Published for Tempus Mag Issue 2
I feel sorry for Alfie Templeman. As a recently celebrated eighteen-year-old with a shining music career ahead of him, he should be sinking pints down the pub and playing live music around the country. Instead, he is locked in his family home sitting in front of Zoom, talking to me; a recently graduated journalist, who has just attempted to calm their nerves with four mere drops of rescue remedy.
Unsure whether it was the herbal potion that’s just been doused on my tongue or Templeman’s spectacularly calming aura, I am immediately put at ease after approximately one minute of bonding with indie’s newest sweetheart about our shared experience of having the Pfizer vaccine. “It’s good that your arm hurts because it signifies that it’s gone in and your body has reacted to it” Templeman reassures me, after he was given his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination only recently thanks to a lung condition which has left him shielding throughout the pandemic.
"I'd never really want to sign to a big label"
After showing an immersive interest in music upon discovering his dad’s impressive collection of guitars at a young age, Templeman began dabbling with instruments and eventually writing and self-producing his own music. If you think back to when you were at school, what were you doing? It’s probably far too embarrassing to even bare thinking about. Whilst we daren’t even delve back into memories of that age, Alfie Templeman is blessed enough to look back at his thirteen-year-old self with an overwhelming sense of achievement, “I decided to put my music out on Bandcamp about 5 years ago when I was about thirteen, I started chucking stuff up and thought, you know what, I should actually try and see if people enjoy it and start listening and sharing it”. And it paid off more than he could ever imagine, whilst studying for his GCSE’s he was offered the position of support act for his predecessor Gus Dapperton, “I remember I had to get out of school for a couple of days, my Headteacher let me do it, he was like ‘yeah, we’ve got to sort this out, we’ll totally let you because this is sick’”.
Since 2016, Templeman has been approached by various labels off the back of his self-produced releases, Universal Music Group amongst others have showcased their interest for the young musician. He is now signed with Chess Club, as he admits “I’d never really want to sign to a big label”. Maintaining the real essence of an indie musician, he humbly explains his decision, “I was literally just a one-man band, not just musically, I was making all my own CDs myself and I began to think, ‘whoa, this is too much’. So, it’s nice to just have a small team who can help you with it”.
Four EPs down the line, Alfie Templeman announced the release date of his mini album Forever Isn’t Long Enough on February 16th. “It’s the first record I was completely out of school to make, I’ve completely stepped away from my kid-self and now I’m here looking back on my life and it’s like ‘damn, there it goes’, but to be honest, it’s 20% that and 80% the fact that it sounded cool” Templeman admits through a cheeky grin that’s enough to make butter melt.
"Music is a big thing that is keeping the economy going, more than people realise and way more than the government realise"
Debut single Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody, takes a step back from the lo-fi indie drizzles which have captivated Alfie Templeman’s fans over the years and progresses to a luminous eighties, windows down, sunglasses on kind of ambience. With confident self-assurance, which is anything but cocky, Templeman elucidates, “This is probably my favourite song I’ve put out so far - people always say, ‘well you say that every time’ but it’s like, yeah, each song I put out should feel like that”. The self-professed ‘prog-rock nerd’ cringes, as he goes onto reveal the catalyst for his love of music, bands such as Rush and King Crimson led him down a musically fuelled platform which slowly but surely branched off down the avenues of pop and indie. More than happy to admit, Templeman continues to draw metaphorical lines and conclusions to his heavy influences, more recently in Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody, he explains that Tears For Fears have played a huge role, “I wanted to make something full out eighties whilst also having quite a commercial sound, like a TikTok song without being a TikTok song - I’m too scared of TikTok fame”. And he makes a fair point, is there anything worse than hearing the absolute arse being kicked out of an originally decent song?
2020 and 2021 so far, has been a real life nightmare for the entire world, but if there’s an industry who are suffering more than the rest, it’s the arts. With COVID-19 putting a halt on live music until at least mid-June 2021, bands and artists have had to continue to cancel and re-schedule gigs, a living hell for any emerging artist. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, the UK government have recently announced the Brexit tour package, adding more chaos and catastrophe to musicians’ lives “It’s going to make everything so much harder” Alfie Templeman sighs, “you need about 26 different visa applications to get into each place to play”.
"I wanted to make something full out eighties whilst also having quite a commercial sound, like a TikTok song without being a TikTok song - I'm too scared of TikTok fame."
As we continue to mumble and grumble like a pair of old men, Templeman vocalises a message which I can’t help but resonate with, “Music is a big thing that is keeping the economy going, more than people realise, and way more than the government realise”. A sour yet thought-provoking statement for an eighteen-year-old who speaks truer than any middle-aged man in parliament.
Listen to Alfie Templeman's new single Everybody's Gonna Love Somebody here!
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