On His Youth And Growing Up
Youth is something I can’t quite get to grips with; even now I still struggle to understand It. I was an unusual child and an unusual teenager, I didn’t fit with anything to be honest with you, most kids begin to find their own path at a pretty early age, some go into sports teams and become part of a group of friends but, and I don’t want this to seem like a ‘pity me’ kind of thing because I guess it borders on the stereotypical cliché of “oh nobody understood me, that’s why I found music.” And that’s not how it was or how I saw it or indeed see it now, the reality is quite simple, I didn’t fit, it’s plain and simple and it’s obvious to me that I not one part of me seemed to fit, I couldn’t make friends neither did I have the interest to do so, I didn’t really feel right in my own skin, everything was awkward and unfamiliar for me and it’s a tricky thing to explain but essentially youth for me, it was scary and complicated and I was unable to understand the way the world worked. Was I a normal child? Hell no, not a chance, I was weird, I guess some will say that I still am but I think I’ve found myself a lot in the past few years and I’m finally in a place where I can understand things a little more and the things that once scared are now becoming a thrill and a source of enjoyment for me.

I was close with my sister and there was this girl called Isabel, those were the only two people that I ever felt a little bit comfortable around, my sister was always a special kind of person to me because she seemed to fit in everywhere, every possible group or clique. She could relate to it all, she understood the confusion and doubt that I always felt yet she was equally comfortable with the popular people, I couldn’t grasp that and I always asked her, “How she could be such an all rounded person, how she never seemed like an outsider or an outcast.” And she always said to me, “Brandon, it’s like a game, you pick things up over time and get you better and surrounding yourself with these kinds of people. It’s just about being aware and understanding.” Did I ever feel outshone by my sister, no I never felt outshone but it’s obvious in hindsight that my parents understood her a lot more than they understood myself and that had an effect.
Isabel on the other hand was extremely similar to me, She hid herself from the world despite the beauty and grace that I always saw in her, as a teenager we spent a lot of time together and she would philosophise about the world and how it works and she could always draw me in and everything she seemed to say always appeared to be right, all of my doubts and fears were shared with her and only her, she’s the one person that I opened up to back then and I always have an always will put her on a pedestal above most other people, she died when we were 17 years old.

She had been having a couple of rough months, we both recently left school at the time and her parents got divorced and she was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease which affected her hearing and it started to affect her balance too, to the point where she had to hold onto things almost constantly. Anyway on this particular day we were sat by the Sanford bridge in my hometown, we spoke for hours about everything and she kept telling me that she didn’t want to do this anymore, I kept telling her that everything would get better but it wasn’t working and it was completely clear to me that nothing was gonna change her mind, she had already made her decision and who was I to stand in her way, I was a 17 year old kid, I was 17 years of age and my best friend, the only person in the world that ever fully understood me was telling me that she wanted to die, she was ready to die, she had had enough of the world and everything in it, I begged and pleaded with her and tried everything I could to encourage her to change her mind and make her believe that there would be better times ahead but I she wouldn’t believe that and in all honesty I didn’t fully believe that, she stood up and held onto the side of the bridge, it was the dead of night and she said to me that if I knew her at all, I’d let her to do this and we spoke for one final time, she climbed up onto the edge of the bridge, she said that she loved me and that she’d be forever looking out for me wherever she ends up and with outstretched arms and closed eyes, she repeated that she was ready now, she said in a soft tone, “Brandon, close your eyes.” I did very briefly but not long enough because I re-opened them in time to see her step back from the ledge and fall from the forty foot bridge into the water with her arms outstretched like an angel, that image has haunted me ever since and there’s nothing that can ever erase that.

Do I regret letting her fall? The honest truth would be no, she wasn’t happy and I could see that and honestly, neither of us believed that she would ever be happy, it wasn’t an easy thing to watch but it was what she wanted and I wasn’t going to let my own feelings stand in the way of her finally finding the peace that she always wanted. That effected my life in a major way, it’s something I dealt with alone and perhaps goes some way to explaining why I wasn’t able to let anyone in until I met a girl called Hannah Beth.

On His Into The Wild Part I & II
The songs that appeared on Into The Wild Part I & II were songs that had been created over a two year period for me, I needed a release, a way of attempting to open up my soul and creating something that would help me to figure things out, understand things if you will. Those songs were all songs that said the things that I wasn’t able to express to another human on a one on one basis. Music has always been a release for as long as I can remember, it’s the words rather than the melodies that always drew me in. Words can be the most powerful tool, we use them to express our innermost feelings and emotions, some of us find it difficult to say these things and that’s why music plays a major part in everybody’s life. I like to believe that somewhere out there a fifteen or sixteen year old guy or girl picked up either of those records and understood things a little better, I’m not gonna be hokey and egotistical about it and say that is exactly what those albums can do, But more, that’s what I wanted those albums to be able to do, if it can give that guy or that girl a little bit of faith and help them believe that there is something worth working towards. If it could help them understand the world a little more then that’s enough for me, some people look for commercial success, some people look at it as plainly as wait a minute, your album didn’t make the top 10 or your single tanked, it’s not good then. It’s a vain way to look at it but it seems that a whole lot of people look at it like that. I hope my songs can make someone out there feel something and that will always be enough for me, the day that it isn’t enough for me is the day that you can put a gun to my head.

On His Next Album And The Label Situation
I’ve spent the last few weeks planning the next record, I recently posted the lyrics to the title track online and they seemed to go down pretty well. It took about 3 months of editing to get that final version of the song Fireflies & Bedouins. The album is gonna be a much more perfected album in comparison to the previous album, I’m gonna be working on the album for another few months so there’s no release date for it yet, as of right now It will be an independent release. My record deal with Cosmic Records finished after Into The Wild Part II, so as of now I’m planning on recording and releasing the album independently. Would having a record deal make things easier? Of course it would but it’s not the end of the world. I’m gonna be putting my all into the record and the material I have so far is the best that I’ve ever had, lyrically it’ll be much more in depth but we’re still at an early stage in the process. If I had to estimate a release date, I guess I’d say February 2012 would be a good estimate, maybe a little earlier, who knows but right now I’m just planning on taking my time and making the best record that I can and that’s enough for me.

On The Industry, Privacy And His Own Private Life
There is some amazing music right now, a lot of people look down on pop music and see it as a lesser form of art I guess, I have a massive amount of respect for many musicians because I can see the pressure’s that they’re under and the music industry is a very fickle industry, one day you can have a hit single and if you fail to replicate that then your future comes in doubt, I don’t like that part of the music industry, fortunately I don’t think that’s something I have to deal with, I’m not expected to have commercial success and neither do I particularly look for commercial success. I decided from the very start that whatever happens, I want to be in control of my future, I don’t want to rely on other people and I think that means that I get to make my music without the pressure to have a number 1 album or a hit single. I can take my time to create music and that will stand me in good stead for the future. But on the point of pop music, people do look down on it and I don’t quite understand it, we’re all making music in our own way and writing a pop song is much more difficult than writing any other kind of song.

I think how certain pop stars deal with things is extremely admirable, they have camera’s being put in front of their face on a daily basis, rumours circulating online and it’s like if you’re in the public eye, you have less human rights than other people, just because they happen to be known worldwide doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed privacy, I guess I’m lucky in that nobody is too interested in getting a photograph of some boring singer-songwriter and I don’t have that issue but I’ve seen at close hand the pressure that not only being a pop star but also being a teenage star brings, I respect what those people have to deal with.
I’ve always been a pretty quiet and reserved person, I always tend to keep myself to myself and try to keep my personal life as private as I can because it’s a singular bond, it’s amazing how many times I’ve been asked about my relationships and I understand it, I really do, it’s human interest but there has to be boundaries. I have become more open in the last few months, early on I kind of always refused to talk about anything person but now, I’m used to it a little more and I guess I’ve become more trusting in interviews.

On His Creative Process
Everything that I’ve done so far has come pretty naturally, I’m not good at forcing myself to sit down with a guitar and create something on the spot. It’s a long drawn out process for me, I can spend months on one song and still be unsure about it, once I get into the flow of things then everything starts to work a lot easier, I guess you can call me a perfectionist. I’m not gonna claim to be some artistic genius or anything, whatever I do is down to working hard and agonising over the every last detail. Nothing comes easy both in my career or in my life but I put in the effort and for me, the reward is when I hear the final version of the song played back at me, how often do I write songs? I guess I’d say whenever I feel inspired; I can go weeks without writing anything.
There’s no special process that I go through when I’m attempting to create music, it’s long a long drawn out thing and it’s messy, there’s frustration, anger, joy and everything else that you would feel during the process of making a new song. The fact is that as a solo artist I don’t have anybody to push me to work on anything so I have to inspire myself to get working on things. But as I’ve said it’s not a special process, we’re not gods, we don’t deserve the attention that we get, the people that deserve praise and accolades are the people that matter, Doctor’s, Nurse’s, Firemen, Soldier’s. The people that do what they do to make the world a better place are the ones that really matter; the reality is that musicians generally do what they do because we’re too lazy to get a normal job.

On The Future
I never expected to grow into the person that I have become, Even as early as two years ago I was a quiet person, I was even more closed off than I may already be. I think now looking at it, I think I’m more aware than I was back then, One person is able to bring out the real version of myself, I don’t mean for this to be an overblown statement but I know that it will come across that way but there is one person that changed everything for me, Hannah Beth gave me everything I have right now, I was a nobody and I had nothing. It isn’t meant how you would probably read it, it’s just the truth. As we spoke about before, I was always a closed off person, I had to people that knew me, my sister and Isabel. And since Isabel died I didn’t have that and I avoided getting close to anyone in fear of both putting myself out there and fear of losing someone. It was just always easier for me to not get close to anyone at least that way I knew that I wouldn’t have to deal with the same thing I dealt with, Isabel. Since Isabel died I was afraid of being close to someone and it was just easier for me. Hannah, I don’t know what it was, honestly, I don’t. There is something about her that makes me feel at ease, it’s like I see the world in a different way now, in a way that I never thought I would and I believe that she opened my eyes to the world that I see now.

I can’t quite begin to explain just how much I’ve changed over the past 11 months of my life, I’m ready for anything now, I don’t have the fears that I’ve always had, they seemed to have disappeared. I’ve grown so much in a short space of time but now I’m engaged and I’m ready to become a husband, a father and a friend, and that is something I have never really felt. I feel like this is the beginning of my real life now and I think about the future and it excites me, you know? In the past the future was always scary but now, I’m looking forward to it, it excites me and I’m ready for it. I can’t wait, I finally feel like my real life has begun.