EP.251 - DECLAN McKENNA

Adam talks with English singer/songwriter Declan McKenna about not going off the rails, why classic music can sound boring, why Robin Williams' best film was 1 Hour Photo and keeping your head in the music industry. Declan also performs an acoustic version of his track Elevator Hum. Recorded face-to-face in London on 11th April, 2024 Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support and conversation editing Podcast illustration by Helen Green https://helengreenillustration.com/ PRE-ORDER SIGNED VINYL OF 'BUCKLE UP' https://shop.decca.com/products/buckle-up-vinyl-signed PICS AND RELATED LINKS ON ADAM'S WEBSITE https://www.adam-buxton.co.uk/podcasts/82dyw29p3may2fa-dwb79-eycgn-fahgj Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Adam Buxton?

  I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin. Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening. I took my microphone and found some human folk. Then I recorded all the noises while we spoke. My name is Adam Buckston, I'm a man. I want you to enjoy this, that's the plan.

• 0:31Adam Buxton?

  Hey, how are you doing, podcasters? It's Adam Buckston here. I'm being stung by net owls out on a farm track in East Anglia. Ouch! The thing is that out here in Norfolk in mid-June 2025, when I'm recording this intro, it is hot and I am out here with my best dog friend Rosie, who is not that pleased to be out on a hot day like this, but still needs a bit of exercise. She's mainly been lounging, basking in the shade and on the hot patio slabs. I've come out wearing gym shorts and trainers rather than my walking boots.

• 1:16Adam Buxton?

  And that was a bit thick, really, because now I'm walking along quite overgrown farm tracks with a lot of brambles, nettles and tiny creatures that want to attack me. All of them want to attack me. The brambles and the sort of spiny bits of wheat chaff, I don't know exactly what they are, are getting lodged in my socks and also in the top parts of my trainers and sticking into my ankles. The creatures are just munching on my legs. And the nettles have stung the living heck out of my shins. I'm not complaining, it's a sensory smorgasbord that makes me feel alive.

• 2:02Adam Buxton?

  And I'm delighted to be here with you for episode number two hundred and fifty-one of the podcast, which features a great little ramble with a very talented young man, English singer-songwriter Declan McKenna. Here's some McKenna facts for you. Born in the London borough of Enfield in nineteen ninety-eight, Declan Benedict McKenna grew up in Chessant, Hertfordshire. Having learnt to play the guitar as a youngster, he started uploading music to the audio distribution site Bandcamp in the mid-two thousand and ten's, and was just fifteen when he uploaded Brazil, his third single, in late two thousand

• 2:41Adam Buxton?

  and fourteen. The song, an engaging slice of psychedelia-tinged indie pop, went modestly viral, thanks in part to lyrics that criticised the football-governing body FIFA for awarding the World Cup to Brazil in two thousand and fourteen without apparently addressing the extensive and deep poverty affecting the people of the nation. That's a quote from an article about the song at the time. Declan was studying for his GCSEs in two thousand and fifteen when he entered the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition, and after winning it, appeared at the festival that summer on the Williams Green stage.

• 3:21Adam Buxton?

  A record company bidding frenzy ensued. "I know all about those. It was absolute carnage with all the major labels trying to get hold of Buckle Up." And in late two thousand and fifteen, just before his seventeenth birthday, Declan signed with Columbia Records. His debut album, What Do You Think About The Car?, was released in two thousand and seventeen and produced by James Ford. Celebrated for his work with The Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Florence and the Machine, and most recently, I think I'm right in saying Pulp, whose album, produced by James, has just gone to number one as I speak. Declan's second album, Zeros, was released in late two thousand and twenty,

• 4:05Adam Buxton?

  and his third, What Happened to the Beach?, was released last year in February two thousand and twenty-four. Couple of months after the release of that album, in April, we met face to face in London for a brief ramble about music and movies and writing songs in a politically febrile climate. And Declan played a great acoustic version of his song Elevator Hum. I really enjoyed meeting Declan. He's a very smart guy. Originally, I think the idea was that he was just going to play a song and do a brief introduction and then I was going to attach it to an episode with another guest. But actually, we ended up talking a little bit longer than I imagined because I was

• 4:46Adam Buxton?

  enjoying myself, but then the problem became when to put the episode out. And due to my organisational chaos, books, et cetera, I didn't get it together to get it all cut and ready to go until now. I apologize to Declan and to you listeners. I'm a disgrace. I'll be back to say goodbye at the end of the episode. But right now with Declan McKenna, here we go.

• 5:55Adam Buxton?

  Will you say a couple of things, Declan?

• 5:57Speaker 01

  Yep, one, two, three.

• 5:59Adam Buxton?

  How about what you had for breakfast, the old what you had for breakfast?

• 6:03Speaker 01

  I had this flat white for breakfast and

• 6:07Adam Buxton?

  Have you not had a nutritious food-based breakfast, young man?

• 6:12Speaker 01

  No, no, I've got an orange juice and a flat white. That's going to be my breakfast. I literally woke up off the bus and got a gap here, so.

• 6:20Adam Buxton?

  Are you good at looking after yourself when you're touring around?

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, more and more I try to. I mean, the thing is, for me, is just sleep. Like I went to bed at like half past three last night and we were just watching movies and stuff. But like winding down when we get off stage at, you know, quarter to eleven or whatever it is. Play for about an hour and a half, hour and forty five, something like that, you know.

• 6:43Adam Buxton?

  You're all jazzed up on adrenaline.

• 6:44Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, I'm like saving all my energy for the end of the day and then I've got to sort of come down from it. So that's mainly the problem, but we, yeah, we don't.

• 6:52Adam Buxton?

  Have you tried heroin? It's great to relax, apparently.

• 6:57Speaker 01

  That's what they used to say, but uh these days you're kind of more aware that like, ah. If you're just drinking all the time, it only makes these problems worse or whatever. Heroin, absolutely, absolutely.

• 7:09Adam Buxton?

  It's very Moorish though, that's the thing about it. But in these modern times, are there people in the way that they never used to be in the olden days of the music industry? Who do actually look out for you a little bit and do say, oh, don't do that heroin.

• 7:25Speaker 01

  Um.

• 7:27Adam Buxton?

  Or is it still just like?

• 7:29Speaker 01

  Specifically that. Um, yeah, I think more and more people looking out for each other. Like sometimes the standard can be to just sort of burn the candle at both ends to an extent. Like you do have to look out for yourself because as I say, I've been touring since I was about sixteen. So when you're sort of that age, maybe seventeen, eighteen and sort of just all this like Carlsberg in the dressing room. You can get into pretty bad habits, like not even of like getting drunk every night, but just of having like. Three or four beers every night and that being normal and not actually feeling like you're celebrating anything. You're just kind of, just kind of what you do like that. I don't know. I think you have to shake off after a certain point and be like, you know, you keep getting sick all the time.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  Or you keep like just feeling really tired and I mean, you feel tired anyway regardless. So it's just like anything to kind of conserve the energy.

• 8:20Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  And keep sane.

• 8:21Adam Buxton?

  That's really impressive to have sort of learned that by, you're twenty five now, right?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:27Adam Buxton?

  To have realised all that by the time you're twenty five, that's quite useful. I was quite a long way from figuring that out when I was twenty five. I, I think I had another, a good ten years of excessive Carlsberg use in me.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  Sure. I mean, and knowing it and, and, you know, putting it into practice consistently are two different things. But at the same time, I definitely feel much more inclined to just take it easy on, on tour like. I don't think, like, I don't really go out or anything on tour, other than in Ireland on this tour. We, we went out in Ireland because that's, you know, you have to.

• 9:01Adam Buxton?

  It's the crack, apparently.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yes, it's the, it is the crack. Exact, that is exactly what they're saying over there.

• 9:08Adam Buxton?

  Have you got lots of family there? Old and family.

• 9:12Speaker 01

  Literally, my whole extended family is in Ireland. So, yeah, it's like quite a big crew over there. And when we do play in Cork, it's like, we played Cypress Avenue, which is like quite a small venue, like five hundred cap venue, but had like, you know, forty odd people on the guest list all in the dressing room after the gig. And it's really, it's really nice. And it's just a really funny, like, meeting of, of different generations at this gig that they probably wouldn't go to otherwise if it wasn't me, wasn't a relative.

• 9:42Adam Buxton?

  And are they happy for your success or do they give you weird vibes in the dressing room?

• 9:47Speaker 01

  No, they don't give me weird vibes. Everyone loves it. Like, everyone loves coming out for these things. Like, in different ways, I think they appreciate it. Like, I don't know how much everyone loves the music, but I think, I think some of them do. Yeah, definitely. Like, some of my cousins that are sort of closer to my generation really enjoy it. Uh, some of them even have kids who really enjoy it. So it's like, yeah, so it's, it's great. It's lovely. But yeah, that is like kind of the hub where most of my extended family is.

• 10:14Adam Buxton?

  Do you like Van Morrison?

• 10:16Speaker 01

  Not particularly.

• 10:17Adam Buxton?

  Ah, jeez.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  Like, yeah, like.

• 10:19Adam Buxton?

  Just the mention of Cypress Avenue put me in mind. Do you know that album, Astral Weeks?

• 10:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 10:25Adam Buxton?

  That's a good album.

• 10:26Speaker 01

  He, he's good. I feel like I've just grown up knowing that he's a bit of a grumpy.

• 10:31Adam Buxton?

  Oh, yeah. Does that get in the way for you?

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Well, maybe. I don't know. I just feel like, because his music just to me is a bit like dreary. I'm just like, ah. Not that all my heroes are wonderful, you know, un-grumpy people, like definitely some clangers in there, but I don't know. It is not like my thing.

• 10:52Adam Buxton?

  These are noises that Van Morrison makes.

• 10:53Speaker 01

  Good impression, actually.

• 10:54Adam Buxton?

  When he's thinking about the folly of.

• 10:57Speaker 01

  Who he's gonna shout out next.

• 10:58Adam Buxton?

  Lockdown. Or, or experts.

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. See, he's a, yeah, he's like a sort of.

• 11:05Adam Buxton?

  Fair enough about lockdown, the jury's out. Like, who knows what the right thing was to do about the lockdown? But he absolutely blasted all the doctors. He wasn't having any of it.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, anyone who needs a bit of stick from Van Morrison, I think the doctors could be left out of that one, left out of the list.

• 11:21Adam Buxton?

  It wasn't a good song either. That was the problem with No More Lockdown. People don't bring their A-game to their conspiracy theory.

• 11:28Speaker 01

  No.

• 11:28Adam Buxton?

  Catalogue.

• 11:29Speaker 01

  That's the problem. Like, if, that's the thing, if Van Morrison came out with, like, Moondance 2.

• 11:34Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  But it was anti-lockdown, maybe we'd be listening.

• 11:37Adam Buxton?

  It's a marvelous night for a lockdown. Just stay. That was low hanging fruit and I grabbed it. Um. Sufjan Stevens, have you ever met him? I know he's an influence of yours.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, uh, no.

• 11:50Adam Buxton?

  Am I pronouncing his name properly?

• 11:51Speaker 01

  Sufjan, yeah, I, I think.

• 11:53Adam Buxton?

  Sufjan, Sufjan.

• 11:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, um.

• 11:56Adam Buxton?

  Huan.

• 11:56Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't really know. No, I haven't met him. Yeah, I found his music as a, as a teenager and was really into the album The Age of Ards. Because it's just, it's wild, like, just sonically crazy, but also he has this way of doing that and keeping it really emotional, not making it like purely for the sake of it. And the last song on the album is like 20 minutes long or something like that, and it's so good. But yeah, I, I love Sufjan Stevens.

• 12:24Adam Buxton?

  20 minutes? That is a big ask, isn't it?

• 12:26Speaker 01

  It is, but have you ever, the song really just travels really nicely. Like, it's, it's, it's really, really.

• 12:33Adam Buxton?

  I'm trying to think of the longest song that I like. I mean.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  You had, you had Richard Dawson?

• 12:39Adam Buxton?

  Yes.

• 12:40Speaker 01

  Right on here? He has some long tunes that are pretty good.

• 12:42Adam Buxton?

  He's got some very good long ones, yeah.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  Nothing Important, that is so good. But yeah, often it's like an indulgent thing to do, but when you're just like a basically a genius, I think, I think you can go over there.

• 12:55Adam Buxton?

  I like Autobahn, Kraftwerk, that's a long one.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 12:59Adam Buxton?

  That's more, that's almost like a classical piece, really. I mean, it hasn't really got, like, lyrics in it as such.

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 13:05Adam Buxton?

  But apart from saying fun, fun, fun, I always thought they were saying fun. Do you know the song?

• 13:12Speaker 01

  Not really, no. I haven't listened to much Kraftwerk.

• 13:13Adam Buxton?

  Fun, fun, fun on the Autobahn. Um. Oh, they're quite good.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I kinda, I know the vibe, like I have checked it out.

• 13:21Adam Buxton?

  But I guess you're, maybe you're more into sort of analog-y stuff rather than electronicy.

• 13:28Speaker 01

  Not necessarily. I mean, it's all different kinds of music, really. Like, I don't, there's not like one thing that I, sometimes like some of the older cutting-edge music, like Kraftwerk. Or, you know, music that like set the tone for music in a certain direction. I struggle to get into because so much of the music I like has been influenced by it.

• 13:50Adam Buxton?

  Okay.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  Like, I never got into The Cure growing up because every band that I listened to sounded like The Cure.

• 13:55Adam Buxton?

  Right.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  Um, I think, and Joy Division. I don't know if I would have loved Joy Division if so much other music hadn't been influenced by it, but I feel like I've just never been into those bands because all of the indie bands growing up were just like very much indebted to them. And I think the same is probably kinda true of Kraftwerk.

• 14:12Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? And it probably seems so plodding and prehistoric. It's like, it's very basic. I mean, it is very basic, a lot of that stuff. But, yeah, it's part of my musical DNA.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  I always see them, you know, pictures of them on tour and it, you know, they, they still do really interesting things. I even kind of took an idea from them on the last album tour I did where they had these like strips on their arms or something like that. They were on like big boxes and like part of their clothes were like basically reflective or like lighting up or something.

• 14:50Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, they looked like something out of Tron.

• 14:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I just kind of, we got this like reflective material and put it all down the arms and legs of the outfits on like the last album tour. And that was based off of seeing like Kraftwerk live videos. So I do take influence from them in some roundabout way.

• 15:08Adam Buxton?

  I'm still thinking about you, what you said about the cure and craft work and things like that. I think that's so interesting because I show my children movies that I really liked when I was growing up. But a lot of them have been ripped off.

• 15:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:23Adam Buxton?

  And recreated and even remade. So going back to the originals is quite boring, I think, for them a lot of the time. They're used to a different pace of storytelling and editing and

• 15:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:34Adam Buxton?

  special effects and everything like that. It's very hard for them to then make the adjustment to appreciate what would have been good about something in nineteen seventy five.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  I I think it depends, though. Some things are completely timeless. And obviously, I am into a lot of like older music and older films and stuff like that, but things just travel through time differently. Some stuff from even, you know, twenty years ago feels like you can watch it now, which feels kind of ancient, but some things travel really well. And it's it's a strange thing. It doesn't, I don't know if it means something is better or worse. We watched the other day um, One Hour Photo.

• 16:16Adam Buxton?

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  Robin Williams.

• 16:17Adam Buxton?

  Right.

• 16:18Speaker 01

  That is a brilliant film, really intense. I'm not going to watch again soon because it was so intense.

• 16:23Adam Buxton?

  Is he a serial killer?

• 16:25Speaker 01

  Well.

• 16:26Adam Buxton?

  Hmm.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  Well, it would kind of spoil it, but like he he acts like a serial killer. But initially, you really feel for him. You really get connected with the character and then he starts doing strange things and it just like tears you up. Like, I found it so intense to watch because, you know, I was really rooting for him. You sort of see he's this lonely guy and he's sort of obsessive about this fam- you know, he's like, he's been um, developing these photos for this family. So he's seen this kid grow up, seen, you know, this family's life and is so invested in it, but it just gradually gets more and more creepy. And it's really good because it's got a good heart. And I find that now, like, sometimes with the big movie productions with, even with music.

• 17:14Speaker 01

  A lot of stuff just doesn't have the the heart that is sort of necessary to keep you engaged. It's like almost trying to be like aesthetically stimulating over anything else.

• 17:24Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  And I don't I don't get it. I think that's maybe what happens when there's too many heads involved. And like, there's not someone with a sort of clear vision, or it could be, it's probably a number of different ways it happens, but.

• 17:35Adam Buxton?

  I think it's just trying to keep people engaged. It's like a desperation to keep people watching. Because so few people, it's so much harder in the screen age to get people's attention and keep it. So it seems like you're most likely to do that by having something spectacular or eye catching. And it's so much harder and more of a gamble to try and do that via kind of emotions and things. I've never seen One Hour Photo. That's Mark Romaine.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  I recommend it, yeah.

• 18:09Adam Buxton?

  Who did Never Let Me Go as well, the Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation. I think I avoided One Hour Photo because I thought, hmm, I don't know if I need to be conflicted about Robin Williams. Creepy Robin Williams, no, I'm fine, thanks.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  That's the thing, like, I get a bit fed up of, not Robin Williams, to be fair, I think he's the best of the bunch, but there's some actors who like always do those like sort of larger than life comedy roles.

• 18:33Adam Buxton?

  Mm hmm.

• 18:34Speaker 01

  Like Jim Carrey, I can't, I can't watch another Jim Carrey movie ever. I just, I'm so sick of it. Adam Sandler is another one, although he's done more serious roles recently, but like, that's what I liked about it was because I love a lot of other Robin Williams roles, but like, he still has that over the top thing about him in it. But, yeah, it's not a comedy role at all, and it's contained in a way, and you should really see how brilliant an actor he was. I don't know, I just think it's one of his best roles that I've seen.

• 19:50Adam Buxton?

  Do you remember when you wrote your first song? And what would it have been like?

• 19:54Speaker 01

  I was probably writing songs when I was like four or five. Cause I definitely remember being a little bit older than that and writing quite a lot. Like, I would write all sorts of songs when I was in primary school.

• 20:08Adam Buxton?

  But when we say writing songs, are you like writing down the words? And are you making a note of them and stuff?

• 20:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, the whole thing. Like by the end of primary school, I'd been in a band with my friend. I used to like go to his house, he lived right next to the school and we were like sometimes jam in the morning. And I was like writing whole songs and they were like, alright, like not, nothing I would release now, but like those songs.

• 20:35Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  Uh, so like, you know, I'd started writing quite regularly. Probably when I was seven or eight years old, like I just always just had little ideas.

• 20:47Adam Buxton?

  And you just had an instinctive grasp of the structure, how songs worked?

• 20:52Speaker 01

  Well, it's all based off of what I was listening to. So some stuff sounded like, you know, the indie stuff that we were kind of listening to a lot back then, the mystery jets. Some of it sounded a bit like Paramore or something like that. Some of it was more based off like, you know, the Beatles and stuff like that. Like, you know, you kind of base it off what you know and a structure that you kind of understand. And you're just trying to kind of create a new melody or something that you haven't heard before.

• 21:23Adam Buxton?

  Do you remember any of the songs at all? Like what they were about or what the tunes were like?

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm trying to remember now. Yeah, I mean, there's some on YouTube from secondary school, from a band in secondary school. I'm sure they're somewhere. Yeah, I can like loosely remember some. I couldn't really do a good rendition of them, I don't think.

• 21:46Adam Buxton?

  Come on, couple of lines.

• 21:49Speaker 01

  I'm trying to think what is a good one to do if I was to do one, but it's gonna be so embarrassing.

• 21:55Adam Buxton?

  That's the idea.

• 21:58Speaker 01

  See, I'm remembering the ones from secondary school, that's the thing. I feel like I want, I wanna go earlier than that. I can only think of like what the earliest, earliest ones were.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  The one that I'm remembering, it had this riff that was like proper like pop punk riff and I think. I don't know if I wrote it, it probably would have been early secondary school. But it went like.

• 22:29Speaker 01

  It was like pure like Paramore vibe and I think it was called A and E and it was about, they were closing down the local like. Uh, A and E centre or something like that and, and I'd written this song. And it was the kind of thing you just latch on to. There was like. Somewhat of a protest in the area in Broxborn about this like place I'd gone when I'd like fractured my wrist, closing down.

• 22:56Adam Buxton?

  That's amazing. And.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:58Adam Buxton?

  Cause your dad's involved with politics, is that right? Or is that, is that something on, that's a, that's a Wikipedia?

• 23:04Speaker 01

  Wikipedia thing.

• 23:05Adam Buxton?

  Where did that come from?

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Well, my dad worked, yes, worked for Broxborn Council, but in like a community care. Branch of something that was like funded by the council.

• 23:19Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 23:20Speaker 01

  Basically, that whole section of Broxborn Council has now since been sort of discontinued by the Tory government. But it was like, yeah, it's like community care mainly for like the elderly that was part of Broxborn Council. But I keep getting asked if my dad's a politician. So I think in recent times, because of how I've sort of spoken about it in interviews or whatever, someone's been like. That girl's dad was a politician. And it's not, it's like, it's just the stuff that's part of the council obviously isn't necessarily politics.

• 23:51Adam Buxton?

  Everything's politics.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  Well, it is. Well, it, you know, it obviously gives you a perspective.

• 23:55Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 23:55Speaker 01

  Like when the Tory government axes.

• 23:59Adam Buxton?

  Well, you're obviously politically engaged, so I suppose people assume that maybe that came from your parents or.

• 24:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and to an extent that's, you know, that of course that's true.

• 24:09Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Because you care about the things that affect your family and you sort of grow up with a certain set of values, I guess. And. Yeah, in a, in a lot of ways, my dad and, and. You know, his his sort of job of kind of, or his job when I was younger, have given a slant on my life, like my family, very like, community oriented. I think that's hopefully guided me in a positive direction, I think. So that is, yeah, it's definitely like, it's not like I'm not renouncing the influence of my family, of course. But it's just a little bit different from what Wikipedia might suggest, which.

• 24:41Adam Buxton?

  Was he even a milkman?

• 24:43Speaker 01

  He was.

• 24:43Adam Buxton?

  Okay.

• 24:44Speaker 01

  He was a milkman. When I was, I don't really remember his milkman days, but he he was. I can't believe this is, I I didn't realise I'd mentioned that along the way, but yeah, he was a milkman when I was a baby, yeah. You know, he's been a number of things.

• 24:58Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 25:01Adam Buxton?

  You said that in a way that suggests he's also been an assassin.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  An assassin, under Brockspurne Council. That was his political days. He was working for the Tory government. That's what they they stopped funding the uh the community care project and started funding assassins.

• 25:14Adam Buxton?

  They just got rid of their enemies one by one.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  That was what two thousand eight did.

• 25:18Adam Buxton?

  I think it might be time for you to play a song, if that's all right.

• 25:21Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 25:21Adam Buxton?

  Are you okay to do that?

• 25:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 25:23Adam Buxton?

  Now, I think you're gonna play Elevator Hum.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:28Adam Buxton?

  And I'm looking at the lyrics here. I mean, I've heard the song, but I'm looking at the lyrics. And I know it's not cool to ask musicians about lyrics, but, you know.

• 25:39Speaker 01

  It's all the rage.

• 25:41Adam Buxton?

  They've written them, so I just find it very hard to resist.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 25:46Adam Buxton?

  Are you one of those artists that gets chippy when interviewers ask them about what the songs are?

• 25:52Speaker 01

  No, I get asked it all the time.

• 25:54Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 25:54Speaker 01

  Um, I just, well, no, I just.

• 25:56Adam Buxton?

  Just listen to the song!

• 25:58Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, I kind of try and say that in some roundabout way because a song isn't, the thi- one of the things that frustrates me about the sort of TikTok era, which I'm not all against, but it's just like the whole, this is my song and this is what it's about in fifteen seconds or less, you know, it's like. Ri- almost writing songs for people to relate to it with like three words. And it's just like, oh, none of the music I like is like that. So for me, you know, this like this song Elevator Hum is just, it's more about the feeling it evokes. It has this sort of nostalgic thing. And I think where it came from was I'd been writing with Luca,

• 26:39Speaker 01

  who produced this album for a couple of weeks. Like we just formed this friendship basically through making music together.

• 26:45Adam Buxton?

  Is Luca an American?

• 26:47Speaker 01

  He is, yeah. Uh, Jean-Luc Boochelassie. And he, um, yeah, and we just formed this relationship and it was one of the later songs that we wrote in our like first sort of stint working together. So it was like this song about a growing sort of friendship, but it's like harking back to like childhood in a way. It feels very nostalgic. So that's kind of, that's the kind of vibe of the song.

• 27:09Adam Buxton?

  But just listen to the song.

• 27:12Adam Buxton?

  Listen to that fucking song.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  I can't quite explain.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  This hole in my brain's come around again. The West Ham's did reds.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Send me to bed and head up out again. Some things have to change.

• 28:11Speaker 01

  Some things are to blame for almost everything. Some boys go and shame.

• 28:21Speaker 02

  Don't play that game Cause I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to be free To be happy I want you to believe You're just like me

• 29:04Speaker 02

  Just another California town

• 29:10Speaker 02

  Prove me wrong, but I think they all sound the same It doesn't matter where you're from

• 29:19Speaker 02

  It's all going that way Now, listen to the elevator hum The mechanism's breaking down again Don't you tell my mom

• 29:38Speaker 02

  Don't play that game Cause I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to be free To be happy I want you to believe You're just like me

• 30:47Speaker 02

  Cause I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to believe You're just like me I want you to be free To be happy I want you to believe You're just like me

• 31:27Adam Buxton?

  Yay

• 31:28Speaker 01

  Hey

• 31:31Adam Buxton?

  Thank you very much

• 31:32Speaker 01

  No problem, thank you

• 31:34Adam Buxton?

  That's great

• 31:38Adam Buxton?

  And so, yeah, cause I was gonna ask you what advice you would give To the sixteen year old version of yourself At Glastonbury, having won that competition and Suddenly being catapulted, was it a lot of pressure?

• 31:50Speaker 01

  The thing, I think the thing that I would say to myself back then is Not to feel the pressure on your like creativity Because I think I've felt the pressure to work on stuff quickly To do things a certain way, to, to sort of almost take myself too seriously and Actually, my advice would be to not do that, to just keep doing your own thing Because I think the, one of the problems with the music industry when A young artist gets into it is that The artist is the one who tends to feel like they don't know what they're doing When actually, it's kind of the other way around, like the industry requires the Artist who's doing this thing, that's why they've like sought out, you know, they seek out the new artists

• 32:33Speaker 01

  But just because of the way of things and you see this whole structure, you're like, oh, they know what they're doing, so I'm gonna do things their way When it shouldn't really be like that, not, it's not, it's not really anyone's fault, it's just like the pressure that you feel when you get in, you're like Right, what, you guys tell me what to do, sort of thing You've just gotta do things on your own terms creatively, like, you really do, and that's the only advice Like, I think people are always looking for like Tips on how to break into the music industry. And I'm just like, oh, your song's good enough. Because there's so many songs out there, like you're gonna, like, you need to go into the industry with proof, with proof that you can do it. Cause you know, if you don't have it, then you, you know, you're gonna have a very short period of time to prove yourself.

• 33:15Adam Buxton?

  You're talking about not taking things too seriously. But do you feel as a young person that the world is now so serious in so many different ways? And certainly that that's the impression that you're given when you look at the news and go online or whatever, that things are getting even more serious.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:38Adam Buxton?

  And do you feel the weight of that? And does that sort of cramp your style sometimes if you're trying to be carefree and write a song? That may not necessarily be about anything too heavy?

• 33:49Speaker 01

  Well, I think that's what music is for in a lot of ways. And I started my career writing stuff that was very much trying to point in the direction of very serious matters.

• 33:59Adam Buxton?

  A and E.

• 34:00Speaker 01

  A and E famously.

• 34:01Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 34:02Speaker 01

  But, you know, the stuff that I actually released as well was all sort of pointing at serious stuff. But I do feel like now, if I am gonna do that, I really wanna get it right. And I really wanna, you know, be able to put something in the form of a song that kind of says something that is kind of beyond words in a way and brings people together on an issue. And like, I think that's kind of why I've maybe with the the newer stuff kind of been more and more like, maybe this should just be an escape from it all for people because there is so much dialogue now, which wasn't really in the same way when I started my career.

• 34:44Adam Buxton?

  Oh yeah. Have you noticed that difference?

• 34:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, even well, in the music world for sure, like, not saying it's my doing by any means, but there's definitely been a shift in the last, you know, ten years or whatever.

• 34:57Adam Buxton?

  And to be specific, you're talking about a shift towards.

• 35:01Speaker 01

  Towards, yeah, focusing on more serious issues, towards it becoming mainstream to actually, you know, discuss politics or to discuss these things in that way. Maybe I've just gotten older as well, but it does feel like there's a lot of, yeah, heavy stuff going on and people are kind of discussing it, whether or not they're doing it in like a functional way is different, but like it's all kind of there in front of your face now. Whereas I think when I started trying to address things, it just felt like anything, you know, any message getting out there to try and encourage, you know, like young people to engage with politics and kind of engage with the wider world and, um, and really see how you could

• 35:42Speaker 01

  have an impact. I felt was really important and now I'm kind of, I still definitely like believe that, but I just, I don't know. I think I'm almost like trying to understand how with the current format of things, like a genuinely like productive movement can like cut through everything, like being so in your face all the time and there being so many distractions as well. Because, yeah, just the internet, you know, and so much of life being on the internet now, it just feels very intense and feels like very hard for a message to actually cut through.

• 36:19Adam Buxton?

  Are you across all that stuff? Do you check all your stats and engage with people on social media?

• 36:24Speaker 01

  I don't know about stats, but I, I use social media. I just, I'm almost trying to less and less because I think it just, my problem with it is, is the ability to actually have a clear head on things and think your own sort of thoughts. When, you know, within five minutes of something happening, every thought has already been had and it's out there and it's been discussed, it's been argued and it's like, it's just very intense. But yeah, I have a weird relationship with social media now and I'm kind of like trying to distance myself a bit to kind of actually engage with things and not just engage with everything a little bit, you know?

• 37:02Adam Buxton?

  I do know very much. I'm trying to wean myself off podcasts.

• 37:09Adam Buxton?

  I think I listened to too many. There's too much info going in and it's all going out the other ear.

• 37:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:15Adam Buxton?

  And, and the thing that suffers actually in my life is music because I used to listen to so much of it in the pre podcast world. And, you know, if I was wandering around, travelling or doing whatever on my own, I would just be listening to music. And then at a certain point that changed and I just felt, I thought, oh dear, I've got to, I've got to be munching info. And so either an audiobook, probably a factual audiobook, historical or a podcast, something like that, it felt like, yes, this is good. This is nutrition for my mind. But actually, I think it was not really staying there a lot of the time.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  It's just a headache.

• 38:00Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, it's just, it's just a hum. And all it's doing is ensuring that I'm not listening to as much music as I used to. And it's a shame because every time I do listen to music, I do feel pretty good, you know, and, and I feel sort of alive.

• 38:17Speaker 01

  It's noticeably nicer than silence generally. But

• 38:21Adam Buxton?

  Sometimes.

• 38:22Speaker 01

  But yeah, but that's the thing. I actually also, I try and like, not listen to anything sometimes, or not look at anything. Because it's so easy to always have something on. And for me, making music, it gives you less moments to actually find inspiration if you're always consuming. Like, you need to consume to get inspiration, but you also need to give your brain, let your brain breathe.

• 38:48Adam Buxton?

  It's all vying for your attention and it's all, it's all telling you that they know something you don't. And you need to know this thing.

• 38:57Speaker 01

  They probably do.

• 38:58Adam Buxton?

  No, they don't. They don't. No, they don't. No, no, no, no, no.

• 39:01Speaker 01

  They probably do.

• 39:03Adam Buxton?

  They probably do. Of course, they probably do. But that's what makes it even worse. There's dangling in front of you, the possibility that you could enrich yourself and improve your lot in life. If you just follow these instructions, and often it's behind a paywall conveniently.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:19Adam Buxton?

  So if you just watch this lecture and then you click on the link and pay your subscription, then you'll just find the secrets of how to stop the voices in your head, how to clear your mind, how to exploit the potential that your brain has locked away that you've just ignored all your life because you're such a fucking turd. Sorry, I've.

• 39:43Speaker 01

  That's good. Yeah, I like that.

• 39:52Adam Buxton?

  Wait. This is an ad for Squarespace. Okay, we'll return to the AI apocalypse in just a wee wee moment. But first, I wanted to talk about Squarespace. Do you know about Squarespace, Steve? Uh, yes, Monty. I think I might even be a little bit more tuned into modern tech, websites, et cetera, than you. I don't know, just guessing. Oh, Steve, I love this dynamic. I'm old and conservative, and you're young and progressive, and that's what makes the Newswind podcast such great listening. But yes, you're right. I must admit, I didn't know much about Squarespace. But because my new grumble book, Hell in a Handcart, is out this month. And I look forward to getting enraged by that. So I should hope. Um, um, um. Anyway, the publishers, Bluestar and Dogwhistle, made a beautiful website for the book using Squarespace. I know, I got the newsletter that you sent out using Squarespace. And the website

• 40:35Adam Buxton?

  does look great. Videos of you airing your views, members' areas for your mad fans. You've even got a merch store, I see. That's right. The Union Jack top hat is a big seller. But they constructed it all so fast with Squarespace. They did most of it over one lunchtime, Steve. Well, you wouldn't want to spend much longer on it, would you? Shut up, Steve. But here's the thing. Anyone listening to this can start a free trial right now at Squarespace.com/boxton and see how easy and versatile Squarespace is. And when they're ready to launch a new website or domain, they can save 10% off their first purchase by using the offer code BOXTON at checkout. Right, well, maybe I'll visit Squarespace.com/boxton and start a new website just to refute all the nonsense in your new book. Oh, don't do that, Steve. I will. Oh, shut up, Steve. Uh, shut up. Now, back to more depressing matters on Newswind.

• 41:20Adam Buxton?

  Continue.

• 41:31Adam Buxton?

  Hey, welcome back, podcats. That was Declan McKenna, talking to me there and playing his beautiful song Elevator Hum. It was really great to meet him, actually. I enjoyed it very much. And apologies again for having taken so long to put the episode out. Unfortunately, with the ad hoc way this podcast is created, that does sometimes happen. Luckily, Declan is still very young, making music, and all his albums still exist. You'll find links to a few videos for some of his singles, including Elevator Hum, in the description of today's podcast. There's also a link to his website, where you'll find other info,

• 42:13Adam Buxton?

  plus tour dates. At the moment, he's out in Europe, in Italy and France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany. But he's back in the UK in July, playing at Tottenham Stadium, where he will be providing support for Imagine Dragons on the 25th and 26th of July 2025. The big question that everyone's asking in the music world is when will Adam Buxton be touring his new album? Well, I'm not sure. I had my first singing lesson the other day, and that went really well. So I'm gonna have some more. And then I'm gonna start

• 42:56Adam Buxton?

  performing a handful of songs here and there. I think I might perform a couple of songs at Latitude this year, if you find yourself there. The idea is that sometime on the Sunday, I'll do a kind of live podcast chat, maybe with another musician, TBC, and I might sing a couple of songs from my new album as part of that. Anyway, when I find out more, I will let you know. But if you're around on the Sunday at Latitude, bear that in mind.

• 43:35Adam Buxton?

  It's gonna be extraordinary, and a new page in rock music history will be written. Probably about someone else, but I might get a mention in the footnote.

• 43:48Adam Buxton?

  And for goodness sake, don't forget that you can preorder my album, which comes out on September the 12th. But if you follow the link in the description, you'll be able to preorder that thing on vinyl. Beautiful album artwork by Helen Green and artist Bryony Jackson and myself. Come on, Doglegs.

• 44:13Adam Buxton?

  She's standing there going, can we go back the much shorter way, please? Unfortunately, Rosie, that is so overgrown that in my gym shorts, it's just not sustainable as an option. Who cares about your stupid shins and calves? Sorry, Doglegs. Let's go up this way. I really, really don't want to. I know, but I'm afraid we've got to, sweet dog. Come on, this way. Oh, man, she is determined to go the short way. Come on, Rosie, we're going this way.

• 44:53Adam Buxton?

  Okay, that's it for this week. Thank you very much indeed to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his invaluable production support and conversation editing. Thanks also to Frank, my son, who also contributed some edit work on this one. Thanks to Helen Green for her podcast artwork and thanks to everyone at Acast who liaises with my sponsors and keeps this show financially on the road. But none of it would mean anything if it weren't for you. Once again, you've come back, maybe to explore a new artist that you weren't familiar with, and you've listened right to the end. That's a level of friendly dedication that I am deeply grateful for.

• 45:38Adam Buxton?

  And in return, and I know it's not much, but I would like to propose a creepy hug. Come here. Great to see you. Oh, yeah, sorry, that's me. I did some exercise this morning and... Uh, came straight out rather than taking a shower. I, I do apologize. It's the only way that someone like me is ever really gonna be funky.

• 46:04Adam Buxton?

  Speaking of which, I'm gonna watch that Sly Stone documentary.

• 46:10Adam Buxton?

  Directed by Questlove, who did The Summer of Soul. Did you ever see that? Brilliant. And apparently this documentary that Questlove has made about Sly Stone is also excellent. Little recommendation there for you, although I haven't seen it yet. Okay, until next time we're together, please, go carefully, it is ridiculous out there. And in case it's any help at all, I love you.

• 46:37Adam Buxton?

  Bye!