A Sit Down with Freddie Graham

By Thea Opperman.            

A sit down with Freddie Graham is about as insightful a conversion as you can get. Born and bred in Hampshire, now studying Music at Manchester University, the list of his talents are about as long as his Jesus-like hair, but because of his impeccably broad musical knowledge, when chatting, you get the sense that he is far more mature than his years. 

Like so many students back in 2020, Freddie was trapped in halls due to covid, meaning creating music was much harder.
“It was much less productive”, he tells Wayzgoose, “there was little to no stimuli to use for inspiration, and it was hard to stay motivated stuck in your room.”
But Fred got lucky, finding six like-minded students who had found a way to bypass the issue: congregating in the basement of their uni halls to share and make music. They asked him to join their group as a saxophonist, from which the Basement Collective was born. The seven-piece band draws influences from jazz, funk, and soul, aiming to blend the elements together to form a unique acoustic and vocal sound.
“It was a great way to meet new people”, Fred said, “because music is everywhere – everyone has a personal connection to it in some shape or form.”

With Basement Collective still a roaring success, Fred joined another group: DRIVERS. Their music is more experimental, drawing from a fusion of punk, psychedelic, rock, and grunge influences. They have had a string of sold-out events in Manchester, supporting the likes of Church Girls, Humour, Split and Slap Rash. What’s great about Fred’s role in DRIVERS is his use of experimental sax, as he explained that he “saw the experimental powers of electric guitar using guitar pedals and thought” to himself “why can’t I do that with the sax?” So he did – enabling him to try out new effects and sounds mid-performance, giving a far more broad and diverse sound to the audience. 

But that’s Fred to a tee – constantly questioning and pushing the boundaries of what can and can’t be done with sound. He told us that “DJing was something I always wanted to pick up” so when he reached uni he gave it a go. Two years on, he and three others have founded Apollo Sounds – an events company in Manchester born out of a string of successful house parties; they felt they could make something bigger. He told us that there’s a big DJ scene in Manchester, but when asked whether that makes it a saturated and overdone ‘market’, he answered “definitely not.” Apollo Sounds track record of selling out all their events is testament to this. “It’s an amazing feeling to create music with others and everyone is really open to helping and improving each other’s work.” 

The comradery of his music experience was a major theme in our conversation. He described a sort of cycle, especially in live music, where creating music in front of a crowd, giving them energy, in turn gives him a massive push to create more. “It’s addictive”, he said, “and a massive part of that is playing for and experimenting with a crowd. You get energy from them as they get energy from you.”
But what about your own personal production?, I asked.
“Well”, he said, “it’s kind of similar. It starts with a rhythm or tune or lyric in my head; I record it and then go back to edit, sync, and synthesise it in a cycle.” Mixing genres, he told us, “is an amazing way to create a new sound and find your own style and playing in front of other musicians allows him to learn and progress.”

Last year, Fred edited and produced a video tilted You: a six-minute film highlighting the intense dangers of our climate crisis. In the description, he writes “There is so much as an individual that you can do right now, today, beginning with a change of mindset around this topic. It is vital that all of us understand the challenge we face, but also to understand that we can overcome it.” The film is incredibly powerful. When asked what role music played in its creation, and whether all music creation should have some kind of message to it in this day and age, he responded that using music to spread a message can be incredibly powerful, but that people tend to grab onto ideas of positivity, rather than doom and gloom. 

With regards to political music he said that it “isn’t always welcomed, but in most cases, I think musicians should be free to create what they want.” There’s a tension here, as in certain genres, music is used as a tool to spread hate and violence. Indeed, the recent anti-Semitic racial slurs from Kanye West are the antithesis of this, and in response, with an air of disheartenment, Fred said “it’s just such a shame. Music can have such a positive effect as a force for change and good in the world – it’s hurtful seeing such platforms being abused.”

When drawing our chat to a close, I asked Fred one last question – what advice would you give to younger musicians, freshers, or beginners, starting out? His answer was as much as you would expect from such a friendly but clued-up guy: “try out as much as you can; get involved with as many groups and experiment with as many genres as possible, because by doing so, you can create your own style unique to anything else. Don’t get too hung up on the commercial side of things, that will all happen in good time. Just listen to your gut, follow your feelings and the rest will sort itself out.” 

Go follow Fred on Instagram to keep up with all his latest moves – @freddiegrahammusic. And if you’re ever in Manchester, check out his events – they are not one to miss!