Musicians aren’t created in a vacuum: They’re the product of their lives, their experiences, and their own connections with music. Their preferences and influences shine through their creations in one way or another. We reached out to Aburden‘s clean vocalist and guitarist Kyle Burrows to learn about the artists, albums, and songs that inspired his own exploration of music.
“Music has always been a very important thing in my life. It has given me something that defines me as a person. I’m going to talk about two important bands in my life that truly made me who I am as a person and as a musician.
Through the phases of different music I jumped through from my childhood into teenage years, the one band that never left my MP3 player (later iPod) was Nirvana. I was lucky enough to have been brought up listening to Nirvana like most people. Being young, I never truly appreciated them until my first struggles with mental illness. At around the age of eleven or twelve, their music was a saviour to me.
After a couple of years of Eminem phases and dubstep phases, I was fourteen and had just gotten back into them [Nirvana] again. This time was around about the time of one of my biggest battles with mental illness. The cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” was the song that opened my eyes and made me realise that I wanted to be a musician. Nirvana did not bring me down like many others thought it did; it drove me straight into wanting to be a musician.
For my fifteenth birthday, I got my first guitar from my parents and taught myself how to play every single Nirvana song, then used the techniques I learned to write my own songs, and the influence of Kurt Cobain’s lyricism to fuel my own. I would play and sing along, I had formed a yelling technique that nobody will ever have heard on Aburden material but that yell soon turning into singing. I could write forever about I feel Nirvana truly saved my life, inspiring me to be who I am today but I have another monumental influence to talk about.
I remember the first time I listened to Radiohead (“Creep” like everyone else). I never really took notice of them. As I grew older and my music taste started to expand, I began listening to their discography step-by-step. I loved Pablo Honey. Didn’t want to listen to The Bends. But then I ACTUALLY listened to The Bends and loved it too. I didn’t want to listen to OK Computer but ended up loving that one too. So on and so forth.
I felt that I was growing up with the albums. Kid A opened me up to listen to electronic music. Amnesiac opened me up to art rock. Hail To The Thief showed me the literature of George Orwell (that’s why I have a 2+2=5 tattoo on my arm). Radiohead grew to be an extremely major influence on not only my music but also what I listened to and what I read. Thom Yorke (the vocalist for Radiohead) is also my greatest influences on singing. Anyone who has and will ever ask me what my greatest influence is on writing for Aburden, the answer will always be Radiohead. I cannot explain how much I love Radiohead, and how beautiful the sounds that they are able to produce are.”
Kyle’s Favourites:
Nirvana – You Know You’re Right, Scentless Apprentice, Very Ape.
Radiohead – You And Whose Army?, I Promise, Daydreaming.
Catch Aburden at their ‘Goodbye My Old Friend’ show @ Cherry Bar with The Comfort, Parkwood, and Whatever, Forever.
Show details: https://www.facebook.com/events/266130150612338/
[Image of Kyle Burrows courtesy of Liam Davidson]