Interview with Connor Berry: ‘I like to write songs with hidden messages, you have to dip into it’

Chesterfield, UK-based Connor Berry released his incredibly accomplished debut single ‘Mr. Rain’ last month, an intricate and nuanced track that pays homage to The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra.

‘Mr. Rain’ is the first song that he has completed, according to the the 17 year old: ‘I was sat on my bed, it was raining outside, and I had the idea of ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ and thought “Oh, that could be Mr. Rain”. So I played some chords and hummed along. I think I stole a bit from ‘Hotel California’ (laughs). I didn’t write it about someone I know, it just came out like that. It’s got lots of changes in the song, especially in the chorus. I just taught myself the guitar and play what I think sounds nice. When I’m in the mood to write, it comes out quite quick.’

As the track kicks off: ‘They call him Mr. Rain/You can almost feel his pain/And the weight of his shame/He wants nothing to do with you/He doesn’t care if you feel blue/He takes pleasure in ruining you/And yet the girls still form a queue.’

In addition to his solo work, Berry also plays in local rock band Lunarca: ‘Every one of us writes songs,’ he said. ‘I’ve written three songs, we’ve got eight original songs to record. We’ll meet up and go “I’ve got this song” and then we’ll work on it together, it’s great having four brains on one song. We’ve got more originals than covers, we might write two songs every week and I’ve got a few of my own as well, they all sound a bit different. Noel Gallagher said “Songs are always written, you just take them out of the air and pinch them”.’

‘It’s about going somewhere you want to go to in your mind’

Berry is currently working on what he describes as ‘a piano song’: ‘It’s quite a powerful song, it’s quite mellow and a bit Beatlesey. They’re my favourite band. It’s one of favourite songs, the working title is ‘When The World’. It’s got the line “When the world begins to say that life won’t be the same as yesterday”. It’s about missing something or someone. How it often works is I’ll take a song to my dad and if he likes it, I’ll work on it some more. I was sat in my bedroom playing the piano and my dad said “Oh, that’s nice, what’s that?” I said I didn’t know yet! I’m working on another song, ‘Devil’s Road’. It’s a slower song, then it kicks in, it’s similar to ‘Mr. Rain’ but not as fast. It was another quick song but I were sat upstairs. I had the line “Pick me up and fly away, take me somewhere safe to stay”. It’s about going somewhere you want to go to in your mind, about flying somewhere in your imagination. A lot of my recent songs are more hopeful, I like to think that they’re optimistic. I like to write songs with hidden messages, you have to dip into it.’

Berry started to perform live only four months ago at the age of 16. He has gone on to amass 250,000 likes on social media and has played at numerous venues like Real Time Live and Mill Fest and supported bands such as Live Wire (the AC/DC tribute band) and U2 UK.

‘I love all of the old stuff – Elvis and Chuck Berry’

He cites The Beatles and Oasis as two of his biggest influences: ‘I feel you can’t have a favourite song,’ he said. ‘If I had to today, I’d say ‘I Am The Walrus’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’. I cover The Beatles a lot. I apologise before my sets and say “If you don’t like The Beatles…” (laughs). I love all of the old stuff – Elvis and Chuck Berry. I’d love to write a song with John Lennon or Paul McCartney, they’re both genius songwriters. Or Noel Gallagher. I watched Get Back (The Beatles: Get Back, the recent highly-acclaimed documentary series directed and produced by Peter Jackson, which covers the making of the Beatles‘ 1970 album Let It Be.), it’s weird to watch, they’re sat there making history. Paul was sat with his bass, sat there playing one string and humming and two seconds later, he has the lyrics. It just popped into his head!’

All of these influences feed into his dream line-up: ‘I’ve got to have John Lennon and Elvis Presley, that would be awesome,’ he said. ‘And Liam Gallagher would be cool, his vocals from the 90’s. I’d love Jimi Hendrix and Brian May on the guitar. There are sooo many people I’d want! I love Queen, they got me into music. You know, I’ll get rid of Elvis (laughs) and put Freddie Mercury in his spot instead!’