We caught up with Hannah Boleyn and James Grover from Tileyard Music, after they attended the TYED songwriting camp in Copenhagen hosted by publisher GL Music, striking gold with Coffee & A Coke.
Written for PS1 with the Deekay-signed writer Mathias Neumann, as a follow up song to his big hit Fake Friends, Hannah and James created the topline for Coffee & A Coke which gain 250k streams in its first week.
The song is now signed to the iconic house label Defected Records, under the D4Dance division.
Tell us about your experience at the songwriting camp?
Hannah – I loved working with the team/writers at GL music. They embraced all my ideas, even the crazy ones. And despite them all being incredibly talented, they always made me feel like I had a voice in the sessions.
James – Yeah it was a great 5 days! That was my first experience of an international camp, and my first time in Copenhagen, so it was definitely a new experience. But really the writing part was the same as always, ie quickly getting to know new people in a small room! haha. Camps are definitely nothing to be scared of!
What key things did you get out of it?
H – It was fun. Writing everyday can be emotionally draining, so I like to work with people who make it enjoyable and I definitely got that on the Copenhagen camp.
J – It was also my first camp that included professional writers/producers, so I knew the pressure was on to deliver to a ‘pro’ level (for the first time as a TYe student). I saw how professionals really work, and was glad to see it wasn’t much different to what I’d been doing previously. Except with the realisation that they do this day-in-day-out, every week. So it showed me that kind of work ethic that I’d need going forward.
Did you learn or gain anything unexpected?
H – I think I went home feeling much more confident that I had before.
J – Yeah definitely some new techniques and workflows I learnt from the other writers, eg improvising with actual lyrics rather than improvising only in melodies then thinking of lyrics layer. The words always get changed later, but it just feels more quickly like a song when it’s not just “la la la” for the first hour.
Now for the big question, would you do it again?
J – Yeah for sure, I love writing camps, and especially if they also feel like a little holiday. A hard work holiday haha. Definitely wanna catch up with the GL and Deekay teams again too.
H – Yes. Absolutely. When we are allowed to travel again I’d love to go back if they will have me!
If you want a slice of the action and to be a part of the next songwriting camp contact us here.
