Dublin musician, producer, singer, and Burner Records co-founder Jake Hurley aka Local Boy has released his new single, Al Bundy, the first new track from his forthcoming EP. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
Tell us three things about yourself?
I used to be really good at karate as a young boy but the pressure of the under nines semi-contact league got to me and I started doing music instead.
In the period between my karate and music phases I tried to kickstart a Yu-Gi-Oh career by entering a competition at the plaza in Tallaght but was ultimately defeated by a grown man who held the arguably unfair advantage of having gone through puberty
When I was six, I broke my nose off a terracotta pot because I was smelling flowers too vigorously.
How would you describe your music?
I prefer not to describe my music because I suffer from that Irish cultural affliction of chronic self-depreciation, but if I had to, I'd call it pop music!
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I started out releasing music as a hip-hop beatmaker during the heady and often ridiculous vaporwave days, so that element is still present in some sense but I’ve shifted into mainly using live instrumentation over the past couple of years - on my most recent releases there’s guitar, bass, trumpet, keyboards, melodica and more.
Lyrically the songs I’ve been working on this year are a critique of the self-help industry and how it can often bolster the neoliberal (to use a term that’s been rendered meaningless from overuse by Brooklyn podcasters) drive to paint our mental health struggles as individual problems rather than symptoms of wider society not functioning as it should.
Who are your musical inspirations?
The number one inspiration I always cite is Daniel Johnston. I got put on to his music by a particularly hip English teacher and it really stuck with me. I had a lot of struggles with my mental health, particularly when I was younger, so it was really touching to see that Daniel could go through so much and still create such beautiful music, as well as retain his sense of childlike wonder.
As a producer, J Dilla really piqued my interest, and I like so many others in my generation spent countless hours trying to capture the mythical "Dilla feel" in my drums - often with mixed results!
I have a Daniel tattoo on my right arm and a Dilla one on my left!
When I was a kid, Republic of Loose were so exciting to me and years later I bonded with my Burner Records label mates over their music. My partner in rhyme Sick Nanley eventually got to open for Mick Pyro in Whelan’s so that was an amazing "full circle" moment!
How are you occupying yourself during the coronavirus lockdown?
I started out with lofty ambitions of self-improvement and exercise as most people did but overtime that’s descended into a routine of eating a lot of microwave popcorn and watching YouTube video essays.
I’ve been doing a masters and working on new music for a good portion of lockdown though so that’s really helped pass the time.
What’s your favourite song right now?
I’ve unironically been bumping Gotta Tell You by the queen Samantha Mumba all day every day. I even covered it for my "michaelmacdonald1" side project.
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Favourite lyric of all time?
I could go with something more poignant or emotional, but if I’m really being honest nothing has ever floored me more than Juelz Santana from Dipset’s Rap City freestyle where he casually dropped the line "y’all messing with some gangsters, riders, 9/11 survivors, y’all still want beef then holler". Everything about that video is amazing, from the oversized 2000s fits to Cam counting up stacks of money while he raps in that inimitable, laconic flow.
Also Cupcakkes "so many offers on the table, a bitch gotta eat on the couch" bar on I Got It by Charli XCX has been giving me regular dopamine hits throughout lockdown.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
That’s gotta be torture no matter the song so I’m gonna have to be a wise guy and say 4’33 by John Cage!
If I were to be a non-wise guy, however, I can’t see myself tiring of Int’l Players Anthem by UGK and OutKast or maybe even the song they sampled from, I Choose You by Willie Hutch.
Where can people find your music/more information?
My Instagram is @local_boy3000, my Twitter is @localboy3000, and my music is available on all major streaming platforms as well as YouTube!
