ANGUS LEGG
Something of a late bloomer, Angus Legg hadn’t made the decision to become a professional musician until November of last year. A trip to Europe, a lot of expenditures and a worldly insight was what he needed to come to this decision.
“Then [in Europe] I realised that there wasn’t much else I wanted to do but music. I can’t see myself ever giving up music. I’m giving it a whirl, working on my EP, and just having a great time,” Angus tells The Real Songwriters of Melbourne.
No stranger to music nor Europe, Angus was born and raised in England to musician parents, and only moved to Australia at the age of eight. Despite being surrounded by music from birth, it wasn’t until his arrival in Australia that he began playing an instrument, falling in love with the drums.
“My parents travelled around Europe a lot and I always went with them. I took up drums once I got to Australia and played in different bands for a while. Eventually I picked up the guitar- which was inevitable because both of my parents played it. I then started singing, but it took me so long to sing in front of other people. Nowadays, it’s almost where I feel most comfortable.”
Even with years of playing and performing under his belt, Angus didn’t begin to drabble in song writing until a couple of years ago. “I’d write things but I guess song writing was something that never really crossed my mind as something I was going to do. I used to just play covers,” Angus admits. Recently building on his abilities; however, Angus is in the process of recording his debut EP- consisting entirely of original tracks.
“Five originals on the EP, and it’s been a totally new experience from me. We’re still only halfway through recording, but I’ve learnt more in the last three to four weeks doing this about the industry and the way things work than I have the entire time I’ve been doing music.
Keen to release the EP, Angus says the process of it has been one of the biggest highlights of his career so far, and has plans to celebrate its release in style.
“Doing the EP has been an absolute highlight. I used to have no confidence with what I was doing when it came to music, I just did it to earn a little bit of extra money. As you grow as an artist, your confidence grows. There’ll be a single launch to begin with and a big campaign, loads of plans in mind. I’m going to put my heart and soul into it so I hope it goes really well.”
Whether it’s a result of his recent acquisition of song writing skills, or simply the musician he is, Angus admits that the songs he writes are ones he can always relate back to himself (“I can’t write about just anything, but I feel like they’re things a lot of other people can relate to as well”), and that he always starts his song writing process with the melody.
“I always start with melody first. I work out what I want to write about, create a melody to fit that, and then let the words come. There’s a method to the madness, I couldn’t tell you why, but it’s just how my brain works. I think every musician can agree that everyone has a certain way they write a song. Unfortunately, melodies can always start off so similar, but then you find variations. The more you do it, the better you get at it and the more creative you can get. It’s all about being creative.”
He may be particular about how he writes his songs, and what he writes about, but Angus admits he’s had great difficulty in determining just what genre his music fits into. With influences such as Ed Sheeran, John Mayer and Jason Mraz, there is a singer-song writer element.
“It has some folky elements, and some synthetic pop undertones also. As for Ed Sheeran, I can play pretty much his entire discography- but it’s not much help at your own gigs.”
And as for his number one goal in the music industry… “I just want to be able to support myself with my music, and continue to travel.”
Angus is one of the featuring artists at The Real Songwriters of Melbourne Live Show #5 on July 22 at Wick Studios. You can find more information about the show here.
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Written by Jordyn Hoekstra