Interview: Alan Pownall

Jasmine Phull chats to West Londoner Alan Pownall about his musical trajectory via celebrity contacts, aching angst and his innate ability to pen a tune.

A native West Londoner, Alan Pownall didn’t want to be just another guy with a guitar. In fact he didn’t want to be anyone besides himself. Sure he toyed with the idea of taking a stage name in an effort to detach the musician from the man, but what he eventually realised was that they were one in the same. There was no defining line indicating where the musician stopped and the man began.

Realising there was no room for facades or personas, Alan Pownall stuck with what he knew; what came naturally and his birth name was an integral part of this quest. His sincerity is peppered throughout his songs while lightly lacing the melody. His groomed crooning could melt in your hand, his self-written lyrics will swoon you; sweeping you off your feet, and his acoustic expertise will reverberate down your ear canal; sending light whispers that encourage the hairs on the back of your neck to stand to attention.

Today Alan Pownall, the artist and the man, gives us an honest account of his musical trajectory, via celebrity contacts, aching angst and his innate ability to pen a tune. He also dispels any misconceptions that would lead you to believe his song 'The Others' has something to do with the show “Lost”. Because it couldn’t be further from the truth.

You started in ’06. In terms of singing: is holding a note something you were naturally born with? Or did you have training?
Generally singing is about how you sing emotionally not how you sing technically.

As long as it sounds good when it comes out!
Definitely as long as when it comes out they believe what they are saying.

You were never a fan of karaoke?
No I hate karaoke. It’s just tragic, isn’t it? It’s almost as if there is only one thing worse than being bad at karaoke and that’s being good at it.

Which one would you rather?
(Laughs) I think I’d rather be bad at it.

So your name is Alan POWNALL both on stage and off. You didn’t toy with creating an artist name. Like just POWNALL or Boy A?
I did actually. When I as in my early phases I definitely experimented with different names. Ultimately what serves me best as an artist is being myself. Some people are better at creating a character around what they do, whereas I’m better at trying to pursue what’s true to me. My name was very much a part of that.

How long did True Love Stories (July) take to write?
From the first thing I wrote to the last thing I wrote it probably took about four years.

Was it always your intention to create an album?
Not really. When I was 19 I wanted to learn the guitar and when I was 20 I started writing songs. I just always wanted to write the best songs that I could write. Then slowly but surely they became a collection of songs that I could go into a studio and record.

How many songs did you cull?
We recorded 20 songs and there are 11 on the album. I have hundreds of songs but I just haven’t quite figured them out yet.

Is this a pseudo diary of what was going on inside your head at one point or another?
Definitely. I don’t know how it can’t be but not every experience is one that I’ve had but it’s one that I’ve been connected to. To be honest I never sit down and go: “Oh, I’ve had a really shit day, I should sit down and write a song”, it just happens. Songs write themselves.

That’s what people who can write songs say.
But then you make sense of them a long time afterwards. It’s like if you break up with someone you can’t really figure it out because it’s all too tainted with emotion but a year later you understand it more. It’s the same with writing songs.

The Song ‘The Others’ - is that inspired by Lost?
(Laughs) No of course it isn’t. But on Myspace they have a feature where you can add a picture next to your song. So I would always Google the title of the song and see what images came up. So Benjamin Linus was the first picture that came up. But when I was searching for an image for the song ‘Clara’ it was a little more difficult as I just got lots of porn. (Laughs)

You’ve said you don’t want to be another guy with a guitar. What are you?
Well I did an interview recently and one of the questions was: ‘Did you always want to be a Popstar’? I definitely do not see myself as a Popstar - maybe a solo artist. But Popstar just makes me think of Enrique Iglesias or someone who doesn’t write their own songs.

Your first single 'Chasing Time' featured in a Nokia advertisement back in October 2009. Did you see the effects of that? Did it expose you to a wide audience?
Yea. When the album came out I really like the song 'The Others' the best because I guess it’s a bit more high-brow, but every time I performed live everyone always wanted to hear 'Chasing Time'. But now I get a bit of a kick out of people knowing and singing along to it.

Are there any rules about dress code on stage?
No you got to be comfortable that’s all. That kind of applies to my band as well. If you spend enough time with the same people then eventually you start dressing the same. (Laughs)

Oh really?
Well I go everywhere with my two cousins, Elliot James, and we basically dress the same and that’s just because we’ve grown up together. When I was younger I used to wear nail polish and do my hair and look like a right idiot. Then I went to Art school in Italy and everyone would just spend so long on how they looked that I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore. So now I prefer understated.

You’ve got a festival period coming up as of today. What does typical day look like before you go on stage?
I wake up really early and I actually get quite anxious. So I spend quite a lot of the day doing that. Now I’ve just started playing with this band and I still haven’t figured out how to do it. I guess there will come a time when I walk on stage and I’ll think: “Ok this is my domain, this is where I feel the most comfortable”. But I’m definitely not there yet.

 So right before the gig are you nervous?
So nervous!

What’s the antidote?
I don’t know. If you find out, let me know!

Interview by Jasmine Phull