A: Hi.
Q: What’s your name?
A: Greg.
Q: Oh, yeah, I already knew that. How old are you?
A: 19, going on 20.
Q: Knew that. Where do you come from?
A: I come from Essex originally, but now I’m living in the Midlands.
Q: Knew that. What do you do?
A: I am mainly a music listener, I spend hours of my day obsessing over just about everything that’s going on in the music sphere. I go back listen to old classics quite a lot, and just generally try get as clued up and as knowledgeable as possible about it… also got a degree to do.
Q: Knew that.
A: I think you’ve played that gag out a little too long mate.
Q: Interviewing yourself is an extremely weird way to start a blog don’t you think?
A: Oh of course it is, but I want to introduce myself and give my 2 readers a month a real sense of who I am, what my taste in music is, and my passion for it, in an original, dynamic, and funny way.
Q: You know this is a terrible idea that’s been done a million times before?
A: …yep.
Q: So what was the last song you listened to on your phone?
A: 'Halfway Home' by TV on the Radio. Killer song. There's some great Beach Boys-inflected vocal harmonies with whirring guitars that create this wall of sound, which is punched through with some upfront clapping and drumming. It has a brilliant build as well. It just bleeds passion.
Q: Which song have you got in heavy circulation right now?
A: ‘I Can Change’ by LCD Soundsystem. This is just the perfect love song to me. It sums up the delusions of changing yourself for someone you love in a self-deprecating, but very hopeful way. The hook is incredibly catchy as well. I can't get enough of it.
Q: Album?
A: I’ve been listening to ‘Benji’ by Sun Kil Moon a lot. The light, folk instrumentation is just so easy-going and light on the ear, and the intimate stories he tells are told in such cinematic detail, I just get sucked in and have to play this album through to the end whenever I drop in on a song.
Q: What are some of your favourite artists?
A: Pink Floyd, Death Grips, Kendrick Lamar, LCD Soundsystem, Radiohead, The Beach Boys, Talking Heads, Swans, Kate Bush, Run the Jewels, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Danny Brown, Joy Division, M.I.A., Arcade Fire, Hannah Diamond, Daft Punk, Savages, The Velvet Underground, Dizzee Rascal, FKA twigs, Everything Everything, Frank Ocean, King Crimson, OutKast, The Ronettes, David Bowie, A Tribe Called Quest, The Beatles, Father John Misty, ABBA, Tim Hecker–
Q: Okay okay I wasn't asking for comprehensive list of your iTunes library. What genre interests you the most right now?
A: I suppose it’s not a solid genre, but I’m very interested in post-punk that incorporates elements of funk, jazz and afrobeat. That encompasses bands like Gang of Four, A Certain Ratio, Material, Maximum Joy, The Pop Group, Talking Heads, all incredibly inventive and influential acts. Anything from the post-punk years of 1978-84 is really intriguing. I have a book by Simon Reynolds on that period which is on my reading list.
Q: What is one of your earliest memories of music?
A: When I was really young, my parents used to hold 'Disco Nights' every Friday which I cherish so much. They used to play me and my brothers all kinds of music in the kitchen. I remember jumping the breakfast bar into Dad's arms to 'The Beach Boys' 'Surfin USA', then getting back up ready to launch myself off again. There was also this great tradition on those nights which we called 'Monster Music' where Dad would put on 'Toccata & Fugue in D Minor' and go chase us around the kitchen pretending to be a tickle monster. Those little memories I wouldn't trade the world for.
Q: Which album has impacted your life in some significant way?
A: I'd love to say something really obscure, like Laurie Anderson's 'Big Science' or Swans' 'To Be Kind', but if I was to pick one, I’d have to say Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. Sounds basic I know, but this was played to me quite often when I was growing up, so it’s got this nostalgic attraction to it. Musically it’s simultaneously accessible and experimental, which I think has really helped me be open to all kinds of music, whether it's top 40 pop, or some obscure avant-garde piece. Not to forget the lyrics on this album are just so profound, and universally relatable, that whenever I feel as if my life is going in the wrong direction, I instinctively return to it just to reflect.
Q: What’s your favourite sandwich filling?
A: Branston pickle, that’s the shit.