Pure Local Extra: Nia John and Greg Ryan

Both artists have been interviewed on the show before when we were located at the Corn Exchange. This morning was the first time they had been to our current location at the Kingsway Centre. 

To start the show, we listened to their new songs as both have recently released something new. We started with Nia’s ‘Lift Me Up’ and she gave us some insight into the song. She told us that she had thought of the concept of Heaven and Hell, this song being the ‘heaven song’. The story of the song is that of a lady who falls in love with someone who is like an angel who takes her to many places. The song ends with the lady passing and becoming an angel like the person she met. Nia added that the song is a heavenly ballad, with the concept being inspired by Bonnie Tyler and Meatloaf’s ‘Heaven and Hell’ album.

Greg’s new song we listened to is called ‘Elevator Club’ and he gave us some backstory on the song. Greg used to play in a duo around 12 years ago but he decided to take a gap and take a break from performing. He later came across an open mic called Elevator Club. He said that it felt like a community and a place to share ideas. He wrote the song after the evening and did some performances of it. Eventually he kept getting asked if it would become recorded. He then went to his now producer and got the song recorded.After some insight into our singers’ songs, we trialed a new segment entitled ‘Room 101’ named after the concept in book ‘1984’ based around the old comedy of the same name. In short, Kym asked our guests what the worst thing in the world is and what they would want to be banished from the world forever. Nia said phone holders in the car, her reasoning being that they never work well. Greg said people who apologise for a messy home, especially if their home is actually tidy. Kym said show, saying that it doesn’t have a purpose.

We then discussed tribute acts. Nia covers a lot of Bonnie Tyler but she wouldn’t consider herself a tribute act. Greg said that he wouldn’t want to be a tribute act, he would rather be himself. Although he would be an act for Take That. He had previously dabbled in that area as part of a project for a music course in which he had to perform a faithful cover of Rule The World.

This week also marked the return of an old tradition, ‘Kazoo that Tune’. We decided to give it a go after leaving it for a while. Nia and Greg gave an incredible cover of Total Eclipse of The Heart. A great return to a favourite segment.

To end the show, we asked about upcoming gigs or projects. Nia is working on videos for her songs and a couple upcoming gigs. Her schedule gets much busier in the summer. Greg has a show coming up on Valentines Day as well as a charity gig on the 20th of February for womens aid. He too has more gigs in the summer.

As always, this is a small snippet of what was discussed. You can listen to the full show here