Inspired #0013 - Lonnie Storey — When The Horn Blows

Lonnie Storey released his pop-fueled single ‘Make It Slow’, he took a moment to talk to us about Brian Wilson and his love for Liverpool’s musical history.

Who are you top three musical inspirations and why?

At the moment Ariel Pink is a big inspiration to me. I really enjoy how every album feels so different. It’s really nice to see how he draws his influence from so many various places and always puts a unique spin on his work. ‘Pom Pom’ as an album has that really playful 60’s bouncy feel to it and his Haunted Graffiti work had that more sombre Velvet Undergroundy vibe but it all ties together through his brain. I think he’s one of those musicians who just sees what comes out when he writes and goes with it without too much stewing on his songs.

I always go through little spells of big inspiration with different musicians but John Martyn has always been really important in my eyes. It’s watching all his old live performances that really reaches out to me. He dicks about onstage, even if it’s just him and a guitar on his own before singing all these really sombre and tender songs. There’s something really endearing about that, it seems so sincere and natural that he can bring out all these deep feelings so effortlessly after being such a weirdo on the mic.

The live performance of ‘Couldn’t Love You More’ he did in the seventies gets me every time!

Japanese Breakfast is pretty special to me at the moment. I love how idiosyncratic her voice is and she’s well good at guitar too. I think when she got started, she wrote a song every day for a month. It’s something I’m trying at the moment and it’s a really cool process. You kind of grind things out and get into a swing of writing loads, even if you write a song you’re not mad for the next day, you’ve exercised and got into a more natural discipline with songwriting and it’s about making it more instinctive and connective with yourself through hard work.

Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?

I saw ‘Love and Mercy’ a little while ago. It’s a biopic all about Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and before I saw it I really didn’t know much about him. It’s really touching how it portrayed him as this tortured soul with a million demons and how him and the people around him influenced his life. The ending really touched me when you see a modern performance of him as the credits come on. It makes the theatrical feel of the film feel validated into a true story in a really powerful way. I was a bit teary seeing him perform the song ‘Love and Mercy’ but with the knowledge of all the unpleasantness of his life behind him. It felt like he won and that was really inspiring and humbling.

What city do you find the most inspiring and why?

I’m recording loads in Liverpool at the moment and I blooooody love it. It feels like a really unique city with such a rich history, especially with music of course. I'm quite into a lot of the bands up there and I think the accent's gorgeous too.

Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?

So many people. Sorry, I know that’s a really annoying answer but, honestly there’s a real spectrum of characters who inspire me in different ways. I think whenever someone has a really positive attitude and eager approach to life it picks me up more than anything and I always find myself working harder when I’m surrounded by positive people. My family and friends are all legends and make me want to go and grab things in life whenever their happy.

How would you like to inspire people?

I think just by surprising people in one way or another. My mate called me the other day and we hadn’t spoken for six or seven years. The music I was making way back then was well bad. She rung me out of the blue and said ‘I had a listen to your single and thought it was going to be shite, but I literally love it!’ Thanks Indea x

Feature created by Ant Adams