Singer turns artist despite being colour blind. The conversation with zoolon will goes number one, with the words of zoolan

When will all the pieces come together? And if I don’t like the picture am I stuck with it forever’, a line from a song I wrote when starting out. The words stayed with me. Kept me honest. A mantra for the inspiration self-doubt hands out when it feels like it. I believe self-doubt is a positive thing. Maybe that sounds odd, but it’s just the way I’m made . Who am I? Since finishing at uni with a 1st in Music Technology (that proved to be waste of creativity, time and money) I’ve gone by the alter ego name ‘Zoolon’ but generally when people call me ‘George’ they get a response. I’m a singer/ songwriter and sound artist without an ego, preferring art above glory; composition over crowds. On balance I prefer animals to humans. I’m a colour-blind Englishman who loves France.

 I work alone, writing lyrics, composing melody, performing and producing all my own stuff. Also, I sometimes work with poets and other writers who want their words set to song. Having gone the generic teenage route of live gigging playing lead guitar in an average band and figuring out it wasn’t for me as the politics of people were a thing I could do without, I decided to invent a version of me that could make a music career without going through the rituals of performance. Hence the birth of ‘Zoolon’ a couple of years back. I’m not having a dig at performing artists by the way. They have my total respect. The key stat that made me look at the music industry differently was reading one time that 1% of artists draw in over 90% of the available income. That means most musicians, however exceptionally talented they might be, haven’t got a chance. I just knew I had to take a different path to success. I’m not there yet, but two years into the ‘Zoolon’ project I’m still in business; still making a good few quid. I like to vary the genres I work in from things as far apart as classical music at one end of the scale to heavy metal at the other and in between, ambient, acoustic, folk, alternative and experimental. This variety is reflected in my albums. 

Take my recent release, a five track EP called ‘The Pigeons Are Switzerland’ – a long story how that title came to be I won’t bore you with. The opening track ‘Tick Tock’ is a song primarily about violence. It’s followed by my reflective tribute song ‘Francesca’ named after the sublime American photographic artist Francesca Woodman who committed suicide in the winter of 1981, aged just 21. She used to use herself as her own artistic muse and only found success after her death. The tribute continues with the instrumental ‘Eastside 1981’, a eulogy without words. ‘What Remains’ is a number about ‘life’ for the main part. Lastly, the title track, ‘The Pigeons Are Switzerland’, echoes in sound the concept of neutrality. Previously, I’ve released two other albums. ‘Dream Rescuer’ where I focused on an acoustic theme with a few electronic elements added in and not relying too heavily on percussion to help carry the songs and ‘Rainbows End’ where I did add more percussive and the electric guitar elements. ‘Dream Rescuer’ alone has sold on every continent. As of the now I am in the process of composing an album of electronic instrumentals, hopefully for release shortly. Fingers-crossed on that one! Earlier this year my book, ‘The Words & Thoughts of a Dyslexic Musician’ came into being when I s e l f - p u b l i s h e d . 

Book reviews plus responses on my blog were good. It’s seems readers enjoyed and had a laugh. That’s all I wanted – a reaction. Growing up I’d never realized that I was dyslexic and colour-blind until the day came when some professional bloke confirmed it. That they were the reasons I could barely read or write and that I only saw things as black, grey or white. It’s interesting being told you are something you never knew you were. So, here I am, finishing off this piece, sat here in my attic studio on a freezing cold English winter’s day. Feels weird, in a good way. I’d like to thank the celebrated Lifoti Magazine for giving me this unique opportunity.

You can found more about him on February 2019 Issue at here