Souly Us
Souly Us is a new kind of Americana artist - thoughtful, multi-talented and confident. With the debut radio single 'Come Back Home To Me' running up the charts, Souly Us is in a unique position to re-define the genre.
LAUREN: Let's just get this out in the open- What is the craziest thing that has happened to you in your music career?
SOULY US: The craziest thing that has happened to us so far in our music career is winning The Akademia Music Award for ‘Best Americana Album’. Previously we have received national recognition for our single, ‘Meant to Be’ which won us the title APRA AMOCS/TSA New Songwriter of the year at Australia’s largest music festival, the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2019.
Our debut album ‘Alive’ received international recognition on two occasions within a month at the start of 2020 which blew our minds! Our dream when we first started creating music together was to release something into the world for people to hear and to help heal ourselves and others through this process.
When we write music, it’s a healing process for us. We released a single, then an EP, another 2 singles and an album plus 2 music videos all within 12 months. We are driven musicians with big dreams. Our first dream came true, so we dreamt bigger! And now we can say, winning the Akademia Music Award, hailing all the way from the USA, we never thought something like this would happen!
We want nothing more than to share our music with as many people in the entire world as possible. The Akademia has provided us with this opportunity, so we are incredibly grateful!
Its super tricky to pick ‘the’ craziest thing that has happened to us so far on this music journey!
We have many things that have popped up and provided us with immense happiness, but we think this takes the cake so far.
LAUREN: Your song 'Come Back Home To Me' is receiving a positive listener response on radio. What was your initial reaction when you first heard your song playing on radio?
SOULY US: Hearing our song play on the radio is a very surreal feeling! We remember back to the times when it felt like such a long shot to get airplay for our music, we had no idea if it was even any good or even how to do it!
We have been learning every step in the music industry as we go and after winning our first award 3 months after our debut single was released in 2019, that gave us some confidence for sure.
It makes us so incredibly happy that the music we have created from our hearts and souls through life experience gets a great response from listeners. This is what we want for our music!
When radios agree to play our music on their stations it makes us feel like we must be ‘OK’ at this! Haha
We want to thank all of the wonderful radios that show our music airplay in all parts of the world. Once again, a total dream come true.
LAUREN: What was the inspiration behind your radio single?
SOULY US: When bringing ‘Come Back Home to Me’ to life, it started as a vision. Picturing a long gravel drive way, a good old american pick up truck (that we so wish we had more of in Australia!), a beautiful old mansion or castle and a woman in a long dress.
It tells the story of a relationship that isn’t perfect, a love that is a challenge but she still wants to fight for it. In the chorus, she begs for him to come back, to try again and to not give up.
So many things that inspired the ideas to the lyrics that we hope to bring to life in the music video.
When singing this song, and listening to it after we wrote and produced the entire track, we picture the details of the surroundings in our head from the outfits of the characters to the stair case inside the mansion and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling!
Musically, we wanted the chorus of the song to sound dramatic. The electric guitar you hear was what we thought of to create this drama and intensity.
For the readers that don’t know, we write, record and produce all of our songs on our own.
The instruments you hear in the songs have been played by Ben (all but the drums which were made off of the computer program!) and the vocals by Kate.
We don’t need to pay for studio time, it’s all done in the luxury of our home. We are super lucky!
LAUREN: It is often said that great art arises from difficult experience. Is there something in your life experience thus far that you would describe as the ‘catalyst’ or ‘fuel’ for your desire to create music?
SOULY US: Difficult experiences are what we know best. Both of us put together are a novel of difficult experiences! But you know what, we certainly aren’t the only ones to have hard times sent our way. We all go through them, its that part of life we just cant control majority of the time.
Currently we are going through a worldwide pandemic just like every other living soul on this planet. Prior to this we have lost many close loved ones, some so tragically. We have been in some difficult relationships before finding each other, relationships that at times took away our ability to shine and to be who we wanted to be making us question what we actually want for our lives… There has been an immense amount of pain and hurt for us so far and this has been a major fuel for the music we have gone on to create. There has definitely been good with the bad, of course, life is that incredible roller coaster and you just have to go with it.
When writing music we could say that creating sad songs is quite easy for us! We can pump them out in no time at all!
After writing the album, we have fallen even deeper in love with songwriting. Once second you could be writing a slow ballad and the next an upbeat, fun loving track! It’s so fun, and incredibly therapeutic for us.
LAUREN: How would you characterize yourself as an artist/musician?
SOULY US: Alternate country/Americana with a hint of pop!
We have found this quite tricky to pin point and we feel that music these days, there seems to be a lot containing multiple genres.
We take inspiration from the world around us to create our music and we can write and perform this anywhere!
We have an original soulful sound that is captivating audiences across Australia and beyond.
People have described our lyrics as catchy and are echoing in people's hearts and minds. We share dreams, hope, love and connection through our music. With a voice that has been described as warm and angelic, and with rhythmic and passionate artistry on guitar we love playing to audiences who enjoy our poetic sound and life rich lyrics.
 |
 |
LAUREN: What has your experience been like working with the other people on your team?
SOULY US: At the moment, our team consists of the both of us, Ben Mawdsley and Kate Appleyard!
We dream to have a large team that can assist us in progressing forward with music creation, tours and advertising. The music industry has recently taken a huge hit with the worldwide pandemic of COVID 19 which makes us feel like our dream of moving to Nashville and pursuing music on an international visa a bit of a long shot for now…. We are very driven people, not only in music but in life. We are a great team and we work incredibly hard to get to where we want to go. This pandemic has made a large ‘stop’ sign for travel and adventure, for now, but our online presence will be strong as we work hard to keep our fans connected and our music heard by people world wide. The hard work never stops, we will keep going and trying! This is our dream.
We are easy going people and look forward to hopefully working with industry personnel in the future!
Meanwhile, we will keep writing, recording, producing and releasing music for all ears to hear!
The world can stop us from doing a lot of things, but not that.
LAUREN: Did you come from a musical background? Are there other musicians in your family?
SOULY US: For Ben, there is no musical background. He is entirely self taught and has been playing guitar ever since he was 16 years old. Now he’s 37 so if we do the math right, that’s 21 years! And guess what?! He’s still playing the same Maton EM125C!! And she’s a beautiful old girl with some lovely marks to show her journey and an incredibly sound.
My family background is a little different. My grandpa played acoustic guitar back in the day and performed at local tavern nights where the town would come together and he would be one of the performers along with my grandma who was part of the local choir.
Other than that, my late brother played drums in school and had huge passion for country music. I still remember the day he introduced us to Keith Urban’s ‘Golden Road’ album back in 2000. My whole family fell in love with country music after that.
Never missed a Melbourne concert after that!
I played Flute and Saxophone in school but even thats heading on to over 10 years now!
I purchased my first guitar back in 2011 and jumped on youtube to learn basic chords and start writing my story.
LAUREN: What do you find most rewarding about being an artist? What do you find most challenging?
SOULY US: Being an artist gives us such a buzz! We love seeing the look on people’s faces when they watch us and acknowledge us. And especially the times when the audience members come up to us and thank us for the music, thank us for doing what we do and encourage us to keep going.
When we started out, confidence wasn’t there. We didn’t know if we were good, average, bad?!
Our family will always tell us we are great, haha!
This was our challenge at the start.
When we won our first accolade 3 months in, this boosted our confidence immensely and made us realise that perhaps we are okay!
As musicians, we pour our heart and soul into the music we create. We draw on life experiences that at times are a challenge to bring to the surface, to dive deep into and to write and record.
There have been many tears and smiles through this process.
It sure is wonderful when we get recognition for our music.
The Akademia and Clouzine Magazine are places that have made us worthy of a winner for ‘Best Americana Album’. This blows our minds and makes us feel so happy!
We write songs, stand up in front of people, describe their meaning and perform for people hoping that they will get something out of it.
We hope our music allows people to feel their emotions, to feel upliftment but then to also feel sadness depending on what’s happening in one’s life.
On our debut album, ‘Alive’, that’s what we wanted to provide our fans. All different types of stories that cover a range of feelings from upliftment and encouragement to sadness and heartbreak.
One of the things we have found most challenging about being artists is knowing how far we want our music to take us and where we want to go but figuring out exactly how to get there.
We won’t give up, its our dream!
We also know this is the dream for millions of others. But we feel like there is plenty of room for us all to be successful in the world, for sure!
LAUREN: Who are your role models in music?
SOULY US: Ben’s role model, Tommy Emmanuel, for sure! Tommy inspired Ben to start playing guitar after seeing him in concert in the late 90s in Melbourne, Australia.
Carrie Underwood would have to be my all time go to. Her vocal ability astounds me and her performance never disappoints. Absolutely love singing along to her songs and the way she juggles being a mother as well as a touring musician, and an incredibly successful one at that, I take my hat off to her.
Have been a huge fan of Keith Urban’s ever since 2000. Love his music and the way he performs on stage. He has an incredible way of entertaining a crowd. Just seems like such a down to earth man too.
LAUREN: Describe your best or most memorable performance.
SOULY US: We got the opportunity to support The Eurogliders in December last year in our home country here in Australia.
This band was huge in the 80s and were so well known for many songs, including ‘Heaven (must be there)’.
It was so enjoyable playing to a full crowd of people that just wanted to be there to enjoy themselves, and the music.
A very memorable evening!
LAUREN: What advice would you give to young, aspiring artists out there who are unsure and need guidance?
SOULY US: Never be afraid to ask and never say no to an opportunity that could help your career!
We have been in your very position. Totally unsure of the way and trying our hardest to figure it out. We have always gone up to other musicians and introduced ourselves, no matter how big or small they are! It is essential to put yourself out there in this business and to always have business cards on you wherever you go!
Don’t lose sight of the reason you are a musician and why you do what you do.
If you aim for the fame, you may get disappointed.
For us? We keep trying, and keep trying and we get rewarded! We enjoy every part of it.
You need to be willing to put in the hard yards if you want your music to turn into a career.
LAUREN: What's next for you as an artist? Is there an album in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it?
SOULY US: We released our album last September so we plan to release a few singles from it. The next one being ‘Fighter’ which will come out on radio Friday May 1st 2020.
This single couldn’t be released at a better time, the world really needs to hear this song so we can’t wait to push it as far and wide as possible.
We had planned to travel Australia this year and perform at different cities across the country to promote our debut album ‘Alive’. Unfortunately this has all been cancelled due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and we are now unable to travel until we are told it’s safe.
Like every other musician in the world, things have come to a standstill for now.
However this won’t be forever!
We had plans in the works to apply for a visa and head to Nashville for a year or more.
We hope to pick this up where we left off.
We are using the time we have wisely and planning for a new album and the filming of more music videos.
These activities will be our priority over the coming months for sure!
LAUREN: That sounds great! Thank you for giving us more insight into your life as an artist. I wish you much continued success in your career!
https://www.theakademia.com/artistkit/SoulyUs-ComeBackHomeToMe.html
https://www.facebook.com/soulyus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rj7h5HjvBiu108sHFqxXA?view_as=subscriber