Interview with Michael Hamilton

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

• Well, I got my first instrument, a guitar, when I was 10 years old. Not because I had shown any propensity for music or anything, I’m actually the only musician in my family, but rather it was my parents’ way of trying to get me to do something more useful with my hands than playing the Nintendo 64 for days on end. I still don’t really know what made me stick with playing guitar, I barely even listened to music before getting it, but I did and, eventually, music became “my thing” – my way of making sense of the world.

  As for what else I'd be doing, the last thing I did before trying to make a living from music was drop out of a PhD in Psychology, so maybe I'd have had more of my heart in that if I hadn't gotten into music.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

• I'm really into films and probably still spend more time than I should playing video games, which I guess has had a pretty clear influence on me in that most of my time these days is spent composing soundtracks. You can definitely hear a lot of elements from the music of my favourite games in my new album: Silent Hill’s ambient soundscapes, Mirror’s Edge’s glitchy percussion, Journey’ string, Minecraft’s piano etc.

How long have you been making music?

• I've been in and out of bands and making music in some way, shape or form pretty much since I started playing guitar 20 years ago, but I put out my first EP as a solo artist in 2017.

Where are you based and how did that influence your music?

• I'm based in Glasgow, Scotland, though I wouldn't say that there's any kind of "Glasgwegian'' or "Scottish" sound that's influenced my music. I guess the good thing about living in Glasgow is that it is often the only Scottish date for most touring artists and bands (if they even come to Scotland at all while in the UK). I don’t think my taste in music and, consequently, my influences would be so diverse had I not lived somewhere that afforded me so many opportunities to see all kinds of artists perform right on my doorstep.

Tell me about your most memorable shows, if you haven’t played live what is your vision for a live show?

• I’ve certainly thought about playing my music live but it's unlikely to happen any time soon. My music is never really written within the constraints of being able to be performed live, so to deconstruct all of the tracks and gather all people and resources necessary to recreate them would be quite an arduous (and costly) process. If someone were to give me a band, an orchestra, and all of the hardware synthesizers and drum machines that I emulate in my music then, sure, I’d absolutely love to perform it live! But, as I say, I don’t see anyone making that kind of investment in me any time soon, unfortunately.

  That being said, this isn’t the first time I’ve been asked something like this. While I’m pretty tied up with soundtracks at the moment, I am eager to follow my new album up with another as soon as I get the chance and, while I haven’t given much thought as to what exactly that might sound like, I have thought about making it something that will lend itself a bit better to being performed live. It’d be a pretty different workflow from what I’m used to, but so much of my creativity comes from setting myself challenges like that, so it’s certainly possible that performing my stuff live could become a real prospect in the future.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

• I'd just like to play alongside artists who inspire me and influence my sound. Bands who blend electronic and acoustic/orchestral instruments, and who know how to put on a good light show. Probably artists like 65daysofstatic, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into making music and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

• This is stolen from Charli XCX, but I’ve always liked it. The advice is: “be like Tom Hanks.” To elaborate: everybody the world over is like, ‘Tom Hanks, what a nice guy!’ Yes, people are aware of his talent as an actor, but they’re equally aware of his reputation as a nice, warm person to be around. So, when people have encounters with you, be it other musicians, industry folk, your audience, always try to leave them thinking, ‘Oh, they’re really nice!’. I say this because, in my experience, being good at what you do is what allows you to make the most of opportunities, but being nice to be around is what gets you the opportunities in the first place.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

• This isn’t a song as such, but I recently finished composing the score for my good friend Stephen Alexander’s first feature film, “The Labyrinth”. It’s my first proper film score, which is pretty meaningful in itself, and It’s a largely orchestral score with lots of piano, strings etc. going on. While I’ve composed lots of orchestral pieces before using software instruments, what makes this score special is that I also have real musicians performing parts of it. I have Elizabeth Heaton from my band, Midas Fall, providing some beautiful soprano vocals for it, and my partner is also playing viola on a few pieces.

  It’s the first time I’ve heard music that I’ve composed for instruments that I can’t play myself played back to me by actual, real, human musicians whom I have a great deal of respect for and also happen to be people very important to me. And all for my first proper film. All of that adds up to be pretty special for me.

What is your creative process, and what inspires you to write your music?

• Honestly, it’s hard to articulate. Though it’s not very romantic, I’m a big proponent of what I call the “Nick Cave” method. I read somewhere that, apparently, he has an office with a piano and a typewriter and he just goes in and works on whatever music he’s working on every day, from nine to five, the same as any other job. That’s pretty much my creative process. Rather than waiting for the planets to align or a fully formed song to emerge out of a dream. It’s not really about waiting for inspiration to strike in order to begin composing so much as it is about showing up and being consistent. I just try to dedicate myself and put in the hours even when I appear to have little to show for it at times. If I turn up and dedicate my time and focus, I know something will happen eventually and the more frequently and consistently I do it, the quicker and richer the results will be.

Do you have messages that you like to get across in your music? if so please tell me about them.

• Not especially, what with my music being instrumental. More than anything, I really just want people to walk away from listening to my music feeling like it was a good use of their time. There’s so much amazing music out there, with more coming out all the time, and people are busy with only so much time to give, so I really am just so grateful when people choose to dedicate any amount of their time to engaging with something I’ve made. Whatever people think or feel when they listen to my music, as long as they feel like they’ve received something worthwhile from me in return for the time that they’ve given it, I’ll be happy.

Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about?

• My new album came out on Friday, 14th of April which I'm very excited about! It is a bit of a milestone release for me. It's my first album to be released on a label - the wonderful Monotreme Records - and to have backing from the label behind artists like 65daysofstatic and Sorrow, who I've looked up to for so long and were huge influences on the album, is a massive honour. If you’re into glitchy, dance-y, orchestral electronica, I think you’d enjoy it.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

• A few things, actually. Midas Fall have a new album coming out this year so I’m looking forward to getting that out and hitting the road to play some shows with them. I’m also looking forward to “The Labyrinth”, my first feature film coming out this year. I’ve also been working on music and sound design for a game, “One Wee Robot,” currently being developed by Neil Robertson. I’ve been working on all of these projects for a while now, but they’re all in the final stages of production and should be out this year, which is very exciting for me.

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

• I'm notoriously terrible with social media, but I try to keep on top of my instagram page (@michaelhamiltonmusic) as a place where people can keep up to date with all the different things I’m involved with. You can also check out my band, Midas Fall on facebook, instagram etc. here.