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Stereoboard recently had ten minutes with Mr Elliot Gleave, better known as Example, to talk about the past and what he's up to next (it involves guitars and Australia).
New album coming up (November 18th) what can we expect?
Just good music, I hope. Its my fourth album and it feels a bit more grown up, more of a journey. The whole album rolls along a lot smoother and its kind of a story I suppose, a lot of people think its my best album, its definitely my most complete album. There's a more grown up theme running though the album, a lot of guitars too!
What made you switch from the more jokey style (You Can’t Rap, Vile) to the songs you make now?
I dunno back then I didn't know what I was doing. There's a lot of guys like 'why don't you go back to your old stuff' I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, didn't know how to write a song, structure a song, my raps they were kinda all over the place. Just the album and the mixtape stuff was so confused y'know I sounded like seven different people on one album. A lot of people liked that but it was never really the music I wanted to make.
A lot of people assume I was some sort of massive hip-hop head that wanted to make underground hip hop but growing up I was just listening to Blur, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. I listened to rap as well but I only listening to rapping at school, at my school I was learning about black music culture in the playground and then also what a lot of people don't realise is I released my original demos kind of like a joke. When I released 'I don't want to' and 'You Can't Rap' it was still it was really just a part time hobby.
That played out pretty well though...
Mmmm... Only because I changed for the music I really wanted to make, I listened to the first album after it came out and it was just like the most confused y'know, sexist, crude album ever. It wasn't really the real me, it was just me trying to emulate what I thought was what I should be, I'd been listening to the Streets and Eminem and thinking 'Oh yeah, this is what you've got to do to be a rapper'. Then after that first album came out I decided to scrap it all and just move onto telling stories about my own life, real experiences like 'Watch the Sun come up.'
I stated to sing more and write melodies and actually study the craft of song writing. And then the third album was me, I always wanted to make a rave album, I was really into Prodigy and Basement Jaxx and then this fourth album, its the real me I suppose its really personal and its got guitars all the way through. Y'know in my spare time I listen to guitar music when I'm on the tour bus I listen to guitar music. I do listen to rap, obviously, and I listen to dubstep and I listen to dance music but my real love has always been grunge and rock and metal.
I kind of feel like all my albums are completely different, some people think the first album is utter shite and some people love it and think the new stuffs rubbish I guess it all depends on what you're into. It's all subjective.
Which is your favourite song to play live?
Natural disaster is a lot of fun to perform because the song constantly changes, it's up and down, it's light it's dark, it's aggressive it's calm, and its got three massive drops in it where we usually get huge mosh pits going...
If you had to make a new track with a sample from any song which would it be?
I don't know if I'll ever sample again, I haven't sampled on this one. First album sampled the Carpenters and you don't really get much bigger than sampling an old Carpenters record.
What’s the last song you heard that made you go ‘wow’?
I listened to that Gangnam Style this morning and I don't have a fucking clue what it's about but I found it hilarious. It just is what it is, its like this loony hip hop song with a load of energy to it that just sends people wild, it's got a certain charm about it. You just can't help but smile at it.
Who else are you enjoying at the moment?
I just bought this new album the other day by Breakbot really, really good. Just like 80s, disco inspired, just came out on iTunes this week.
Sorry this sounds like a job interview but where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
Doing this still, I'll hopefully have a family and be living in Australia but I want to just keep making music and writing songs for people.
QUICKFIRE
Curry or Stir Fry?
Curry
Cats or Dogs?
Dogs
Plane or Train?
Plane
Photo or a picture?
Picture
Rock N Roll or Hip and Hop?
Rock N Roll
Favourite word?
Goodbye (not that we were starting to run over at this point...)
How many Elliot Gleaves does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Just one.
Example releases his fourth studio album 'The Evolution of Man' on 18th November. The album's lead single ‘Say Nothing’ was released on 16th September. Example will head out on a UK arena tour in 2013.
Mon February 11th 2013 - BIC, Bournemouth
Tue February 12th 2013 - Capital FM Arena, Nottingham
Wed February 13th 2013 - Liverpool Echo Arena, Liverpool
Fri February 15th 2013 - Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield
Sat February 16th 2013 - Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne
Sun February 17th 2013 - SECC, Glasgow
Mon February 18th 2013 - AECC, Aberdeen
Wed February 20th 2013 - Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Sat February 23rd 2013 - Earls Court, London
Mon February 25th 2013 - Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Cardiff
Tue February 26th 2013 - The Brighton Centre, Brighton
Thu February 28th 2013 - LG Arena, Birmingham
Fri March 1st 2013 - Manchester Arena, Manchester
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New album coming up (November 18th) what can we expect?
