Music Q&A: Argh Kid

What informs your music and songwriting?
Storytelling. Either my own experiences or people I know or grew up with. I’m also a real geek when it comes to the craft of writing. I love playing around with words, twisting their meanings, sounds, rhyme schemes, etc. The first thing I do when I hear a new record is to decipher the lyrics. I love artists whose work has multiple understandings. That for me is what makes real art: when it can mean something completely different to every listener. Musically, I’m not informed by the modern because I think by chasing what’s on trend it will be dated by the time you finish it – and why would anyone want to follow another’s blueprint? I’ve an eclectic music taste so there’s no one genre or artist I look to. It sounds selfish but everything I make has to answer only one question in the affirmative: would I listen to this?

How have you evolved as an artist over the years?
I’ve stopped giving a toss about how things are received, whether as a poet or musician. No one has any control on how – or if – their art will find a home. I think, at least from personal experience, that fear can be really stifling. I read a book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and I now I don’t. It’s really liberating to not have fear, in all walks of life. I implore everyone to read that book. I’ve evolved by working with more artists and producers and being a sponge in the studio to techniques or just vibing off others to how they get their ideas. I’m pretty restless so it’s hard not to grow. Once one project is finished it’s on to the next one. No looking in the rear view.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
At the moment I’m in Blueprint Studio creating tracks for my album which is out in March. There’s a few other things going on the background that I’m not able to say but 90 per cent of my time is spent writing and recording the album.

What’s on your rider?
Corona. Lemons.

Tell us your most embarrassing or surreal experience.
The most bizarre experience I’ve had to date was meeting Jackie Chan in a Manchester nightclub. That I was the only person who could see him through my hallucinogen-tinted glasses was surreal, mainly for the people around me. He was proper funny though.

What song do you wish you’d written?
Just in terms of wordplay and rhyme scheme there is nothing more impressive than Eminem’s Lose Yourself. I would ask anyone doubting this, whether they like hip-hop or Eminem or not – watch any YouTube video deconstructing that song. It’s insane. Then at the other end of the spectrum there’s Please, Please, Please by The Smith – so few words that says so much.

What’s your worst lyric?
Unpublished.