In this third LD Systems Live Session, powered by Headliner, UK rapper and songwriter, Bishwaya, performs original song Thank You at The Suet Yard, St. Albans - a brand new acoustic venue created to support aspiring and emerging talent, as well as the local community. Bishwaya performed with his band through an LD Systems MAUI G3 rig, and we caught up with him after the performance to find out how he’s been keeping busy of late…
What have you been up to these last few months?
I’ve mostly been working on my new project, and some other upcoming projects. Then I’ve also been writing for other people and some friends, and just working on myself.
How did you first get into music?
My dad used to write poetry when I was in primary school, and then when I went to secondary school, grime was really popular. So I just transferred that into becoming a rapper, and then through that realised I was good at it.
I continued making music and then got picked up by different management. Throughout that journey I learned how to sing and how to incorporate that more into my music; it's just always been such a big part of my life.
Out of all of your live performances, which has been your favourite?
Probably one of my first headline shows – I think it was The Old Queens Head. That was a few years ago but it was really good, just because it was the first time I had a full room of people there for me.
Also me, Ayda Rose, Cam Bloomfield, Tommy Jules and Miss Jones went to my village in Ireland for two summers running to do a small festival there, which is really beautiful and scenic, and which is where my family's from, which was really special. But also some of the festivals I've done before with loads of people have been exciting. There’s loads of them, so it's hard to pick a top one!
What does it mean for you to be an independent artist in today’s industry?
It means hard work. It means control. It means to be able to do it at your own pace with the people you want to and make real authentic music that you want to, not what someone else is telling you to make.
The main challenge is motivating yourself to connect with people continuously, when you’re working on such a big project. Labels have a blueprint that you have to kind of make your own, which is great in some ways because it can speed up the process. But then you've got to find love for the journey, not the destination, which I think is part of the way that most good artists see it.
The big advantage is having the freedom to be able to do what you want, when you want, and to be able to make what you want with who you want – it’s so important.
How did you find performing through the LD Systems MAUI rig?
Using the LD Systems rig was great. It has a really clean sound, is easy to use, and I’d definitely recommend it to people.
What have you got in the pipeline?
I've got my self-titled EP coming out and I’ll be releasing more songs over the next few months. Bishwaya will come out on the 28th of September and then a month later, I've got a song called In My Head, and then a month after that I’ll release Thank You, which I just performed through the LD Systems rig. And then just loads of stuff around that - promoting it and working towards getting that out to as many people as possible.
