The historical timeline of music is peppered with tales of artists rising above adversity to achieve their dream and Gary from Caged Arts is no exception. Having experienced the lows of homelessness and alcohol abuse, Gary – with the help of music therapy charity ‘T.I.M.E’ – has put these years firmly behind him and has even since performed at the London Mermaid’s Theatre at Autism’s Got Talent marking his biggest show yet! A story to truly behold, we got chatting to Gary to find out more…
SS: How would you describe your songwriting process?
It starts with me writing lyrics. I feel like my thoughts overrun and I need to write them down. Through TIME I learned how to structure those lyrics into a song format. From there I take it to the band and I’ll usually start by singing those idea over a guitar part, from there we start to add drums and structure out the song.
SS: How has this process evolved over time?
It mainly stayed the same, I’d just say we’ve gotten more confident and quicker over time.
SS: Do you take songwriting inspiration from anyone in particular?
David Bowie, Creed and Pink Floyd are my biggest song writing inspirations. I love the themes of their songs, the vocals and lyrics. It makes me very relaxed too. Listening to them makes me want to write music just like that.
SS: What is the hardest thing about songwriting to you?
I sometimes find it hard completing a song. I will often have an idea for a chorus or a verse but will get stuck trying to link them to the next section. I like making all the lyrics connect through a theme but sometimes that’s tricky.
SS: Do you have any remedies for a creative writing block?
A very long walk in nature always gets me out of a block, the longer the better!
SS: What does music mean to you?
Music is my life, it’s a part of me, it’s what I love. I wouldn’t know where I’d be without music. It’s saved my life to be honest. I never felt like I belonged anywhere until I started making music. It was like finding the missing piece to the puzzle.
SS: How significant is T.I.M.E to yourself and the band?
They’ve been really important; without them I wouldn’t have been able to make music and do the thing I love so much. They help us with all the writing of the music and how to make it sound great on stage and on recordings. They also help making music videos and getting people to hear our music too.
SS: What are the future plans for Caged Arts?
We hope to bring out a new single really soon called ‘I ain’t done yet’, we’re just waiting to get in the studio with TIME and get it recorded. And we hope to have a busy summer of gigs this year coming out of lockdown. We’re very excited to see where this next release brings us.
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