Where to begin when it comes to Richard Green…The prolific London-based Italian-born artist has thrilled us with tunes like ‘A Lesson’, ‘A Legacy’, ‘Smiles’, and most recently ‘Your Angel’. He’s a musician who refuses to stay in one sonic lane, and always pushes himself to explore new musical territories with every composition he releases. Just what we love around these parts!
Deciding it was time to get to know him better, I was thrilled when Richard agreed to an interview! Talking with us about his love for The Beatles and John Frusciante, where he finds inspiration for his music, and which three albums he’d take with him to a deserted island, please give a warm welcome to our friend Richard Green!
Hello and welcome Richard! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us! Before we get into the nitty-gritty, please tell us a little bit about your musical journey. When did your love affair with music begin?
My pleasure to chat with you and a lot of thanks for the opportunity to talk about my music. I can say it began in my childhood, cause my father is a huge fan of The Beatles and I grew up listening to them since I was 3-4 years old, so I should thank my father for passing this music passion to me.
I think it’s fair to say you’re a rather prolific musician. Does the entire “song-making process” come very naturally to you?
It could sound a bit arrogant but I think I have a kind of talent in terms of creating music. Indeed the song-making process comes really naturally to me. To make it more clear, before I started selling music, I set myself the goal of making 100 songs, or should I say, 100 completed musical ideas, and I ended up with 132 finished ideas in a single year.
I took the very best ten tracks out of all of them and I started to release music with those songs as I continued and I still create new music.
Now, I’m sorry to pose such a tough question so early on, but what song or album of yours are you most proud of releasing and why?
Surely my neoclassical music project, compositions for piano and strings, and the reasons are mainly two: Firstly, it is surely the most artistic project of mine with a big story behind, indeed the full project is composed of 3 music EPs (‘A journey’, ‘The Circle Closes’, and the third one to be released by the end of the year). All the songs are connected, like a story, so it’s a proper music trilogy, and I create a picture for each track to describe it better and allow the listeners to understand early the story behind this trilogy.
I also had the honor of working with awesome musicians on this project. Irene Veneziano is probably the most important Italian classical pianist at the moment and Archimia String Quartet are awesome as well – so I worked with professional and incredible musicians here.
Who would you put down as some of your biggest musical influences and who would you ultimately credit for helping shape and form your overall sound?
I think The Beatles’ music influenced me a lot, but also John Frusciante’s solo music which I listened to a lot during my young age. This is why all my music is characterized by a pop feel and the melodies are pretty catchy.
Please tell us a bit about your songwriting process. Not specifically for any song but just in general. How do you take an idea and turn it into a piece of music?
Most of the time I use my life experience to take an idea for a song. Indeed, I consider music my way to talk about myself to the world and get in touch with them. Also, I hope my music can be useful to someone…
Other times I take inspiration from movies or series, but again, I make music for myself cause it makes me feel better and I hope to create some connections with me and the the rest of the world through my music.
What do you love most about being a musician? And on the flip side, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far?
Basically, making music is one of the things that makes me feel better in life. It’s like medicine for my soul. Regarding the big challenges, I think it is about getting visibility.
Nowadays, the world is full of good musicians with good music but the market is really too saturated and all controlled by the same major labels, so it requires a lot of time to get visibility and a lot of money if we want to produce music professionally.
OK, Richard – desert island time! You’re allowed to grab 3 albums before being stranded on an island. Which do you go with and why?
‘Californication’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It has influenced me a lot as a guitarist (I started to play at the age of 13) and I still listen to that album after 20 years.
‘Discovery’ by Daft Punk. Talking about music revolutions, the last one happened thanks to this album which I consider a masterpiece. We have electronic music used in almost every genre of music and it’s thanks to that CD. Electro-pop like Kate Parry, and Lady Gaga at the beginning, or producers like Marshmallow and Pharrell Williams. Also, musicians such as Bruno Mars and many more would have been very different if Daft Punk never existed – they’re probably the most important music band of the last 25 years.
‘Illusions’ by Richard Green. It’s me, I know, and ‘Illusions’ is the last EP released (a month ago). It’s a collection of 6 tracks of chillout music, pretty original and with a lot of feelings. It’s strongly related to some experiences of my life and this is why I’m very affectionate to it.
Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us Richard, it’s been a real treat! Not to get too dark or anything, but what would you ultimately like to be remembered for?
People in the past have demonstrated that immortality exists, not the physical one obviously, but one of my biggest dreams would be to be remembered for my music and for being able to help someone with my music…
Also, I’m grateful to you for this opportunity to talk about my music and my passions. Thanks a lot!
