Daisy Brunskill, future ACM Vocals Diploma student, has reached the Open Mic South of England finals!
We’d like to extend our congratulations and best wishes to Daisy Brunskill who is taking part in the the South of England finals of Open Mic UK’s music competition this weekend – the UK’s premiere unsigned music competition.
We caught up with Daisy to chat about how she got into music, her journey with Open Mic so far and her ambitions for a career in music…
How did you first get into music?
My dad used to sing, play drums and guitar, he died when I was very young, and I always used to ask my mum lots of questions about him, like what he was like, what he enjoyed, and what he did for a living. My mum told me about how he played his instruments at festivals. I immediately started wanting to follow in his footsteps and be exactly how he was, I wanted to feel a connection with him. Originally it was just for family purposes, but after a while, it became an addiction, I couldn’t get enough of it, I couldn’t stop listening to it, playing it, it became a part of me. I knew from about the age of 10 that music is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I was a bit concerned whilst growing up that music wasn’t the right choice for me, adults, teachers and friends would say, unless you’re Beyonce, you’re going to be living on the streets, I was told that it’s just a phase, I should have music as a backup plan to a ‘normal’ job, it’s a hobby! Under all of the pressure I considered choosing another job for when I’m older, but I’m glad that it was only a consideration. I know now that music is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life, and that is all thanks to my dad.
Who are your idols and who do we need to be listening to right now?
I don’t have any idols in particular, however musicians who I admire are Michael Jackson, Joss Stone, Dave Grohl, Billie Joe Armstrong, Brendon Urie, Aritc Monkeys, Queen, Pink Floyd, Sam Smith and Muse. Artists that I feel should be listened to at the moment include Jon Bellion, Jaira Burns, Rat Boy and Two Feet.
How did you get involved with the Open Mic UK competition?
I was looking for a way to get my music and voice out there, also for some greater performance experience, I stumbled across Open Mic and thought that it was a great opportunity for me.
We hear you’ll be starting with us next September… what ambitions do you have for a career in music?
I would love to be a singer-songwriter, I love performing anything really, if I was doing a gig, the thing I would probably like to do most is perform my own songs, also do a completely different take on someone else’s song, maybe even switch up the style. I am however also interested in writing songs for other people because one day you’ll write a really good song that just doesn’t suit your voice, so I think it’s really cool if you can see how it fits someone else’s voice, and you can take inspiration on how they interpret and sing your song.
I was classically trained with violin, viola and piano, but then I took up singing, drums and guitar. As a multi instrumentalist, I would love to see how I could experiment with mixing pop and classical music together, maybe recording some violin on one of my tracks, it could give a completely different vibe to a song, plus I would be using what I’m strong at in my favour. My main goal however in music is to help people, for example put on free gigs for blind people, people with no money, orphans, the elderly etc, because I believe that music is a gift that should be shared with everyone, not just something for people with tonnes of money who can afford VIP tickets, this is something I believe in very strongly.
You can connect with Daisy via Instagram…
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