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Quirks behind the Music - Harry Smith



I caught up with local singer-songwriter Harry Smith, discussing everything from his upcoming EP to Kinder Hippos to the latest Last Shadow Puppets album.

It's a pleasure to have you back at Sounds of an Eccentric. For those readers who aren't familiar with you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your music. A whirlwind biography of Harry Smith if you like.
Jesus... A whirlwind biography? I have to try and make it sound exciting now.... Well basically My name is Harry and I'm a solo artist from Newcastle! I write songs about ideas and experiences that have resonated with me through my 19 years of existing. I've been parading myself around various Newcastle venues for almost two years now and I've been having a load of fun just playing to different crowds/eating too many Kinder Hippos

 Which artists and bands have fuelled your love of music and which albums should everyone listen to before they die?
This question is going to polarise people no matter what I say, isn't it? Hahahaha. I'm really influenced by Fleetwood Mac.. Not so much lyrically But more in a musical aspect because they just have so many absolute bangers that are so simple and resonate with such a large demographic... I think that's the dream... To have people who understand what you're trying to say. As far as albums everyone needs to hear before they die, I've been listening to a lot of Keaton Henson recently because he's just writes really emotionally driven, sparse songs. I love it. Of course I'm going to say the usuals (Rumors, Thriller, etc.) however I'm going to throw a curveball and say ABBA Gold, I have this argument with my mate Jack that it's the only ABBA album you'll ever need because it's literally 'The best of ABBA'... He still just says it doesn't count because it's a compilation. It does count. 100%.

 Since you were last here at Sounds of an Eccentric, you've supported acts such as SlotFace, Martha Ffion, and the Raglans. How does it feel to play alongside these musicians and has there been a distinct highlight from those experiences?
Everyone I've supported so far has been amazing, Take Martha for example. She's very genuine and just generally lovely! She was kind enough to actually just have a bit of a natter on with me, which she didn't necessarily have to but It was nice to sort of see a sort of sense of appreciation from a better known artist. As for Sløtface... I love them, we went for a kebab together after their set at the head of steam and i was just asking them loads of questions about Norway. That was one of my favourite gigs I've played.

 Your debut E.P. is set to be released later this month, tell us a little bit about what's in store?
Ah my little EP? Well it's called Eyes and it's 5 Tracks long (Eyes, Better than that, Back to You,Things you said to me and Forget Your Name), it was originally going to be four but I wrote an opening track for it (It's only a minute-ish long but it's proper soul searching, there's birds chirping in the background and everything) ... It's very much a biographical body of work that I've put everything into making sound good, I've re recorded everything and as a result of that I've been able to change anything that I didn't necessarily feel was perfect about the Demo's. Three of the tracks on the EP are totally new and won't have been heard unless you've been to one of my gigs in the last couple of months but hopefully people will like it!

Best Album of 2016 so far?  
Everything You've come to expect by The Last Shadow Puppets. Every song is an anthem. Genius.


What's your opinion on the festival line ups this year? Will you be attending any?
The festival line ups this year haven't struck a huge chord with me to be honest. I'd only really fancy going to Glastonbury but Leeds fest has the single worst line up I have ever seen so I was quite disappointed by that... Maybe next year I might go to one though!


What's on the horizon for you?
I think for the minute I'm just going to try and focus on gigging and writing. I've been hit with a massive urge to travel about a bit so I might try and do some soul searching towards the end of the year... Other than that I'm just going to pray to god that people don't hate the EP... I guess I'll find out soon enough though!

 Any final words?
Yes! Eyes is out on the 23rd of May and it'll be available to Stream/Download on my Soundcloud and BandCamp! I hope everyone enjoys it and if you want to hear what Forget your Name and Back to you sound like, you can listen to the Demo recordings of those on my Soundcloud,


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