“What would you attempt to do, if you knew you wouldn’t fail”
This was the question Gavin Simpson asked himself around three years ago, before putting the cubicle day job to one side and launching his music project Sourfish. The answer was to write songs, make music that evoked emotion.
“What do you Say?”, is an eclectic collection of five songs which were finalised during a busking venture to New York and New Orleans. Accompanied by two podcasts the EP picks up musically where Sourfish left us with the catchy What do you Say? and its poppy Friends vibes. Angel of My Eye takes us somewhere new, a piano based outing it is a raw, emotional song. The EP closes with the sweet, acoustic Neil Young inspired Hey, Hey.
Raised in The Highlands of Scotland, Gavin initially picked up the guitar after falling in love with the anthems and melodies of Oasis and the Britpop generation. This opened the doors to their musical influences and led to a fondness of the songwriting talents of The Beatles, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.
Sourfish is Gavin’s guitar driven musical act, he writes and arranges all the songs, plays the guitar and provides an occasional vocal. The debut EP Time to Play was accompanied with a debut boxing match. The title track was a finalist in The UK Songwriting competition and selected for placement on reality TV. This was followed up with the single “The Sheep are on Fire”, a tie in with leading Scottish football team Aberdeen FC.
Gavin’s journey to understand and discover new music includes working as radio DJ promoting breaking music. More recently this has pivoted to a podcast of the stories of other acts, with guest such as Frank Turner, Amanda Palmer and Bear’s Den.