Lydia Reddy | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: That is Turn This Town Around, the debut single from Lydia.

0:03 Speaker 1: Ready here and this is Matt Connorton Unleashed. We are

0:06 Speaker 1: live from the studios of w m n H ninety

0:09 Speaker 1: five point three FM and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire, and

0:12 Speaker 1: of course you can stream the show from anywhere Matt

0:14 Speaker 1: connorton dot com. Slash Live. Jenny is here as well,

0:17 Speaker 1: of course and joining us via Microsoft Teams. Let's see Lydia.

0:22 Speaker 1: Are you there? Yes, Amia, Hello, Hey, welcome to the program.

0:26 Speaker 1: Good to speak with you.

0:27 Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

0:28 Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely so. I love that song, very very catchy.

0:32 Speaker 1: Of course, turn This Town Around. And this is your

0:34 Speaker 1: debut single, correct, Yes, it is very good. And where

0:39 Speaker 1: are you from.

0:41 Speaker 2: I'm from Blackburn in England.

0:43 Speaker 1: Okay, wonderful. Yeah no, there's there's so much great music

0:47 Speaker 1: coming out of that part of the world and I'm

0:50 Speaker 1: curious too. So this is are you? I was listening

0:55 Speaker 1: to a podcast of you being interviewed on another show. Now,

0:58 Speaker 1: are you currently in school as well? Are you in college? Yeah?

1:02 Speaker 2: I'm in college but we've just started some holidays.

1:04 Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, very good. So you've got a lot

1:07 Speaker 1: going on, You're you're obviously very busy, uh, you know,

1:10 Speaker 1: with your education and the music career.

1:13 Speaker 2: Yeah.

1:14 Speaker 1: Uh, but it's cool that, uh, you know, you come

1:16 Speaker 1: out of the gate with a very strong track, and

1:19 Speaker 1: like I said, it's very catchy. But I also I'm

1:21 Speaker 1: curious to know more about the lyrics because you know,

1:24 Speaker 1: the first time when we first got this song, I

1:26 Speaker 1: was listening to it, it's like, oh yeah, it's really catchy,

1:28 Speaker 1: it's fun and whatnot. But then the second time I

1:30 Speaker 1: listened to it, I was paying a little bit more

1:31 Speaker 1: attention to the lyrics, and it sounds like there's there's

1:33 Speaker 1: a deeper meaning to this, you know, and you're expressing

1:36 Speaker 1: some some concern about things. And I wanted to ask

1:40 Speaker 1: you about about what the song really means because I

1:43 Speaker 1: I kind of feel like it might not necessarily mean

1:46 Speaker 1: what I thought it meant the first time I listened

1:48 Speaker 1: to it. If that makes sense, Yeah, okay, So the song.

1:54 Speaker 2: Is about making a difference.

1:56 Speaker 3: The sound that you hear about in the chorus is

1:59 Speaker 3: actually a metaphorical sound. It's kind of a call to action,

2:04 Speaker 3: and it's pretty much shay in stop how you live

2:06 Speaker 3: your day to day life and try to live in

2:08 Speaker 3: a way that will help the earth rather than hinder it.

2:11 Speaker 2: So that's kind of the message behind the song.

2:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that, and I like that very much

2:16 Speaker 1: and when you say that too. But so when you

2:18 Speaker 1: say help the earth, do you mean in a general

2:22 Speaker 1: sense in terms of what you put out into the world.

2:24 Speaker 1: Are you talking specifically environmentally or maybe both or maybe

2:28 Speaker 1: a myriad of things. I don't know, Like when you

2:31 Speaker 1: expand on that if you would a little bit like

2:33 Speaker 1: when you talk about helping the earth.

2:35 Speaker 3: Yeah, So when I originally wrote the song, I had

2:38 Speaker 3: the idea of, like the lyrics, lights of blurring into

2:41 Speaker 3: one and our eyes are blinded. That's kind of the

2:45 Speaker 3: lights are lights from all this technology around us, and

2:48 Speaker 3: our eyes are being blinded because of that to the

2:52 Speaker 3: bigger impacts that living in this way has on the earth.

2:55 Speaker 3: So it is mostly environmental, but it's also thinking about

2:58 Speaker 3: how you can change in ways that you may not

3:00 Speaker 3: think will affect the environment, and just become more knowledgeable

3:04 Speaker 3: about the earth in general and what's harm in it.

3:07 Speaker 1: What I think is interesting about that is because that's

3:10 Speaker 1: a pretty serious message, but it's a fun, catchy song

3:13 Speaker 1: and I I feel like that's that's a pretty effective way. Historically,

3:19 Speaker 1: you see this in music where uh, if you can,

3:23 Speaker 1: it's almost a trojan horse because maybe somebody, maybe somebody

3:26 Speaker 1: thinks they don't want to hear a serious, important message,

3:30 Speaker 1: but then they hear a song that is catchy and

3:33 Speaker 1: kind of infectious, and so they're getting the message without

3:36 Speaker 1: realizing that they're getting the message, and they're you know,

3:40 Speaker 1: sometimes you'll you'll hear you'll hear something that's kind of fun,

3:44 Speaker 1: but but there's there's a serious message in there, and

3:47 Speaker 1: and so by by it's sort of a I think,

3:50 Speaker 1: an effective delivery system for getting someone's attention and saying, hey,

3:53 Speaker 1: here's something I want you to think about. It's in

3:56 Speaker 1: It's in a package that's gonna get stuck in your head.

3:58 Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna once you hear the song, you're

4:01 Speaker 1: going to be playing it over and over in your

4:02 Speaker 1: mind because it's so catchy. But there's some pretty important

4:05 Speaker 1: information here that you're also getting, if only on a

4:08 Speaker 1: subconscious level. Right, I mean, is that is that kind

4:11 Speaker 1: of your approach to creating a song like this, or

4:13 Speaker 1: you're going into it thinking, Okay, I've got I've got

4:15 Speaker 1: something important to say here, but I'm going to deliver

4:18 Speaker 1: it in a way that people are going to be

4:19 Speaker 1: open to receiving it.

4:22 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's very much far, I thought, because I'm thinking, Yeah,

4:26 Speaker 3: like you said, there's a lot of times if you

4:27 Speaker 3: think it's just going to be all serious and you're

4:29 Speaker 3: not going to want to listen to it. So I thought,

4:31 Speaker 3: how can I make this is a perfect mix between

4:33 Speaker 3: being catchy being something that kind of make it so

4:36 Speaker 3: you want to know more, which is why I kind

4:38 Speaker 3: of did the whole what's that sound?

4:40 Speaker 2: You never really know, you never get the answer.

4:42 Speaker 3: It makes you want to find out more, which would

4:44 Speaker 3: hopefully help the listener then want to engage in health

4:47 Speaker 3: in the earth more because they've had to kind of

4:50 Speaker 3: work to find out what the answer is in a way.

4:52 Speaker 1: Mm hmmmmm. No, I like that. Now, what's what's your

4:56 Speaker 1: long term plan? Because I'm curious, obviously this is your

4:59 Speaker 1: day you single? Do you intend to release more singles?

5:03 Speaker 1: Do you are are you thinking about doing an EP

5:05 Speaker 1: or on an album or are you just kind of

5:07 Speaker 1: focused on the moment with turning this down around.

5:12 Speaker 3: So I have got other songs that are going to

5:14 Speaker 3: be recorded. I'm actually in the recording studio next Tuesday

5:19 Speaker 3: and Wednesday, and I'm recording content for my upcoming single

5:23 Speaker 3: the Way We're Rolling on Monday. So I've currently recorded

5:29 Speaker 3: fight No I've currently recorded for including the one that's

5:31 Speaker 3: already out. So I'm going into a come fifth. Okay,

5:34 Speaker 3: it's going to be a five track EP that comes out.

5:37 Speaker 3: That's going to be my debut EP. There'll be three

5:40 Speaker 3: single singles on that and then two that come out separately,

5:44 Speaker 3: and then following that, I've got this big idea I'm

5:47 Speaker 3: going to do kind of the Elements is EPs.

5:50 Speaker 2: So Fire, Earth, Water, and Air.

5:53 Speaker 3: Then, for example, Fire is going to be all my rocky,

5:56 Speaker 3: angry songs. Water is going to be my sad songs,

5:59 Speaker 3: and Earth is kind of going to be my kind

6:02 Speaker 3: of togetherness songs, and I have got some more songs

6:06 Speaker 3: about the Earth and that kind of thing.

6:08 Speaker 2: And then Air, I'm not sure it'll be calm without

6:10 Speaker 2: being sad.

6:11 Speaker 3: Yeah, and then I'm gonna put them all into an

6:13 Speaker 3: album with a few extra tracks called in My Element.

6:17 Speaker 1: Very cool. So yeah, So when I asked you that question,

6:19 Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know if you know, like

6:21 Speaker 1: I said, because you're you're kind of just just starting

6:24 Speaker 1: out with this, and plus you're you're also getting an education,

6:28 Speaker 1: so I didn't know if maybe you were just gonna

6:30 Speaker 1: be like, oh no, you know, just kind of feeling

6:32 Speaker 1: my way through it. But it turns out you've got

6:33 Speaker 1: a whole You've got a whole plan, which I think

6:35 Speaker 1: is great. And I think that that level of planning

6:39 Speaker 1: is going to really help you succeed, you know, because

6:42 Speaker 1: so many people and creative people, we tend to do this,

6:45 Speaker 1: will will kind of throw some things against the wall

6:47 Speaker 1: and see what sticks and just kind of try to

6:50 Speaker 1: kind of feel our way through it. But but I

6:53 Speaker 1: think to succeed in the music industry, it really helps

6:56 Speaker 1: if you actually have a plan, and you clearly have

6:59 Speaker 1: a plan, So I think that's I think that's fantastic.

7:03 Speaker 1: Do you know, I mean, do you have an ETA

7:05 Speaker 1: And maybe you mentioned it in there and I didn't

7:07 Speaker 1: catch it, but do you know, like when we'll see

7:10 Speaker 1: the next or hear the next the next bit of

7:12 Speaker 1: music that you put out.

7:15 Speaker 3: Yes, So originally I had said I'll do it exactly

7:19 Speaker 3: two months after the first song, but then I thought

7:22 Speaker 3: that's in.

7:22 Speaker 2: The middle of the summer holidays, so no one will

7:24 Speaker 2: listen to it.

7:25 Speaker 3: So I'm going to release it the first week that

7:27 Speaker 3: I go back to college, which is I'm not sure

7:30 Speaker 3: on the day, but it's the week commencing.

7:32 Speaker 2: I don't know, it's around the first September. It's that week.

7:35 Speaker 2: I go back to college on the fourth of.

7:36 Speaker 3: September, gotcha, So I'll probably release it on the fifth

7:39 Speaker 3: because that's the friday. I go back on the Thursday,

7:42 Speaker 3: So that'll be.

7:43 Speaker 2: My next song.

7:43 Speaker 3: It's a similar kind of vibe, but most people have

7:46 Speaker 3: played it to actually prefer it to the first one,

7:48 Speaker 3: so hopefully everyone likes that one.

7:51 Speaker 2: Cool, and then I'm just going to try to do

7:53 Speaker 2: them every two months until.

7:56 Speaker 3: So for my next year, on my eighteenth birthday, instead

8:00 Speaker 3: of having a big party or anything, I'm going to

8:03 Speaker 3: put on a gig, a headline one in Manchester because

8:06 Speaker 3: that's the nearest city to where I live.

8:08 Speaker 2: Okay, and yeah, I'm hoping to.

8:11 Speaker 3: Have my first EP out and on the merch Es

8:13 Speaker 3: by then, so everything will definitely be out by next April,

8:17 Speaker 3: probably with a few from the next EP as well.

8:19 Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. Yeah, you really do have a plan. That's

8:21 Speaker 1: that's excellent. I'm curious, by the way, what's your major?

8:24 Speaker 1: Is it anything music related or performance related?

8:28 Speaker 2: Yeah?

8:28 Speaker 3: So I'm currently doing two A levels and a B Tech.

8:31 Speaker 3: I'm not sure if you do them in America, but

8:35 Speaker 3: A levels I'm doing English language and psychology, and then

8:39 Speaker 3: for my B Tech I'm doing music performance.

8:43 Speaker 1: Okay, so it sounds like what what we would call

8:45 Speaker 1: in America. That's you know, one is your major and

8:48 Speaker 1: the other is your minor. So you're so you're you're

8:50 Speaker 1: majoring and what did you say it was?

8:52 Speaker 2: Again, it's not it's not really like that.

8:54 Speaker 3: You just kind of do the three and then it's

8:56 Speaker 3: at university you specialize in something.

8:58 Speaker 1: Oh, I see it.

9:00 Speaker 2: College it's all a bit different.

9:01 Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm kind.

9:04 Speaker 3: Of doing all three equally. Oh when I got to

9:07 Speaker 3: the university. I'll start university next year. So this time

9:10 Speaker 3: next year, I'll be getting ready to go and I'm

9:12 Speaker 3: hoping to go on to do PR and journalism.

9:15 Speaker 1: Oh good, good, Okay, I get it. Okay, very cool,

9:17 Speaker 1: very cool. That's that's excellent. Yeah. Yeah, And now in

9:20 Speaker 1: terms of recording, uh, where did you where did you record?

9:24 Speaker 1: Turn this town around? Because again, we live in an

9:27 Speaker 1: era where you know you can you can record in

9:31 Speaker 1: so many different ways. As I know just from talking

9:34 Speaker 1: to other guests who we've had from over there, that there's,

9:38 Speaker 1: you know, no shortage of recording studios, just like in

9:40 Speaker 1: America there's there's recording studios you can or you can

9:42 Speaker 1: record at home, or you can do it. You know,

9:44 Speaker 1: you can send tracks back and forth with somebody. How

9:47 Speaker 1: did you record Turn This Town Around?

9:50 Speaker 2: So?

9:50 Speaker 3: Turn This Town Around was recorded at Clubhouse Studio. When

9:55 Speaker 3: I actually recorded turnis Town Around, they were in the

9:59 Speaker 3: process of move into a new studio space, so at

10:02 Speaker 3: that time they didn't have a permanent studio, so we

10:04 Speaker 3: actually recorded it in they're called Imogen and James. We

10:08 Speaker 3: recorded it in a shed in their back garden. That

10:10 Speaker 3: was their temporary studio. Oh wow, but she'd never know

10:13 Speaker 3: because you hear that compared to the other songs I've

10:15 Speaker 3: got from them, and they all sound the same. Yeah,

10:18 Speaker 3: but yeah, we recorded that one in a shed, But

10:20 Speaker 3: then the other ones they've got their permanent place now

10:23 Speaker 3: in Blackburn.

10:24 Speaker 2: It's absolutely incredible.

10:26 Speaker 3: They've got the studio that they run, and then they're

10:28 Speaker 3: also hiring out another little space to another recording engineer.

10:33 Speaker 3: That the people who have recorded all of my brother's

10:35 Speaker 3: songs in the past for years and years now, so

10:38 Speaker 3: we know them really well and they're really good at

10:40 Speaker 3: what they do.

10:41 Speaker 1: Now, I didn't want to ask about your brother too,

10:43 Speaker 1: because I was listening to a podcast that you were

10:46 Speaker 1: on and you were talking about your brother. And it's

10:47 Speaker 1: funny because when the subject first came up, my first

10:51 Speaker 1: thought was, and I don't know if I'm the first

10:53 Speaker 1: one to ever say this to you, but my first

10:55 Speaker 1: thought was, oh, is this a Billie Eilish kind of

10:57 Speaker 1: thing where your brother, you know, does a lot of

10:59 Speaker 1: the production in places, the instruments and whatnot. But but

11:01 Speaker 1: I but actually, but then listening to it further, it

11:03 Speaker 1: sounds like you work separately, right or maybe not? Is

11:07 Speaker 1: he involved? Is he directly involved in anything that you're

11:09 Speaker 1: doing musically?

11:11 Speaker 3: So we don't write the songs together. But he is

11:14 Speaker 3: a better guitarist than me. He can play bass, he

11:16 Speaker 3: can do pretty much any instrument. He's a little bit

11:18 Speaker 3: better than me. So he goes the recorded studio and

11:21 Speaker 3: always records the instruments for me, just apart from the drums.

11:26 Speaker 3: We have James who worked at the studio or he's

11:29 Speaker 3: a professional drummer, so he always puts the drums on

11:31 Speaker 3: my track.

11:32 Speaker 1: Is it helpful having having your brother involved in the

11:36 Speaker 1: sense that because your siblings, you know, sometimes siblings have

11:39 Speaker 1: kind of a an intuitive connection when it comes to music.

11:44 Speaker 1: I mean, do you do you find that with him? Like, like,

11:47 Speaker 1: if you're trying to convey an idea to him, is

11:50 Speaker 1: it is it easy for him to get it because

11:52 Speaker 1: he's already kind of thinking, you're kind of thinking on

11:54 Speaker 1: that same wave length.

11:57 Speaker 2: It usually is quite easy.

11:58 Speaker 3: I'll just kind of sometime I'll have something in my head,

12:01 Speaker 3: and it's the same with some of my mates who

12:03 Speaker 3: are musicians.

12:04 Speaker 2: I'll go, right, I want it stud like this, do

12:06 Speaker 2: do do? Do?

12:06 Speaker 1: Do? Do do do?

12:07 Speaker 2: And then they just play it on guitar and I'm like,

12:09 Speaker 2: how did you do that? I can only play chords?

12:11 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I know what I mean. But yeah, no,

12:15 Speaker 1: that that's great though. That that now does he also

12:18 Speaker 1: he also does his own music, correct, he does?

12:20 Speaker 2: Yes?

12:21 Speaker 1: Yeah? What kind of music does he do? Is it

12:22 Speaker 1: more of a kind of a rock thing or what?

12:26 Speaker 3: So for years he's been doing kind of indie pop rock.

12:29 Speaker 3: But he's started university last year. So what he's done

12:34 Speaker 3: is he's kind of taken a year off music properly

12:36 Speaker 3: just to kind of get into UNI. But now he's

12:38 Speaker 3: got two years left at you and he INDI's properly

12:41 Speaker 3: going for.

12:41 Speaker 2: His music again.

12:43 Speaker 3: He's on a music management court and he's got the

12:45 Speaker 3: opportunity to manage himself so he can do a lot

12:47 Speaker 3: of it during his class time as well. So he's

12:51 Speaker 3: decided to do a new vibe of music because he's

12:53 Speaker 3: always kind of liked his songs, but it's never been.

12:54 Speaker 2: The kind of thing he'd listened to.

12:56 Speaker 3: He was trying to appeal to an audience, but now

12:58 Speaker 3: he's decided to write the stuff that he listens to,

13:00 Speaker 3: which is Oh Sammy, random People, kind of sleep, Token,

13:05 Speaker 3: Bring Me the Horizon, Don Broca, Anti Shikari.

13:12 Speaker 2: He's saying that he's.

13:13 Speaker 3: Doing folk metal, which has never really been done before.

13:17 Speaker 3: He's trying to merge those two genres. So it's kind

13:20 Speaker 3: of frank ternery but also kind of metal, and it

13:23 Speaker 3: sounds really really cool.

13:24 Speaker 1: Oh I'm curious, Yeah, very interesting, very interesting.

13:27 Speaker 2: I've never heard anything like it.

13:30 Speaker 3: I've seen heard bits like it, but never anything like

13:33 Speaker 3: that that he's come up with, So it's really impressive.

13:36 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh, excellent, excellent. Now are you are you again?

13:41 Speaker 1: I know this is your first single, but are you

13:43 Speaker 1: performing live at all? Are you? Have you done this

13:46 Speaker 1: song live or is that? Is that part of your

13:48 Speaker 1: plan down the road?

13:51 Speaker 2: So yeah, I've performed it live a few times.

13:53 Speaker 3: Earlier in the year, I played it after All Festival,

13:56 Speaker 3: which is the biggest grass grassroots festival in Manchester, and

14:01 Speaker 3: that was really cool. I didn't expect anyone to turn

14:03 Speaker 3: up because I was quite early in the day as

14:05 Speaker 3: it was my first ever set of all originals, but

14:08 Speaker 3: I actually ended up having sixty to eighty people in

14:10 Speaker 3: the room and quite a few people that I knew

14:13 Speaker 3: as well, which was really nice who came to see

14:16 Speaker 3: me who were doing their own sets later in the day.

14:19 Speaker 2: So I've performed there. That was the main one.

14:21 Speaker 3: But then also I get to do a lot of

14:23 Speaker 3: college performances and various pub gigs. If they something, I

14:28 Speaker 3: usually stick to covers at pubs, but if they seem

14:30 Speaker 3: like they'd be nice and let me do one of

14:32 Speaker 3: my own, then I'll stick that in.

14:34 Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. Do you So when you do that?

14:37 Speaker 1: Do you do? You do covers and then you you

14:39 Speaker 1: also include this song or how does that work?

14:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'd say the average gig is two forty

14:45 Speaker 3: five minute sets, so usually put one original in each set. Well,

14:52 Speaker 3: sometimes if you can tell it's one it's a really

14:55 Speaker 3: hyper audience that just wants to hear bangrafter bang of

14:58 Speaker 3: songs that they know that they can sing along to.

15:00 Speaker 2: Then now just call it the originals.

15:01 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I yeah, I understand. Yeah that makes sense. Now,

15:07 Speaker 1: by the way, is there a video for Turn the

15:09 Speaker 1: Sound Around or is it just the single?

15:13 Speaker 2: No, there isn't a video for that one.

15:15 Speaker 3: We're thinking we'll get a video for one of the

15:17 Speaker 3: songs from the EP, but I'm not sure which one yet.

15:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I might.

15:22 Speaker 3: I might make a YouTube channel and do a lyric

15:24 Speaker 3: video for it, or maybe just even record myself lip syncing.

15:27 Speaker 3: So there's something there, but nothing proper.

15:30 Speaker 1: I think doing a lyric video for turn the Sound

15:32 Speaker 1: Around is a really good idea, because again, that's that's

15:35 Speaker 1: a way too. Like I said, if somebody likes the

15:37 Speaker 1: song and then they watch the lyric video and then

15:39 Speaker 1: it's like, you know, like we were talking about earlier,

15:41 Speaker 1: they're kind of getting the message. There's an important message

15:43 Speaker 1: there being conveyed through a song that's that's kind of

15:46 Speaker 1: fun and catchy. So I think that's great. So Lydia,

15:50 Speaker 1: I really appreciate you joining us this morning. We'll let

15:52 Speaker 1: you go in a moment, and I think we'll to

15:54 Speaker 1: end the segment. We'll give turn this Town Around another

15:56 Speaker 1: spin for for people who are just joining us. But

15:59 Speaker 1: please tell us where is the best place for people

16:02 Speaker 1: to go to keep up with everything that you're doing,

16:04 Speaker 1: so they can keep an eye out for new music

16:06 Speaker 1: as has come in. Like I said, you've got a

16:08 Speaker 1: lot of new stuff coming up in the future, so

16:10 Speaker 1: we want to make sure people know where should they

16:12 Speaker 1: go online to keep up with Lydia Ready.

16:15 Speaker 3: So to see myself, I've got an Instagram, Facebook, and

16:19 Speaker 3: TikTok all under Lydia Ready music ready to.

16:23 Speaker 2: Spell r E D d Y.

16:26 Speaker 3: I do have a Twitter, but I barely have a

16:28 Speaker 3: post on it, so maybe don't go on there.

16:31 Speaker 1: Understood, gotcha? Very good? Very good? All right Lydia. We

16:34 Speaker 1: will let you go again. Thank you so much. We

16:36 Speaker 1: will definitely do this again in the Yeah, we'll definitely

16:38 Speaker 1: do this again in the future as you as you

16:40 Speaker 1: release new music. So love what you're doing. And we

16:44 Speaker 1: will close this segment with again we're gonna play Turn

16:46 Speaker 1: This Town Around, your debut single, and Lydia thank you so.

16:50 Speaker 2: Much, thanks for having me seling you got it all right.

16:52 Speaker 1: Bye bye, all right. That was Lydia ready and here

16:55 Speaker 1: it is if you missed it again, this is called

16:57 Speaker 1: Turn This Town Around.