ENTERING ‘THE SCUNNY-VERSE’: WILL PARKER SPEAKS ON HIS DEBUT EP AND CONNECTING WITH HIS ROOTS.

INTERVIEW | WILL PARKER by Jasmin Savage

From blue-collar shifts to stardom in such a short space of time, life has changed in quite a special way for Will Parker. After releasing three heartfelt singles, including ‘Be Back Tomorrow’, the 21 year old singer-songwriter officially brings us his debut EP, Same Old Paradise. I had the pleasure to chat with Will on release day, and dive deeper into the fuel behind the music.

Firstly, your debut EP came out today – tell me a little bit about that. Why Same Old Paradise?

I’ve been working on the EP for the past, say, 18 months. I feel like it was quite important for me to know what I wanted to say, and that took me a bit of time to figure out. But I feel like once I started to get a selection of songs, it became quite clear that they all felt related to home.

I was trying to find the right way of wording the feeling. If you asked someone from Scunthorpe what it was like they would very quickly shoot it down or say something negative about it, but then I probably would’ve been the same a couple years ago. Even if most people think it’s not the nicest place, there’s beauty in the comfort of coming back. Like, it’s the same old place, but at the same time it’s paradise, and it felt fitting for the theme of the whole project.

You have quite a strong connection to your hometown. Was that the main inspiration for your EP?

Yeah. Specifically, that time away from here made me appreciate it so much more, and bringing other people to Scunthorpe from London has been interesting. Even just showing them the steel works over Ashby Ville, they were like “this is insane”, but to me, I just saw it everyday. It made me appreciate my home even more seeing people that have never seen it just, like, love it.

The last 18 months of my life have been so back and forth from London and working on music, or Manchester and doing a year at uni there, so it was sort of just bouncing around everywhere. With all that in such a short space of time, it just felt like the right thing to do, especially for my first project, while I’m still at home as much as I can be as well.

What would you say your 3 favourite things about Scunthorpe are?

That is a great question… I love how we’re surrounded by so many villages – that it’s just a small town with so many fields. I feel like you really miss that when you’re in a city. 

Obviously, my family and friends. When I come home, it’s just making the most of that time with them. It’s your roots, innit? And they’re the people that ain’t going anywhere. 

Err, what else? I like driving around Scunny. It’s so much nicer driving somewhere I know. I’m not good at city driving, so I do like driving around. Probably not the answer you were expecting.

You’ve lived a bit of a double life. You came from working at a building site, and then went viral. How did that go? Do you miss working there?

I came back home after uni and was trying to balance working to be able to fund as much into music as possible. It was a weird time of one week being on site, because it was quite tiring physically but not mentally. Whereas I feel like music is quite the other way around. It’s almost, not even two lives, but like two mindsets as well, because they were so different. But then I guess those times are what makes me appreciate now and being able to put everything into music being my full focus.

I do miss spending more time with my dad and my family, that sort of side of it is really nice, and it’s sociable. It is nice being on site and just having a laugh. Also, the exercise from it. You always feel quite good if you’re constantly physically active everyday. I don’t miss December, being like 7 or 8 in the morning and it’s freezing cold, trying to ram glove hand warmers to keep me warm.

Living in a time where everything is advertised on social media, have you found it difficult to juggle making music and creating content?

Yes and no. It’s taken me a bit of time to become confident. When I chat to my mates, they say “you look so confident, but I bet you’re proper nervous”. In their heads they must think that I’m shitting myself, because I’ve never been one for being in front of a camera, that’s just never really been me. I enjoy the more chill content where it feels quite intimate, and just being able to play the songs, but all the content has been great. It’s been really fun to work with Jackson and bring the visuals to life that compliment the music, and work with other people to create this world which they like to call ‘The Scunny-verse’. Which I like, I think that’s funny. 

Which track off the EP is your favourite? And which are you most proud of?

‘Some Kind Of Love’. There’s a bit of anger, but also this vulnerability in parts of it. It’s also so fun to play live. That’s my favourite… at the moment.

I’d say I’m most proud of ‘Wool’ – that was the first song I wrote where I felt like I talked about something quite vulnerable, and that made me believe that I could write about personal things. Also, the song itself has been on such a journey. There’s been so many versions of that song to get it in the place that it’s at and be happy with it. 

Who were you inspired by when creating your style of music?

I love Paolo Nutini and Hozier, and the darker sort of tones; but also the emotion of Lewis Capaldi; but then Sam Fender, bringing in the strings, and the horns, and that quite anthemic feel. I feel like there’s definitely a lot of influences from a lot of places, but I’ve really tried to find that blend of influences that makes me – and I’m still trying to find that – but it’s been really fun trying to play with all the influences and finding that balance of where I sit. 

If you could describe your music in three words, how would you describe it?

Emotional. Dynamic. Moody

How does it feel to have such a great sense of community within your hometown?

It’s amazing to have that local support and people receiving the songs well. Even just the little things like going to The Food Warehouse. I was at the till and the woman behind the till said “I love your music” and that’s just so nice to have that local community really getting behind it. That’s all I can really ask for right?

We had a gig at The Beckwood which is my local pub, and at the time there was only one song out and people knew every lyric. That was the first time people were singing the songs back which was special. That’s the sort of thing I wanted. I’ve never really set goals like “I want to play this stage and this place”. I want people to be singing songs that I’ve written because it means something to me but also because it means something to them. 

You sold out your headline show in Scunthorpe – are you proud?

Yeah, crazy. A really amazing moment for me. From 16 when we were trying to make our way as a band, it was obviously so hard, but Cafe Indie gave us so many opportunities and had a really big part in youth music development. I think for a place like Scunthorpe, we’ve not got the biggest music scene. I’ve been there so many times supporting people, or even just going to see bands and artists. This place has just had such a massive impact on my career up to this point. It was just a really nice moment to then sell it out. I’m really excited for Cafe Indie to see if people know more than just ‘Mindless State’.

There’s still tickets left for Manchester, right?

Yeah, there’s still some tickets left for that. It’s going to be an amazing night. I love Deaf Institute. It’s a venue that me and my guitarist walked past when we were in Manchester living there. I still remember him saying to me “that’s where we need to play”, and we’ve obviously been lucky enough to play two gigs there supporting some great artists, so it’s really nice to have a headline show there as well.

Same Old Mistakes, the debut EP by Will Parker: OUT NOW!

See Will Parker live on his headline tour. Scunthorpe sold out weeks before the EP dropped, but there’s still time to secure your spot for Manchester: tickets here.

September

29th Scunthorpe, Cafe Independent SOLD OUT

30th Manchester, Deaf Institute (The Lodge)