An Interview with Imperial’s very own Roy Juxon

Felix: So when did this all start?

RJ: Still pretty recently actually. I only really got into it during my gap year. That’s when I did my Walland Hill EP, just before going travelling. But I hadn’t really done any music until January this year.

Felix: Really? Ever?

RJ: So, I used to produce drum and bass stuff, like 3 years ago. But ‘Waiting for Something’ in January was the first song as Roy Juxon. I didn’t really tell anyone about it, just tried to plug it to a few random people and they kinda liked it so I decided to keep trying stuff out. My first proper public track was ‘Self-reflection’. That was the first one I let my friends hear.

Felix: I find it interesting that ‘Waiting for Something’ was your first track because I think a lot people would just be messing about with their very first song to see what works, but it’s actually got quite a deep theme to it – was there something specific that inspired it?

RJ: It was kind of inspired by this bridge outside the David Lloyd I was working at at the time. People said someone had committed suicide by jumping off it. It’s kind of about the thought process about wanting to jump and then jumping, and “waiting for something” as in waiting for something good to happen.

Felix: So where did you grow up? And what did you listen to growing up?

RJ: I’m from Exeter, down south. I’ve always done classical music – like opera stuff. I didn’t really listen to that stuff though. I had my Eminem phase and then I went through 90s and 00s hip hop. Then I started listening to more alternative stuff and grunge. It was Swimming by Mac Miller that made me fall back in love with hip hop, and I just went through the modern greats after that – J.Cole, Kendrick.

Felix: I feel like that album hinted at him finally being able to cope with stuff. And that was just so tragically juxtaposed by his death.

RJ: That’s part of why it’s become so iconic. Like the last song, ‘So It Goes’, he’s like saying people die and it’s just whatever. And then literally a month later that happens.

Felix: We’ve had a lot of deaths in hip hop recently. Especially of rappers whose music is very personal for fans – Peep, XXX, Mac. Do many artists have a personal impact on you that inspires your style?

RJ: At the moment, I’m very much just starting out. Like, ‘Confusion’ is the first song I’ve put on Spotify. So I’m still just trying to find my style. In terms of influence, whenever I find a new artist or am listening to a song and really like it, I just try and do a song in a similar style to that. So something like ‘START’ – have you listened to that one?

Felix: Yeah, it’s very Jaden Smith.

RJ: Yeah, very Jaden Smith and also Travis Scott. I liked that bit with that synth scale run kind of thing in ‘Butterfly Effect’ so I tried to just put that in, and also take inspiration from his use of autotune.

Felix: So do you handle your own production then?

RJ: No, I generally go out to external producers, mainly because I know how time consuming it can be to produce a track. My thinking is that I just want to get some momentum right now, actually get tracks out. Then once I’ve got that, maybe I can begin to focus on doing more of my own production.

Felix: What’s your song writing method like?

RJ: I always start with the chorus, I’m only really motivated to work on a verse once I have a catchy chorus. And then from the chorus I go to theme, and then the theme leads to me freestyling a verse just to get a flow. And then once I have the flow, I just re-write the verse with the lyrics that I want.

Felix: Tell me a bit about Walland Hill EP.

RJ: So, my old house was called Walland Hill. Moving was quite melancholic and I wanted to put together a concise project that reflected on that time in my life. ‘Hours’ and ‘Summer She Said’ are about my girlfriend, ‘Self Reflection’ is kind of about not wanting to waste away my life in a 9-5 and then ‘Lost a Friend’ is about how while studying I sometimes tend to lose my creative side and wanting to get back in touch with it.

Felix: Would you ever consider working on a complete album?

RJ: Not for the time being, I’d only do that if I had the opportunity to work on it full time. I’m quite enjoying singles for the time being. It means I can enjoy the excitement of releasing regularly. And they’re all their own entity, so that lets me get a bit of variety.

Felix: Are you kind of settled into a routine now with balancing uni and music, or do you tend to question which path is more important to you?

RJ: I think if I could do it full time and sustain it, I would. I quite like the balance though. If there’s ever a day where the music isn’t very good, at least I have maths, and vice versa. And also, for the time being, I am able to successfully release a single at least every one or two months. Because in the Summer I made a load of songs that I can now progressively release. I’ll probably release a song called ‘Out of Touch’ within the next six weeks. I’ve got others that are done too but I don’t think they’re up to scratch for me to release – I just want whatever I put out to be of a professional standard.

Check out Roy Juxon on SoundCloud, his new single ‘Confusion’ is out now. He also has a gig in London coming up at the end of November!