Featured Artists, Songs and Posts

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

OLI:
Alternative Pop is definitely the best way to describe it. Synth, strings and I’m also a big fan of adding jazz elements.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

OLI:
To be honest, ever since I was a child I just knew that this was what I was the only thing I would never stop doing . I’m lucky, my family is extremely musical and I was always encouraged to take up an instrument and perform.
In 2014 I started working with producer Benny D (Stormzy, Boy George, Kylie, Plan B, Robbie Williams, Paloma Faith). I just really love his musical taste and we’ve been a team ever since.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

OLI:
It would have to be anything ‘Sade’. The whole moody/bedroom pop female vocal that is used so much now a days just makes me think of her. I used to listen to the Diamond Life album every night to help me sleep (early 2000’s) and compared to the crazy pop I was hearing at the time, it just felt so soothing and comforting. Thank stuck with me and made me want to add jazzier elements.

Nagamag:
How did your song with Dave Gahan come to be?

OLI:
It was actually very simple and quick - the song wasn’t finished from their session and needed writing. I thought the backing track was really old Americana and melancholy – which I loved. When I put down the guides for the lyrics we then realised my voice was actually a great mix on the track with his.

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

OLI:
Stereophonics "Dakota"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

OLI:
Ella M "Myself"

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
New Age, Celtic, Neo-Classical or just romantic piano :) A unique defining style puts music outside the pigeon holes or genre descriptions.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at the age of eight and found solace in the piano. I buried my head in music, found my calling and discovered a gift that allowed me to believe in my own possibilities. I went into the recording studio for the first time in my 30s and have never wanted to do anything else since.
Im classically trained, love touring and performing and hail from a small village in Australia. I want to reach other people and turn them onto the idea that music has health and connection benefits and the power to make our lives better.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
My Mother was 17 when I was born and my Grandmother moved in to help raise me. She arrived with an old German iron frame piano and it was pure magic to me from the first note that I touched. I literally fell in love with the endless possibilities for sound and its all I have ever truly wanted to do - be a musician.

Nagamag:
What advice would you give newcomers to the music industry.

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
Firstly, hone your skills and learn your craft. After you have that in check, if you want to compose you need to have something to say. Being a composer is about story telling and that comes from the depth of your soul , the ups and downs you have experienced in life. Regarding the business of music.... that is the conundrum we all face, be prepared to work seven days a week for little money except the satisfaction that you are doing something you love and touching lives with your music.

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
Wivajoy "Warm Glow"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
FLOW "Promise"

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Lonely Faces:
Acid, Techno, EDM

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Lonely Faces:
I have been interested in instrumental electronic music from a very young age. Originally playing piano and then bass guitar, i made the change to synthesizers by means of my first set of keys when i was in high school. Having always been fascinated with pattern and repetition, it was natural for me to gravitate towards dance and club music. During my late teens and 20s, i was heavily influenced by what was going on here in Melbourne-it was the 90s- there was a thriving rave scene and the music was very fresh and new. You could go out just about every night of the week- it was a very Inspirational time and i feel very honoured to be part of a very exciting era in music.

It was really a decade later that i really became serious about production and really started to build my studio and learn my craft. I had a strong leaning toward analog synthesizers and classic technology form the 80s being a prolific user of many of the Roland instruments from that era, namely the x0x series of devices that we all know and love.

My association with Tempest Recordings and more recently, it's subsidiary Slice Records, began around 5 years ago with the release of some work under the name Guilty Hero (a duo)- a name i no longer use. I decided to forge ahead with Lonely Faces, as this satisfied my various creative desires, and this is where I find myself today....Happily working in my studio, experimenting and exploring.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Lonely Faces:
Music has always been a combination of escapism and self expression for me. From a very early age, i had an interest in the process of electronic music making- even long before i knew the techniques, i was compelled my the musical result of sound design and sequencing. I listened to a lot of krout rock and decided that one day I was to create my own technology based art.

Nagamag:
You talk about 80s Synthesizers. Can you please elaborate about the uses of this technology.

Lonely Faces:
I think a lot of people would assume that technology based music would use the most up-to-date equipment at the time....Not so for me, as most of the sound sources i use really have there roots in previous decades. As with many of my contemporaries the TR series of drum machines and of course the 303 are very important devices. The way these instruments sound has always intrigued me, both in use and result.

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Lonely Faces:
Mike Oldfield "Ommadawn Pt1"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Lonely Faces:
Thomas P. Heckmann "Himmel & Hoelle"