𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 - this week: The Day After - Billy Lowry

Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly - an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙬𝙧𝙮

Charles talks about tomorrow…

There is something I have always found mildly fascinating, ever since I was young. I mean, even younger. It involves the passing of time, and the way we regiment said passing of time. A birthday, for example. It is a day for celebration. But we have decided this. It is not actually the actual day of one’s actual birth. It is to commemorate x-amount of years since one’s birth. But what is a year? We split life into years, yet this is a human invention. God did not place years on our table. Neither did God invent the table (but its simple perfection leads me to wonder). Sure, the seasons make the idea of years a little easier to digest and swallow, but what if we go further into months… Why 12? Why does January start in, well, January? And what about weeks and even days? Why is Sunday the so-called day of rest? I say “so-called” because on Sunday I had to do a full day’s work alongside constant power tools across the road that only stopped shortly before 7pm. Day of rest, my FOOT!! This fictional birthday I spoke of before, it is technically just another day. Just like New Year’s Day. It is technically just another day. With a “day” only being made official by the sun going up and down like a slow-motion yoyo.

It just occurred to me that the concept of years, months, weeks and days must irritate the hell out of metric Europe. There aren’t 10 months. There aren’t the same amount of days in every month. There are not 10 days to a week. Oh, its chaos is simply glorious to me! Its insistence in bucking the system. And don’t even get me started on the idea of metric time. It always makes me think of Principal Skinner saying, “Not only are the trains now running on time... they're running on metric time. Remember this moment, people - 80 past 2:00 on April 47th”. I think I can be confident in stating that this is the one thing of the old way that will never change. But who knows…!

On from days, I would like to speak of moods. One’s mood can swing, not like a yoyo, but like a pendulum. Its swing can be quite ferocious from day to day. One day you might be thoroughly perky, due to something or due to nothing. Yet little has actually happened. The following day you might find yourself seething with anger, or cowering in the cupboard under the stairs for fear that any contact with the outside world will surely contaminate your mind for good, and the goblins will eventually eat you up for dinner. And yet that following day, there was nothing that actually HAPPENED to make you feel this way. This of course is all pure madness, and you really should see a doctor. But is it, pure madness? This happens to all of us. We can’t ALL be clinically insane, surely! Maybe we are; there’s so much written about mental health these days, that it’s enough to drive you insane! Oh, the irony. The thing is, what is it about that following day that switched you from positive to negative within the space of just a few hours? Why is it that you were so happy in the first place? The passing of days, with a brief loggy snooze in between, is what makes us feel different from day to day. The good news is, the following FOLLOWING day might bring a wave of positivity where all is calm and peachy. Again, due to absolutely nothing. Basically, it’s all in the mind. One tiny thing can make one plummet, while another tiny thing can make one soar. I once wrote a song called Moodswings and Roundabouts. It’s basically about this. The uppy-downy-ness of life in general, and how absurd it all is.

But when something genuinely bad happens, like, say, a death in the family, or the death of a long-loved pet (little is worse than death), one is hit hard. The mind’s emotions spiral into overdrive and everything is too much. One is floored and speechless, angry and beyond sad. Nothing can change what has happened. It is done. We have no means of rectifying the matter. We simply have to deal with it. That evening will be awful. Horrible, in fact. And one will have thoughts and feelings for weeks or months, or even years. But the day after the tragedy is sometimes the most important day of all. The most honest of all emotions. The most rational, yet still so utterly full of emotions. The shock is no longer really there. One has had a couple of fitful hours’ “sleep”. Or perhaps one drank so much the previous night that the snooze was a deep and heavy one. Either way, to quote Nina Simone, “it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, and I’m feeling…”- not so good. Pensive, is usually the best way to describe what’s going on. Thinking and not thinking. Taking it all in. Quantifying is a horrible word so I won’t use it, but if one were to use it, this would probably be a good time. To take stock; now that’s a good one. On this day after, some will stay in bed. Some will fill their day with mindless household chores. Some will walk for miles. Some will continue working as if nothing has happened. Some will drink. Of these options, I consider options 2 and 3 to be the only sensible ones. But then there are the artists. The ones who treat emotions differently. To “normal” people, emotions are the start and end of it. For what can be “done” with an emotion…? An emotion is just there, right? Well rather than flitting from one emotion to the next, an artist will use said rare emotion and make something of it. It is not often that this opportunity presents itself. But I don’t mean for a second that artists find opportunity from death. That is cold, heartless, and frankly downright twisted! I mean that an artist just so naturally turns to their friend and companion, the guitar. Or piano, violin or tuba.

While we could deal with difficult emotions with tears and booze, it is altogether far healthier to express them in the form of art. Then that moment is captured forever. An audio photograph of the soul, if you will. But it is more than a photograph. It is beyond reality. It has more expression. It is more akin to an audio painting.

“Please welcome to the stage, our painter of sound, BILLY LOWRY, everyone!” - the audience ruptures into screaming spasms of delight. “Billy, take a seat. Erm, you might be more comfortable on the chair… - the silly lad sat on the floor, ladies and gentlemen!” Uproariously canned laughter ensues. “Comfy now? Don’t want a cushion? No? Shall we begin? Good. So tell us about this brand new song of yours.”

“Well, thanks for inviting me on your Corner, CC. It’s such an honour to be here. I can’t quite believe I…”

“Yes, yes. We have a tight schedule and Billie Eilish is performing at the end. So, the song?”

“Oh COOL! That’ll be fun. We gots the same name! Can I meet her afterwards? I’ve always wanted…”

“I’m sure you can. The song, Billy.” - CC looks at audience, “Artists, huh?!” - uproarious canned laughter (UCL for short - not University College London).

“So yeah. The song. Well I actually wrote it about 7 years ago. It’s about my dog. I mean not my DOG dog. Not my current dog. That’s a different dog. The other dog. Sorry, the last dog. It died, ya see. I mean, all dogs die. You know that, CC. Why Am I saying all this?”

“Why indeed!!” - more UCL.

“Sorry, I’m a little nervous. So yeah, my dog died. I was very affected. The following day I wrote this song.”

“That’s sad to hear, I’m sorry about that, Billy. But one might say, you wrote The Day After…” - looks at audience - “the day AFTER!” - UCL.

“Yeah, that was sort of the point”. Billy looks at his shoes. “Anyway. I was feeling all sorts of things and thoughts and feelings, and I just picked up the guitar. It all came instantly. I felt like Raggy was there with me as I wrote it.” - audience does that embarrassingly awful ‘awwww, bless’ noise that they often do.

“Sorry, who’s Raggy?”

“My dog who died” - Billy looks at his shoes again. “I think the audience got that before you did…” - oooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooo, the audience goes.

“They liked that! Hahaha! Okay Billy, you’ve got one up on me. Tell us more about the song.”

“Well, that’s it really. As years went by, it kept poking me. I wanted to release it, but I was never happy with it. I even started to hate it. But I just knew there was something good there. I kept recording bits, and re-recording other bits, to the point where I couldn’t tell if it was genius or complete and utter trash.”

“That’s interesting. So what changed? I mean, how has this fabulous song - because it is fabulous, ladies and gentlemen - finally come to be released?”

“This is the thing. I reached out to my music buddy who’s helped with my latest tracks, to see what he thought of it, and to see if he could do anything with it.”

“That’s a pretty wise decision. It sounds as though you were just too close to the song. You needed to take a step back, I get that. So did he tell you it was trash? Hahaha” - louder UCL

“Hahaha! No. But I did ask him to be honest, and I trust him. He liked it a lot. He said there was something very special about it, but that it needed a bit of work. I said to him that it probably needed more than a bit of work and that he probably shouldn’t waste his time with it. But he insisted. He said to just leave it with him for a few days, so I did just that. I left it with him.”

“That must have been a bit of a relief to hear that it wasn’t trash.”

“Sure, definitely. But I had left it in his hands. I was left to go about my day doing normal Arizonian things like making sure my house doesn’t blow away in a tornado. For us, that’s like doing the dishes” - UCL.

“Hahaha! Ya know, you’ve got a great sense of humour, Billy. Makes my job easier…” looks at audience - “even if I do get a bit jealous”, CC says out of the side of his mouth. More UCL.

“Ha! So anyway, this music dude of mine got back to me with the thing fully done, and it was basically exactly my song, how I had heard it in my head, but not just in my head. Finally, people could hear what I meant all these years. I am so completely super excited for everyone to hear it now that it’s out. Am I playing it here live before the other Billie is on stage? Or are you going to play the track on air?”

“Er, no and no. But just before we finish up, the artwork for the song is great. Was that your own creation, or was that A.I.?”

“I ain’t NEVER gonh’ touch A.I. I really hate it. It’s creepy! Crazy that it’s even appealing to people. But no, the artwork was actually done by my mom. It’s cool, huh?”

“Oh isn’t that lovely? By his mum? Awwwww.” - audience again does that embarrassingly awful ‘awwww, bless’ noise that they often do. “Well, Billy, that’s about all we’ve got time for. Congratulations on the new tune, and thanks for coming on the show! You can all hear Billy’s latest single, The Day After, over on Spotify and all those other places, or by pressing the red button now.”

“Thanks CC. Thanks for having me.”

“And now, here’s Billie Eilish, with “Two Toes are Better Than One”!” - audience screams to high heaven.

This interview did not take place on any day of any week of any month of any year.

I won’t write any more as it’s already 10:80, metrically speaking.

What, nothing to say about the actual song? - “Mañana, mañana”.

Or you could just listen for yourself. If you don’t listen to The Day After, tomorrow never knows.

Listen to 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Spotify playlist HERE!

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