1. Hello, thank you for your time, please introduce yourself in a few words.
Hello, I’m Murdo Mitchell a Scottish born musician living between London / Glasgow.
2. Please give us an update about your new single, upcoming EP, tour dates…“?
I just released my new single “Hollow” last week which is out on all major streaming platforms now! It’s about the idea of pursuing ‘forbidden love’ i.e. love or lust that shouldn’t be pursued, but it’s written from the perspective of being in-the-same-shoes of someone from the other side, and the emotions they feel – kind of like the reverse of the typical ‘I-hate-you-‚cause-you-
It’s the first single taken from my E.P which will be released before the year’s end.. so stay tuned. As for tours, there’s a couple of exciting things happening behind the scenes but what I can say is that I’ll be the support on a tour around The Nordics later in the year, which is something I’m very excited about. Once I’ve done that the idea is to do a couple of taste-maker shows in Berlin & potentially London, and then we’ll take it from there.
3. Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?
Started busking in Glasgow from 11 years old, and learnt my craft on the street.
My musical inspiration is an Irish artist called ‘Glen Hansard’ and if you don’t know him – get to know him.
Played alongside ‘Donovan’ after he saw me busking in Glasgow.
Wrote every song on the E.P fully myself with no co-writers.
I usually write the lyrics first before the melody.
4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
I suppose I have somewhat of an “indie” style, wearing a lot of patterned shirts and cheq/striped trousers, and I suppose that kind of goes with the music I play as it’s hard to put one style on it but I’d say the music is somewhat “Indie/Folk” – Keeping the folk rhythm acoustic guitar blended with Indie hooks and production. I think my favourite brand to get my shirts from would be “All Saints”.
5. Do you have bad habits? A guilty pleasure you can’t seem to quit?
A guilty pleasure that people often think is weird is that when I eat a packet of crisps I always have a chocolate bar next to me to eat at the same time. Firstly you eat a square of chocolate, get it all round your mouth, then just when the taste of the chocolate starts to fade away eat a couple of crisps. But I must warn you: if you actually do this you may never be able to eat a nice-tasting packet of crisps without chocolate again! It’s a blessing and a curse.
6. Beside music, do you have any special talents?
I think I could beat almost anyone at Table Tennis. I would’ve loved to pursue that as a career but I thought what’s more cool?; musician or professional ping pong!? Pretty level in my eyes.
Also, from the years of growing up busking and being around street performers, I picked up some random skills like “Fire Juggling” and “Close Up Magic”, both of which I’ve performed at some point in my life – However the fire juggling didn’t go as planned as when I was about 15 I dropped a lit fire club on a volunteer in Glasgow – luckily, in true Glasgow style, she was drunk and didn’t try to sue me, which was extremely fortunate for me as I had no insurance haha!
7. Being on stage feels like….?
Being on stage and having a captive, engaged audience feels like what I can only imagine a hit of a strong drug feels like aha except it’s not a drug you can buy with money, you have to earn it and work for it, and the better you perform and keep the audience captive in the palm of your hand, the bigger the hit, and the more addicted you get. Just as with any highs & lows, when you’re not at the highest point you’re craving it!
8. Must Have – and No-Go in your Wardrobe! – Favorite Fashion Brand and Fragrance?
Must Have – Sketchers, Crocs, Blues Brother Shades, Diamante Necklace
Haha nah ehh, it’s a hard question, as fashion kind of just goes with the weather in Scotland and what I’m feeling at that moment. It depends if I’m having a high-confidence day or a low-confidence day. I usually like to wear pinstripe trousers, Doc Martin’s on the feet and some rings with a shirt/t-shirt. If it’s a high confidence day I’ll probably have clashing styles with a patterned shirt, striped trousers and a chequered jacket but just with the feeling of IDGAF. Low confidence day maybe just a plain T shirt, with trousers / jeans maybe a cap or a beanie covering the hair.
“The Great Frog” is my favourite shop for rings, they have a lot of cool designs and I’d highly recommend them.
No Go – I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t wear really unless it was CRAZY out there like some see through tops or something – I don’t think anyone would appreciate my pasty white skinny Scottish body and my tiny nipples. However there’s definitely things I may think twice about wearing around Glasgow – certain colours on certain streets or in certain pubs .. just cause I wouldn’t want to become a target as such haha! I’m talking about the football divide between Rangers & Celtic.
9. A question you’d like to answer, but you have never been asked before in an interview?
Well I’ve never been asked this question before but that would be a sort of paradoxical effect if I said that. I’d like to be asked
“Do you want us to promote the hell out of your next single?”
The answer “Yes.”
Instagram: @murdomitchell
Photo Credit: Sion Roe