If there is one quality John Gilmour Smith possesses in abundance, it’s surely patience. It’s been a 25 year journey to the release of his debut album, ‘The Story We’ve Been Sold’, a journey filled with luck, good and bad, and more than a few twists of fate. “It’s been a rollercoaster just to get here” explains Smith. “ I’ve had record deals collapse at the last minute, almost finished albums dropped months before release, I even had a manager die just as we were about to sign a deal.” John was born in raised in Glasgow, Scotland, and from an early age, had a love for music, but when he received a gift of a bass guitar at 14, he discovered his calling. “All I wanted to do was play. Everyone else was out playing football, chasing girls, whatever; I just wanted to play my bass. I was obsessed, I spent all my time playing Rush songs, just trying to get better. “The bass guitar soon gave way to acoustic guitar when John started writing songs, and that quickly became his true love. All these years later, that remains his real interest.
“The songs are my way of saying what I think. Right now, there’s something deeply wrong in the world, and I think most people are beginning to acknowledge that. I write about the world as I see it. Some people don’t care, they only care about their football team winning at the weekend, but for me, there’s so much going out there in our world, that’s the stuff that inspires me to write”. It was these songs, with their sharp lyrical content delivered in John’s unique way, which attracted Aquarian Nation CEO Francis Dunnery to sign John to his label.
With his debut album ‘The Story We’ve Been Sold’, John finally gets to showcase his unique perspectives. “I’ve been banging on about this stuff for a long time. If just a few people listen to my music and it makes them think, then I think that’s all any artist can hope for.”
