FEATURES / GET TO KNOW
Lloyd Jerwood has recently released his second track 'Fire Like You' - an upfront and unapologetic take on feeling replaceable in modern dating life. We had a chat with Lloyd on the new release and more as part of our Get to Know series...
Interview: Lauren Stewart
'Fire Like You' overflows with confidence; still awash with Lloyd’s signature hooky choruses, guitar, and synths but held together by the uncommon perspective at the centre of his songwriting. The release juxtaposes the neon-lit romanticism of falling in ‘love’ with the reality of someone that falls in love both frequently and easily.
Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you! "Hey I’m Lloyd, I’m a songwriter and artist based in London."
When did you start making music? "I actually started playing trumpet at about 7 years old! (cool kid..) But I really started to love music around 11 years old when I picked my brother’s guitar up for the first time. It quickly became a way for me to express myself by writing songs about things that I was trying to process while growing up."
Where are you from and what’s your favourite thing about it? Do you feel as though your surroundings have inspired your sound in any way? "I was born in Cardiff, Wales to a Welsh dad and a Kiwi mum. They weren’t in music themselves but there was always music playing. Mum being Kiwi and all.. I apparently went to see Crowded House whilst she was pregnant with me. And yes definitely, I feel like Wales is a pretty musically-engaged part of the UK. I never really did the band thing growing up but I did a LOT of songwriting in my bedroom and found one or two friends who were as obsessive about it as me. Greta Isaac was one of them and we still play together now, she’s one of my favourite songwriters and artists and I’m grateful to call her best friend."
How would you sum up your sound in the form of a hashtag? "I’ve never been asked this before! Maybe something like #sadsongsthatsoundhappy"
Who are your biggest inspirations, musically? "Whenever someone has asked me that question in the past I ‘ve always defaulted to my guitar influences and said someone like John Mayer, but I’ve recently gone back over the songs that first got me interested in music at all (from when I was in primary school!). The first album I was ever obsessed with was that Avril Lavigne album ‘Let Go’ and I still love it. I think it really imprinted on me because I still love the sound choices and the writing on the albums from this time in my life. I also went through a big pop-punk thing in high school – Green Day and Blink 182 were a couple of bands that did the rocky thing but also did some really heartfelt soul-searchy tunes that I was completely in love with. If it wasn’t for falling in love with those records then I don’t think I’d have even picked up the guitar. So I guess they’re more of an influence on my music than I realised up until quite recently."
Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with? "I (and apparently the rest of the world) am in love with Olivia Rodrigo’s new album. I recently covered ‘jealousy, jealousy’ at my headline show and I’m always just blown away by the songwriting and production on her records. I think it would be so fun to work with her.
I’m also really grateful to play guitar for artists here in the UK, Greta Isaac and Dan Bettridge being a couple of those. I’m so excited by the music they’re releasing and feel as though I’m already in a bit of a dream artist collaboration."
What would be your dream venue to play? "I love that venue range between 500 to 2000, I think those rooms are just built to create this ELECTRIC atmosphere while also being kid of intimate still. Maybe a Shepherds Bush Empire or a Roundhouse sort of thing! I also remember seeing so many great gigs at these places over the years and it would be a pretty cool full- circle moment to play them myself."
You’ve just released your brand new track ‘Fire Like You’! Tell us a little about it! "‘Fire Like You’ is all about someone who’s drawn in by personalities that burn bright and fast. It explores how that tends to make things exciting in the moment but unsustainable over time. I guess it’s about being caught in that cycle without being able to see your own patterns. My friends Jacob Attwooll, Phill Cook and Eduardo De La Paz produced and mixed it and the legend that is Mr Pete Daynes played bass on it."
Do you have a favourite lyric in particular from the release? "I love the chorus actually. It’s the simplest bit of the song - just one line repeated over and over - but it’s a song about a habit of doing something over and over, so it felt really fitting. It’s the first time I’ve ever written a chorus like that and it opened up the verses to each say something completely different."
What have you got planned for the last part of 2021 and into 2022? "I just played my first sold out headline show in London and I’ve got the bug for playing live again so there’s talk of more live dates soon. After spending a couple of years away from big rooms that are full of people, there’s just no beating that kind of energy. I’ve also got lots of songs ready to demo for 2022 so there’s some studio time coming up, which I’m super excited about."
'Fire Like You' is out now.
Listen HERE
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