Interview // Maddox Jones gives us ‘Headspace’
Maddox Jones is no stranger to the UK music scene, he was born to do it. I first got to know him when I moved to London in 2013. He was fronting bands, I was trying to figure out what the London music scene was like.
He’s now front and centre with his own solo project and has just released a banger of a track, ‘Headspace’, 3 minutes and forty four seconds of perfection. It’s also the title track taken from his forthcoming EP. Have you met Mr Jones? Well, here’s a good place to start.
Hello Maddox Jones! Who the hell and where the hell are you?
My name is Maddox Jones and I am currently in Northampton, UK which is about an hour north of London.
This isn’t your first foray into music, you’ve fronted bands before. What makes this project right for you, right now?
This project is literally me authentically writing and releasing music that tells a story about where I am at right now!
Headspace is seriously catchy, it’s a definitely a grower and has a hook that you’ll be singing all day. You produced the track with Dave Crawford. Although you’re a solo artist now, is collaboration still an important thing for you?
Yes, I love the energy that working with other people brings. It adds to the ideas in a track and also makes it more fun to create. I think collaboration makes me more productive.
What’s your songwriting process like?
It starts with me on a piano always, as I like to make sure the melody, chords and lyrics stand up as a song before adding production.
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You’ve managed to get a pretty cool video together for Headspace, while in lockdown. How did you manage that?
Well, my friend Christian Pinchbeck helped out and had fun, fun and some perfect footage already. I recorded a few takes of me singing the song against a white wall and we blended it in and it ended up working perfectly. The universe was with us that day!
I’m been lucky enough to hear your EP and can’t wait to share it with my readers and listeners. Your lyrics seem to be autobiographical about your day / life. Is storytelling an important part of the creative process for you.
Well, this is quite a new thing for me writing about what I know. This year learning to be more honest and open with my lyrics, it’s part of my new journey of self discovery. This EP has helped me make sense of where I’m at the moment and what things I want to change and what I want to celebrate and be proud of.
Your sound is lodged between somewhere between dance/pop/synthwave. Can you recommend three albums that will give us an idea of how you got to here on your musical journey?
Depeche Mode – Violator, Coldplay – Ghost Stories and The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness.
You’ve been busy in lockdown doing some covers and making videos to go along with them. How important has this been to you to keep your creative juices flowing?
I’ve found reaching out to other musician friends and making little lockdown covers videos has been really cool. It’s been great to see the amount of content that’s happening in lockdown I think it’s forced people to make the most of technology in a really positive way. And yes, really important to keep the creative juices flowing.
Plans for a lot of things have changed with the pandemic. How have you had to adjust the goalposts for what you want to achieve with your first release?
Actually for the first release, me and my team wanted to introduce Maddox Jones to the world and hopefully get people listening on Spotify and falling in love with the music, which can still very much happen now so it’s cool. Will deffo play some gigs as soon as we are able though.
Have you acquired any new skills during the lockdown? I managed to plumb in a washing machine!
I’ve learnt how to do a bit of video editing and also how to make a quiche, which are amazing… very (a bit too) moreish.
Any secrets you would like to share with us?
I used to have a stutter at primary school and the teacher used to think I was being sarcastic during registration when I stuttered my name. Thankfully I grew out of it!
Send us a selfie?
Find Maddox Jones Online
You can find Maddox Jones on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can stream ‘Headspace’ here and buy on iTunes.
You can also pre-save the ‘Headspace EP’ here