Sonic Bytes Leo Kelly-Gee & Jonny Cheung

Hello and welcome to Sonic Bytes, the freewheeling conversation and interview series for the eclectic music lover.

We’ve reached the end of Season 1 of the podcast - thank you to everyone that’s taken the time to listen to any of our episodes so far. We truly appreciate every minute that you’ve spent with us and hope it’s been a nice musical companion throughout this tumultuous year.

For this final week, we’re taking a look back at the rollercoaster of 2020 to reflect on our journeys as musicians the past year, as well as our experience making the podcast over the past 6 months.

We’re looking forward to returning in 2021 with a new series of interviews and discussions for Season 2, so stay tuned for updates coming early next year!

If you’ve enjoyed the podcast so far, follow Sonic Bytes on Spotify, Apple or Stitcher, or like the video and subscribe to the channel on YouTube, as it really helps support the show. We hope you enjoy the episode.

This week we take a trip down memory lane and talk about everything Christmas. From Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra to Michael Bublé and Taylor Swift, we discuss what makes a Christmas song sound the way it does as well as pick our own personal Christmas favourites. We’ve only got 1 more episode left before we wrap up season 1 and so make to stay tuned for our year in review episode coming after Christmas. Watch this episode with video on YouTube channel 'LeoKellyGeeMusic', write to us at sonicbytespod@gmail.com, and follow us at Instagram @sonicbytes and Twitter @sonicbytespod for bonus content.

This week, we’re excited to have Aidan Bricker on the show, also known as the Happy Bluesman. Aidan’s a guitarist and teacher from the UK, who has recently taken on Leo as a guitar student. An aficionado of blues guitar music through and through, Aidan picked up a guitar at a young age and juggled playing music with high performance sports and other jobs, before committing to teaching guitar and running his website full time.
We had a great time in this episode chatting about his musical journey from the process of learning guitar, his influences growing up, teaching philosophies, his go-to gear and much more. It was such fun to chat to someone outside of our immediate circle of creatives, especially someone who loves a lot of the same players and styles that we do as fellow guitar players.
Do check out Aidan’s website, www.happybluesman.com, to keep up with his latest articles and posts.
Watch this episode with video on YouTube channel 'LeoKellyGeeMusic', write to us at sonicbytespod@gmail.com, and follow us at Instagram @sonicbytes and Twitter @sonicbytespod for bonus content.

This week we’re extremely excited to have our first band interview on the podcast with Saad Shaikh and Tristan French from London-based hard rock band Ugly Yeti. In this episode, we discuss how they formed as a band and found their sound, the process of writing and recording  their EPs Mean Machine and Emergence, and what their aspirations are for the future as a band. Watch this episode with video on YouTube channel 'LeoKellyGeeMusic', write to us at sonicbytespod@gmail.com, and follow us at Instagram @sonicbytes and Twitter @sonicbytespod for bonus content.

This week we have our very good friend Bethany Graves on the podcast to discuss her up-coming feature film ‘The Book of Laws.’ She composes the music to the film (which we were ecstatic to be asked to play on the soundtrack) and wrote and produced the film among a team of very talented creatives.

We had a chance to view the film early as part of creating the film and were blown away with the concept, storyline and performances, as well as the production quality, and it was awesome to have a chance to discuss the making of the film in-depth with her. We also chat about the creative process and how to approach composing music on a more general level as well.

If you’d like to keep up with when the film releases and other behind the scenes footage, make sure to follow The Book of Laws on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram (@book_of_laws_film).

If you’re enjoying the podcast, follow Sonic Bytes on Spotify, Apple or Stitcher, or like the video and subscribe to the channel on YouTube, as it really helps support the show. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Perle is a singer, songwriter and voice actor currently living in Corsica and performing across Europe. Born to a musical family, Perle was exposed to everything from Mozart to Michael Jackson from a very young age, being carried from theatre to theatre as a child, studying music from the age of 6 and singing at the age of 13.

However despite her musical lineage, Perle initially shied away from a career in music, choosing instead to study biology, but it wasn’t long before the family bug took hold and she began to develop an interest in musical theatre; studying and gaining experience in Paris, London and New York while writing her own music on the side.

I first met Perle back in 2015 as part of the musical cabaret “Got A Problem,” organised by current Hairspray West End lead Lizzie Bea, and was completely floored by the sheer breadth of technique, power, control, tone and emotion in Perle’s voice.

We stayed in touch over the next couple of years, sharing music and recording medleys together when she asked me if I’d like to work on some of her original material and record her debut EP with her in Paris. An offer I absolutely couldn’t refuse.

Recording “Just A Matter Of Time” was one of the best musical experiences of my playing career, not only because of the amazing songs that we were able to bring to life, but also because of the wonderfully welcoming atmosphere and infectious energy that Perle creates every time she enters a room. She is an amazing friend, musician and human being and an absolute joy to have on the podcast.

In this episode we discuss Perle’s new EP ‘Just a Matter Of Time’, learning how to sing and singing techniques, writing music in different languages, live looping vocals and more!

Watch this episode with video on YouTube channel 'LeoKellyGeeMusic', write to us at sonicbytespod@gmail.com, and follow us at Instagram @sonicbytes and Twitter @sonicbytespod for bonus content.