Musical friends showcase their songwriting at Graffham date

Hollie Rogers, Daisy Chute and Ed Blunt combine for the Big Bang Love Tour on Saturday, January 11 at The Empire Hall, Graffham, GU28 0QB.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely

00:06to speak to Ed Blunt. Ed, you have family in the West Sussex area, particularly in the

00:11Perthworth area, and you're just about to release, at the start of March, your second

00:15album. Now it's an album with, well, an instantly appealing title, Grown Up. What do you mean

00:21by that?

00:23Yes, Grown Up is an album of songs that are exploring that strange point where people

00:32stop calling you young man, and you become a member of the adult. So it's exploring

00:42themes of moving on and letting things go as you become a grown up. And it's also exploring

00:50that kind of funny question of, when you're a kid, you always want to be grown up, you

00:55always want to be like, eating McDonald's all the time, and drinking Coca Cola all the

01:02time and doing all the things that grown ups do. But as soon as you become a grown up,

01:06you often start thinking, God, I wish I was a child again. So the songs sort of all coalesce

01:13around that kind of theme. But it's a hodgepodge of an album in terms of genres as well. There's

01:20some sort of Bruce Springsteen style rock anthems, and then there's a Calypso tune.

01:25And then there's some folk tunes as well. I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to genres.

01:30Well, it sounds great. And the point is, you've reached a good point in your career. You feel

01:35that you're absolutely on the right track with what you're doing and how you're doing

01:38it.

01:39Yes, I think so. It's, I mean, as a musician, you're always constantly comparing yourself

01:44to others. And paranoia is part of being a musician. But I always keep reminding myself

01:52that I do it for the joy of songwriting. And if I can just keep recording and writing new

01:59songs, then I'm happy. And yeah, I'm getting out on the road more and playing more live

02:07dates as well. So yeah.

02:09And then the second album, the last one was, the first one was 2022, this one 2024. You're

02:15wanting to do roughly one a year.

02:18Yeah, that's the aim. But yeah, so as soon as this one's out, I'm going to start writing

02:26for the next one.

02:27I see. And certainly musicians are kind of leaving the album format behind, but you are

02:32keen on that format, aren't you? Why?

02:36Well, I like having a big project to see through to completion. And whilst it's important to

02:44release singles in the digital streaming world, for me, an album really encapsulates a point

02:53in life. And it's a long form piece of work that I think is really important as an artist

03:01to be able to sign off and finish and complete. So I'm a fan of the album format. And you

03:07might have heard that vinyl sales are through the roof at the moment. So I think the music

03:13fans are still keen for an album as well.

03:18Absolutely. Everything turns full circle in the end, doesn't it, somehow? Brilliant.

03:22Yeah.

03:23Well, good luck with that. Grown Up out on March the 1st. Hope it goes brilliantly. Great

03:29to speak to you.

03:32Bye, guys.