Gary Cox shares the story behind Von Venn’s latest single ‘Be free,’ offering a rare glimpse into his songwriting process.
In a music world dominated by formulas and hit-making teams, Cox still lets songs arrive organically–sometimes in dreams, sometimes in the shower, or on his battered 70s Kay guitar.
Melodies spark first, setting the mood, and lyrics follow, grounded in personal experience or passionate reflection.
Over time, his songs have evolved from raw, youthful emotion to explore broader societal themes, but the core remains the same: writing for the love of music, with connection to listeners a welcome, if unexpected, bonus.
Check out his process below.
It seems that the process of how music and lyrics are created and combined to make a good song has been analysed, dissected and turned into formulas for success. The industry now has teams of people working with these formulas to generate instant hits.
For me the process is different, and I still feel a little mystery and magic in how a song appears. My writing tends to begin with a melody or riff based around a rhythm and this can arrive in my head at the strangest and most inconvenient times. I can be taking a shower and suddenly there’s a really interesting melody in my head and I need a guitar immediately before I lose the moment and the song could disappear back to wherever it came from.
Sometimes the music arrives in a dream and I’ll wake up with a song before breakfast.
And of course some tunes arrive as I’m strumming away on a guitar, usually my old battered Kay guitar from the 70’s.
A melody or rhythm usually suggests a mood or theme and then the lyrics come. I usually try to ground the lyrics in something I know about, a deep emotional experience or event that’s happened in my life or something I feel passionately about.
I think in youth deep emotion drives the songwriting more, as experiences are often first time experiences and carry a corresponding intensity that can manifest in the song. Most of us still remember our first love, our first betrayal or our first feelings of injustice. As life moves on and we experience more of the world, insight tends to accompany and inform the emotion, and that changes the songwriting process.
With respect to themes, I’ve found my songs becoming a little more focused on societal change lately. I think we are at a bit of a crossroads with respect to freedom of expression and that troubles me and is reflected in later songs that I’m writing
In general I write for myself, simply because I love music. I don’t work to any hit making formula, I just try to write from the heart. If someone connects with and enjoys a song I’ve written, it’s an added bonus and I’m happy that the music has touched someone.
Check out Von Venn’s latest single ‘Be free’ here.
