Photography // Roman Harris – press
Peachy Magazine asked the Brixton-based singer and songwriter Roman Harris 5 questions! Listen to his latest single “Come Around”, and check out his answers below.
What’s the story behind your new single “Come Around”?
Well, it’s a bit of a sad one. ‘Come Around’ was inspired by a friend of mine who was diagnosed with Leukaemia and sadly passed away. What truly saddens me is that I never got to see him one last time before he passed. The song was written from the perspective of the individual who is suffering and focuses on their desire to have friends and family be there, to treat them like normal, and to simply come around.
Listen to ‘Come Around’ here
How does the process of writing a song usually start for you?
I love this question because it makes me think about all the songs I’ve written over the years. The process always starts with inspiration. That’s the one thing I can tell you for sure. That inspiration can be a word, a melody, a guitar riff, an experience. I just never know how or where inspiration will come from, the excitement is knowing that it will come at some point, and when it does, it’s truly wonderful being able to use it to create music.
How did you get into making music?
Ahhh. How did this all begin? Well, my parents are both poets and encouraged me to write from a young age. It was then my sister who discovered I had a voice and encouraged me to use it, and so the journey began. I started by writing poetry and then naturally progressed to writing songs. As a teenager, I learnt how to play guitar, and this opened up my musical world even more. After that, I learnt the basics of music production and never looked back.
Do you have any specific influences at the moment while writing your new material?
I feel a little bad admitting this, but although I make music, I find that I do not listen to a lot of it. I may hear a song from time to time that I like or that I think is cool, and I might feel moved and inspired by it, but it’s hard to pinpoint a direct influence for my material. Life is probably the biggest influence in my music. The things I go through day after day and also observing the experiences of others.
What can we expect coming from you in the nearest future?
Well, what I can tell you for sure is that you can expect more music to come from me in the near future, but as you can imagine, many people are going through a very tough time, and there is so much uncertainty in the world for everyone and for us artists, but I believe that we will pull through. When we do, I can’t wait to get back to playing live again. Until then, Streaming and making appearances on Instagram Live will have to do.
