WHO ARE YOU?
My name is Victor Ray and I am an artist. I do a lot of different things, though some are pretty useless. As an artist I spend much of my time creating music, whether that means songwriting or producing, most days I am trying to make something new and meaningful.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Another chunk of my time is spent performing music wherever I can (literally). I’ve been a street performer for almost five years now so every weekend I pack my guitar and my amp and I head into central London to sing some of my music to strangers that probably didn’t plan on hearing it. I also play in venues with a roof occasionally, be it my headline show or some form of gig. And the last thing I do is gaming. If I’m not doing something music-related, I am at home on my PlayStation and at peace. It’s been a hobby of mine for my whole life basically and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
WHO DO YOU DO IT?
Well for me, once I realised that I was an artist I immediately became enamoured by the music world and it became my whole life. I’ve dedicated the last five years of my life to music because it feels like something I am meant to do. I wasn’t the most gifted in school growing up and I wasn’t very motivated whenever I had a job so I struggled to commit to anything and subsequently I couldn’t really feel proud of myself in any sense. Being on stage, any stage, makes me feel proud of myself. It’s something I’m good at and I want to work super hard at it too for the first time in my life. And then on top of that, when I write songs and see how my stories, lyrics and messages can impact someone’s life so strongly, then I almost feel a responsibility to create and to live this life. So, as cliché as it sounds, music is kind of everything to me.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
In my world right now, I recently had my second sold-out headline show in Camden Assembly which was insane. I’ve just come back from my trip around Europe in which I went to France, Germany, Amsterdam and Stockholm and I sang on the streets in each of those places which was so much fun. People came down in each city to watch and that was incredible. I’m about to play at Latitude festival next month which will be my biggest festival yet! Plus I just bought the new Zelda game for my Nintendo Switch which is a highlight of this month.
WHAT'S THE HOT TOPIC?
I’m not sure if it is a hot topic currently but, songwriters have been struggling for so long to get their appropriate compensation for creating songs. Most consumers of music don’t realise that there are so many amazing writers that contribute to the soundtracks of people’s lives, and they have to fight constantly just to get a cut of songs that they write. I think it’s crazy. Songwriters deserve compensation and respect from within the music industry.
Victor Ray’s EP ‘I Felt’ is out 30th August.
