Single release ahead of debut album for Chichester singer-songwriter

The first single High on You from the album came out on June 22.

Born into a musicians family, Grant describes himself as a rock-indie singer who’s always been attracted to music that matters – “real music” is a term he uses to sum it up.

“I think so many people have gone into poppy wishy-washy music.

"It is hard to get real music these days.

"Sometimes the music is very video-led or very social media-led and I just think that we're missing something, the real music where people have to go through something to produce it, the significant stuff.

"There are some great singer songwriters around that do beautiful stuff but I am really attracted to music that has a message, music that really counts.

"Lyrics mean a lot to me. I want them to have a message.”

After travelling much of the world, Grant settled in London and fronted the bands Facedown and Circle Animals.

“I have been in the UK most of my adult life.

"I was based in London for a long time and then my wife and I moved down here.

"We had a short spell back in New Zealand to show her New Zealand before the kids went to school but we've been in the Chichester area now for some time.

“I came to the UK in the early 90s.

"I just wanted to get away from New Zealand and I never went back.

"It is an idyllic place for a holiday but when you're stuck in the Pacific about three and a half hours from anywhere, you can get a little bit culturally stuck.

"When I came to the UK for the first time, it just felt like home. I liked the anonymity of being here which you don't really get in New Zealand.

"I married an English lady and I've got English kiddies.”

And now the time is right for the album: “I had the facilities to do it and I just wanted to get something down and recorded.

"This is the debut album.

"Some of the songs go back some time but some of them are right up to date. It wasn't the pandemic that was the catalyst for doing it.

"I think the catalyst was just thinking that if I don't do it now, then maybe I never will.

“I would classify the music as rock indie. It is hard to classify but if I had to that's what I would call it, I think. We recorded it in Bosham at a beautiful studio there.

"David Evans is a bit of a genius producer. We had a couple of weeks there that were really intense. We collected a band together and it went well.”

As for new single Magazine Talk: “It's a bit of a rock ballad and indie ballad, and I think the main line on the song covers it, that we give flowers to lovers and they are then thrown away.

"It's a bit of a throw-away society and that's what the song is about. It’s a sweet song and it's the title track of the album and it is a bit of a duo with my daughter Tess who is 16. She is a trained singer.”