In this third edition of ‘An Interview With..’ we speak to one of Anara Publishing’s most recent signings, singer/songwriter Ed Geater. He shares his favourite sync moments in film and his typical songwriting process.
1. Tell us about how you started making music.
I started playing violin at age 9, but didn’t start making my own music until I picked up guitar and piano in my early teens! It came intuitively to me to start composing things on piano after I had been taught the basics. That creative desire manifested more seriously when I started playing guitar in a band at the age of 14.
2. How important do you think music publishing is to emerging artists in today’s industry?
Considering the current state of the music industry with less revenue coming from direct sales, publishing plays an ever increasing role in an artist’s career. Also, with the evolution of the media landscape and the development of the video gaming industry over the last couple of decades, there are greater opportunities to get publishing revenue than ever before!
From a promotional perspective, it can also get emerging artists really valuable exposure to new audiences, as well as giving the artist more credibility to both fans and the industry.
3. What is your typical songwriting process?
It’s weird, there’s no specific formula to how I write. I’ve never been the most organised person – so it’s not really surprising! Songs just seem to pour out of me when I’m feeling a particular emotion or going through a certain experience.
For example, ‘If I’m Being Honest’ was written after returning from my travels to South America a couple of years ago when I had broken up with my girlfriend. It was a horrible realisation that something important to me had come to an end. I didn’t want to open up and talk about it to anyone so the song was my release and my therapy at the time. Whereas, ‘Rainbow Round The Sun‘ is an instrumental track dedicated to a moment when I quite literally saw a rainbow form a circle around the sun in Peru.
4. Describe a pivotal music moment for you in your favourite film, television show, brand partnership etc. Has this influenced any of your own compositions?
In Usual Suspects, when the police officer realises the whole series of events were a fabrication, the haunting harmonies of the film score at that moment really emphasises the plot twists. This really adds another dimension to the emotional experience whilst watching it!
In terms of song placement, it has to be Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine in the closing of the Matrix – it left me leaving the cinema absolutely buzzing! Also, the fact that the film is an allegory for people being blind to sinister truths about reality, I thought the choice of lyrics fitted perfectly.
Seeing how music has been used in Film and TV has definitely inspired me, particularly when composing to evoke an emotional response from the listener. It’s become a bit of an obsession!
5. Do you have any advice for aspiring songwriters?
My advice to any budding songwriters is to write from the heart, don’t feel the pressure to write for other people. If you have an intuitive idea for how something should sound, you should listen to it, that’s how you can find your voice.
People like to hear what they know, but there will also be an audience of listeners who want to hear something different.