As I guess you’ve seen, I’ve already been young for a very long time. So long, that I actually remember when the first Queen album came out. Freddie and John in Queen became my idols then and still are. So, guess you could say my musical influences come from the 70’s and 80’s rock and alternative music. Always liked Jean-Michel Jarre, Rick Wakeman and The Alan Parsons project too, the odd birds.
Don’t know if you can tell by listening. My music is a combination of many influences and probably has that dated sound. I try keeping it contemporary… or timeless, but I’m sure one can sense the 80’s, as well as guitar solos from the 70’s.
Most of all, I think the lyrics reveal me. My life has been filled with much, and even if it’s been fun, I’ve also been through many disappointments way back. Guess that’s what make many of my lyrics a bit low key, about lies, betrayal, broken dreams and other fun stuff. So much, that my friends told me to lighten my lyrics up. I’ve given it a try a few times and it seems to work too. But all my lyrics are about stuff that concerns me, and that I’ve experienced. Like small cut-outs of reality.
There’s no method to how I write my songs. Sometimes I start with a lyric, sometimes a melody, and often with a rhythm. Or a bass line. I’m a bass player down to my heart and soul so if I get that bass line going, hey then I’m basically home… right?
No matter what I start with, I still manage to write and record as much as possible in my Aspudden studio. When I’m looking for a different sound or need help from others to lay down another track, I invite them to my studio. When I need to add something that I can’t bring to the table myself, like a brass section, a badass guitar solo or background vocals.
Once I’ve gotten a demo together, I’ll send what I think is good enough to Micke Moberg at MiMo Sound. He’s always got great ideas about how to tweak things or what musical arrangement would work better. We kinda mess around with the demo together untill we have a song that feels ready for the world. Micke’s a really important part of the ”Gus sound”.
There are so many more helping me out. As my Kick ass voice coach, the guys with the energy in the live band Gus Stop, Fredrik from Invicta film, Mats from Brandteam and Hasse from eklundh.com for sleves, grafic design and webpage. All of us together make up Gus Muller.
/Gus
