How did the atmosphere when recording this differ to your previous tracks? The D-Light Studios EP was a bit of a departure. On your August release, the sense of it being live really comes across.

It makes me feel so comfortable, I don’t need to worry about a thing and can focus on my own performance. They understand the vibe I’m going for and know exactly what to do without me saying anything. You should see the instructions I give them for the tunes… It’s literally a few chords on a page. I’m lucky in that the core of the band hasn’t changed at all in several years so the musicians know each other inside out.

Who is in the core of ‘Danny G & The Major 7ths’ set up and what do they bring to the sound? The musicians are Johnny Taylor on keys, Dennis Cassidy on drums, Graham Heaney on bass and my brother Paj on guitar.

Then I fine-tune it into something (hopefully) coherent before the recording process begins. If it’s something you’re really passionate about, the lyrics tend to just flow out without much thought or planning. All of my songs are either about me, people I know or subjects I care deeply for. Or it can be a title that evokes a story and I’ll go from there. It can be a riff I can’t get out of my head and I’ll write the song around it. It doesn’t matter how the songs come as long as they come. Lately though, I’ve been making simple phone recordings of vocal melodies and writing the songs in reverse. For my first album I wrote everything on acoustic guitar, chords first and then the melody and lyrics followed. How does your songwriting process usually work? It’s changing all the time. I also love Gloria Estefan’s style of singing.

For message, I’m most influenced by Marvin Gaye, in particular his ‘What’s Going On’ record where he sings about peace & the environment. Today it’s artists like D’Angelo, how he records his vocals in layers and J Dilla for how his beats make me feel. Who/what influences your music? In terms of songwriting I’m heavily influenced by 60’s music – Motown, The Beatles, CSNY – they knew how to tell a story in several minutes AND make you want to sing along. It acts as therapy, an escape and a healer all at the same time.’ĭescribe your music style in no more than 5 words: Soul, groove, chill, real, vibes

Tell me why lyrics danny g