Q.  What does HIAPX stand for and where does it come from?

HIAPX stands for HE IS A PEGASUS, which is the pseudonym that I write and perform under. I wanted something that better embodied what I was trying to get across with my music, something that sounded rare but also grand and bombastic. A friend of mine had a young son, who was fond of drawing horses, and one day he’d drawn a horse with wings, and we helped him spell out in crayon capitals ‘HE IS A PEGASUS’. It’s not the most fashionable origin story, but I looked at it and it just clicked straight away.

Q. Tell us about you, how did you get into music?

I got into music at a very early age, being brought up on Radiohead and Pink Floyd courtesy of my Dad, but I didn’t get into actually playing music until I was about 10 years old - I heard Travis Barker play drums and I was hooked. So I played drums in bands for a few years, but I only started playing guitar by accident. My friend’s band needed a new guitarist and I wanted to join, so I just lied and said I could play. However, it wasn’t really until a few years ago that I realised that my real strength lay in my vocals. I’ve had grown men come up to me after shows and tell me that my voice made them cry, or that I’ve changed their lives, that’s the moment I make music for – when I connect on that deep an emotional level with total strangers whilst I’m onstage, and there’s a real palpable energy between myself and the audience. It’s a feeling you just can’t replicate anywhere else.

Q. You come from Coventry and you chose Coventry Cathedral for your first gig since you won the Emerging Artist Award, is your home town important to you?  Did it play a big part in your rise to success?

Coventry has always been very close to my heart when it comes to music. There are a lot of people who took chances on me when I was some 13 year old kid in a band, wanting to play at their night or venue, who I owe a lot to, and without whom I simply wouldn’t be where I am now. The support I get in Coventry is always phenomenal - there’s a really good scene bubbling away under the surface, and a lot of people working really hard to put Coventry music on the map. The one problem it does have is convincing people to let go of 2 Tone and lad rock. There’s an obsession among some of the big decision-makers in the Coventry music scene that are still so fixated on looking backwards at how things were, rather than looking forwards and nurturing the next generation of innovative young musicians in the city, which can be very frustrating, but for the most part, it’s a vibrant, creative city – you just have to know where to look.

Q. Describe your sound for us – rock, pop, RnB etc?

I know a lot of musicians hate answering this question, but I think it’s incredibly important to have a definitive answer to it, rather than copping out by saying you ‘don’t like to be pigeon-holed’ or that you’re ‘a bit of everything’ because that basically means you don’t know what you’re trying to do or what you’re trying to say. I’d describe myself as Alternative Indie, and leave the rest up to other people to elaborate.

Q. You’re the winner of Pledge Music’s Emerging Artist 2016, how did that come about?

It came a bit out of nowhere really – I did a showcase at the Electric Carousel in Piccadilly Circus in September last year, which was put on as part of a collaboration between Karousel Publishing and SESAC, both of which are fantastic organizations committed to the support of musicians in as many ways as possible. After I’d played I ended up chatting to one of the high up guys from Pledge Music who told me there was still time to get my application in, so I did, and a few weeks later we got the news that I’d won it. It’s been a huge boost for me, knowing that these people in the industry are onboard with what I’m doing, and it’s really given me the confidence to kick on with my career.

Q. This is a rapidly changing industry, what’s it like for you as an emerging artist to break through into mainstream?

It’s a really exciting time for music in general, but also incredibly uncertain and competitive for the people that create it. Now that literally anybody with a laptop can make and easily distribute their music to people all over the world, and because so much music is freely available at the click of a mouse, music has become devalued to a point that nobody really wants to pay for it anymore, despite that fact that nobody could live without it if it disappeared tomorrow.

In a way though, you could look at that as a positive thing - it forces you to keep evolving, to keep innovating, to make music that matters and demands to be valued - the minute you get complacent, you’re forgotten, and somebody else has taken your place. The knowledge that nobody owes me anything and that all of this could end tomorrow keeps me motivated.

Q.  You have a Pledge campaign yourself, what are your hopes from that?

Well, obviously the main idea is to raise some money to pay for touring, recording and the release of my upcoming 4 track EP, but on top of that, it’s also just an opportunity to get people involved in what I’m doing and bring them along for the journey. None of this happens without the support of people who enjoy my music, so I really enjoy connecting with them through stuff like house concerts and Skype shows, which are just two of the exclusives that are on offer – people can pledge for the new EP, a cover of their choice, my guitar, t shirts, tickets to the launch party and loads more. We’ve nearly hit our target with less than a month to go, but we could still do with some people pledging and getting involved!

Q. You’re playing the Great Escape and The Alternative Escape this month, what can we expect from your performances there?

I’m really excited about these shows – not just because it’s an honour to be included on these bills but also because I’ll be performing live with a band, which will be a first for HIAPX!  We’ve got rehearsals lined up this week and next, and I’m really looking forward to getting going. At the show,  you can expect energy by the truckload. I’ve never understood why some acts get up onstage and then act like they’d rather be anywhere else – I’ve always been of the opinion that you just give 1005 at shows, or you don’t do them. If you don’t care about what you’re doing, you can’t expect anybody else to buy into it, so yeah I’m really excited.

Q. Do you have any other live gigs lined up for this year?

After the shows in Brighton next week it all goes a bit quiet, then when my Pledge Campaign wraps up at the start of June, I’ll be out doing house concerts for people that have pledged for them. There’s also a few other exciting things in the pipeline, but until they’re confirmed I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!

Q.  What about recordings, have you been in the studio, can we expect more music, even an album soon?

The EP is done, mastered and ready to go. I’m super proud of it, but there needs to be a discussion at some point about how best to release it – whether we go down the more conventional route or try and find a more unique way to get it out to people – the music industry moves so fast nowadays that you really have to think outside the box with your releases or you just get left behind.  Once the EP is out there though, I’m desperate to get back into the studio and lay down some of the new stuff I’ve written lately. So maybe there’ll be an EP, maybe an album, maybe just a series of single releases, who knows! Either way, it’ll be released at some point this year, in some as-yet-unknown format.

Q.  Anything else you’d like to tell us before we sign off?

Just that if people are interested in getting involved with HIAPX, that they can check out my pledge campaign HERE : http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/hiap/exclusives

Be Excellent to Each Other.

HIAPX