This is an archived post from our old website. Please excuse us if it looks a bit off, we are working through old posts and making sure they look tip top!
As Alan (full name, Alan Lewis, but going by Alan for his musical career) is soundchecking ahead of his support slot for The Wanted at the Open Air Theatre, there is a deluge of torrential rain. Everyone takes shelter, and it sets the process back, but Alan doesn’t seem too phased by it all. Soundcheck eventually completed, we grab a few moments to talk about his work.
He explains that it has really all escalated dramatically in the last few months.
“I went to record just before Christmas in York; I put the tracks on SoundCloud, the listens exploded, and it spurred me on; I’ve got twelve songs on there now, one of them has had over 23,000 listens! I guess it gave me the confidence to send some recordings to the Open Air Theatre, and they asked me to come along for tonight’s gig.”
I ask how excited he is to be performing alongside tonights acts. “On a scale of 1 to 10, about 300! There’s a lot of people I know coming, which is nerve-wracking in itself. I’ve just met A.M.E. and she’s really lovely, plus I can’t wait to see Amelia Lily and, of course, The Wanted.”
Asked where his musical passin began, he explains, “I started playing guitar about a year ago. I’ve only just finhished my exams, so haven’t had much time for gigging, but that’s the plan for the summer. After that, I will be continuing to work on writing my own material and build up the community of followers. I’m debuting a couple of my own songs tonight – Fed Up and Falling.”
The rain setback means his set is cut slightly short, but the two songs get done, and sound great. Falling is available to listen to on Alan’s SoundCloud page now. As to the immense rate of listens, I enquire what techniques Alan has used to attract followers?
I honestly don’t know! It’s really hard to explain! People pop up on Twitter and things, you have no idea how they found you. One person in Brazil liked my page, shared it, and now I have about 1500 Brazilian followers!
I’m also playing Staxtonbury this year, on the Main Stage at 7:20 on Friday 5th, opening the Newcomers’ Stage on Saturday 6th and in the acoustic marquee at other times across the weekend. I hope to perform a good 50/50 split of original material and covers. I’m currently looking into any other festivals I can get to perform at, and I love supporting people – I have applied to support a few singer songwriters on their tours… I’ll keep you posted!
It’s also nice to note that during Alan’s set, Siva from The Wanted is backstage listening intently; he seems to really like Alan’s music, and comments that he’s good but should believe it more, be louder, less shy; which he takes the time to pass on, talking to Alan after his set. Whatever he said seems to leave Alan looking happy, and satisfied with his Open Air Theatre debut.
Catch Alan at Staxtonbury, 5/6/7th July.
Alan’s Facebook page: ALAN
Alan on Twitter: AlanOfficial15
Soundcloud: AlanOfficial
