This time on NAS 10 Questions we get to know Terry Gilbey, a singer-songwriter and recording artist from Cambridge UK.
The track "Swings and Roundabouts" is featured in the New Artist Spotlight Family of Playlists.
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1. Tell us a little about where you are from and what you are currently doing.
Hi I’m Terry Gilbey, I’m a solo recording artist based in Cambridge, UK. I have a career outside of music that sucks a lot of my time, but when I’m not working I enjoy listening to and recording music, gaming (currently Baldur’s Gate 3), and walking in the country. I am near to finishing a new track, which I hope to release in the first quarter of 2024.
2. What inspired you to start playing and making music?
My parents used to leave a radio on under my cot when I was a baby, so I guess that is probably where it came from.
My grandad had a collection of records from the 50s and 60s and an old organ which used to keep me occupied for hours when we visited him.
In my early teens I was in the school choir until my voice broke at which point I discovered The Beatles and decided to by an electric guitar and learnt to play that.
𝟯. Who are your biggest influences?
In terms of influencing the music that I compose, I think the main artists are probably The Beatles, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Gary Numan. However, there are so many artists out there that I love, who probably influence me in other or more subtle ways such as Midlake, Grizzly Bear, Pink Floyd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and Roy Harper
4. What are your goals in the music industry?
I love creating music and would say that I am more of a songwriter/recording artist than a live performer or talented musician. My goal would be to be able to share my music with as many people as possible in the hope that it means something to others out there.
5. Tell us about your creative process when you make new music.
Ah, most of my music starts with vocal melody, and usually comes to me at an inconvenient time such as when taking a shower or mowing the lawn. I think having a continuous noise going on in the background must help. There is usually something else there in addition to the vocal melody initially, but it can be tricky distilling that into something tangible to record.
6. What is your all-time favorite song?
It would be a track by The Beatles. Either In My Life (for emotion) or I am the Walrus (for sheer genius)
7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music?
I’m sure that I have given both my sons plenty of music advice over the years, although I’m not sure how valuable it was or how much of it they took in. My youngest son is very good at working out things for himself anyway and to be honest I am more likely to receive useful advice from him than he from me. However, the most useful advice I receive is usually from my wife who helps me understand time signatures.
8. Proudest accomplishment?
Musically, it would have been finally releasing my debut album “The Reading” in 2022. I started writing many of the tracks on the album years ago and never seemed to find the time to finish them due to work and family commitments. I never gave up hope though and eventually crossed the finishing line.
9. Just for fun! What's been your most embarrassing moment so far?
There’s so many to choose from that I’ll narrow it down to music-related embarrassing moments.
It would probably be when I was singer/guitarist in a band back at sixth-form college at our first gig where we were one of four bands playing to an audience of around 200 people one evening. We were on stage first, and as the audience started filing in, nerves got the better of me, my throat went mega dry and I had to run to the bathroom to get a drink. I leant my guitar against an amp and as I ran off it fell on the floor. A guitarist from one of the other groups re-tuned my guitar whilst I was gone, I came back strapped my guitar on, and away we went with our opening number. It took me until halfway through the first chorus to realise that the reason why I couldn’t really hear my guitar was because it wasn’t plugged in, and when I did plug it in it sounded awful, because the rest of the band was tuned into each other but not to a tuner, whereas I was now tuned to a tuner. There was a bit of a pause before our next song whilst I re-tuned to the rest of the band.
The icing on the cake though was the fact that although we were the only band to get someone up on the dancefloor, it was a 2-year-old toddler twirling around in her own little world, so not a cool look.
𝟭0. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.
My lowest point in music was probably when my old band broke up. It wasn’t a sudden thing, and there was no particular reason, we just drifted off in different directions, both geographically and musically. Since then I’ve found it easier to be a solo artist, as I prefer a more structured approach than jamming etc, and prefer to create in my own time. This does impact on my ability to perform live though.
My highest point was the release of my debut album “The Reading” and seeing that there were others out there that liked my music.
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