LANDMARK

You may remember us hyping up Francis Peters a few weeks back after his welcome clip for Skateboard Cafe dropped online. Well it turns out Francis isn’t just amazing on a skateboard, he also has a knack for musical ventures.

Last week saw the young Bristolian release a self produced, 11 track album of sorts entitled ‘Landmark’. Naturally we took the opportunity to speak to Francis and gain a deeper insight into his musical endeavours.

Hey Francis, how long have you been writing music and what inspired you to do so?

I’ve been writing music on a computer for about 5 years now. My Dad was a musician and always had instruments about the house. When I started playing the guitar properly, he showed me how to track it on a computer and compose with it. This was what really got me going with it, and showed me the possibilities you have when you’re layering sound.

Next question was actually going to be what instruments do you play?

My first instrument was the guitar, then I got a drum kit when I was around 15 and got involved with that. Also learned to play the keys just through making electronic music, as you load up a lot of your sounds through a keyboard and mess around with synths etc.

A lot of your sound has a somewhat deep, pensive mood to it? Why so? Are you a deep thinker yourself?

I wouldn’t consider myself a deep thinker, those are just the sounds that resonate with me the most I guess. My influences play a big role, and I’ve always been more drawn to darker music.

Did you do music in school?

I really didn’t care about music class in either primary or secondary school, but then I really hated school in general anyway, which probably has a lot more to do with it. But I ended up studying music technology at college, and now I’m studying it at university, which I’m getting a lot out of.

What music do you listen to?

My all time favourites are Boards of Canada, their music is a big reason I write, for sure. But in terms of more generally, it’s really broad. I’m really into a lot of contemporary jazz stuff right now, such as Mammal Hands and Portico Quartet, but anything well made and thought out I always back.

With music and skateboarding both serving as creative outlets. How do they differ to you personally?

I feel like they don’t really differ so much from each other. They are both things that require a lot of feeling, whether it’s feeling your board or expressing what you feel inside yourself to transpose into sound. I guess skating has a bit more of an instant mode of expression. Skating is a lot more social too, as you tend to skate with your friends whereas music is pretty solitary for the most part.

Do you ever perform your music live?

I have a couple of times with my friends but nothing recently although I plan to in the future for sure.

Lastly why the artist name 01934?

01934 is the home telephone code of Yatton which is where I moved to when I was younger, it’s just outside of Bristol. It’s a nostalgic kind of thing, from like when I put it into my parents landline to call up my friends as a kid.

You can purchase ‘Landmark’ here for the small price of four British pounds sterling.