To say Alfie Templeman’s rise has been meteoric would be an understatement. From humble beginnings as a music-obsessed, countryside teen, to a few years later surpassing a million monthly listeners on Spotify, the raw musical talent and versatility of Templeman continue to put him at the forefront of the conversation.
“I didn’t expect to take off this much,” said Templeman. The new indie darling was just 16 when he released his first single, during a year which would also see him tour with Sports Team.
“I think the big problem for me was that I grew up very quickly once I hit the road, and although I’m 18, it does feel like I’m in my 20s.
“But I can’t really compare it to anything else because I haven’t grown up yet, so for what it’s been like this far, I suppose it’s been alright” He joked.
Despite perhaps feeling older than he is, Templeman’s youthful energy shone through our conversation. He had a completely disarming charm, one which lit up when we got onto talking about his new track ‘Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody.’
“I just wanted to make something a bit more universal really.
“With the previous stuff I’ve made, it’s almost been like there’s a deeper meaning to it. But this time I just wanted to make something a bit more straight-up that everyone can get behind.”
The tune itself is one clad in a red and white striped dressing gown, telling you the movies over. Or it may be more accurate to say it makes you want to rule the world. Either case, it’s clear the 80s were playing on Templeman’s mind when he wrote it, and it’s an influence he isn’t trying to hide.
“I just love that 80s shuffle, and I’d never done anything like that before,” he explained.
“I’ve made so many songs where it’s just been 4/4, where it’s just a normal beat. So, I thought you know what I’m just gonna do a shuffle, then I kinda just ended up making something that sounded like Tears for Fears.
“It did get me thinking, hmm, am I gonna be done for plagiarism here? I think it’s enough to get away with it and not be a direct rip-off, but yeah… haha.”
The new single is part of a mini-album Templeman will be releasing next month, and he says the 80s are present throughout.
“It’s more like the different styles of the 80s, to be honest, so this one very like Tears for Fears but there’s also other stuff that’s not necessarily from the 80s but influenced by the 80s, so bands like Tame Impala, but also 80s Fleetwood Mac.”
“I messed around with more synth sounds, and more chorusy guitar tone, so yeah, I also just thought this was the right time to mess around with that sound, cos the 80s is kinda coming back y’know, you’re seeing turtlenecks everywhere.
“But yeah, the whole record is kinda like a big throwback to the 80s.”
What’s great about this is that, despite maybe a few underlying influences, Templeman’s previous work has not been of the same musical ilk, and with the speed he’s putting out music, it’s impressive just how good it is.
“I think I just like doing lots of different styles of songs,” he said.
“I made this record in a small time frame, but usually, whatever I’m listening to reflects on what I’m making, so I’ll just keep making stuff really quickly.”
“I have this habit of recording as much as I can because I just want to make the songs that exist in my head that I’m really annoyed that don’t exist already.
“It’s funny, I see people on Twitter saying: oh my god, I can’t keep up with his releases. But it’s alright, I’m sure I’ll have a break eventually and everyone can relax and listen back.”
But such musical virtuosity at his age should not be understated. Templeman’s multi-instrumental talents have been well documented at this point. Growing up in a musical household, learning the drums at age 7, guitar by 13, the music seems to just come naturally.
Templeman was however, keen to explain how he actually struggles with conventional methods of music making, struggling to learn things in their exactness, as well as even forgetting his own songs on stage.
“Yeah, I kinda work from feel more than method. For me, I’ll just pick up a guitar and remember how to play it, and from then on just play whatever feels right to me.
“There’s a lot of musicians like that and there’s a lot who are the complete opposite. Bill Bruford from King Crimson is this great drummer who does everything of the basis of feeling, so he never plays the same song twice, every time it’s a little different. That’s like what it is for me.”
This is, however, a process that, when left to his own devices can leave him to become a bit of a control freak, a situation he found himself in given the national lockdown. Templeman wrote, recorded, and produced all of the tracks on the album from his own bedroom, no easy task.
“There’s one of the songs called ‘To You’ and I must’ve recorded about a thousand vocal takes,” he said.
“I went into my recycle bin on my mac and I was just scrolling and scrolling through all these takes and I was like – what? I’ve only been here for like two hours, and I realised it’d been a day and I’d been recording vocals all day and I just wasn’t happy with all of them.
That’s the hardest thing when recording a song by yourself, there’s all that self-doubt that clouds above you. But it’s funny to look back now because they were probably okay the first time and I just over thought it a bit.”
But, despite the situation, Templeman didn’t seem to be phased, and, like most of us, just wanted to get back into those sweaty intimate rooms, dancing, shouting, and messing about on stage.
“People don’t just come to see a really professional gig, they come for a bit of fun, for a night out, at least to our kind of gigs anyway, and that’s what I learnt from Sports Team, it’s just a good bit of fun, and I just can’t wait to be back up there.”
Forever Isn’t Long Enough will be released on May 7th.
