We sat down with truly talented multi-instrumentalist, artist and producer Quarry to talk about his new song “Your Brain Or Your Body”, being a humanist and the little bits of magic in life.
I am just listening to your new song “Your Brain Or Your Body”. I am totally in love and it has been on repeat for at least 4 times now. For me there is so much feeling in this song, it creates goose bumps. What is the song about?
The song is about connecting with people, and trying not to overthink it. Not worrying too much about what it means or what will happen next, and just enjoying your time with them… It’s about excitement, anticipation and all the things you feel when you first get to know a person. It’s about appreciating things for what they are, whether that’s one single night together, or the start of something bigger. If your head’s in the right place they can both be just as meaningful as each other.
I can feel from your instagram site, your pictures and quotes and even from your music a lot of romance shining through. Am I mistaken?
You’re definitely not mistaken! I’ve always tried to search for those little bits of magic in life that make you feel like there’s something more out there, waiting to be found. Something bigger and more important than the things we get used to and get caught up in so easily.
“I really do believe that if you want to be an artist that you have to find your own way of doing things, and not lean too heavily on what’s been done before.”
What music did you grow up with? And who do you consider an influence on your music?
The first album I ever owned was the original Spice Girls album on casette. I used to listen to it on repeat when I was a little kid lying in bed, but that’s probably not been much of an influence musically… Eminem’s ‘Marshall Mathers LP’ was another one I remember listening to over and over growing up! A lot of emo and indie music as well. I think for me though, the most influential stuff has always been the music I’ve hated! The music that made me want to do something better, and made me believe that I had something special that these other people didn’t have. I really do believe that if you want to be an artist that you have to find your own way of doing things, and not lean too heavily on what’s been done before. If you’re always chasing your influences and trying to emulate their success then you can never be as good as you could be.
“My music is a humanist message” is a quote by you. What does it exactly mean to be a humanist?
I don’t remember saying that! It is true though. In my (potentially wrong) opinion, being a humanist is about believing that the reasoning behind someone’s actions tells you more about that person than the actions themselves… They say actions speak louder than words. But without the proper context you might not understand what those actions really represent. There are always two sides to any story. That’s why I like to write lyrics that can be interpeted in a few different ways, depending on what your perspective is. Nothing is ever clear cut in life, and the best thing we can do to try and understand why things happen the way they do, is to understand that we’re all flawed people just doing the best we can with the best we’ve got. Sometimes we get it wrong, and we need to be given the space to be able to admit to our mistakes before we can understand how others actually see us and begin to improve ourselves. We shouldn’t be so quick to judge those we disagree with. If we knew the full story behind the things they do then we might treat them with a lot more kindness and patience.
“I’ve always tried to search for those little bits of magic in life that make you feel like there’s something more out there, waiting to be found.”
Besides music, what makes you feel good?
Well… sex, helping people, art… Anything that makes me feel something really. Anything real and honest. Sometimes you can see something terrible or sad that makes you cry, but that can be a good thing too because the experience is so visceral that you feel like you’ve caught a glimpse into a more important world than the one you normally live in. I love those moments where you come across something that feels like you’re the only one in the world that will ever get to see or understand it, and you get to smile to yourself for a second and soak it in. Those little moments of magic I was talking about earlier that can so easily go unnoticed in a world habitually addicted to normality.
“I definitely prefer to be around interesting people, doing new things, rather than staying in the comfort zone and doing something familiar.”
3 things you cannot live without…
Words. People that care. Colour
Where can we find you on a Friday night?
That depends on what I’m doing on Saturday morning! It’s easy to say ‘live every day as if it’s your last’ when you don’t have any plans for tomorrow… I think you should plan for the best and party for the worst. I don’t see the point in doing things in half-measures. If you’re staying in and doing nothing then make the most of it! Same thing if you’re going out… I’m a fan of both, but I definitely prefer to be around interesting people, doing new things, rather than staying in the comfort zone and doing something familiar. The same thing applies to my music. All my best stuff is made when I don’t quite know what I’m doing. When my feet aren’t quite touching the ground…
Any question that you have always wanted to answer but have never been asked?
Yeah… ‘I’m giving away my studio, my art supplies, and all of my incredible recording equipment for free… Do you want it?’
photography by James Arden
