Tonight, Phil Clifton on Radio X is joined by Richard Ashcroft, lead singer of The Verve, ahead of the release of his new single, ‘They Don’t Own Me’.
Richard Ashcroft said “The song itself was one of the newer tunes I’ve written over the last couple of years, I think I went for it because as a contrast to ‘Hold On’ it’s showing the albums’ got other sides to it as well. The sentiment again echoes some of the sentiment of the record: personal freedom, control, liberty and all those kind of things. The song does a good job of summing all that up for me.”
On the pressure of releasing a new single he added “I know at the same time when I’m releasing it [a record] there will be a certain strain of the music industry that will have a resistance against what I do. I’ve not quite pinpointed what it is, but it’s always gonna be there so I’m ready for the fight always when I release something.”
He also discussed how hard it was to get into the music industry and the challenges of breaking into it “I wasn’t allowed to take GCSE in music, I was banned from taking art, I was told I was the cancer of the class. I was given a ceiling, still at 40-something people try and put a ceiling on what you are about it, and what you can achieve or what you should aim for. And that’s what we’re fighting against. I would say to anyone picking up an instrument, or writing music. Don't stand out in the rain and let some mug tell you what you should be doing, you take control of your own destiny, and now's the time to form your own record company, put your own music out, and if you wanna go mainstream and you wanna go sign a one album deal with someone so be it.”
Phil Clifton has the full interview with Richard Ashcraft on Radio X tonight from 7pm.
