PRODUCTION

Connor Hodgson interview.At the age of sixteen Connor Hodgson has already taken a band that was falling apart and created them in to the success that they are today as Hodgson and the plant. As lead singer and guitarist Connor leads the band writing and creating his own music, he talks about his love for music and the struggle of keeping the band together as they one by one head on out in to the real world to pursue other careers and head to university. No matter where the band goes from here it’s clear he will always be around to perform and get his music out there even as a solo artist, which will be no problem for him as he is a very confident performer who loves the attention it brings him. How did the name Hodgson and the plant come about? It came originally from a visit to Germany there was a woman that I met there and she just loved green and plants and stuff, and it just came from there really it was quite complicated the way it came about I couldn’t really think of another name and that was the only inspiration. Who are your musical influences? One of my influences would be Johnny Brahe from Razor light because that’s mainly from the first concert I went to was to see razor light and he was someone who really inspired me even though I wasn’t really in to music at the point particularly but my most, even from historical music influences would be John Lennon, a lot of people would say the Beatles but for me particularly John Lennon because I’ve read a lot about him and seen like documentaries and stuff, and that was like real inspiration. How did all of the members in your band meet? Well the other three in the band, where in a band called the dead teddies and they split up, and I was just writing some music just like acoustic music that I originally wrote and I knew them already from previous bands, and knew that they could play pretty well so I just asked if they would play a gig with me and they did and it all sort of went from there really. When did you all meet? It would have been; well the bassist I’ve known since primary school but I didn’t really know he played music till around year 9 so we went from there, but I’ve only really known the other two only for a couple of years, were getting on quite well and it’s all going pretty good. Tell me what was your favourite gig you have ever played? My favourite would probably be, we supported a local band Alexis blue for there farewell gig and we got quite a lot of people there because they were well known so we were like the second headliner and it went really well and we got a lot of support and just playing in the masque is pretty good anyway. Which is the best venue you have performed at? It would probably be the masque in Liverpool or the Zanzibar, but I don’t particularly like the Zanzibar because it’s expensive, you get ripped off as bands you don’t get anything what so ever from it you sought of lose money really but the sound there’s brilliant, and it’s a really good experience to play there and to be honest quite big bands have played there anyway so to play there it’s a good thing. Where does your band hope to be in two years time? Well depending on how things go with; like of course Uni’s a big obstacle in the way of a lot of young bands, and if you have got people in the band who want to go to university in the band, then obviously the band is going to go its separate ways, you know if you have got people who want to go to university then obviously the band sort of goes it's separate ways, so like say if one of your players wants to go to Manchester or go to Bristol and stuff like that then it makes it quite awkward yer not going to be able to play gigs, so its going to be a tough decision really, it might mean having to go on my own solo but I do hope in two years time I would have left school by then and hopefully things will be really looking up. How long have you been performing? Actually not that long, I've always been in to music and singing and stuff as a kid pretending your playing the violin on a coat hanger, I've always been in to music but performance wise I've literally been playing since year 9 really, started playing drums and the didn’t have many other drummers in my other school so I got a lot of opportunities from there and that sought of just inspired me to play other instruments and now I just love performing and ill take anything really. What is the message you are trying to convey in your music? Me personally I like to see it as music isn’t all yano rock n roll and drugs, as well as trying to take people away from the whole stereotype of drugs and drink at the gigs and before gigs I’d like to think that people can see music as; its hard to say like not just trying to go on any show, just pick up any other opportunity you get, trying to work hard its not all MySpace and face book you've gotta try and knock on people's doors and stuff because it is a really hard industry to break in to. What made you go from drummer to lead singer and guitarist?        Well, a lot of people say they don't like it but I like the attention, I like being in the centre of attention and it might be a bad try out for some people but I particularly like it and I think being a drummer for me just didn’t really give me that oomph that I wanted, at the back people were looking at the lead guitarist and not me and I think in the music industry you have got to be selfish and you've got to make big decisions if you want to get anywhere, I think that I’m destined to play the guitar and be at the front and not playing drums. What is the inspiration for your songs? Well its a mixture of things really it can go from just little gangs, yano scally gangs and knife crime to love and just some random things, like I have wrote a few song's lately, suttle songs about love and stuff like that just to make it a bit more clever and my lyrics have really developed since I've started playing and singing and not drumming. What is your opinion on programme’s like the X factor? Me particularly, I mean I watch them and I think most people do even if your a successful musician you've got to appreciate the acts that come out of it, obviously there not particularly ones that I’d listen to like JLS but you've really got to make a note of how successful they have become but I don’t really particularly like it because I think that the judges on their, there not exactly experienced musicians obviously one of them is well known in the music industry like Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh but other shows like must be the music which is on sky one they've got like Dizzy Rascal and Jamie Cullen whoever he is, and that's more if they sing and act good not if they look good and it's better. I heard that you auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent how far did you get? Yeah didn’t think you'd mention that, well I watched the; it must have been 2008 final and id started playing and it got quite a lot of good feedback, and I seen I think it was diversity that won it and just saw how anyone can sought of win it you never really expect this big dance group to win and stuff, so I thought oh ill just go for it so I applied for it that day or that night diversity won it and got an email or a ring back saying oh yeah you've got an audition in Manchester, went all the way up there and played for a producer in a room with camera and they took a picture of you before you went on there and they said if you get through or not we will send you a letter, I didn’t actually get a letter so I’m still calling it as I did get through and it got lost in the post. How was the experience for you? It was good because yano its good and bad it didn’t hurt me as much because I didn’t get a letter at all, I didn’t get anything to say basically you didn’t get through yeah not good enough and I didn’t get one saying you are good enough, but I sought of see it as you've just got to; and I’m not one to think like destiny and stuff like that but I do think its made me better. Thank you very much.