This week Roni Glasthal is joined in the studio by Grassmell.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Based in Kent. I'm Ronnie and this is the show that introduces you to
00:20original music artists from around the county. Each artist will be with me here in the studio
00:26talking about and performing their own music. Today I'm joined by an alternative solo musical
00:31performer from Folkestone, Grásmál. Thanks for being here.
00:35Hello, thank you for having me.
00:36So why don't we start with your name, Grásmál. Where does that come from?
00:42It actually dates back to my early teens. I used to have a band when I was about 14
00:47or 15 and I was the main songwriter in the band and there were certain songs where the
00:53band didn't like the songs or I thought like this is not for, that's more like my song.
00:59So after I accumulated a few songs I thought okay I need like a separate sort of project
01:04and I remember I was walking home from school through a park thinking like what could I
01:09call myself and they just cut the grass in the park and you know you get that really
01:15strong smell of freshly cut grass and I thought like oh I love this smell. So I thought like
01:20yeah Grásmál but originally it was two words but it didn't look good so I just like
01:25put the two together, Grásmál.
01:28Amazing.
01:29Yeah.
01:30So that, was that your start to the solo music journey?
01:35Yeah, yeah it's been going on for like I don't know 15 years maybe but yeah since I was like 14 I think.
01:43Wow.
01:44Yeah.
01:45So during that journey have you always been Grásmál or have you tried maybe different personas?
01:53No, it's always been Grásmál and Grásmál did go on breaks in between like the last
01:5815 years but every time I made a song and I shared it, it was always Grásmál since then, yeah.
02:07So it's a tried and true?
02:08Yeah.
02:09Nice.
02:10Yeah.
02:11So why don't you tell us a little bit about Grásmál style?
02:14Yeah.
02:15I think it's like a blend of rock slash pop I guess.
02:21I try to keep songs very like melodic and catchy but equally not like too like obvious
02:30or too like commercial or anything like that so I think it's like a, yeah I think when
02:35people ask me what kind of music it is I always think alternative is probably the one word
02:40that best describes it because it's not rock, it's not pop, it's somewhere in between I
02:45guess, I don't know.
02:47So it's a nice middle ground of a lot of different styles?
02:50Yeah.
02:51Okay.
02:52So when you're writing your songs, what's that process look like for you?
02:59It sort of just happens, I don't really have like a process or anything like that.
03:06I write most of my songs during a lunch break because that's pretty much like the only time
03:11when I have time to like sit back and do something.
03:14I'm lucky enough to be working from home so like when my lunch break starts it's like
03:20I can quickly just play around and it sort of just happens, I never really sit down planning
03:24to write anything, it's just I come up with something and I think oh this sounds interesting
03:29and I record it on my phone and it stays like a 30 seconds long thing and sometimes it just
03:35remains forever on my phone as a 30 seconds and sometimes I go back to it and think I
03:39should make that two minute 30 seconds and make it a song.
03:44I look forward to hearing the first one, why don't you tell us a little bit about it before
03:47we get into it?
03:48So the first song is called Anything At All, I wrote it January this year, as in, sorry,
03:56January 2024 and it was released in July 2024, 30th of July, yeah I'm really bad with
04:06dates, apologies, but yeah, Anything At All.
04:08That's alright, take it away.
04:14I don't even really care about the people in this place
04:21All I really showed up today for was just to show my face
04:29I don't really feel like talking about anything at all
04:37Can I just please go home, can I just please go home
04:51Maybe I don't care if I'm treated too strong, cos I know I depend on this y'all
05:04So I'll come along and pretend to be a friend
05:10So tell me what you'd like to talk about
05:15Anything at all until we go home, until we go home
05:45Until we go where we belong, cos that's if we know where we belong
06:13So tell me now where we belong, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
06:31I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
06:50I wish I was thrilled, I wish I was proud, I know it can't be real
06:57I saw it myself but I'll never know, how does it feel
07:04So tell me what you'd like to talk about, anything at all
07:13Until I go, until I go
07:28That was beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, a lot of emotion in that one. Thanks, yeah.
07:42This one is unintentionally a song without the chorus, it doesn't have like a verse,
07:49chorus, verse, chorus, it's sort of like a journey through like different sections rather. Yeah,
07:56no, I really follow the story through that, yeah, and I think that makes it quite clear that
08:01it's intentional. Is that common for you to tell stories in your songs or do you go more off of
08:08emotions? I don't know, I think it's just whatever, sometimes I just start writing a song as in lyric
08:19just purely based on which words sound good in the first verse and then sometimes I bounce
08:27off those words and say okay so this song is gonna be about this just because the first verse sounds
08:31good so and then I just keep it like that if I can't come up with anything else but emotions-wise
08:36yeah I think every song will have emotions in it, yeah. So with your songs you
08:44also have some music videos out there, some of them have even been played here on KMTV,
08:48how do you determine what visual goes with the words you've picked? I have like crazy ideas in
08:56my head when it comes to videos but it's literally just me and my phone so I do what I can, I would
09:01love to like, I mean I have a green screen at home so I try to use that as well, it's pretty
09:07much just like, I don't know, sometimes when I listen to the song when I'm like in the final
09:13process of like mixing it I sort of like can see like what the video should be and then if it's
09:18possible to do it then I'll just do it, if it's not possible then I'll think of something different
09:23or something similar. Wow, I mean that that has to be a process in itself and you're doing it as
09:29one man team, so that's very impressive. So your next song, tell us a bit about that one.
09:35So the next song is called Excessive Influx and it was released in September 2024,
09:42it's a very short and quick song but I've been enjoying playing like a slow down version of it
09:46recently and that's the one I'm doing here today. Well we can't wait to hear it, take it away.
10:41But anywhere he goes he ends up, part of excessive influx
10:59And a billion times this boy has asked where he should go to
11:04But anywhere he goes he ends up, part of excessive influx
11:10Well, here's the deal, anywhere he goes he'll never feel
11:18At home as the old story tells, he's from somewhere else
11:31And that was a wonderful song, thank you so much for sharing that with us.
11:35If you want to see more music from Grass Mill, don't go away,
11:37we'll be back with more right after this break
11:41So
11:58hello and welcome back to Based in Kent where I am still joined by Grass Mill from Folkestone,
12:02thanks for being here. Thank you. So next thing I want us to do together is a little
12:07rapid fire question game, it's no pressure at all, just a big timer is going to come up
12:12on this monitor between us and start counting down as soon as I ask the first question
12:16and we're going to get through as many questions as we can, but they're not serious questions,
12:19it's just all good and fun. So do you prefer live or recorded music? Live. Okay,
12:26do you prefer tea or coffee? Tea. Do you prefer writing or performing your music?
12:33Performing. Oh okay, you had to contemplate that one a little bit. Do you prefer winter or summer?
12:41Summer. Okay, wow. What's your favorite song that you've written so far?
12:49Anything at all. Oh all right, good choice. Are you a morning or evening person?
12:56Evening slash night. Okay, a bit of a night owl. All right, what's the first song you kind of
13:02remember learning how to play? Come As You Are by Nirvana. Good choice. Sweet or savory snacks?
13:11Savory. Okay, okay. First artist to inspire you?
13:18The Beatles slash Nirvana. Okay, very different choices there, I like it.
13:25Do you prefer time alone or with mates? Time alone, all the time. Okay,
13:33your favorite fellow Kent musician? Oh, good question. There's so many. We found The Wreck.
13:42Okay, good. Favorite gig you've attended? As a spectator.
13:51Oh my goodness.
13:59The Weezer at the O2. Oh, that must have been good. Yeah. One music goal you have for your career?
14:06Just get it heard by as many people as I can. Well, hopefully this will help a little bit.
14:12Movie with the best soundtrack? Forrest Gump. Oh, that is a good one. Okay, and final question.
14:19Dream venue to perform in? Like an O2 Brixton or O2 something. All right, and that's the time
14:26on the questions. See, like I said, easy. No pressure questions. Yeah, you caught me on a few
14:32of them. That's all right. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about your next song. So the next
14:37song is called Goosebumps. It's a bit faster than the other ones. This one came out in May 2024.
14:44Yeah. All right, we'll take it away.
15:14Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps.
15:27Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive. Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive.
15:43Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.
15:54It's confidential, it lives in the dark. I like the sunshine in a straw in the park, yeah.
16:03What will they do to me? What will they say? I'm getting goosebumps, goosebumps, goosebumps.
16:20Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive.
16:36Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive. Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.
16:50And when they'll find me face down in the river, I know I'll float away from the shore and turn around when they're gone.
17:07Just like those goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. Goosebumps. I'm getting goosebumps.
17:21I'm getting goosebumps. I'm getting goosebumps. I'm getting goosebumps. Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive.
17:35Don't look at me now, but later when I'm alive. Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.
17:55Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.
18:05All right, I really like that one that the the pace of that. Yeah, I hear the difference you were talking about
18:10I like it. It was kind of like an easy jam kind of song. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's an easy song to play as well. So
18:17Before we leave today. I always like to ask our guests about advice because
18:22Everyone could use advice in this industry. It's a tough industry
18:26What's some of the advice that's been given to you over the years of your career that you think has really helped you?
18:32Don't expect anything
18:35Happen just do your thing and just do your thing
18:38And if things are meant to happen, they will happen if they don't happen
18:44It's okay. And I think you need to just start with that
18:47Mindset, otherwise, you're just gonna put yourself in misery every day
18:52okay, so
18:54If you if you were talking to a musician, what advice would you give?
19:00From yourself that maybe someone else hadn't give to you that you wish they had
19:10Good question, I guess I would I would have liked to know that
19:14You should not rush to release music make sure it's
19:21As good as you can especially when you're just starting because nobody's waiting for you to release anything
19:26So just take your time to make sure that it's as good as it possibly can with the resources you have
19:32Don't rush it. I feel like there's a bit of a story there with a lesson you learned in that
19:36Yeah, we won't get into that. I won't I won't put you on the spot for that
19:40So so before we get into it, tell us a bit about your last song today
19:44Okay. So the last song is my most recent release
19:47it's called orange bungalow and
19:51Yeah, it's just about a
19:54bungalow
19:55Is it orange? It's orange inside
19:58Well, I can't wait to hear it. Take it away
20:00You
20:19Fantasizing in the orange bungalow. Oh, how easy is it to ignore the truth when you're lying?
20:26unsupervised
20:28It's nice to be
20:43At last I am who I wanna be. Oh, but now I'm sad because he has to leave
20:52Sympathized
20:58Oh
21:28You
21:38Everything that is out of reach feels so close that I don't even need to stretch
21:46Ever go have a feel it is
21:55It is
21:58You
22:01It is
22:23Doesn't matter
22:28Oh
22:58You
23:16Well, that was great, thank you so much for being here
23:18I really enjoyed your music and for anyone else watching who might have as well where else can they find your other songs?
23:25You can find everything you want on any social media platform you use and streaming platforms of Spotify Apple music
23:32whatever
23:33different people use different things and
23:36Instagram is probably my main one
23:39Yeah, I think those are the ones well, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for that. So thank you so much for watching
23:45Goodbye
23:54You