My Music Episode 704 - Forget Them Wendy

Graham Coath talks to Olly (Oliver) Forget Them WendyWhat happens when music is allowed to be beautiful, catchy and accessible — but still has something slightly uncomfortable going on underneath?In this episode of MyMusic, Graham Coath talks to Edinburgh-born producer and guitarist Oliver Price of Forget Them Wendy, the project he created with songwriter Laura James.Forget Them Wendy brings together Laura and Oliver to make music that draws on the sounds they grew up with while exploring something much more current: growing up, finding your place in the world and trying not to lose the creativity and magic of childhood.And that idea is right there in the name.Forget Them Wendy comes from Peter Pan and that tension between growing up and wanting to hold onto the part of ourselves that still wants to play, explore and create. As Oliver explains, when Laura suggested the name, it seemed to capture what they were already making almost perfectly.The conversation goes far beyond the story of the band.Oliver talks about the reality of being a working songwriter and producer and why creativity isn't necessarily about waiting for inspiration. Some days you walk into the studio feeling inspired and make something terrible. Other days you drag yourself in when you don't feel creative at all — and something brilliant happens.There isn't a formula.You turn up. You make things. And occasionally something good happens.Graham and Oliver also explore how much the music world has changed. Technology has lowered the barriers to making and releasing music, giving more people the opportunity to create than ever before. But that creates another problem: an enormous amount of music is now released that almost nobody ever hears.Which leads to one of the big ideas in this conversation:If a song falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it really exist?Oliver describes music as a social language — something that gains its power when it reaches another human being. Creating may be rewarding in itself, but music is also about connection, sharing, understanding and creating ripples of human expression.Stories also lie behind the songs.Wise Guy grew out of an argument involving Oliver — with Laura turning his behaviour into a song.Apple Pie takes something apparently simple and summery and puts something darker underneath it: enjoying the warmth and apparent permanence of summer while knowing that eventually it has to end.Then there is AI.Forget Them Wendy aren't particularly interested in becoming influencers. Their online identity is built largely around their music and distinctive painted artwork rather than endless photographs of themselves.The unexpected consequence?Some people have assumed Forget Them Wendy must be an AI band.That takes Graham and Oliver into a much bigger conversation about authenticity. If AI can create convincing people, voices, images, and even online personalities, does seeing someone's face online still prove they're human?And could the growth of AI ultimately make genuinely human experiences more valuable?Along the way there is surfing, Scotland, Hackney, tape machines, The Cranberries, Garbage, The Sundays, the disappearance of the old-fashioned music legend and the importance of having something outside your creative obsession that allows you to come back to your work with fresh energy.Forget Them Wendy haven't played live yet, but the album is nearly finished.Oliver's request is wonderfully straightforward:Go and listen.Love it or hate it, have an opinion.And if you love it, share it.Because perhaps music really is a social language.And a song nobody hears really is a little like a tree falling in a forest.MyMusic with Graham Coath — talking to Oliver Price from Forget Them Wendy.This episode is sponsored by 13th Floor Sound, an independent record label based in Las Vegas dedicated to keeping real music alive.