We Chat to GABRIEL PARIS About New Single 'KICKS IN' & Working on The AQUAMAN Movie Soundtrack
Aussie singer/songwriter and producer and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Paris has just released his newest alt-pop single ‘Kicks In’ now available on all streaming platforms. Written, produced, and engineered by Gabriel himself—with mastering by Wayne Sunderland—‘Kicks In’ kicks off the last quarter of 2020 as Gabriel’s follow-up to ‘Galaxy’ and ‘Story’, which were both released earlier this year. The newest single is both intoxicating and sobering, with piercing lyricism that looks back at a time when Gabriel was going through a really low point, using alcohol as a coping mechanism during the aftermath of a breakup. This introspective and cathartic ballad comes as a breakthrough. The song’s heart-tugging exposition builds up and transitions to a sweeping bridge that highlights Gabriel’s vocal. Gabriel broke the music scene as a songwriter, collaborating with a diverse array of artists including GRAACE, Ash Grunwald, Xavier Dunn, and Sammi Constantine. He has writing credits on the Warner Brothers’ DC Film ‘Aquaman’ Motion Picture Soundtrack. Among others, Gabriel is influenced by the music of Coldplay, Xavier Dunn, Vance Joy, and Fergus James. He believes that genuine songwriting goes beyond what other people want you to write about, as it creates a space where everyone can feel understood no matter their circumstance. Gabriel Paris is a talent that should not sleep on! —so be sure to follow his career’s ascent.
Hi Gabriel, Thanks for joining us and performing your song for us!
Yeah! Sure!
Thank you that was great, it's a beautiful song!
Thank you!
You started out behind the scenes as a singer-songwriter and for artists GRAACE, Ash Grunwald, Xavier Dun AND Sammi Constantine. YOU WAS ALSO musical director & instrumentalist for some tours. We also noticed a shared surname with Xavier Dunn any relation?
Ha! it's my brother, so he's kind enough to mess around with me sometimes and just have some writing sessions and teaches me a lot...he's been in the game I guess 4-5 years longer than myself, so just a lot more brains in that sense Ha! With all those people I've managed to do some writing for them; With GRAACE it's been fantastic to do some of her shows, doing the live stuff is amazing and then Sammi Constantine is just an amazing writer. Some a bit of everything and then some just pure writing, so I've been very lucky.
Did you decide to change your name, so that there wouldn't be that association?
Not really, even I was a bit torn about it. It's my middle name, so I've always liked the idea of Gabriel Paris. I guess I've always known he wants to do music as well, so it was kind of an early decision.
Going into songwriting, did you have the intention of becoming a solo artist eventually?
Yeah, definitely, it's kind of always been what I wanted. My brother growing up before me and all that, all the bands at school, all that kind of stuff... I guess it's always something I wanted to do, but I guess in some ways, writing and production are just an "in" to the industry, to start getting to know people, so it's always been the intention to branch out and spread my wings. Ha!
Could you talk us through that transition from songwriter to solo artist, how has that journey been?
It's tough, weird in the sense that it's easy to get comfortable just writing and it's not necessarily what I'm able to make a living off or anything like that. I guess it's just the drive for the passion project. I want to get there and show stuff and all that but it's a tough transition especially when people just know you as a writer. It's not that people would ever judge you or anything like that… actually, it probably is. It's tough to breakthrough as an artist to them, you’re saying I want to be this now.
Yeah, an artist definitely has to establish themselves. There is a long establishment phase that most artists go through before they start to get any wide recognition.
Definitely, It's just being pocketed as a writer, in their view if you're a writer, you're a writer, can't break that!
Yeah, I think it's easy for people to just put people into boxes.
Yeah!
We can see you've got a lot of different talents from what you do. Anyway, How did the opportunity to work on the Warner Bros soundtrack for Aquaman come about?
That was wild! Lucky! I say lucky but it was not necessarily luck, it was management they were just really onto it I guess. They just had an opportunity come up and just said, let's work on this together! We went into the studio at 10 pm at night, and as soon as we go down, we didn't come out for the next two days! Just trying to make sure that everything was done edit wise, we sent off this version, then after an hour, we received feedback and then immediately sent back the next revised version an hour later because if you miss that, someone else is already working on it!
Was it quite a quick process, how long did it take you to do the job?
Super quick! We had a team in there was a producer and I was on the instrumental stuff and laying down those tracks, it was a very quick process. We had a version after an hour and then send that off. Like now, I'm going just, oh make some tweaks and this sort of stuff, or just like a feeling, like not quite feeling that. There was nothing super direct, so just kind of guessing everything. There was no longer than an hour between a revised version and the next version.
Do you think having that pressure helped you?
I think it made us take a few leaps on things that normally you'd sit back and think, I'm not sure about that, I'll revisit that at a later time and I'll fix it and I'll mess around with it. But this was just, you had to send it! So, I was like cool that's what we have we're not 100%, but we just have to run with it. Definitely working under time pressure you have to trust yourself a bit, that was the instinct, that's what we got.
We can see from your Instagram you are a talented multi-instrumentalist who can play the piano, cello and guitar. Are there any other musical instruments we are unaware of? Are you classically trained?
I played in bands in school trombone on stage. My dad ran the bands at school like concert bands. If anyone was missing on the day or the lack of one instrument or another. I was like, I guess I'm learning that for a year!
Sounds like a particularly musical family.
Yeah extremely! My mom and dad were music teachers, you know they had five boys. All of us have done or knew music to some degree, so yeah a very musical family. I started on the piano and cello it all paid off in the end because I went down that road, as much as I hated getting up at six in the morning to practice for an hour and then go to school.
some of your musical influences include Coldplay, Vance Joy, Fergus James and we’ve noticed you like a bit of Lewis Capaldi as well. If you did have the opportunity to tour with any artist or group who would it be?
I mean Lewis Capaldi would be fantastic and I'm sure touring with him would be just ridiculous, but I've just always had a soft spot for Coldplay…ever since I was young car trips or anything... We lived in the countryside if you drive anywhere it is for seven hours! So we'd just have Coldplay on repeat from a CD my brother had made from a whole bunch of random ones. Don't quiz me on albums. They're just cool I love their sound and the way they compose themselves, just them as people, in general, they are just fantastic people, so would absolutely tour with them.
People usually go one of two ways in lockdown either being hyper-productive e.g. getting fit, learning new skills or getting fat and binging TV shows. You’ve said you are extending lockdown to finish off your EP, so it seems it may be the latter, but how have you actually found the lockdown experience and is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming EP?
It's been a bit scary. Honestly, I never felt like the impacts of COVID initially. I guess with music, I've done a lot of it, like writing sessions going through a period and then they stopped altogether. But now they're coming back and then several productions stopped. So, some people went on a rampage of we're doing nothing so let's write as much as possible and get as much done in this time. In a weird way some things sped up, which was very strange, but what was scary was just thinking how long can I maintain this? I can hold that for a while but unless shows comeback and public venues, until this stuff reignites it's really bleak to think about. Especially for up and coming artists, it's pretty daunting thinking how you're going to survive[..] Regarding the EP I don't have anyone breathing down my neck saying “give me your EP now, we need to sell it!” So, I'm going to release 3 songs this year, so proud of that [...]
Your two previous singles ‘Galaxy’ and ‘Story’ are also solid tracks, which you produced yourself. How long have you been producing and honing that skill?
Producing music...8 Years that I've known about that sort of thing, being able to record for myself. The last two years is where it's become serious. I tried to learn or to put myself in situations to need to know things. This makes it a necessity and pressure on myself in that sense. So, 2 years of really getting stuck into it.
You’ve been quoted as saying…
“Music is a place where confusion is embraced, questions are mandatory, and the journey is everything.”
In line with this train of thought, we want to ask you some questions about your deeply personal track ‘Kicks In’.
There is a prevalent drinking culture in the UK, USA and of course Australia where you are from. You used alcohol as a coping mechanism after a heartbreak. Could you share what happened?
It stemmed from a breakup, but it's definitely the latter part of that as well, kind of comes after it. The three songs that have all kind of been about this little story of this breakup and this journey after it up until now. With kicks in, it's definitely just having alcohol as a crutch to lean on.
Not even just, you know, when I'm sad or thinking about the breakup or you know thinking about where I'm at or just going out drinking, it's not just that part afterwards, but also during the relationship, I just didn't have control. I would still go out drinking, I still wanted that for no particular reason it was just something that I went to because my mates wanted to and that's what I thought you had to do to have fun. It wasn't really until after the breakup, when I look back on it I see just how much of an issue it was. It's part of the chorus I knew I should have gone to bed he told me I should stop but I didn't Haha, so it's obviously not the smartest thing to do. It's definitely something that I did when I didn't know how to cope with something, I just drank; it was just easier to do that than to kind of be having to think about how to solve a problem. It was about 3 years ago I think I was about 22 at the time. It stemmed from when I was much younger like as a teenager growing up as soon as you go out and party your goal isn't to have fun at that moment it's to get drunk and then when you start going out as an 18-year-old, as you said with the drinking culture what I find here in Australia is there's no having fun it's drinking to get as wasted as you possibly can that's the goal, that's it.
The lyric “I like me better when the alcohol kicks in” is relatable in the sense that many people are repressed by societal expectations or what other people think of them to the extent that they feel the need for alcohol or other substances to actually let loose. That being said, what is this lyric actually about?
It was relevant at the time, in a sense. Like some of the jobs, I was working in hospitality was just draining. You work from midday to midnight, say I'm working 4 pm-midnight, the shift occurs and doesn't matter if you have all day free just the fact that you're working that night your whole day is mentally gone. So, I'll stay in bed until 1 pm or 2 pm cuz I've had to work and then it's the thought of working and then you go to work and as soon as you do your whole weekend is gone. Because, I was doing nothing with my life essentially, I was just wasting lots of time sleeping on this job that was paying my rent but there was no reason for me to be there. So, during that relationship at that time, I just liked myself because I became myself, I would be having fun, I would be laughing, whereas the rest of the time I wasn't drinking I was just asleep and a shit person to be around. Specifically, that is what that line is about. Definitely, the song has changed for me over time it is more relatable now in the sense that I can just laugh, talk and not that I'm nicer to be around I just feel like I'm nicer to be around.
Do you think you learned to be happy when you're alone, you know, being single?
Not entirely,
I guess more comfortable rather than NEEDING to be in a relationship?
Ofcourse, I definitely don't think I nailed it when I was single. Fortunately, I met someone, it was not so much the fact that I woke up to myself, that person was patient enough with me and I was able to keep myself open to having a relationship with that person and so now I have a new relationship and I've definitely found out how to be in a relationship and how to be with that person when we're together. So understanding that I guess I avoid being a terrible person, not that we hate each other we just have the understanding that I probably need alone time or they need alone time or something has gone wrong and you just need to talk about it. I've definitely found that balance a lot better and that's taken away a lot of my drinking, just not having that stress that is unresolved. A lot of it is communicating from my own perspective, I mean not that I'm perfect but pretty obviously good to an extent hearing out other people, but where I would fall down is that I would shut down my own feelings. So, it's almost as well just like a cathartic experience getting out what I was feeling at the time, but maturing from not being able to express my opinion and just shutting down as a human. Like, I've listened to your stuff, now I'm angry and you don't know why, so that causes problems if that makes sense?
With the lyric
“But it’s better than when I can remember”
Although, the breakup is probably not something you can forget is it something that you have healed and moved on from? Was this song a way of doing that for you? Or is each time you perform the song just opening old wounds?
It's interesting how that lines been perceived, to me that line was just when I drink it's more face value in the sense that it's more fun than when I'm not drinking Ha! Yeah, it's just straight-up getting blackout drunk and not remembering what I did at night is actually still more fun than what I'm doing today, which is sleeping and then going to work. So, that's what that line meant to me, but I can see how you might have interpreted it that way.
In relation to the actual overall experience, the same question still applies; Is it something that you've healed from?
Yes. everything that's happened, traumatizing or whatever we don’t necessarily get over things completely. You can't disappear from the past or any of that sort of stuff. I would phrase it as an ongoing battle that I'm on top of it's definitely fading, that sort of stuff, but memories are memories, and they stick around. They don't just disappear because you try really hard. It's definitely something I'm on top of in the sense that it no longer affects me in a negative way. I'm no longer reaching out to crutches or that sort of thing, so in that sense definitely.
In relation to alcohol are you Teetotal now or have you learned to control your intake of alcohol to a dinner with a glass of wine level?
It's more something I'm aware of like I've just recently had my partner's birthday, and then her housemates birthday, and then that's probably into my birthday, and then my brother's birthday. So it's tough not to drink on those occasions if you go out to a bar or any other place it's just trying to be more aware of drinking. Say, in the past three nights, whether it was a lot or not much it's just the fact I was drinking and it’s just a matter of not letting that roll on for too long. And also, not taking anyone else's advice as an attack. Someone mentions that I'm drunk that last couple of nights or that I've had a drink, it's very easy to be like, oh it's not a problem, but taking a step back and being like potentially that is a problem. So yeah, just being more aware of it and understanding that as much as I don't want it to be a problem it can be and it was, I'm trying to just keep it on a leash I guess.
You recently posted
“In the words of My Chemical Romance -“I’m not okay” 🙃”
Demi Lovato recently started the hashtag #itsoknottobeokay in relation to mental health rather than her hit song. We would like to explore this further with you and ask you why are you not okay?
I guess part of it is trying to normalize it, it's a very vague caption that I gave part of it was trying to be funny and try to not necessarily get a reaction or a like, but a bit of a community conversation going sometimes. As you said, everyone is kind of in a hole mentally at the moment, like I'm definitely not like that all the time, but you just get those moments where you're looking at your Instagram feed and it just eats your life away sometimes[…]
I guess it’s a lot about comparing yourself to other people?
Of course, it is! That is such an annoying thing I absolutely hate it! The whole idea of comparing yourself to other people online and all this sort of thing not because they are posting nice stuff, but it's because that is purely the best thing they have going, so they are sharing that but you're thinking that's fantastic they must do that all the time and I'm sitting here in bed. So, that's the idea but some people just have a better camera than other people, so their life looks better. I don't know…
In terms of your thought process, if you are feeling that way have you put in place a plan like focusing on the positives in your life, or the solutions, like a growth mindset, distraction techniques and that kind of stuff?
This is something I learned from my partner, whenever you do feel that way you just have to do something. It's interesting you said distraction techniques because it sounds like distract yourself from what's really happening. Really, it is just doing the things that make you happy and that's exactly what's gonna be happening. Like, it's not a distraction, it’s just doing those things with people that want to do those things. Like at the moment I've been getting into a gym membership, climbing, going to the beach, painting it's just a matter of doing it and then spending some time with other people that are just happy to be around you or just positive influences to be around. It's just being a bit more active and doing something that's my advice.
Everybody has the same needs, have you heard of Maslow's HIERARCHY of needs?
No
Okay, it's a kind of popular theory. It's a pyramid of needs. Which of your needs do think are not being met?
At the moment, being in the release phase of my music at the moment sometimes there is not the sense of priority to writing /producing because now I'm releasing I've done the writing and production it's release time. So, that sense of urgency is gone and a lot of that is attention, the attention needs to go towards the release and that just takes away your brain space for creating and then because I work with a team mostly for whether it's songwriting and all that, so if you can't get in touch with that team or be in the same room as that team or whatever. So, I mean that has been tough to do, suddenly you find yourself without these opportunities to work and not that they don't happen they just change in the way they are done with Skype, but sometimes I just feel like I'm not doing much, in a professional sense. Definitely, with the social side, I have a close-knit group of friends, we're kind of not always in each others space but I can reach out and hang out, but if anything it's definitely work.
How do you measure your success?
A lot of the time, myself included we look for validation from other people, so what's the difference between a stranger saying, I love your song, and your partner says they love your song. There shouldn't be a difference but just internally you feel that a stranger saying that, it holds more weight than someone you trust completely. When someone around me that I know loves me says that they love something I've made I try to make sure I appreciate that a lot more[...] right now I'm an emerging artist so I'm just building a catalogue and making sure I have enough songs out for shows, so it's just hard work and consistency. I guess streams and success in that sense will come, but for now, I'm measuring success by the people around me and the shows that I do and their reaction to it.
What’s next for you, what are your plans for 2021?
I’m a big fan of books and how they are set in trilogies, so I’ve got my eyes set on the next trilogy of tracks and seeing what story that tells, they are finished I’m just polishing them off and then just shows that’s it.