Jonas Simola, 29, is an English major with a passion for music and a Master’s thesis firmly on the way. He kindly shared with us a few tips for making music, as well as enlightened us on his songwriting process. He also revealed to us how his MA thesis writing is going – something that many of us are keenly interested in hearing!
You have made music under the name Foxes on Boats: what kind of music do you make?
A couple years ago I composed mostly instrumental orchestral tracks under my own name, but then once I started getting back into songwriting again I wanted to differentiate the two sides, so I came up with the Foxes on Boats moniker. So all the music that I make that doesn’t fall into the orchestral/instrumental/film music categories, is what I make as Foxes on Boats. During the summer, it was acoustic guitar based indie pop rock with elements of electro, then in the early fall I went back to a more minimalist singer-songwriter acoustic guitar and vocals style. Currently, I’ve been going much more into an indie rock direction, with electric guitars and all sorts of instrumentation from organs to pianos to tubas. Â
Can you describe your song-writing process to us?
That’s a difficult question! It varies quite a bit from song to song. Most songs start out with a riff or chord progression that I come up with on the guitar, and depending on the style I’m going for, I’ll either record it with the guitar or transpose it to another instrument. Then it’s all about building up layers once the foundation is there. Sometimes this happens really quickly and easily but other times, it’s a long process of trial and error. It’s the same with lyrics. Sometimes they just flow out onto the paper in a stream of consciousness but more often than not, they’re hardly legible at the end due to all the scribbles and corrections. Once I have a fully formed song, I tend to listen to it over and over again to see what needs to be tweaked and if I get bored at any point, then go back to fix what needs to be fixed. Rinse and repeat. Â
Where do you usually get your inspiration?
From everything and anything. Usually I can’t trace the source, it just happens and I frantically try to record everything before I forget. Sometimes I’ll hear a phrase or a word and that’ll spark something, or see a picture or drawing, and sometimes it’s from other songs. Mostly though, inspiration strikes when I’m just messing around on the guitar.
What drove you to creating music?
I’ve always been very musical, starting with banging on pots and pans when I was still in diapers. I played the piano for a while in elementary school, as you do, and the saxophone in my middle school orchestra. Eventually I bought a guitar when I was 16 and that really hit it home for me. Not long after that, I started writing my own music and haven’t stopped since. For me, it acts as stress relief. In fact, I feel that my most creative periods are when I’m super busy and stressed out.
You’re also writing your MA thesis at the moment – how is that going?
Quite well at the moment. Coming up with the general topic was quite easy but I spent almost a month spinning my wheels, trying to narrow the focus enough to make it feasible in terms of time to research and write as well as the allotted length of the thesis. Then one day it hit me during a lecture, and I swear there was a cartoon lightbulb above my head at that moment! So now, it’s just a matter of finalising the framework and analysing the data. Thankfully, I find my topic interesting and potentially useful in my future, so that’s a great motivator!Â
What are biggest challenges you’ve faced so far with your seminar and the thesis writing?
Finding an appropriate theoretical framework and previous studies to base it on since my topic of choice is something that hasn’t really been researched at this point, at least from a linguistic point of view, and in addition I’m drawing on other disciplines as well such as marketing and psychology, so there are a lot of moving pieces that need to be tied down.
Is it at all daunting to think that your studies are coming close to an end?
No, actually. I’m more excited than anything, but perhaps that has to do with the fact that I spent a couple years working full-time after my Bachelor’s so now I just want to get my Master’s finally sorted. Although coming back to university has been more fun than I anticipated, so who’s to say how I’ll feel in the spring!
Finally, what sort of advice would you give to others who would like to make music?
First of all, just go for it. Secondly, create, create, create. I think it was Paul McCartney that once said “Out of every ten songs you write, nine are crap.” So don’t get discouraged, because there will be bad songs, but once you come upon a gem, all the effort will be worth it. Finally, try different styles and genres, go for something that may sound weird and quirky at first because you never know what will work! Most importantly, have fun with it!
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Here you can listen to Jonas’s music:
https://soundcloud.com/foxes-on-boatshttps://soundcloud.com/jonassimola/