Simon Knighton, composer

Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?

Probably my Mum and Dad are a natural first point of reference – they gave me a guitar when I was 8 or 9 years old which started me off, and then bought me a four track cassette recorder at 12 years old which started my love of recording. Then after that there have been all kinds of influences over the years. I was originally into more pop orientated stuff throughout my teens – Radiohead, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen etc, then in my late 20’s I ‘discovered’ Stravinsky after reading a Frank Zappa biography. Then after seeing the Rite of Spring performed live by the Liverpool Philharmonic, I became hooked to experimental classical music, or whatever you want to call it!

My current biggest influences today are people like Zimoun, Alvin Lucier, Sciarrino, Steve Reich and Cillian Murphy’s Radio 6 show.

And also, all the musicians and composer who I see and work with on a daily basis – the people in my own local community are as big an influence as any famous people I can think of.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I guess one of the biggest challenges I have faced was in 2014. I was working as a sound engineer as part of a café, music venue and general arts hub called Mello Mello in Liverpool, which was a small business built up over many years by many people. After 6 or 7 years of operation, the building was bought by a private company, so the venue had to close – looking back now this looks like a fairly text-book example of gentrification, whereby artists move into an area, do it up and make it desirable, before commercial interests take over. It was quite devastating for everyone involved at the time – years of sweat, blood and tears had gone into creating what wasn’t just a venue but a community too. The venue was like a second home to us, and the staff were all very close friends. However, during the last years of the venture I had felt myself become somewhat creatively stagnant: a ‘jack-of-all trades’ playing in multiple bands, live sound engineering, studio producing and electronic soundtrack composing without any real focus on any one particular area. After the venue’s closure, I decided to focus on the thing I had taken the most creative satisfaction from – composing. I began working as a part-time care-worker, carried on playing guitar in bands to make ends meet, and spent the next two years teaching myself to read and write music with a plan of studying for an MA in composition, which I eventually did at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (focusing on acoustic composition).

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

I love commissioned work as I don’t do well without deadlines to focus my workflow. I would probably just follow my curiosity round in endless circles forever without deadlines!

I also really love working on a piece for months on end knowing that it has a firm ending point at which I can reset and start again with a fresh project. This is quite different to playing in bands when the set list never has to be reset, so you end up playing the same songs over and over for many years.

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles or orchestras?

I do believe that music is fundamentally collaborative in nature – something special emerges from the combination of multiple people working together. Finding what this special thing is, and trying to figure out the conditions from which it might most likely arise is pure pleasure to me.

Of which works are you most proud?

I don’t really think of my pieces in this way. I like to make a piece, put it away and move on to the next idea! I didn’t used to do this in my youth and my work suffered as a result, constantly getting stuck worrying about weather a new piece was as good as ‘the best thing’ I had previously made – I was far more precious about my work – whereas now I just make, finish and move on. I love bands like the Beatles who made so much music in such a short space of time that it is obvious they were just making, making and making, and letting everyone else worry about what the good stuff was.

How would you characterise your compositional language?

I like to blend the boundaries of performance/installation and acoustic/electronic sounds. Over the last few years, I’ve been working on a series of ‘sound sculptures’ that play with different types of spatial and system-based music to this end.

How do you work?

I try to work as much as possible, all the time really. I try to get in at least 8 hours a day of music based work even if that means I’m up until 3am.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

I’ve heard many definitions of this over the years. One of my favourites is the podcaster Blindboy who defines a professional artist as someone who can get into a state of creative flow at will, on a daily basis.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring composers?

Learn how to get into a state of creative flow at will – and do it on a daily basis!

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

Perhaps composers need to think about their audiences more when they are writing. I heard the actor Colin Farrell say he dreads the idea of someone going to see one of his films and not having a great time. It’s one of the main drivers behind his work. This kind of thinking is somewhat missing from many composer’s mindsets. I think it’s partly because academia teaches young composers that the most important thing is their own intentions and that thinking about your audience is somehow selling out or artistically disingenuous.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about, but you think we should be?

How many, many professional musicians are really just scraping by financially and it simply isn’t sustainable. It’s becoming – or already has become – a professional hobby for most.

What next – where would you like to be in 10 years?

Aegina.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Aegina.

What is your most treasured possession?

My computer.

What do you enjoy doing most?

Working on music.

What is your present state of mind?

Tired and happy.

Simon Knighton is nominated for an Ivors Classical Award in the Best Orchestral Composition category for ‘Sound Sculpture No 7’. The Awards ceremony takes place on 14th November at BFI Southbank.

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