Born in the South of England he moved to London in his early 20s and currently still lives there.
Love Music : Which famous bands/musicians do you like?
I love Radiohead and The Cure and Bjork, Elbow, Mumford and Sons, and the National and always listening to new music that’s just out.
Love Music : What new bands/musicians are you listening to right now?
I’m loving Davide Squillace’s new album Once upon a time in Napoli great name and some of the beats are just amazing. Nick Mulvey too I’ve just gotten into – suddenly realized that about 4 of his tunes I’d added to my playlist (olliray on itunes) without even knowing it was the same person. Tom Rosenthal to is great. Lots more on my playlist – have a listen if you like.
Love Music : Describe your first instrument. Other instruments:
I used to play the violin which was my first instrument I picked up, ooh actually the recorder first but then everyone had to play that right? I played the violin for about 8 months and then gave up as the teacher used to shout at me and on top of that all my friends were doing gymnastics through the glass in the PE hall. I still can’t do a handstand but I can work out what note I want to play on the piano which is almost as good.
Love Music : Describe your family member's musical interests and abilities?
I’ve got three brothers and they can all play an instrument. Two even write music too and I hope they release it soon as I think its really good. The strange thing is our parents don’t play anything.
Love Music : Have you ever thought about joining forces with one of your brothers or anyone else?
Yes a few years back my brother Dave and I started to put together some music and it was sounding great. I’m not sure what happened to that, perhaps we should pick it up again. Currently I’m working with a female singer and also a sitar and viola player and so hope to have some interesting new music out soon.
Love Music : Please tell us more about your first single ?
BoxRox – this is really the first tune I managed to get into a finished enough state to release. I could work forever on each tune trying to get it more perfect but I thought this is ready enough and managed to release it through Ditto Music which then opened up a world of possibilities for me in creating and releasing. The track itself is a blade runner style fantasy type tune which just came to me one day magically, probably after I had watched too many Scifi Movies.
Love Music : What motivates you to do your best work as a singer songwriter ?
I usually get inspired by real life events and I’ve had a lot of crazy things happen in the last 2 years with my “day job” and so I’ve been writing about that a lot and events happening around it. In a roundabout way its pushed me to put more time into my music and actually release some tunes and so its not all bad.
Love Music : Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to be a professional musician ?
Usually the inspiration I have is in the first 30 minutes of making a track and then the rest is down to hard work and being organized and focused. I edit and produce the music myself and I spend most of the time doing that.
Love Music : What are your future plans ? Your vision for the coming years.
I’ve just started DJing and really enjoying it and bringing in to ideas I have built on other people’s ideas or tangents to it into my music I create. I am hoping to play out globally mixing in what I have created and some other people’s great tunes. I am working on about 5 new original tracks right now I hope to release in the near future.
Love Music : If you could perform anywhere, in the world, where would it have to be?
Ah I’d probably be up for a performance on Mars if Elon will fly me out one day.
Love Music : Are you active on social media? what’s the best way to follow you ?
I’m active on Instagram as ollirayofficial also soundcloud too as olliray
