and I’m tremendously thankful to all those who came and supported.

Coming up is a London date at The Scala which was made famous by SPANDAU BALLET in their breakthrough TV appearance back in 1979 and which THE MIDNIGHT also played, what have you got lined-up in terms of format and band personnel?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have played the majority of venues around London in my time. From dive bars to the O2 Arena… the one that always stuck out that I haven’t played is Scala. This will be my biggest solo show to date following Lafayette back in 2021 – so I’m brimming with excitement! The band gets bigger, the production more heavyweight… I always try and better myself from the last show, the last tour. I care immensely about the show and all its facets to give the fans the most entertaining experience I can. Whilst I don’t want to give too much away, you are certainly in for a treat – my shows go hell for leather… “Deaf ‘em, blind ‘em, and leave ‘em wanting more!”

What are you hopes and fears as you approach the sophomore stage of your solo career?

I am a cautious optimist. I’ve been at this a hot minute and learned a lot. Signed, dropped. Majors, indies… having it all and losing it. I won’t pretend that it hasn’t had a bearing, you definitely develop a Teflon skin.. So the older I get, the less I concern myself with the things out of my control, and focus on what is… The world is in a state of immense change, it’s easy to succumb to the endless deluge of information and headlines; it’s all noise and the majority of it is not good for you (in my view) So the challenge is how does one navigate whilst being informed and not get sucked into the vacuum?

This album cycle feels very different, predominantly due to the huge impact the pandemic had on my trajectory and plans in 2019 – I literally had to begin again… but also, I’ve had a great deal of time to create without any external influence or pressure, it’s been on my terms and informed by my experience during that period of adversity, cemented onto record; the sum of which I consider to be my best work yet and the production an entirely different level from anything I’ve been involved with or outputted before. I hope the sophomore stage demonstrates a renewed energy and focus – as well as the continued increase in audience… after all, without them none of this is possible AND for them I am eternally grateful.


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Ollie Wride

Special thanks to Stuart McLaren at Outland

‘Juliette’, ‘A Matter Of Time’, ‘Victoria’ and ‘The Way I See It’ are available via online platforms at https://linktr.ee/olliewride

The album ‘Thanks In Advance’ is still available via New Retro Wave

Ollie Wride plays London Scala with support from PARALLELS on Sunday 22 October 2023, tickets available from https://scala.co.uk/events/ollie-wride/

https://olliewride.com/

https://www.facebook.com/olliewrideofficial/

https://twitter.com/OllieWride

https://www.instagram.com/olliewride/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1anhHn744LbctzF9EHpvea


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
14 October 2023

MICHAEL OAKLEY Odyssey

Two years in the making, ‘Odyssey’ is the second album from Michael Oakley.

His first album proper ‘Introspect’ mined the Toronto based Glaswegian’s love of NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS, particularly their Italo disco-inspired classics while he also threw in the DX and Fairlight derived sounds of that danceable pop era in homage to producer Trevor Horn.

The record also saw Oakley work with Ollie Wride and Dana Jean Phoenix; the esteemed pair return for ‘Odyssey’.

All of the songs on ‘Odyssey’ bar the title instrumental have been co-written with Ollie Wride and having worked together on the Englishman’s own debut long player ‘Thanks In Advance’, the fruitful partnership has made a natural progression with artists such as ENIGMA, ACE OF BASE, THE TIME FREQUENCY, THE BELOVED and MOBY being reference points in a move away from the popwave nature of Michael Oakley’s sun-kissed debut release ‘California’.

The opening statement of the ‘Odyssey’ title track presents some ‘Blade Runner’ atmospheres in a sad but triumphant homage to ‘Rachel’s Song’ while meeting PINK FLOYD along the way. The rousing ‘Wake Up’ is a bit Steve Winwood with strummed acoustics used in a textural way for a TEARS FOR FEARS ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ vibe, indicating that classic MTV is still very much in Oakley’s mind. The saying goes that you can take the boy out of Glasgow but you can never take Glasgow out of the boy but more of that later!

THE TIME FREQUENCY inspired energetic pop of ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is relatable to now but actually harks back to Oakley’s rebellious youth in Glasgow. Our hero gets lost in vices and a rabbit hole of bad behaviour while seeking that inter-personal connection, but it all goes too far! A cry for help to a dance beat and maybe Oakley’s very own ‘True Faith’, Hayley Stewart aka Mecha Maiko gives the song a beautifully eerie ghostly feeling with her backing vocals

‘Babylon’ offers more strums while a sax comes courtesy of Jesse Molloy, best known for his work with THE MIDNIGHT. Like Robert Palmer meeting ENIGMA, it is a joyous shuffling number from Oakley about meeting his wife and alongside all the tropical bird sounds is a fantastic solo which is all synth.

The hopeful ‘Real Life’ also takes the tropical route with exotic percussion acting as the backbone while there is further sax sweetening and a joyous chorus of female voices which sounds as though everyone has had the time of their life 😉

The pint-sized Canadian powerhouse of Dana Jean Phoenix makes her presence felt on ‘Glasgow Song’, a big ballad duet which also has bagpipes and a rhythm sample from TEARS FOR FEARS. Reflecting on Oakley’s love / hate relationship with the city he grew up in, but ultimately concluding that home is always where the heart is, it is loud and proud.

The driving octave pulse of ‘Queen of Hearts’ offers some uptempo punch using that classic Linn Drum sound with Hayley Stewart making a more prominent harmony turn, but is that Ollie Wride who can be heard belting one out there too? Of course it is!!

However, the closer ‘When Stars Collide’ will polarise and reveals Oakley’s love of TAKE THAT. As far as songwriting goes, there is no embarrassment in taking a leaf out of Gary Barlow and Oakley has never been afraid of enthusing over what some might consider “guilty pleasures”.

Perhaps as a reaction to the stagnation and elitism found in some quarters of the synthwave community, Michael Oakley has focused on the songs rather than the any particular style for ‘Odyssey’.

A varied album, it will surprise those who embraced ‘California’ and ‘Introspect’ but the shift will more than likely open his talents as a writer and producer for much wider recognition.


‘Odyssey’ is released by NewRetroWave in a variety of vinyl LP, minidisc, cassette and CD formats as well as digital, available direct from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/odyssey

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial

https://twitter.com/MichaelOakleySW

https://www.instagram.com/michaeloakleyofficial/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Jon Simo and Brad A Kinnan
15th May 2021

Vintage Synth Trumps With MICHAEL OAKLEY

Canadian based Scottish singer / producer Michael Oakley first came to wider prominence with his debut mini-album release ‘California’ in 2017.

Like many of his fellow countrymen, he looked towards America and ‘California’ did as the title suggested, embraced a sun-kissed Trans-Atlantic vibe conjuring images of open-topped sports cars with his melodic synth-flavoured pop.

Embraced by the synthwave community, for his debut album proper ‘Introspect’, he signed to NewRetroWave Records in 2019. Utilising more Yamaha DX and Fairlight derived sounds to capture the spirit of producers such as Trevor Horn and Stephen Hague, one of the ‘Introspect’ highlights was the mighty Italo statement of ‘Left Behind’. The album also saw Oakley work with established artists such as Ollie Wride and Dana Jean Phoenix, with the associations continuing on his new soon-to-be-released album ‘Odyssey’.

Michael Oakley chatted about the making of the ‘Odyssey’ album with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK while playing a round of Vintage Synth Trumps.

And the first card is the Roland Jupiter 8, have you ever played one?

I haven’t played a Jupiter 8 but when I was a kid, there used to be a chain of music shops in the UK called Sound Control.

One day I was in, they happened to have a Jupiter 6 which I always felt was the nicer of the two sound-wise.

I’ve got a few Jupiter 8 plug-ins, I’ve got the Arturia one and the Roland Cloud VST which I’ve used on this album, although I like the sound of the Juno more.

You basically get two type of synthesizer; there’s the Japanese ones like Yamaha, Korg and Roland which have a very coloured, synthetically warm kind of sound and then American ones which I probably prefer because they have more of an idiosyncratic quality like those from Oberheim, Dave Smith, Sequential Circuits. I like the unstable ghostliness of those, they were a favourite of Ulrich Schnauss, that’s how he gets his sound. If I want warm character types of sounds, I would go for the Japanese synthesizers.

With your new album ‘Odyssey’, what would you say was your approach this time round compared with ‘Introspect’?

When I started ‘California’, I just wanted to make the kind of music that I liked, it was a very open modus operandi. Whereas ‘Introspect’, I had this thing about not repeating the same steps that I’d taken, I never like to do that. So I made ‘Introspect’ a tribute to the more synthpop sounding stuff I liked as a kid such as NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS or Italo disco. But also, the synthwave sound was already starting to become very plagiarised with copycat acts and I didn’t want to be part of that. It felt like the right time because I’d just signed a deal with NewRetroWave. So I wanted to do something special as the label was paying for things, there was more hands on the wheel and ultimately more pressure.

So fast forward to ‘Odyssey’, I sat with this for a little while and I decided I wanted to move into more 90s territory. I think there’s three type of people who listen to synthwave, there’s 80s aficionados who might be more middle of the road with it, then there’s metal fans who like the darkwavey guitar-based stuff and then other camp which I come from is the trance fans who like 90s dance music.

Synthwave uses a lot of dance production techniques, that’s what makes it sound modern. I was inspired by GEORGE MICHAEL, ENIGMA, ACE OF BASE, HADDAWAY, THE BELOVED and MOBY’s ‘Play’ album, all that type of stuff! It’s weird, you have these potential things but you end up looking back and think “it’s not really like HADDAWAY is it?” *laughs*

So it’s been written over 2 years, the longest I’ve taken to write an album and I only wanted to do it when I felt like it. So it’s a Tapas menu of different things and they don’t sound like each other.

I hate it when an album has two songs which sound the same, that bores me. I liked to be presented as a listener of an album with different tempos, styles, moods and themes, it feels like you’re on a journey.

You’re co-writing with Ollie Wride?

All of the songs on this album with the exception of the intro track are co-written with Ollie Wride. We started to work with each other on ‘Introspect’ and I was working on his album ‘Thanks in Advance’, we just have a great partnership when we write together.

For me, Ollie is the best songwriter within the scene and if you get the opportunity to work with someone like that, you step back a little bit and take counsel from them in the process, I trust him.

We talk a lot; on ‘Glasgow Song’, I was on a Skype call with him telling him what the song was about, my life in Glasgow while I was growing up and sent him over ideas, a whole monologue, like a letter about it all.

I sent some lyrics that I had and he worked with that to carve it into something really magical. I do write lyrics and I did on ‘California’ but I don’t necessarily feel I enjoy writing lyrics. I had it planted in my head who I wanted to work with on this album, writing with Ollie was my priority. He’s my brother, we’re great friends now as a result of all of this.

When you work with somebody else in that co-writing situation, it stops you from being self-indulgent. It’s easy for me to write about my life but you can end up with a very myopic “ME-ME-ME” view and you write in a way that isn’t open for others to make it their own experience. The songs I don’t really relate to are the ones which have been written in a way that are from a very selfish viewpoint. The songs which are a little bit more ambiguously open-ended, they’re the ones where I see myself in the song.

Oh the next card, and it’s an ARP Odyssey…

I’ve never played an ARP Odyssey but recently, I downloaded Daniel Miller’s sample pack full of drum sounds for Ableton created on his ARP 2600 which was previously owned by Elton John! I’m looking ahead to what I want to do next, and I’m conceiving all of the drums being made on analogue synthesizers so I’m collecting sounds for that.

Vince Clarke also did a sample pack, he is the king for that, especially on the ‘Chorus’ album and the ‘Abba-esque’ EP, those type of drums which don’t sound drum machiney!

What sort of an album would you have made in 1981?

I would probably be somewhere between PINK FLOYD and VISAGE!! I would definitely have done something a bit like Jean-Michael and THE HUMAN LEAGUE with the direction they were going in from ‘Travelogue’ to ‘Dare’.

You make a statement with the ‘Odyssey’ title track that something different is coming with that ‘Rachel’s Song’ homage meeting PINK FLOYD acoustic guitar!

Yeah, you’re probably right… I did a similar vibe on ‘Introspect’ with an intro track as a way of saying “here’s the album… it’s sad but triumphant”. There’s definitely a ‘Blade Runner’ thing going on and later in the track, there’s a Vangelis CS80 brassy thing, I love a lot of his mid-80s stuff like ‘The Mask’ and there’s one that he did called ‘City’ which is all Korg M1, it’s amazing!

‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is an uptempo dance number but reflected on your youth in Glasgow, like a cry for help?

Absolutely, it’s about the lack of connection and looking for it, the way you get lost in vices in order to look for that connection. For me specifically, that story is in the 90s, I was in my mid-teens and got myself into drug culture, it was a big thing where I came from and with the older boys who I hung about with, you went down that rabbit hole of smoking weed and taking ecstasy, that song is about getting into that. At the end of the song, it’s then a cry for help to get me out of this because I’d taken it too far.

It’s interesting because I had done a version of that track and sent it to a good friend of mine, Jon Campbell from THE TIME FRQUENCY who had a string of Top10 hits. He said “this mix sounds great but it’s too much like me! Gimme a week, I’m gonna do you a mix, I don’t normally do this but I love the song”. So he sent me a mix and it captures a certain magic, so that’s the one I use for album… he quipped “my mix sounds like you!” *laughs*

‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is very relatable to now…

Yeah, it’s got many layers and relatable to people at home, not being able to socialise or connect, that genuine experience.

Having Hayley Stewart aka Mecha Maiko on backing vocals gives the song an eerie feeling to too?

Yes, I had a call with her and Dana Jean Phoenix to be part of the album as I wanted a very female centric backing harmony sound to it like PET SHOP BOYS have on their early album ‘Please’. I always feel that contrast of a male lead vocal with female backing vocals adds a certain flavour. NEW ORDER did it on ‘World’ as well, it’s more poignant, it makes more of an impact on records, especially with guys like Neil Tennant or Neil Tennant who are not the greatest singers. So Hayley brings that ghostly ethereal sound which is why I used her on ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’.

I didn’t ask Dana to be on that track because she sounds better on stuff like ‘Babylon’ and ‘Glasgow Song’ because she has the more diva soulful voice, in your face whereas Hayley is more textural so she’s more prominent on ‘Queen Of Hearts’. They are both just incredible singers.

The video for ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ has bits that are like ‘Addicted To Love’ for the synthwave generation, is that one girl or twins?

Haha, that’s the magic of television! We filmed that at Neon Demon studios in Toronto, the girl we hired Murphy, and we said to her ‘Addicted To Love’ as a reference and also MGMT ‘Little Dark Age. So we had a split screen with two Murphy’s who were different, one with a keytar and one with a keyboard plus there are some other scenes. She was fantastic, it was filmed over an 8 hour day and she spent most of the time getting done in make-up by Amy Harper, and she was a one-take wonder! Cool, next!

Our next card is a Korg 800DV…

Out of all the Korg synthesizers, the one I liked most was the M1. I know it’s not analogue per-se, but it was a great workstation. They were still selling that synth 10 years on because it was so good, it was the first that was famous for the presets. You had the classic M1 piano that was on all those house records like BLACK BOX ‘Ride On Time’ and “Universe” was the other one, a gorgeous choir patch with fluttery things in the background. I’ve used a lot of M1 sounds on the new album.

I used to own a Wavestation which was really nice too… Korg have done some nice stuff, I see Behringer have released their reimagined version of the PolySix; the PolySix is that classic synthwave based sound you hear on all those records that everyone is chugging out, it’s like “let’s get a TR707 and a PolySix bass and away we go!” *laughs*

There’s ‘Glasgow Song’, a big ballad duet with Dana Jean Phoenix that also has bagpipes and a TEARS FOR FEARS rhythm sample from ‘Shout’?

I definitely took a nod to TEARS FOR FEARS for that 100%, all of those sounds are Fairlight samples… I tracked them down and recreated it. When you listen to ‘Shout’, it’s in B flat but that actual sounds are pitched wrong! I know it works in the track but I pitch-shifted those agogô sounds to B flat and be in tune with the track, it was just an interesting realisation! I went for that same effect, even right down to the panning.

Are the bagpipes real?

Yes, I reached out to a genuine Scottish piper, Lorne MacDougall and told him I didn’t want it too crazy so that it didn’t sound like a tourist walking in Edinburgh! What you hear is what he played, he layered that up with 14 different takes and I mixed it all in to sound like a bagpipe band. I must say, that was the only decision where it could go either way, it was either going work or be really sh*t!

It’s an obnoxious instrument and very on the nose, in your face, loud and proud. Was definitely a hard one to tame. I did have some issues in the production to make it fit in the track, but I managed to find the right balance with military drums and guitar supporting. I’m glad I persevered because it packs an emotional punch which really hits the message about how home is where the heart is, no matter what you think of where you come from. You have a love / hate relationship with the place but home is always where the heart is.

‘Queen of Hearts’ offers some more uptempo fare and uses what sounds like a classic Linn Drum Computer?

Those drum sounds are from a company called F9 Audio, it’s this guy James Wiltshire of FREEMASONS who makes incredible sample packs, it was from one called Grid Trilogy. They worked so well, they have a retro sound but they’re dancey as well. The problem with a lot of retro sounds is they don’t have the low end that you want when you do dance music, the kick doesn’t have the punch which you need in a club. These drums were cutting but had the right low end.

So you were after a meatier version of the Linn sound?

Oh yeah, the pack was done so that the drums could be dropped into Ableton as the hits were done individually and you can see the processing he’s done on it, I didn’t have to do anything to them myself as he had made them sound so good. It was probably the only time when I’ve been using drum samples that I didn’t really need to do anything apart from EQ the group to tame the highs, but they were perfect.

Another card, the Octave Kitten…the same company made the Voyetra which NEW ORDER and EURYTHMICS used…

I like the Voyetra, and I know one of the presets was used on ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, the little “dit-dit, dah-dah, dit-dit” that sounds like a banjo! I have the plug-in version and I only bought it because I know Ulrich Schnauss uses it. I did nearly buy a Behringer Cat, but I bought their Pro-1 which I eventually sold to get a Deep Mind 12.

The Behringer Deep Mind 12 is their version of a Juno 106 but I think it’s better, it sounds like one but offers way more options for the unison mode for one of the oscillators in the effects section, just some of the routing options as well.

It’s been called a “Juno 106 on steroids” and even though I haven’t used it much yet, I’m gonna keep it for my live show and I will find a use for it. I mostly stay in the box when I’m recording, 95% of the time. The only synthesizers that I use for recording are an Ensoniq VFX, a MR rack and a TS10, nothing sounds like the Ensoniq range, they are the most gorgeous sounds, out this world bell tones and really ethereal pads.

‘Wake Up’ is a bit Steve Winwood? Had it been more intention to have more guitar on the album, like strummed acoustics?

I definitely wanted more acoustic guitar and electric but used in a textural way, not in a heavy blazing way. It adds a certain contrast to the synths. There’s a lot of guitar on ‘Wake Up’, that’s John Kunkel, while Derek Elliotson (who I record my vocals with) played acoustic guitar. It gave it more of a TEARS FOR FEARS ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ vibe, I just go with whatever works.

Was it a reaction to what’s going on in synthwave?

I love the synthwave scene, they’re been very amazing to me and adopted me where everywhere else, the door was closed. I’m very grateful for them rolling out the red carpet for me but my criticism of the scene comes from me wanting to protect it. It’s wonderful because of the original songs, that’s the thing and they’re dressed up in retro clothing.

But unfortunately like when a band like OASIS came along, for every OASIS there’s a CAST or a SUPERGRASS,. So for every act like THE MIDNIGHT, there’s a truckload of people who are just copying that sound and it doesn’t add anything new. It frustrating because it’s hurting the scene and the good music in not being listened to in favour of the spam posting of all this other stuff which are literally low-bar entry productions. It’s like when someone listens to TIMECOP1983 or THE MIDNIGHT, and they do the equivalent of drawing a stick man trying to be a Van Gogh, that is just sh*t! *laughs*

I would always encourage musicians to carve their own identity and never follow trends, because if there is a large contingent of people copying other people’s sounds, that in one way is good because you will stand out when you come out with something new.. whether or not that will be appreciated is another completely different matter. I think some of my choices have definitely been reactionary to the scene and I’ve avoided clichés, I never use the same presets twice in my music, I’m very careful about that.

‘Babylon’ features more strums and sax, what’s doing the solo?

The sax is Jesse Molloy who plays on THE MIDNIGHT’s records, but there’s a lot more tropical sounds on ‘Babylon’ like if Robert Palmer did a track with ENIGMA! *laughs*

The solo is all synths, I actually dug into the Roland JV1080 for that, especially the flute and Taj Mahal presets, to picture being in The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon. It’s about meeting my wife, there’s a lot of songs about her on the album. In biblical terms, Babylon was the first civilisation next to heaven, this is the closest to heaven you can get, it feels like Babylon being in this relationship.

The music is very mysterious and even the intro was a nod to the start of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD ‘Welcome To the Pleasure Dome’, all these bird sounds and being in paradise. *laughs*

The final card and it’s a Prophet 5!

Yes, I would love to own one but for now, I’ll just have to make to with Arturia! There are some Prophet sounds on ‘Babylon’, it has that gorgeous pad sound. It was what I was saying that you can hear the difference between a Prophet 5 pad sound and a Jupiter 8, you hear that creamy, unstable oscillation like ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins or Peter Gabriel ‘Mercy Street’, the records are endless… oh the Prophet is the ultimate pad sound 🙂


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Michael Oakley

‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is available now via the usual digital platforms

‘Odyssey’ is released by NewRetroWave on 14th May 2021 in a variety of vinyl LP, minidisc, cassette and CD formats as well as digital, available direct from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/odyssey

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial

https://twitter.com/MichaelOakleySW

https://www.instagram.com/michaeloakleyofficial/

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Jon Simo and Brad A Kinnan
7th May 2021

JESSIE FRYE Kiss Me In The Rain

Dallas based Jessie Frye started releasing and performing music in 2008.

A classically trained pianist and vocal coach, she chose the vintage pop sounds to showcase her musical talents and since her beginnings, has gathered a decent following of fans from synthwave by blending a nostalgic outlook with modern production techniques.

Having shared stages with well-known acts of the genre like COM TRUISE or PHANTOGRAM, she has also performed alongside Beck and Pat Benatar.

Frye’s songs are “the stories of her heart and life experience” with the highlight of her career being performing for thousands during Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016. Produced by Matt Aslanian, her new album ‘Kiss Me In The Rain’ on NewRetroWave Records comes in at the right moment to try and raise spirits beaten by the difficult first part of 2020.

An American version of NINA, Frye opens up with a ballad to celebrate the release of her long player; ‘Fantasy’ is uncomplicated and cleverly served over the familiar synthwave elements, leading into equally demure ‘Angel’.

FM-84 singer Ollie Wride joins Frye on ‘Malibu Broken’, lending his voice on this fast tempo number, while Stock, Aitken and Waterman could have easily backed ‘The One’ with its fast paced danceable qualities where Jessie’s vocal attempts to marry the voice of Amy Lee of EVANESCENCE and Sinitta.

‘Faded Memory’ is what Frye hopes not to be, supported this time by TIMECOP1983. This mega synthy number is reminiscent of the superb achievements of Dana Jean Phoenix, but the bombshell descends with ‘No Sleep’ where somewhat rocky elements are introduced into the mix.

‘Ocean’ injects a further dose of sunny synth, while ‘High’ sees Frye collaborating with Robert Parker on this glistening easy listening track. ‘Eighteen’ slows the tempo again to lead to the closing ‘Wild In My Eyes’ which is a quintessential synthwave positivity loaded track.

If you’re in need of a pick me up this summer, parts of this album will do just this. Being a synthwave undertaking, it is just it at most parts.

However, at times Frye’s voice is dying to branch out and it would come as no surprise if she switched genres in the future.


‘Kiss Me In The Rain’ is released by New Retro Wave and available in CD, vinyl LP, Minidisc and digital formats from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/kiss-me-in-the-rain

https://www.jessiefrye.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jessiefryeband

https://twitter.com/jessiefrye

https://www.instagram.com/jessiefryemusic/

https://newretrowave.com/2020/04/09/catching-up-with-jessie-frye/


Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
Photos by Jamie Maldonado
17th July 2020

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