FAULT Magazine in conversation with Welshy

Despite being new to the scene, Welshy is soon becoming one of the most promising new talents out there. His debut single ‘Haiti’ was highly acclaimed both by critics and listeners, amassing over 8 million streams and being included in some of the hottest playlists out there.

His recent single ‘All for You’ saw the artist take his music to the next level, and with the new music video out today, we caught up with Welshy to find out more!

You can hear the influence of many different genres of music in your work, where do you commonly look to find inspiration?

That’s a really tough question because there isn’t a specific place I look to in order to find inspiration; wherever I can, I try my best to listen to music that’s as far away as possible to what I create and hope there is something in there that sparks inspiration or if there are any elements/ideas I can incorporate into my music. That could mean me listening through various Spotify & Apple Music playlists, going down a YouTube rabbit hole or going through my music collection at home. I find the wider the spectrum of music I listen to from as many genres as I can, the more inspired I get. The beauty of producing music is it’s always a blank canvas, and you have full control of what you put on the canvas!

With the runaway success of Haiti setting the bar so high, do you ever feel pressured to match that energy with later releases?

If I’m honest, not really. As long as I’m making music that people enjoy, I’m happy, and it could be 5,000,000 or 5 people; once it has an impact on at least one other person and they enjoy it, that’s the main thing for me.

How has your upbringing in Ireland impacted your musical journey?

I wish I had a better story for this question; that I grew up playing traditional Irish instruments, unfortunately, that’s not the case. That being said, my Mam and Dad would have always had great music playing in the house or in the car if we were off as a family somewhere. Mam loves slow kinds of ballads, and my Dad is a big fan of the 80s and 90s dance, so there was a wide variety of music always playing in the house. I’d like to think I got some of my musical taste off them.

You produced All For You back in October and waited until it was perfect before releasing; in general, are you quite patient with your creativity, or do you struggle keeping music under wraps for so long?

I’d like to think I’m extremely patient with my creativity. I never like to rush anything as my first instinct if whatever I rushed fails or doesn’t do what I wanted it to do would be “I wish I spent a little longer on this”. The best things come to those who wait.

What would you say has been your hardest creative hurdle to overcome?

That’s a tough question as I overcome obstacles in my music every day. I think writer’s block is definitely the hardest hurdle I had to overcome, but I found the solution that works for me. Whenever I experience writer’s block or no ideas are flowing in the studio, I simply just turn off the computer and do something as far away from music as possible; I find if I try to force something, it either never works or turns out crap. Take a break, get some fresh air, go for a walk, play some sport or catch up with some friends are all good remedies for writer’s block.

Do you make long term plans with your music career, or do you prefer to go with the flow?

That’s a bit of both with me, I love a good plan, but I always do like to go with the flow if something is working. It kind of depends on the situation, really.

What’s something people might be surprised to find out about you?

I wish I had a really cool, mysterious answer to this, but unfortunately, I don’t, lol. Maybe that I still play hurling for my local hurling club not really that surprising though!

What’s your biggest fear as it pertains to your music?

I don’t really have that many fears with my music (I don’t think). I think my biggest fear with my music would probably be if I ever stopped doing it for the love of it, and money and accolades were the driving force, I made a deal with myself. If that ever happened, I’d stop making music.

What is your FAULT?

I have honestly too many to list. It would be an extremely long list. Overthinking and worrying is definitely up there, but I think they also can be a good thing cause it shows you care about something. I love the quote perfection is found in accepting your imperfections.