John Blaylock arrives with the kind of story that mirrors the songs he writes, rich in experience, grounded in his Manchester roots, and shaped by a lifelong belief in the power of music to connect people. A fresh voice in the lineage of northern songwriting that includes Noel Gallagher, Tim Burgess and Paul Heaton, Blaylock’s debut album Sounds of the Dreadnought feels anything but tentative.

Led by the deeply personal single Where Did All My Friends Go?, the record blends candid storytelling with anthemic indie sensibilities, reflecting both his upbringing and a journey that has taken him across the world as a songwriter. Ahead of the album’s release, we caught up with John to talk about the stories behind the songs, his influences, and the path that led him to step into the spotlight as a solo artist.

1. Hi John, tell us about your new single Where Did All My Friends Go?

It’s a song about growing up and losing your childhood friends, it means a lot to me because every single name mentioned is a real person that I grew up with. It’s also a song that at gigs people always seem to rave about which is great.

2. It features on your new album “Sounds of the Dreadnought” out on 8th May - what can you tell us about the creative process behind the album?

It’s a collection of songs that I absolutely love, I had the songs all written by the time I went in the studio with Helen Boulding and Guy Massey to record it. Then we were just bouncing arrangement and harmony ideas around to come up with this, it was a really fun process and it was a great time.

3. You were brought up in Manchester, how has the Manchester music scene impacted your songwriting?

I grew up loving the indie sound of Manchester with bands like The Charlatans, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets as big influences. I love those melody lines, particularly the anthemic choruses and I’d like to think there’s a lot of that in my songs.

4. You have a distinctive style of songwriting, which songwriters do you look up to? And who inspired you to start writing initially?

My dad got me in to a lot of Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel as a kid. I definitely look up to them as writers but I wouldn’t say any one of them or anyone else inspired me to start writing. It was just something that I always wanted to do.

5. If you had to pick one song on the new album for people to listen to which one would it be and why?

Either Moonshine and Roses or Where Did All My Friends Go, hopefully they’d be hooked from then on and would go out and buy the album!

6. You do a lot of community work in Manchester with singers - what can you tell us about this?

I run 9 community singing groups across the city of Manchester which is such an amazing day job. I have about 250 singers a week, I know all their names and I’m blessed to have these people in my life. Recently I got 100 of them involved in recording choral parts for 4 of the tracks off the album and also making a music video for Where Did All My Friends Go. That was a really magical thing.

7. If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be and why?

Even though he’s dead (you did say anyone!) I’d pick Freddie Mercury. I’d love to just jam some cool acoustic guitar riffs I’ve got and let him freestyle his amazing vocals over the top, I think we’d make something epic.

8. Before you released your own music, you were writing for other artists - why did you decide to release music yourself?

I was writing pitching stuff to other artists and also pitching stuff for film and TV but that was only ever the side project really, it’s always been about songs for my own project. When it got to the point that I just had too many great songs to ignore I decided to put this album together.

9. What’s the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome in your personal or professional life?

I think many people when working towards a defined goal have the mentality of “I’ll be happy when…” I definitely used to have that mentality. To me it was a major shift of perspective and a major source of happiness when I changed my mentality to just enjoying every moment of the journey.

10. If there was one album you could take to a desert island what would it be and why?

My fave album of all time is definitely The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses. However there’s only 11 tracks so if I was going to a desert island I’d probably take Greatest Hits II by Queen instead as there’s like 20 tracks on there and it’s absolutely banging!!

Author: Andrew Braithwaite

Andrew is the founder and chief editor of Music Talkers. He's also a keen music enthusiast and plays the guitar.