Olly E comes from Leicester and was brought up on a healthy diet of rock music from T-Rex to heavy metal. The artist has big ambitions with blending those classical rock sounds to current rock influences. Was awesome hearing him talk about his new single ‘I Refuse’ and plans for touring in the future!
What were your earliest memories of music and what was it that made you want to record music?
I remember dancing to T-Rex when I was very young and my parents had a compilation CD with Sum 41’s Fat Lip on which was my first introduction to modern rock! I’ve been writing songs since I was around 11 beginning on guitar but I would have the arrangements for other instruments in my head so recording was a natural progression of wanting to feature multiple instruments in my tracks. I owned a Boss Micro-BR which allowed me to layer instruments for the first time.
Who are your biggest influences? I hear a lot of british artists being inspired in your work?
I come from a heavy metal background and to this day, In Flames from Sweden are my favourite band but writing the music that I write, I’d say I’m currently inspired by Twenty One Pilots and Yungblud to capture that ‘modern’ sound.
How did ‘I Refuse’ come about? Also the music video is awesome!
I first came up with the intro riff and the lyrical phrasing bounced off that. I then fit words to match the phrasing which happened to come out politically-charged and was able to change certain lyrics to suit how I feel about the political system.
Thank you very much man! The video came from the lyrical content in regards to the system collapsing; the theme of WW3 and a post-apocalyptic city came up and the idea was to have chaotic scenes behind me as I walked calmly through the carnage. This idea was inspired by Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Follow You’ video.
How’s it been performing live in the Leicester area?
The scene in Leicester is well. There are some good venues catering for up and coming bands and there are a lot of musicians living in the city.
What are your future plans with this project? Much music in the pipeline?
Currently I plan to keep releasing singles to attract a larger fan base and would love to go on tour as soon as possible.
What have you been listening to during the lockdown?
I love Twenty One Pilots new song ‘Level of Concern’ which just came out and I’ve also been listening to a lot of Machine Gun Kelly lately.