December – Paul Shevlin

Seasons Greetings and welcome to our Artist Of The Month for December! Congratulations to Paul Shevlin, you might have heard this chaps name mentioned around the forum, or you may have had the extreme pleasure of hearing his tracks in the Scoutroom. For those who didn’t, Paul is a little known Northern Irish Singer Songwriter with a huge talent. Formally a member of Franklins Kite, a pretty awesome Northern Irish folk band.

Paul is obviously a talented musician and at the tender age of 17 produces some excellent piano driven melodies! So, as ever sit back, grab a mince pie, flip the track on and have a read and most importantly enjoy… a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

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Piewatch - Care to introduce yourself for those who haven’t heard you?

I’m Paul, I’m 17 and I’m from Northern Ireland…I feel we’re all a little bit closer now.

Piewatch – Is this a permanent move away from Franklins Kite, or a side project?

I’m afraid this is permanent…mainly because Franklins Kite are no more. Andrew and Jonny are now “The 1930s” and they’re awesome.

Piewatch - What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been working on the new recordings and writing a bit. I’d like to say I’ve been gigging but gigs are hard to come by over here.

Piewatch - When did you first start making music?

My first instrument was the flute, I wasn’t a particularly macho kid let’s face it. It wasn’t till a few years ago I realised that the piano could actually be cool. After that I wrote a song for the first time after listening to Duke Special, who I completely ripped off. It wasn’t till a few months ago that I sort of found my sound so to speak.

Piewatch – What would you say is your biggest musical achievement to date?

Playing the Ulster Hall in Belfast was pretty amazing…even if it was for some talent show thing. Apart from that I had my tracks played on BBC Radio Ulster recently which was kind of cool, I’m easily pleased.

Piewatch – Who are your major influences?

At the minute Foy Vance is a massive influence because I can’t stop listening to his album “Hope”. Apart from him I really like singer/songwriters like Ben Folds, Duke Special, Damien Rice, and Billy Joel…etc. Then obviously who can forget The Beatles.

Piewatch – What is your best rated track on STP? Why do you feel this is?

I think it’s “You Won’t Last The Night”, probably because it’s the most upbeat out of all the tracks and it has tambourine, and who doesn’t love tambourine?

Piewatch – Were you surprised by the response you got?

I was surprised actually, sometimes I feel a bit weird about my style of music so it’s comforting to know some people like it. I used to have moments where after listening to some great “rockin’” bands like Biffy Clyro I’d feel the need to change my sound in order to be cool…but I play piano…so that wasn’t going to happen. It took a while but right now I’m completely comfortable in the music I play because it’s me.

Piewatch – Where and when can we buy the tracks?

I’m not too sure about this one, if someone can let me know how to get them on iTunes then let the bidding commence.

Piewatch – Who do you currently like in the charts?

I’m not really much of a chart lover myself so I’m going to say “Rage Against the Machine”!

Piewatch – Our fave track out of the ones uploaded is “You Won’t Last The Night”, which is your favourite and why?

I’d say “More Than This” or maybe “6:00”. Not for their actual tunes just for the fact that I wrote them about things that mean a lot to me personally.

Piewatch – Are you interested in potentially being financed from Slicethepie?

I would love to be financed…finance me?

Piewatch – If you received the £15k financing tomorrow, what would be the first thing you’d buy?

A dirty, great, grand piano!

Piewatch – What’s next for you / Franklins Kite?

For me – trying to find some gigs!
For FK – greatest hits compilation.

Piewatch – If you could have any super power what would it be?

I’m going to say invisibility so I could just lift objects in front of people and see their face.

Piewatch – Elvis dead or alive?

That question sounds like a “Western Wanted poster”. But yes, Elvis can never die. Somewhere there is a painting of him in an attic getting older.

Piewatch – Any irrational phobias?

I’m not great with spiders…then again who is?

Piewatch – Hobnobs or Digestives?

Hobnobs!

Piewatch - Any last words?

Thank you for having me!

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