10 Questions With LUDIOSIS

In this week’s 10 Questions we get to know LUDIOSIS, an indie artist originally from Essex in the UK but living in Norfolk for the last 20+ years.

Their song ‘Coming in to Land‘ is currently featured on the NAS Spotify playlists

You can follow LUDIOSIS on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter/X

1. Tell us a little about where you are from.

I’m originally from Essex in the UK but have been living in Norfolk for the last 20+ years. I live here with my wife as my 2 adult daughters have recently flown the nest. I work in the emergency services so my day can be pretty varied. Outside of work I go to the gym a few times a week and collect graphics novels and am an avid film watcher (huge Sylvester Stallone fan) but my primary time consuming activity is writing and playing music. I’m also in a rock and metal covers band.

2. What inspired LUDIOSIS to start playing and making music?

Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My dad first got me into it (& guitar playing) as he was a guitarist and recording artist in his own right (in the days when you couldn’t do it at home and had to be signed and go to a studio) so my earliest memories are listening to instrumental guitar tracks by groups like ‘The Shadows’ or Jeff Beck and the like. I took on some of my mums likes such as ‘Fleetwood Mac’ and ‘Queen’ but it wasn’t until I was at high school when myself and a friend decided to start a band (neither of us could play anything) and I said I’d learn guitar. I’ve not stopped since. The more I listen to and the more I play, the more I am inspired. Music can transport me to whole new worlds and then take me right back to a specific point in my life and I love the idea that my music could do that for someone else.

The more I listen to and the more I play, the more I am inspired.

3. Who are LUDIOSIS’ biggest musical influences?

I have a varied taste in Music. Aside from the artists I’ve already mentioned listening to when young, I first developed my own musical tastes in my early teens. The first album on cassette I bought was ‘Out of Time’ by R.E.M. and I remember cycling 20 miles to buy ‘Master of Puppets’ on CD. I got well into the Grunge scene and love listening to Classical music and film scores. My primary listening genre is rock and my favourite band is Alter Bridge. They are the apex as far as I’m concerned. They are incredible musicians and I love how they can straddle so many subgenres going from soft ballads and then into downtuned heavy riff machines. It is them who I tend to base my own music style on with the new material I write but find influences from all sorts colours my writing and playing.

4. What are your goals in the music industry or as an artist?

I just like to create. I love the process of making music and seeing/hearing it come together. As already stated music forms a soundtrack to my life and I love the thought that someone somewhere would have my music as a soundtrack to a moment in their life. I’d love to do this as my actual occupation but I think that possibility has passed me by. I’d like to get better at mixing and mastering as that’s such a huge learning curve and I’m very much an amateur. Doing everything by myself I can’t play live but I’d love to be able to play my own music live to people! I just hope I can continue to produce music and that people keep finding it and enjoying it!

5. Tell us about your creative process.

Normally the song starts with a riff. I noodle on guitar a lot and when an idea strikes I run it around a lot. I have a home studio in my garage so I generally tend to do a rough take and then just layer and build on it and the song slowly takes shape. I do all the writing, playing, recording and mixing myself so I can just dip in and out as it takes my fancy (which is pretty much every day!) but it’s hard to be objective when it’s just me so I tend to send edits of my songs to my daughter for some objective feedback! I’m also very impatient so always want to get everything finished and get frustrated with myself when I can’t get something right or when I can’t work out where the song is taking me but then get so happy when I get into a groove and it all starts coming together!

6. What is your all-time favorite song by another artist and why?

This is a really tough one as different songs have different meanings to me and affect me differently. I remember the first song that got me into metal was ‘My Friend of Misery’ by Metallica. I always thought metal was just ‘noise’ up to that point and I listened to the whole of the Black album and it just sounded like noise until that song and I was utterly converted. But one of the songs that I always hold on a pedestal is ‘For the love of God’ by Steve Vai. Such an epic guitar piece and was my touchstone to try and learn for years.

7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music?

There are a few bits of advice I’ve had which I need to try to remember such as not seeking perfection and embracing the feeling of the ‘take’ even if it’s not perfect as you might lose what makes the song special.
Also trying not to think that ‘more is better’ and keep adding layers to songs and just letting them breathe.

8. What is your proudest accomplishment?

I don’t know. Part of me hopes that it is yet to come! But when I was able to play ‘For the Love of God’ on guitar for the first time felt like beating my Everest! Releasing my first album last year was pretty monumental for me. Some of the songs I had been working on for years and I never got the courage (or knew how) to release any of it for fear of rejection or ridicule so to have found people who listen to it is overwhelming.
I don’t know if this counts as it’s not my achievement directly (albeit I had a hand in their being here! 🙂) but I am immensely proud of the women my daughters have become.

Some of the songs I had been working on for years and I never got the courage (or knew how) to release any of it for fear of rejection or ridicule so to have found people who listen to it is overwhelming.

9. What’s been your most embarrassing moment so far?

I embarrass quite easily which is odd as I also make myself look like a fool regularly and enjoy trying to embarrass other people, particularly out in public.
I do get embarrassed when I muck up when playing live which unfortunately happens far more than I would like!

10. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.

Lowest point was giving up the band I was in years ago and basically giving up guitar and music for a few years due to ‘life’ happening. Whilst I don’t regret it as it got me where I am now but I do wish I’d not put it aside for so long as it felt like completely starting again when I eventually turned back to it during COVID.
My highest point is probably right about now. Up until this point it was very much an insular activity and even when I started releasing music last year I just literally uploaded it and thought people would come across it which obviously didn’t happen. It was only when I started participating in some online groups with other Indie artists and got playlisted and positive feedback that my audience started to grow and now it feels like I’m part of the music community as an artist and not just someone ‘looking in’ from the outside. I just hope I can continue on this path that I love so much!