Trevor Drury began to play the piano at the age of eight with a level of alacrity unusual for someone so young. Those around him soon realised how serious he was about music, and so his talent was nurtured and cultivated. He spent his teen years honing and perfecting his Songwriting talents, and is now a student at the prestigious London based music institution BIMM. Polly Havelock caught up with him to talk about his new single ‘Head On The Tracks’, his inspirations, and the way he writes songs.
Hi Trevor! Can you quickly introduce yourself to those new to your music?
Hey everybody, my name is Trevor Drury! I’m a singer songwriter from California.
When did you realise that music was something that you wanted to pursue seriously?
I think I realized that I wanted to do music as a profession early on. I was always very musical in school. Every day I would come home and play the piano, and it became pretty clear that the most fun I had was when I was doing music. I’ve always just had a feeling that music was my favourite thing to do and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else as a career. I knew that I really loved it but I also knew that it wasn’t just a hobby.
What inspired you to write ‘Head on The Tracks’?
‘Head On The Tracks’ was a song that I had been writing on and off for about six months. I only finished it when I was in the studio recording. I think I was personally in a position in my life where everything was very internal, there was a lot of action going on in my mind. So I wanted to write about that. Also, I was observing friends and family dealing with life, overthinking, anxiety etc. and I wanted to create a song about that. It wasn’t so much a matter of deciding to write a song about that narrative, it was more my own observation of how people are that ends up becoming a song.
Can you tell us about your song writing process? How do you create your tracks?
Often times the song writing process is very random. I don’t feel like I can sit down and decide to write a song and have it be any good, although sometimes that does happen. Most of the time when I’m writing I’ll come up with a melody on the piano and that melody then creates a verse or a chorus and eventually forms into the base version of the song. Once I go into the recording studio if that ends up being a song I decide to record, usually the song goes through a second writing process with the members of the band and the producer. Basically song writing for me, it’s much more of an internal experience and meditative exercise than intellectual.
Who would be your dream duet partner, dead or alive?
I’m not really sure, I think most of the people I want to play music with are currently alive but I don’t know if our styles would work together. But I’ve always wanted to meet Elvis Presley, his story was so inspirational to me.
You recently moved to the UK, how are you finding it here? Has the move had an impact on your music?
My recent move to London has been really impactful on me as an artist overall. I’ve been going to a music school here and having that experience really helped with my confidence on stage. It’s only been in the last six months that I’ve played live, I don’t think that the move has directly had an impact on the music, but I do think the move has had an impact on my confidence and development as a musician which in turn has inspired me to write different sounding music-more involved music.
Are we going to be able to see you tour anytime soon?
I want to tour soon; I’m still putting all of that together in my mind. But when I do tour, you’ll know.
How would you describe your music in three words?
Alternative intellectual storytelling.
And finally….Can you give us any hints about what you’re going to be getting up to this year?
Artists are well known for being terrible planners! I just write the music haha.
I’d say stay tuned on my socials to be updated, @trevordrurymusic
Check out Trevor Drury’s new music video below:
