On the eve of December, our Track of the Week comes from BIMM Dublin Alumna Jade Roche, aka Pastiche, with her debut single “Chasing Down The Fame”.
What was your inspiration when you began writing the track?
“Chasing Down The Fame” was written out of necessity to get out of my own situation. I had plans for gigging and making music my full-time job this year. But now, I’m graduating from BIMM in the middle of a global pandemic when the live music industry has been shut down overnight. I think a lot of us can relate to this right now!
CDTF isn’t just a fluffy pop song about fame and fortune. It’s about resilience and the want to become something bigger than people expect of you. The word fame here can be interpreted as a goal, as success or what you want to achieve. The ‘fame’ here is fully subjective to what you want to achieve.
“I’m chasing down the fame,
To put them all to shame/I’ll show them what they made of me,
I’m waiting on the ‘How you been?’ kinda win.”
Are there any artists that inspire you when writing?
So many that I wouldn’t know where to start. I have a theatre performing background so a lot of my early years were full of show tunes. I do know that being raised on 2000s pop was pretty great. Britney, Christina, Pink and the likes. It all changed for me when I heard “Just Dance” on the radio in 2008; that just blew my tiny little mind. Katy Perry exploded that year too. What a time to be a pre-teen who loved pop music! That’s when the love affair truly struck.
I loved the imagery and tongue-in-cheek humour they both used in their early stuff, and I feel like I really incorporate that in my own music. Then you look at legends like Freddie, Bowie and Elton. They made me want to learn to play the keys and write for myself. I think that explains how my love of electro-pop fused with rock elements came to be.
What is key to your sound and how do you make your music stand out?
Finding my sound has been a long process. When I started BIMM, I thought I knew who I was and what I wanted to do, but I am very, very grateful anything I wrote back then is not out for public consumption! The truth is, I had a lot of learning to do.
Fast forward four years and a pandemic; I strayed from writing more alt-pop-rock tunes with my fabulous friends in a rehearsal studio to full-blown electro-pop made remotely. I think my knowledge and exposure to different genres clouded the path for me. One moment I’d write a Billy Joel piano ballad rip-off, next it would be something Little Mix-esq or RnB and then a full-on punk rock tune. There was nothing cohesive about it. Fine-tuning what I’m good at (writing lyrics and melodies) and combining that with my love of live guitar bass and drums – then tying it all together into an electro-pop bow – would be what I’d describe my sound as now.
How does your songwriting process work?
For me, it’s either a word, a sentence or a vocal melody that will pop into my head. I very rarely write chord progressions first. When I think of a cool concept, I will usually put my phone on record and freestyle anything that comes to mind for like six minutes. I’ll listen back and see if I struck gold with any lines or vocals ideas. If I do, I take them to my keyboard and try to work chords to it and carry on writing. Sometimes, I just write a song fully acappella in my head with no direction and will then send it to my producer and let him deal with that mess (hehe). It really depends.
Describe your sound in 3 words…
Bad-ass Pop Goodness.
How has studying at BIMM helped you develop as an artist?
BIMM exposed me to my love of performing with a live band. I’d never played with full backlines before the first year, and now for me, you can’t beat it. Although my single and upcoming tracks are fairly electronic, I’m working on arranging them all live for stage so we can use as little of the tracks as possible.
If someone is coming to see a show I want to give them a show, not a karaoke night. I was also blessed to go to a college filled with like-minded creatives. I got to meet some of the craziest, talented upcoming musicians Dublin has to offer. I also can’t forget that I got to meet some of my best friends and collaborators that I know I will always be in contact with. The studio module I took helped to train me for a job I had as a radio voice-over artist for a while, and that was pretty cool.
What’s next for you?
MUSIC. MUSIC. MUSIC. My debut single “Chasing Down The Fame ” was released on November 20th, and I still can’t get over the love it has received. The music video is dropping December 4th, so get READY!
I hope to release my next single early 2021 and release my debut EP next year too. Also gigs. I just wanna play a goddamn live show.
