Three years after the release of his 2009 album Rebuilt By Humans, and following the birth of his first son, and an international tour, acoustic guitarist Newton Faulkner is back with a new feel-good album, Write It On Your Skin.
The Brit-nominated singer tells Discover all about his phone habits and why he’s so mean on Twitter…
Describe your music to someone who’s never heard it.
It’s acoustic-based folk pop.
How does your phone come in handy for your day job?
I use my phone all the time. I use Evernote for written ideas and audio ideas and sometimes logging visual ideas, making notes of music and recording my own stuff. I use it relentlessly.
I also use Bebot – it’s a synth. As well as being my son’s favourite toy, it’s also like an XY axis Kaoss pad kind of thing. It’s really fun to play with. I also think imachine is awesome – it’s like a little sampler but it kind of autocrops things and makes samples automotically usable.
How has the internet changed your approach to making music?
It hasn’t changed the music making process because for me it’s wood and springs and sitting in a room. It’s allowed me to be massively interactive with the people that listen to my music. I’ve become relentless on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - which I love.
I end up in so many weird places that it’s quite fun to be able to document it. Also I like uploading pictures of the crowd and uploading them so people can find themselves.
What phone do you have at the moment?
I’ve got an iPhone 4S at the moment. I’ve got the battery case as well which is particularly useful as I’m awake longer than most phones last. I’ve worked a couple of 24 hour days and phones do not last that long.
What’s the best thing you ever Tweeted?
My thing now is responding to people’s questions. I’m getting meaner and people like me for that more! People will say “can you re-tweet me” and I’ll Tweet back “no”, with a smiley face. And I really like sending pictures as responses as well. Like I’ve taken a picture of a no parking sign, just using the ‘no’ bit and sent that back as a response to all kinds of things.
Whose is the most famous number you’ve got in your phonebook?
I’ve got quite a few in there now, but I’ll go with Roger Daltrey. I always find it really funny when I flick through the numbers I have, cos you kind of get them when it involves doing something – you don’t really feel like you can text them randomly.
Newton Faulkner’s album, Write It On Your Skin is out now
