Coming from his debut single release, You’re Doing Fine Without Me, Sydney artist, Stephen Fitzgerald talks about gusto and DIY music-making.
Stephen Fitzgerald, the local acoustic artist from Sydney, deep dives into the world of music-making from his bedroom.
His debut single, You’re Doing Fine Without Me, is a bursting light into a future of fearless songwriting for Fitzgerald – we’re just lucky to have a chat and enjoy the process. Check out the interview below:
HAPPY: Hey Stephen! Whereabouts do you find yourself today?
STEPHEN: Hey Jaz! Another day in lockdown, another day stuck at home in the bedroom… doesn’t get any better, right?
HAPPY: Massive congrats on the release of your debut single; You’re Doing Fine Without Me.. tell us a bit about the track!
STEPHEN: Thank you, very excited to have finally released it! It’s a super personal track I wrote earlier this year looking back on a past relationship and navigating my way through negative emotions I was still holding onto. It’s sad and confronting but has served to be a really constructive way for me to deal with a lot of that emotion and move forward.
HAPPY: You’ve mentioned that the track was recorded and produced in your bedroom! How was that process?
STEPHEN: Yeah that’s right, a bedroom production by every definition! Wrote the lyrics in bed, turned my cupboard into a recording booth for vocals (pictures on Instagram for the curious souls), recorded the guitar parts at my desk, and stayed there for mixing and mastering. Having started an audio engineering degree at JMC last year, it was really satisfying to control the process from start to finish and put what I’ve learnt to practice with original material. Definitely came with its challenges and stress though!
HAPPY: The lyrics of the track are super emotive…what’s your advice for creatives on how to translate really tough experiences into words?
STEPHEN: When I’m writing, I sometimes feel myself beating around the bush with what I want to say/how I feel, or feeling like I have to write a certain way. Writing this song, I learnt, and so my advice would be, you need to give yourself the ‘okay’ to be completely vulnerable in self-expression and also to be really direct where need be. Of course, being really direct isn’t always appropriate or necessary, but sometimes the only way is through, and that definitely goes beyond the scope of creativity too.
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HAPPY: Who were some sonic influences for this release?
STEPHEN: I grew up on all things 2000’s pop-punk/emo and I definitely don’t need to say much more if you listen to the song with that in mind (laughs) – big sadboi vibes. For real though, my head has been kept well and truly in that scene to this day, so I have definitely taken a lot of influence. Both sonically and lyrically, it was where my interest in writing music sparked. So let’s say any artist between Blink-182 and Parkway Drive… Clear, right?
HAPPY: You’ve had an incredible start to your music career – leaving your full-time corporate job and only picking up singing one year ago… what gave you the gusto to let passion win over safety?
STEPHEN: Thank you… it’s been a real journey! My interest in playing and writing music took off big time while I was still working the corporate 9-5. It reached a point where my mental health was seriously suffering in this constant battle of wanting more time to focus on what had become a genuine passion but unsure whether that leap would end up being a smart decision. I feel like so many people, especially people in their early/mid-20s, are in jobs they’re not 100% happy in but stick with for whatever reason. Ultimately, I wasn’t 100% happy, and fixing that was more important than whatever stability the job was providing, so I quit.
HAPPY: What advice would you give to anyone thinking of doing the same thing? Is there anything you would’ve done differently?
STEPHEN: Jump ship, do it. Most musicians/artists start from a young age, pick it up through high school etc. I started playing guitar at 20, only started singing a year ago but I cannot put to words how much my life has benefited from the decision to change career paths and pursue my passion. It is important to understand, though, that choosing to leave a job to pursue your passion elsewhere doesn’t eliminate stress entirely, you don’t avoid periods of mental struggle. It’s all a part of the process, but by backing myself to quit for the sake of my own happiness, the motivation and determination I gained has definitely helped me push through those difficult periods.
To answer the second question, I strongly believe people should trust decisions they made based on information they had at the time, doing what they thought was right. Whatever comes after, positive or negative, is a learning opportunity, so no, wouldn’t have done anything differently!
HAPPY: What can we expect from you in the future?
STEPHEN: More! I want to release music incorporating a full band, play/work at gigs, and work with other artists as an engineer. I know I’m going to continue working hard at this and am super excited for wherever it’s going to take me. Definitely more music though!
HAPPY: Thank you Stephen!
STEPHEN: Thank you!
