Interview with a local young musician affected by the Livewire MINC project
After narrowly missing out on the top spot at the recent OMG Herefordshire competition, Defadus (A.K.A. Jamie Duggan) checks in with The Music Pool to discuss how the Livewire project ties into his musical roots and ambitions.
When did you first get involved with Livewire?
2010 or maybe early 2011. It was at Easter I think. It was the first time I’d ever had an introduction to live music and I hadn’t been to many gigs. It was actually the first time I’d held a mic and rapped in front of people. Everything before that was just writing rhymes in my bedroom and rapping along to beats.
How long had you been writing before that?
It would probably have been about a year. Yeah a year before I actually showed anyone. I’d rapped to a few of my mates a little bit but I hadn’t performed anything whatsoever. Livewire was the first chance I got to perform in public and ‘be a musician’.
Do you play any instruments?
I’ve learnt some things since being at the Hereford College of Art, where I am in my second year studying music. I started playing a bit of keyboard and harmonica and started getting into music production quite a lot. Also I’ve started singing and doing spoken word poetry to music, which all came out of experimenting with different genres. So I started off just rapping yeah but I’ve changed a lot as well.
Would you have gone to the art college if it hadn’t been for Livewire?
Certainly not. There might have been something else similar around at the time but I didn’t know about it so if I hadn’t gone to Livewire I never would have rapped in public, I never would have played a gig, I never would have had the confidence to be onstage or write my own songs. I never would have started working with other people. I simply wouldn’t have made it there. My music wouldn’t have been good enough because I wasn’t doing it at school.
Did you meet Dan (a.k.a. The Mad Hatter, a producer currently working with Defadus and the second half of the duo that performed at OMG) at Livewire?
No I met him at the art college but I met Lofty [local musician] and quite a few other rappers at Livewire. A lot of the musicians I know now, I met at Livewire. I learnt more off them than any teacher and it was them who really taught me to rap in the later stages just by watching how they did it mostly. The first time I rapped I wasn’t in time. I could barely hold a mic straight!
You’ve got an incredible presence when you perform. Has Livewire taught you about stagecraft as well?
That’s what I aim for. Yeah I learnt a lot of that from watching Lofty then I started watching videos by myself. For my first gig I mimicked some 50 Cent hand movement onstage [waves outstretched hand up and down] because I thought, y’know, that’s what rappers do. I was so innocent. Yeah the stagecraft definitely came from Livewire – it was the first time I was on a stage
You went to Aconbury and St Davids PRUs. Did you do music at these places?
I had a little session with Lofty and Drumlove and then there was a producer I worked with for a while called Eric Moore who was in St Davids. He came in once a week for a term but it was all very short. Not much going on.
Was it them who encouraged you to get involved in Livewire?
One of my teachers gave me a leaflet for Livewire and said it would be a really good idea for me to go because they knew I did a bit of music but I’d never done anything in front of them. I think there needs to be more publicity in secondary schools because I’d spent two years in mainstream schools and never heard of Livewire. It wasn’t until I was getting expelled from Aylestone that I found out about Livewire. I’m not sure, but if I’d known about Livewire while I was in school, it might have given me the incentive needed to stay there.
Why did you end up getting expelled?
I was thirteen and immature. I got into trouble at school. I wasn’t paying attention in lessons and got into a few fights with kids in my year. It got worse and worse and the teachers just had enough of me in the end. Basically stupid things. I look back now and can’t believe what I was doing. But I’m glad I went through all that to get to where I am now because, like I say, I wouldn’t have got involved with Livewire, met all these rappers or even be at college right now.
But now you’ve climbed the ranks and are volunteering with Livewire. In what capacity have you helped participants at Livewire?
Most recently I’ve been helping a girl with song-writing. I help out with a lot of lyric writing. She’s just been learning about song structure – bridges, verses etc. – and how a backing track accompanies a vocal line. Also, it’s kind of like mentoring as you go along because, you could write something for someone, but it doesn’t mean they’ll have the confidence to sing it so I’ve been trying to encourage her to actually get on the mic and sing. I’ve done some band stuff too. I worked on a funky-jazz piece at the last Livewire Central [the Livewire development week].
Now that you’re involved, what could we do to improve Livewire?
I think we need a bigger gig. Maybe a gig on the Castle Green. Something to blow the publicity out of the water. It should be a Herefordshire event rather than just a school event or a youth event. Something like a day festival for a few hours. Free tickets but with stalls and stuff. I think that’s possibly what Livewire needs to move forward and expand. Before I got involved in Livewire, if I’d walked past and seen a bunch of rappers I’d have been straight in there. Especially a place like the Castle Green because a lot of kids hang around this area.
So what is the next step for Defadus?
I’m moving to Brighton to do an artist development course. It’s a course I really want to do. It’s only a year long and it’s at level four (degree level). It’s what record labels used to do when they sign an artist. Just sharpening them up and getting them ready for ‘public consumption’. Record labels don’t do it so much anymore so they’ve made this course specifically to get you ready for the industry. It really appeals because it’s an all-round artist thing rather than just performing or just production.
Three words to sum up Livewire?
Absolutely amaze-balls... No... Inspirational youth creativity