INTERVIEW: ALFIE TEMPLEMAN
Interview by Mia Anderson
I had the greatest pleasure of speaking with Alfie Templeman at Brighton Music Hall before his concert, which marked his 3rd year in a row playing at the venue. Templeman is an English singer-songwriter who recently released an album, “Radiosoul,” featuring 11 tracks that document his first years in adulthood. The audience, the band, and Templeman himself were buzzing with excitement before the show, and I am so lucky to have learned about his musical journey.
Mia Anderson (MA): I wanted to start back in your past. You started recording and making demos super young. So, what was it like pursuing music at such a young age?
Alfie Templeman (AT): I guess starting out, for me, there was a lot of naivety involved because I just didn’t think too much about it. It was a very stress-free environment. I guess when you’re 15 or 16, you’re not thinking too much about stuff; you’re not deepening stuff too much. So, because of that, I feel like my attention on the music was pretty good. Where as now, I get quite anxious in the studio for some reason sometimes. My focus can be limited sometimes, but my ideas are a lot better now. And when I execute them, I’m a lot more proud of them. But back then, songs just came out of my brain a lot quicker. I feel like I’d spend two, three hours making them and then they’d be done kind of thing. So yeah, it was pretty spontaneous, I guess.
MA: What piece of advice would you give to your past self? And what do you think your past self would be most shocked about with your current career?
AT: Oh, I guess the advice that I give to my past self is, I don’t know, maybe spend a bit more time on lyrics and stuff. I think weirdly enough; I know that there’s only so much that I could have done back then anyway. Looking back at my lyrics, I’m glad that rather than them being cringe, they’re more nonsensical. Because if they were really cringe, then I’d be like, “Oh for fuck’s sake, I have to sing this live every night, oh my god, this is the worst.” But because they were just nonsensical, it’s okay; it’s just I wish I spent a little bit more time with them. There’s a couple songs that I don’t play anymore because I just feel like they’re a bit underwhelming from a lyrical standpoint. So I’d love to just focus on that a bit more back then.
But I guess the thing that I’d be most surprised about is actually that I’ve worked with a couple of my favorite producers like Todd Rundgren and Nile Rodgers. I think I’d be like, “Whoa, that’s crazy that I used to just listen to those records at home, and I ended up actually working with them.” So my younger self would be like, “Whoa, that’s sick.”
MA: Yeah, that is really cool. You’ve mentioned a lot about having meaning in your lyrics, so clearly, it’s really super important to you. What is your process with songwriting, and where do you draw all of your inspiration from?
AT: Yeah, for the actual songwriting part, I think it’s always different. I feel like project to project; I’m always trying to start from scratch. The last album was recorded mostly on guitar, and I wrote a lot of songs, so why don’t I try making half of them on synths? Why don’t I buy a pheromone and just add a bunch of weird instruments to my records and stuff? There’s always a new kind of thing going on each time. But for the latest record, I spent a lot of time actually just working on the songs and then putting them down, then not going near them for a month or two, then picking them back up and adding to them; which is something Alfie seven years ago would have never done. I feel like I was really slow with building them up and really allowing them to reach their full potential. So I write the songs before I’d even go into the studio and then leave them like…80% finished, so like the last 20% I could go into the studio and kind of build with the producer and, you know, leave a bit of room for the producer to help me say, “Oh maybe it needs this, that, or the other,” like just having that second pair of ears was really interesting.
Lyrically speaking, I guess I think things just come quite naturally. I guess all of my songs that I’ve been writing for the last two or three years have been out of experience and that’s why I couldn’t rush this album, because I had to actually experience some new stuff in my life. So, I moved out, and I also struggle with anxiety quite a bit so a lot of the songs were about just trying to tell yourself to calm down a bit. And also, coming off of the last tour, we played a lot of shows in 2022. So a lot of the album was also about that, and just about saying, come on, take a chill pill. Just relax a little bit kind of thing.
MA: Yeah, I think I saw somewhere that you performed over two hundred shows.
AT: Yeah, it was definitely about a hundred or something.
MA: Yeah, that’s crazy. I know that you’ve been actually at this venue for the past two years, too.
AT: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, this is our third time here. We were saying that I feel like we know this venue more than any other venue in the States. Boston’s arguably my favorite place to play.
MA: Really?
AT: Yeah, that or Seattle.
MA: Awesome. So on that note of touring and being back here, what are some of your favorite tour memories so far?
AT: Oohhhh…
MA: I know this is only like your third stop, but yeah.
AT: Good question. It’s been the food. I mean, I’ve been eating 4,000 calories a day, which is, you know, like something. We had amazing pizza yesterday from Frank Pepe.
MA: Oh, okay. Is that in Boston?
AT: New Haven Classic, it’s in Connecticut, New Haven. And it was bloody amazing. I ate 16 slices of that shit, it was sick. I felt awful. But yeah, just the food out here is amazing. We’ve just been trying to eat as much as possible.
MA: That sounds delicious. Okay, so your debut album, Mellow Moon, you released and worked on during COVID.
AT: Yeah, yeah.
MA: During the lockdown era. So now that we’re out of that and you have recorded this new album, what are the key differences or similarities that you found with both of these albums?
AT: Well, there’s definitely more differences. I mean, with the first album, It was obviously recorded in the pandemic, so I mean, going back to a lyrical standpoint, it’s kind of thin. There’s not too much to say because it was Groundhog Day for a year. I was shielding because I had a lung condition, so I was stuck inside for a year, so it was really boring. It was really fun in terms of- I had lots of musical ideas, but lyrically, it was just like, “I’m inside, I’m stuck inside, blah, blah, blah,” all the time. Whereas with this one, it was obviously after a lot of touring, I’d also moved out to London, and London’s a city that just overflows with creativity. So it was kind of about finding my feet, this album, and turning 20. And I don’t know, I also just feel like I started making this album when I was 19. So, at that age, I feel like there’s a lot growing up between 19 and 21 when that came out. And I feel like, yeah, I kind of caught that in the record. Whereas the first one was written, it was made between like 16 and 18, and I feel like at that age, I don’t know, once again, it’s just a bit more naive. I don’t know, I was just guessing a lot and hoping for the best, whereas, with this one, I feel like I had a lot more focus. But I guess the similarity is that I feel like both albums have lots of different sounds, there’s lots of different styles in 40 minutes or however long they are. I like them both. I do prefer the new one by quite a lot.
MA: Through recording albums, I bet you have some of your favorite songs, are you ever surprised by what songs your fans gravitate towards versus what you do? And do you think that you know them pretty well and you kind of guess at what will be a fan favorite?
AT: Well, I think it’s cool, like, with this new record, I only really produced one of the songs, it’s called “Vultures,” but it seems to be a big fan favorite and like the true fans really like it. So, it’s nice to see that the ones that I make by myself are the ones that people, like the true fans, normally appreciate the most. I feel like I normally have a pretty good idea of what’s gonna do well, and my label normally doesn’t have a good idea and like they pick the wrong singles, which always fucking happens. Then I’m just like FUCK chess club! Nah, nah, but like “Vultures,” I was just really happy about that one doing well. Then I was actually kinda slightly surprised by how many people did not like “Beckham,” which is another track on the album, which is quite funny to me, cause like, I was really gassed for that song. Some people were just like, what the fuck, like, this is really weird, which is also cool. I’m glad that people think it’s weird, but yeah, “Vultures,” I was just happy with, and then the title track, “Radiosoul,” I was really proud of as well. So to see people like that one and appreciate the funk and soul influences was like- I’m just happy with that.
MA: So do you pay a lot of attention to what fans are saying about your music and let that influence you, or do you try to not really listen to all of that? Because I bet it can get really overwhelming.
AF: It’s a weird mix. I think it really just depends. I try not to too much because I always think about when I started music; it was about just like, go and leave your gut and the natural ambition that comes with it, right? Separating yourself from everything. When I started off, I had no listeners, so it was just like, if people liked what I was naturally doing, then I was doing something right. Whereas now, it’s like, you can’t help but listen to that. If people really love a particular song, then you’ve got to maybe dabble around in that sound a bit more. But if I didn’t, there’s some songs that my fans don’t like that I’d never make a song like that again. So at the end of the day, if I don’t like it, if I’m not into it, then I won’t do it. But if like the fans really like it and I’m like, “Oh, this is a pretty good song,” then I’ll try messing around with that style again. That kind of thing.
MA: So, kind of on that note as well, what do you hope people take away from your music?
AT: I guess for me, I just want to have a really colorful discography. I just want to keep making records that I’m happy with. If that serves as an inspiration to other people, then that’s amazing. You know, it’s the same way that I look up to like Todd Runger and Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, all people that have had long careers full of different colorful musical passages and things. So if I can get away with doing that as well, and people like it and use it to make their own music out of it, then that would be great. But at the end of the day, I’m just happy trying to fulfill myself as well.
MA: And then how would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard any of the music?
AT: I mean, we normally say it’s like all types of pop music, mixed in with funk and soul and stuff. You say [referring to Jos, guitarist for Templeman] Jamiroquai, Jos, quite often. Yeah, BTECH Jamiroquai. I don’t know if you guys know what BTECH means in the States.
MA: No, I’ve never heard of BTECH.
AT: BTECH Jamiroquai just means like half a Jamiroquai. Like a shitty version.
MA: Final question. What advice would you give to any younger kids, like you, like me, I guess, who are aspiring professional musicians?
AT: I guess for me, the only advice I can give is about recording, I guess, to be honest. I don’t think anyone should take my advice anyway because I’m just too much of a scatterbrain. Just have fun with it; it’s all about meeting in the middle. You gotta be aware of the fact that in this industry, in this day and age, you still have to kind of make other people happy if you want it as your job. So it’s about having fun and putting your passion and energy into it, whilst also, you know, remembering to meet in the middle with other people and make sure it’s accessible for them. And it’s all about just having good melodies as well and just having good lyrics that people relate to.
And if you kind of just get right into the middle of all of that, you come out with something that feels really good. You just gotta find the icky guy almot, it’s like the icky guy of music. If you just meet in the middle and everything comes together in the right way, then it’s good. It’s okay. It’s a Venn diagram.
MA: Yeah, that’s great advice!
This interview was edited for clarity.