Alfie Templeman has just come off his huge Australian tour and while he’s happy to be home, apparently he bloody loved it.
Rising pop sensation Alfie Templeman has been dominating the charts with his singles over the last two years, garnering over 140 million streams worldwide.
The British 19-year-old released his debut album, Mellow Moon, earlier this year and his devoted and growing fan base cannot get enough.
Following his biggest Europe/ UK tour yet, Alfie made his way to Australia for the very first time to headline a couple of mammoth shows in Sydney and Melbourne. The breakout star also performed as the special guest with The Wombats throughout their Aussie tour.
Now that things are a little more settled, we asked Alfie all about being on tour and what he thought of Australia.
HAPPY: Congrats on your debut album Mellow Moon. Which song from the album has been your favourite to perform live so far?
ALFIE: I think Candyfloss is my favourite. We open with it at the moment purely because it gives me a lot of energy for the set. It’s quite hard to sing, but it also sets me up quite nicely. There’s a lot of falsetto in it, so it’s a challenge, but when it pays off, it pays off well. I also love going into the guitar solo at the end.
HAPPY: How are you enjoying your first Aussie tour? What’s it been like playing shows with The Wombats?
ALFIE: Yeah we just wrapped the tour up here in Brisbane, and obviously, I’m quite homesick, but I don’t think I’ve loved a country more than Australia. This is by far the best tour I’ve done. I’ve just had so much fun with it. The people are so fun over here, and it’s just such a fun energy that goes on every night. Especially our headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne were so good, they were honestly so much fun. It’s been incredible. I am really keen to come back over.
HAPPY: What’s your favourite thing about Australia?
ALFIE: It’s so hard because every city is so different. But the people here are so cool. As well as the wildlife. Like, the fact that Parrots are just as common as pigeons, is wild to me.
HAPPY: Mellow Moon is so sonically diverse. You’ve mentioned that you like to experiment with mixing different genres and drawing from different influences. How would you describe the sound of this album to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?
ALFIE: I feel like it’s different forms of pop. When you think of where pop music started from in the late 50s and 60s, there are influences of that and The Beatles, and then as you start going down the timeline there are Fleetwood Mac and ABBA influences. There are a lot of 80’s influences of course with songs like Candyfloss. And then there is even modern pop too. It’s definitely my pop album. It’s just me experimenting with different types of pop.
HAPPY: You’ve said that every time you release an EP, it’s a chunk of your life condensed into a song. Which chunk of your life did you condense into Mellow Moon?
ALFIE: Oooooh, good question! From the ages 17 to 18, I guess. It’s me leaving that late teenage era and growing up into an adult. It’s the last record I made as a teenager, so it’s a final farewell really.
HAPPY: You started recording Mellow Moon at 17. How would you say your style/sound/creative process has evolved throughout the project?
ALFIE: When it started there was definitely a lack of inspiration with what I was singing and writing about. Over time I started to get more confident and I learnt about my own mental health, and my mind, and I guess that processed me into writing more honest lyrics and to get the confidence to actually write the music I wanted to in the first place. So Mellow Moon was an opening gate to that.
HAPPY: How did you land on the song/album title Mellow Moon? What was the inspiration behind it?
ALFIE: During the writing process of the record, and during the pandemic in general, I would stay up late and think about all the thoughts in my head, and make countless demos and music into the night. So the moon was always the one thing that was there in the night. It was basically my comfort and the one thing I was happy being next to during the writing and recording process, so that’s why it became the Mellow Moon album.
HAPPY: Candyfloss is such a catchy tune. I watched a Spotify video where you explain the storyline. You talk about how “life can sometimes appear too good to be true, and that there’s always a downside to the best bits. Candyfloss is what it all appears to be until you get deeper into it” – is that how you feel about actual candy floss as well, or do you like it?
ALFIE: Yeah, I have a hard time with Candyfloss. I really don’t like it. If you saw the Spotify canvas video for Candyfloss then you’ll see a video of me making a revolting face while trying to eat it. I have a hard time eating that shit as it’s just pure sugar. It’s bloody diabolical stuff.
HAPPY: You did some in-stores to promote your new album recently. What were the most wholesome fan encounters you had?
ALFIE: Someone in Leeds made a tote bag which was cool, and then actually someone also made me a skateboard!
HAPPY: You recently wrapped up your first big UK/Europe tour. What would you say was an ultimate tour highlight for you?
ALFIE: Going home… I joke *laughs*. There were a lot of highlights for me. For me, it was after the shows and being with all our mates, and one night we actually all got stoned in a park in Amsterdam, and it was really wholesome and cute.
HAPPY: I read that you started learning drums and guitar around age 7, then went on to teach yourself another 10 instruments. What would you say was the most challenging or interesting instrument to learn?
ALFIE: The sitar because there are 25 or 26 strings on it. It’s an endless amount of fun until you break a string and don’t know how to restring it. It’s still really good though! I think the Sitar can change the whole sonic of the song, so I really wanna master it so I can put it on a song again.
HAPPY: If you could master any new instrument that you haven’t tried yet, what would you pick?
ALFIE: Saxophone!
HAPPY: What are your post-tour plans for the remainder of 2022? Any new music in the works?
ALFIE: I was a bit bored the other day and I tallied up how many shows we are doing this year and there were about 90. So I guess we are just continuously playing shows really. So my mind isn’t really focused on making new music at the moment compared to previous years. I’ve just put out my debut album, and it feels like such a big moment, so I’m just trying to put time, focus, and energy into that at the moment.
HAPPY: Do you have a dream artist or band in mind that you’d love to collaborate with on a song one day?
ALFIE: After yesterday’s show in Melbourne, I would love to do something with Holly Hebe, who opened for us at Howler. She is such a good piano player, and I think she could bring a really good dynamic to the next record. So I was really thinking about that.
Mellow Moon is out now.
Interviewed by Amy Davidson.
Photos supplied.
