Andrew Nolan talks about his unexpected pop success from the opposite side of the world. When Andrew Nolan was no longer able to perform live, he turned to social media and with it came an unexpected opportunity from the opposite side of the world when he was contacted by a record company in Australia.
Andrew, welcome, so how did this all come about?
‘Well it’s all been a bit crazy really, originally I wanted to put together a show reel, this is something many artists, actors and performers do to promote themselves, just a short film which shows off their music or acting skills and it’s a great way to get work however, as the UK was in lockdown I wasn’t able to go into the studio so I started to do my own recordings and posted them on social media and then suddenly I got a message from a record company in Melbourne Australia’. ‘DWP Records in Australia saw my blog and reached out offering to do a collaboration on a new pop track they had been working on’.
Tell me more about your music, you have released two singles now including ‘when I’m With You’ and the latest track ‘Everyone Wins’ and both have a very 80s retro sound.
Growing up in 80s I loved that classic pop sound of Stock, Aitken and Waterman and they made some fantastic pop songs for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and many more and Mike Stock is still making great music today with the likes of artists such as Shayne Ward and The Fizz. Both tracks When I’m With You and Everyone Wins are original tracks written by David Wilks of DWP Records, and I think David wanted to try and capture that Eurobeat 80s sound. The whole recording process happened very quickly, David wrote the tracks and sent the demo over to me, I recorded the vocals at home and sent them back to Australia for the final mixes.
Your music is very different to a lot of the songs you hear now, are you worried that it may not have the same appeal to younger audiences?
‘Not at all, I’m enjoying making pop music and I want people of all ages to enjoy it, music needs to be fun. A lot of songs you hear now are to politicised, sexualised or full of bad language and not really suitable for some of the younger age groups or for radio. Parents should be able to turn on their TV, radio or whatever and not have to worry about their children listening to swearing or words being bleeped out because they are offensive’. I just like songs which everyone can sing along with and instantly recognisable.
Tell me more about the videos?
The videos are the hardest part, as I don’t have contacts or budget, but they have been fun to make, we weren’t able to do something in the studio because of lockdown and I wanted something more than just a boring lyric video. I don’t really have any knowledge of film or video production. The video for ‘When I’m With You’ was filmed on an iPhone with the help of some great lighting effects. Maybe at some point we will make a new video, but this was just a fun simple ‘lockdown’ video, and it just shows what can be achieved’.
So, what’s next for Andrew Nolan?
‘Originally ‘When I’m With You’ was just a one-off collaboration however, we recorded the follow up ‘Everyone Wins’ which was released in July, and we have been working on a few ideas for a new track with David Wilks and possibly looking at a cover version or Christmas song. ‘I’m very keen to be able to be able to perform live again so i’m currently working putting together a live set, maybe next year performances at festivals or a support tour. I’m enjoying being a solo artist but who knows, I would possibly be interested in joining a band, not a boyband but possibly an established retro band or possibly even a collaboration. And you would be your dream collaboration? ‘Good question, I think it would be fun to add contrast to a song, someone like Pitbull or Nicki Minaj but I would also be interested in working with different producers and see what happens.
‘When I’m With You’ and ‘Everyone Wins are available now on all music platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music and You Tube. You can also follow Andrew on Instagram, Spotify, Facebook, and Twitter.
Twitter: @NolanMusic – Facebook: AndrewNolanOfficial- Instagram: andrew_nolan_official Website: www.andrewnolanmusic.co.uk