Music interview: Flint Bedrock

“I decided to get back into making some music,” says the Leeds singer, songwriter, rapper and producer whose upbeat new dance track Can’t Bring Me Down was released last week.

He’s keen to spread positivity through his music, he says. “I’m quite bothered about trying to put a good message out there – but all the same I wanted something that was not too underground. It feels and sounds quite commercial but still it’s a meaningful song, I think.”

After his previous single, a hip-hop/R&B number called Dreamer, attracted interest in 2015 Bedrock decided to “spend time learning the business side of the industry”.

“I had a bit of interest from quite a few smaller labels that had publishing with the majors etcetera but the deal that was offered to me sounded a little like giving them everything for nothing in return and I didn’t just want to go down that way,” he explains. “I had an interesting chat with a guy from America, he was working for Sony, and said, ‘If you don’t have clout initially, you don’t have a fan base and you’re not out there then you’re not really in a position to negotiate a decent deal unless you manage to stumble on a very fantastic song that people absolutely just want to grip their hands on’, so I suppose the last years for me were trying to understand how the industry works and trying to put infrastructure around myself really to be able to push my own music but the I ended up helping loads of other people and I kind of got lost.”

He formed YSBG Entertainment and set up a studio with a friend. “My interest is in marketing, branding and promotion so I worked with a couple of people that had come from [TV talent shows] The Voice and the X Factor who I helped to record EPs and get music out. Without even trying to do it I ended up having people ring me up and get in touch saying ‘You’ve been recommended, I’m looking to do this, I’m looking to do that, how can I do this?’ – including Terri-Ann. I kind of got lost on that side of things but before I start drawing my pension I’d like to put some music out there [of my own].”

As well as Can’t Bring Me Down, Bedrock has two further singles and possible live shows in mind. “I’m not going to be overly ambitious and say I’m going to release an album this year,” he says. “I’d like to have enough material to potentially do that next year, but what I was trying to do was get three really strong singles which you can perform live, which are quite bouncy and that people can get their heads around that would potentially allow me to get on the circuit to do something in the summer. That is the idea - get some music that people can move to and do it that way.”

Bedrock has also been helping his sister-in-law Nicola ‘Bupsi’ Brown, the former X Factor contestant from Chapeltown, Leeds. He’s hopeful she will soon land a record deal. “She’s just done a really good single and we’ve finished filming a video for it a few weeks ago,” he reveals. “The idea is to take it as a package and try and get it in front of a few labels. She’s completely reinvented herself. I’m very confident that the song will do well and above all it will surprise people because they will not be expecting that. It’s very edgy, it’s very sexy, very commercial. The video is something that maybe Rihanna or Beyonce could have done in terms of the quality. It was shot in a studio behind a white screen but the quality of the production is absolutely amazing.”

Flint Bedrock’s single Can’t Bring Down is available from digital stores now. For more information visit www.facebook.com/flintbedrock/