On Tuesday 29th April 2003, davidsneddon.biz caught up with David the morning after his album launch party for an informal chat in the hotel. Read on to find out Davids thoughts on music, songwriting, and just what being a Gold selling artist means.

Victoria: Where shall we start? Music, Album, Gold. Last night...

David: Yes, you did that in a sort of Eddie Izzard sentence; [does an impression] Music, Album, um gold!

[laughter]

David: Um. Hmmm [Pause] Um, it's a very weird feeling. I don't really know what it means... erm

Victoria: It means you've sold 100,000 records.

David: YES! Um, I understand the logistics of what it means [laughter] What I mean is, I don't know like .. is that the start like of my proper career, or is that the peak/what's left over from Fame Academy? I guess it's gotta be a bit of both because it's only been a week really since I've finished with Fame Academy because of the tour, so...

Kat: Do you think it's more important for your second album to do as well then?

David: I think it's more important for my second album to do better. I think it has to. I mean, the great thing for me at the moment is to sell 100,000 copies on the back of 2 singles is practically unheard of you know. On the first day that's me having sold more than one of the big pop acts like Busted, or Madonna, you know, 100,000 in one day is unbelievable, so it is like 'where do you go from there?'But, I don't know I mean - what i would really like is for it to hit that sort of peak and to go in, having gone gold to maybe go in the top 5 for the next month - that would be nice, and then maybe when Best Of Order comes out for people to hear that I can change the musical style about, and then go 'aha' and then go and buy the album. So I don't know, I'm just going to wait and see. To be perfectly honest with you, I didn't expect it to do so well. I thought maybe by the time the second album came about people might have heard of the first album and be starting to think 'oh, let's see what he can do' in a sort of David Gray way of selling albums. To have sold so many to begin with is amazing.

Victoria: It's sold internationally already too

David: Has it really?

Victoria: Yep, amazon.co.uk ship abroad, a lot of international fans have been able to order it.

David: Really?

Kat: Well Fame Academy has just finished on BBC Prime which goes out to Asia and Europe and places, and we've got a lot of internationals now.

David: Wow. That's nice!

Victoria: So your album is worldwide...

David: And considering I haven't even been yet - that's cool! I mean, we are planning to do Europe and the States, but wow, if you're saying they're getting it over in Australia, Malaysia and whatever then I guess we'll go there as well. That's really cool.

Victoria: To break America, will that be through the soundtrack that you'll be working on?

David: No. I'd like to do it on the back of my album. So far a lot of people have said I've got quite an American sound, not only in my music but in my accent when I sing.

Victoria: Did you try to lose that a bit?

David: Not really, I sing the way I sing. It's funny really, I think there's people who do it worse than me... the accent thing, but really, mine's just a kind of amalgamation of Elton John, David Gray, you know.. Robbie, it's like a little bit of everything and at times I can hear the American thing, but it's the American sort of music style people say I've got that I would love to sell some albums.

Victoria: You know you're not going to talk about this film you're doing

David: Yes

[we pause to allow him chance to elaborate.. he doesn't]

Victoria: OK, could we expect you possibly to be performing in the Kevin Spacey film?

David: No. I've not really been too fussed about the movie role. It's one of those things that everyone else has been chasing up - like 'what is it?' but it's taken me years to become a musician that I kind of don't want to distract from it. I look at someone like Samantha Mumba who had a couple of songs out and then got a part in a major hollywood film and now she's forgotten all about the music. Say I got a part in a film, and all of a sudden it was successful, then all of a sudden everyone wants you to be in another film, which I don't want to do.

Kat: Do you not think you could do a Jennifer Lopez and do both?

David: That's a very hard thing to do. She does it well, and Will Smith did it well for a while, but then you see, it's so hard to sustain. I think eventually it'll go like that [points downhill], and it probably will for Jennifer Lopez at some stage too. I really don't want anything to distract from the music at the moment - I think that's the most important thing.

Victoria: Do you think speaking your mind about other artists might have been a factor in Don't Let Go coming in at #3?

David: Nooo, Like I said last night, I sold 27,000 copies which last week would have been a number 1. I'm not going to change that about myself.

Victoria: Nobody wants an edited version of you ...

David: No. I mean, look at people like the Gallagher brothers who are just outrageous about everyone, and then they rely on the music to sell albums. So, I'm not going to change myself and hopefully this time next year the music will have spoken for itself.

Kat: You'll have finally lost the 'Fame Academy Winner' tag!

David: Yes..that'd be nice

Victoria: That was your surname for a while .. David 'fromFameAcademy'

David: It was my Christian name! 'Fame Academy winner David Sneddon'

Victoria: It will be though for a while yet, won't it?

David: Yes, it's not a bad thing because that's what I am.

Victoria: It's the means to an end though, isn't it?

Kat: Noel Gallagher himself said, that if he worked in Tesco's and wanted to sing, and was offered a TV show and to win a million pounds he'd do it to.

David: I think ANYONE who was working in Tescos or signing on would do it, you know, if they could do it.

Victoria: What's your most and least favourite album track?

David: On my album?

Victoria: Yes

David: My least favourite's 'Stop Living the Lie' - I think I've just done it now so many times. It was very exciting to begin with, but now it's got to the stage that I've done it so many times I'm bored with it. My favourite track on the album is 'OK'. I think that 'OK' is the best written song on the album with the best hook. I'm not going to use it as a single, I think it's just a really good album track. I think it's the best song on the album, I think the lyrics are good, it's just one of the ones John and I sat down and wrote the lyrics in five minutes. But I had the music for OK kicking about for a while, and i've always loved that hook into the chorus.

Victoria: When you start writing a song, how does the process begin, where do you start?

David: The best ones I write always start with the music at the piano. It's funny, when I get an idea for a song if I'm in the car just traveling somewhere I never ever remember it by the time I get to the piano. If I've got a good idea for a lyric, it's never as good as when I first thought of it if I can remember what it is. But whenever I'm sitting down at the piano, if i get a chord sequence I tend not to forget it, and I don't know why, but I don't forget the chords. So once I've got the music I'll sort of always remember the idea that I had. The best ones always start at the piano. And more recently, since I've left Fame Academy and John and I have been writing consistently together, the way it works is: I'll sit at the piano for about ten minutes and come up with an idea for a hook/come up with an idea for a song, then John will come in with his guitar. John is naturally good with lyrics. He's sort of ..

Victoria: He's very quick isn't he? We noticed that last night - he's so funny, he just comes out with the funniest things - just like that

David: Yeah, he's really funny, he's really great.. he's a really funny guy.

Victoria: He had us in fits didn't he?

Kat: He was talking about his martian mechanical parts

David: Did he tell you about one particular mechanical part?

[we all laugh]

David: He's got a telescopic lense...

[much much laughter]

David: He's got a natural ability to say things in a different way. If I want to write a song about something that's pissing me off, I'll come up with the main hook line. I usually come up with the title and that's usually the idea for the hook and the chorus, but he's got this really weird way of sort of twisting things about. In Neverland, I sort of came up with the main insults like 'No one likes you' 'No one wants you' 'Looks like you're getting tired now' and all that stuff, but all the little twists like 'you're stuck in the playground pulling hair' - that stuff's all Kielty. He's just got this ability to turn the lyrics around, which i love. So yes, usually I come up with the music, John comes in with his guitar and we then come up with the lyrics.

Victoria: When it comes to the later stages, is it the producer that will say, oh, some drums here, some bass there?

David: Not really you know. When it's our songs, whenever it's John and I, generally we'll say 'right, OK, Neverland for example we said we're all in from the start, you know, it's got to be big it's got to be 'Let Me Entertain You'. For 'Without You', Hugh the producer actually wanted to bring in the piano earlier, but I said no, leave everything out until that little piano solo in the middle - it just feels right. The other thing is, I feel very lucky with what John and I do. We sort of picked the band on the strength of their musical ability. That was sort of the important thing.

Victoria: Did you audition them, or were they given to you?

David: Yeah, Aaron the drummer always says it was like Band Academy because there were 30 of them and people would come and say, 'if your name's not read out, you have to leave', and there was a series of auditions. Funnily enough, the day that happened, I think Stop Living The Lie was just coming out and I had to get a band so that I could do it live on Top of the Pops.

Victoria: That was a bit shaky, that first Top of the Pops wasn't it?

David: Dya know, We still are adamant that wasn't our fault. The sound, on the night, in the Top of the Pops studio completely changed, and on stage we were an awful lot louder, and it came across on TV very weak and very quiet. And actually, the second time we went on to do it we were number 1 and I said to the sound guy - the sound was terrible last week and we want everything up and the second time it was great.

Victoria: Yes, that one was much better.

David: The thing about that was, John did the auditions. You know, there were 30 of them and I was away doing promotion that day. I'd said, I'm going to try and finish early and come in at the end of the day and if you've got it down to however many. And I came back and John had got it down to six right, and all of them were really good, but there was just something about Jamie, Aaron and Chris that just stood out. It's funny, we picked them on their musical ability and from that very first day, when they got picked, we sort of sat around and had a talk about the fact that I wanted them to be the band for you know, forever. They were all really up for it, and from the very very beginning we all clicked and we all hit it off. I think you can see that on stage.

Victoria: Yes you can, there's a good rapport which is strange for such a short period of time.

Kat: It doesn't look like David and his band

David: You see, that's what I wanted. Whenever I'm on stage, it should be that I'm the lead singer of a band, it shouldn't be that it's me and my band. You know, we're all on there together, so it's not MY band. The guys are all fantastic musicians, to be honest I'm kinda lucky to be playing with them. Even the new synth player, he's only been playing with us for 2 weeks now but he just fits in, and he just clicks. Again it was Aaron that recommended him, he's a friend of Aarons, and right away we all just got on.

Victoria: You've had some good reviews from like Music Week, randomly Ceefax after what they said about Stop Living the Lie completely slating you

David: Well ceefax are notorious for giving really bad reviews.

Victoria: And they gave you a fantastic one!

David: I know! They actually gave me one of the biggest compliments I've had by saying you know, it looks like i could be around for a while. That's the first person that's said that obviously apart from people like my mum and dad. But that's the first reviewer that's said, it's a nice start. I think a lot of people have to remember that. It's only my first album. If you look at a lot of very successful artists first albums they're really bad. I don't really rate Robbie's album, 'Life Thru a Lense'

Victoria: hmm, that's my favourite of Robbies, I don't like the later ones as much

Kat: It's mine too actually.

David: Really? I think 'Life Thru a Lense' is rotten. I think from 'Angels', 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'One of Gods better people' stand out but I think in general there's no hook throughout. I think in general they're quite samey

Victoria: I really like how yours is arranged to listen to in one sitting.

David: Aye, we spent a lot of time thinking about that. But you know, there are a lot of bigger selling artists who get better by say the third album. I think Coldplays Second album is much better than the first one as well. Alot of people are going 'oh, Fame Academy Star, all he does is ballads' - it's stupid.

Victoria: Was it the Daily Telegraph that started the review by slagging off your name!

Kat: I think alot of them have reviewed it without listening to it yet.

David: It's really stupid!

Kat: There was that one, where the man was writing about Busted. It was supposed to be a review about the single and yet I think he mentioned the fact that he hadn't heard it, but he bets it's really bad, but hey, Busted are great!

David: It just shows you eh? In this industry, its usually the kind of people you're up against if they think Busted is good music! I mean, they've got catchy tunes, there's no doubt about it, but come on, it's not record breaking stuff.

Victoria: They made some comments in the Daily Record yesterday gloating.

David: What was that about?

Victoria: They were saying, there's a difference between manufactured artists and manufactured success. You're manufactured success and they're manufactured artists.

David: Mmm it's true. It probably is true you know.

Victoria: Would you rather have, a multi platinum selling album, or a sell out worldwide tour?

David: You can't really choose between as you'd imagine that with one would come the other.

Victoria: I'd go for the tour because presumably everyone buying tour tickets would have the album...

David: Ah, but you see, that's you getting both again. Um, [pauses for a while to ponder] . If you had to pick one I'd probably go for the tour right now because there's nothing better than being on stage doing your thing.

Victoria: So you prefer the stage to the studio then?

David: Yeah. Doing my own thing, definitely. I'm not sure about - I'm doing loads of these summer festivals this year - live and loud etc, and I'm not too sure about those.

Kat: It's all about getting your songs out there isn't it? You're doing some university summer balls and stuff

David: I'm doing loads of university tours.

Kat: What do you think is your target audience, or what do you want it to be?

David: I don't care. I just want people that like my music.

Kat: You're sort of marketed at the younger audience.

David: I know

Victoria: They've done something similar with Ainslie too

David: I know

Kat: He did a load of schools, which I thought was a bit strange

David: I know, he was telling me loads of stories about it. You know, it's really silly. I think at the moment they've got something very unusual with me because I did come from that show and because you know, you get the little girls and the natural pop thing, but personality wise, I'm not pop. And musically, it is pop, but it's more sort of rock pop. So they don't really know how to market me, and I kinda understand it you know.

Victoria: It'll come though, won't it?

David: I'm hoping it'll come.

Victoria: In the end the music speaks for itself I guess

David: You know, I'm not really bothered about it. I can take all the flack that comes along because everybody gets it in the music business.. everyone gets flack, everyone's a critic, you know - I am myself. It's kind of natural. Music's something people get passionate about, but I can take all the flack that comes my way - it doesn't bother me. It's going to be interesting to see, this time next year, what's being said.

Victoria: So what CD's are in your car at the moment?

David: Erm, it's been so long since i've been in my car! I've got Escapology, the Robbie Williams one, I've got David Gray, Toploader .. I can't remember what else, but I know those three are in there.

Victoria: You were saying earlier you worked very hard to get the album arranged just right...

David: Yes!

Victoria: How did you go about choosing which songs to perform on your mini tour, and if OK is your favourite track, why did you not perform that?

David: Because I've spent the past couple of months doing loads behind the piano for people to sort of get used to what it is that I do. I wanted to do Best of Order...

Victoria: That was fantastic, it looked like you were having a lot of fun with that one

David: Yes.. to be honest, we did Stop Living the Lie and Don't Let Go because we had to, because they're the singles people know me by, but I would have been quite happy doing Neverland, OK and Time to Fall Down.. it would have been nice to do some of the others. Best of Order, Lazy and Bluebird are always going to be some of the best ones to do live.

Victoria: .. Follow Me as well...

David: Oh god, Follow Me aye as well was really good live. Those are always going to be the ones that go down well live. It's good to get everyone on their feet in those ones, and also, I get to swear in the music. That's pretty cool...

Victoria: When do you think Best of Order will be released?

David: First week of August, or something like that. It's not long.. it's the same time as between stop Living the Lie and Don't Let Go.

With this, David has to go ... he has a car to catch for Ayr and John has just arrived with some bacon rolls for them to eat on the road. We all say our goodbyes, and thank David very much for his time.