Growing up in High Green, Sheffield my parents were teachers; the two were specialized in languages, to say the least. My mum taught the German language whilst my dad tried to translate the unknown wonders of the physics language to secondary students. Bored ones at that! My father also dabbled in music and taught it at school for a while. There are more people that none who sat to me that physics and music aren't a language. Nowadays I would assume that it was due to the fact that I might have and still maintained a differing perspective on language itself.
A language is a form of communications that humans have conducted to make their lives easier. The sole purpose of a language is to translate one person's thoughts and pass it on to the next. Although I was quite lackadaisical in school, I still managed to keep up with Mr. Barkers English classes enough to pick up a few skills. I still remember when we were initially introduced to John Cooper Clarke's poetry. It has spurred a certain part of me to take a figurative and more so artistic approach of communication.
"Come on, I know you've got it in you"
"Maybe next time, sir. What I've written isn't worth reading out tot he class"
"We only get given a few opportunities in life, Alex you need to more risks"
The conversation we had the day he had urged me to read the poetry I've written to the class has been etched into the walls of my mind. At the time his statement seemed extreme, but with hindsight, I would deem it the best advice I had ever been given.
After college, just like the rest of us, my parents urged me to go to university. After all, it's what school has been building us towards all these years, but over the last few years of school, I had developed a liking for poetry. I have also picked up a few skills with a guitar. My friends, soon to be band mates, introduced me to the good music. I started listening to all the classics, the newbies and everything in between. I found myself lost in all these songs, lyrics and music. Mr. Barker’s words rang in my ears and I came to take the risk of a gap year. My parents are supportive and ultimately allowed me to take a year of to explore my passions. I filled in a few applications for Manchester, but my gap year has slowly but surely turned into some sort of gap life. To put it short I never went to university. I did instead though find myself in a band, the Arctic Monkeys.
At first, our music didn’t have much meaning because “ A lot of people have an idea of the music they wanna make and they go make it, but we started the band to have something to do and we figured all that stuff out.” I never shared my lyrics with my band mates for "I had this sense of dread that the others would laugh me out of the room. Mickey taking is a useful quality control.” But as time went on I was finally able to an outlet all my emotions and experiences. I managed to get better at writing poetry. I managed to sculpt my identity and with it learned how to convey it to an audience willing to listen. I was very much so influenced by the stylistic choices of the Strokes, the Hives, the White Stripes and every other talented rock band from the ninety’s and naughty’s. As a band, we had managed to find the perfect ground between our own identity and the influence of the greats.
I read somewhere that a journalist that had interviewed me said that I was:
“Hard to reconcile the gentle, boyish, self-contained singer ("always the quiet one", according to his band-mates) with the person who writes so vivaciously about modern teenage life; but slowly his guard will drop a little.”
I would have to agree with them if I’m completely honest. People know me to be the shyer member of the band. I don’t usually say much but I write with a lot of emotions, I don’t spare any. I find it so much easier to put my thoughts into lyrics.
If you think about it for long enough, you would realise that I would not be where I am without language and every aspect of its literal and figurative approaches of communication. I owe it to the language. Without it, I would not be bale to make the art that I do and without it, I also would not be able to outlet my inner most thoughts. My thoughts are mirrored through the language that I use, and through the years I have come to the conclusion that language in some ways more than others, helps disclose and communicate my beliefs and experiences. and although I'm too shy to do so in real life, I manage to take advantage of what I can with my language through the artistic approach of songwriting.
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