If you want something done properly, do it yourself.

It’s an admirable ethos, but one that’s unlikely to win you many friends. That doesn’t seem to bother Phill Wilson, however, as he makes his way as one of the most intriguing solo artists to grace Hull’s open mic scene for quite some time. Going under the name of MyOneManBand, Wilson defies labels: onstage he is a shy, shambling mix of Damien Rice and Jonny Greenwood, using delay pedals and sample banks to expertly loop his performance in real time, literally a ‘one man band’. ‘I’m a failed epic artist, because I don’t have the band behind me,’ he laughs. ‘The electronics and samplers are my way of trying to be me but more so. Trying to layer me upon me until you’ve got a band’s worth of me.’ Off duty, Wilson is much more forthcoming than his stage persona, holding forth on everything from the current music scene to the first time he picked up a guitar, a story which will be familiar to any music fan who grew up in the ‘90s. ‘One of my friends got a copy of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? and an acoustic guitar, as everyone does, and that’s what got me into it really.’

Born in Beverley, Wilson is a fiercely loyal Yorkshire lad, and despite having spent three years at university in Carlisle he knows where his roots are. He describes the frustration of not being able to fully experience the Hull scene when he was younger, and is at pains to champion up-and-coming bands like The Holy Orders and Alison Angus, who he feels would be closer to breaking into the big time if they were based in a bigger city. ‘The one thing that I don’t like is the sheer apathy that the majority of Hull still has about music,’ he says. ‘There’s so much going on, there are people who if they were in Leeds, Manchester or Sheffield, they’d be followed, and they’d have people who wanted to see them make it. Here, you can promote and promote, and you’re still performing to a handful of people.’ It’s a view that all bands in Hull would surely endorse, but Wilson himself tries to use it to his advantage. ‘I largely play to other people’s audiences; part of the fun for me is being the support act, and turning other people’s crowds around to me.’

The way that Wilson works is nothing new – the use of delay pedals to create a fuller sound is becoming increasingly common – but behind the pedal board and layers of loops, he is not averse to writing a bloody good tune. He pens fragile fragments of desire and heartbreak, subtly enhanced by his technical skills. ‘The Boy Meets Girl Song’ is a particular highlight among his newer material, starting off as an understated four-chord ballad, growing into something more substantial as Wilson harmonises with himself without losing the song’s original simplicity. It may sound like typical music geek talk, but it’s rare to be able to identify all of the separate fragments of a song working together, and this is exactly what MyOneManBand manages to create.

Anyone who frequents the Adelphi’s legendary Monday night open mic session will be familiar with Wilson’s unique style – dressed in a waistcoat, jacket and red cravat with hair somewhere between Adam Ant and Pete Doherty, he looks like a Dickensian character who has stumbled into 2007 and found that he is still cool. He is refreshingly matter-of-fact about plying his trade around the various musicians’ nights, despite the growing interest in his work. ‘As far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I do now without open mics. They provide a forum for you to come and test out new stuff. Every time I write a new song, it’s a case of coming back to an open mic, and getting feedback from an audience that really have no expectation of you.’ The downside of performing regularly in such a small musical community, he says, is the danger of overexposure. ‘There is that risk of overplaying yourself, and you often see the same people playing the same songs.’

The days of being just another unknown open mic hopeful may soon be a thing of the past for MyOneManBand, however. He recently had support slots with Windum Earl and one-man band hero Thomas Truax, and hopes to build on this growing promise over the next few months. He expresses a desire to begin releasing records, but there are no plans to add to the members of the group, preferring to keep the creative differences inside his own head. His lack of technical knowledge restricts him in terms of forming bands. ‘I have no musical background, I can’t read or write music, so presenting my ideas and working with other people was always difficult.’ Wilson describes himself as ‘an introverted show-off’, which seems to neatly sum up the mass of contradictions which make him such a fascinating musician. He recalls the teenage phases he went through, from Britpop to metal (‘there was a dangerous time when I could’ve turned out like a little rave kid’), but these days he doesn’t fit neatly into the ‘scenes’ so beloved by music journalists. The fickle nature of fashion is a constant source of amusement to him. ‘Going out in Hull, you do see all the kids that used to bully you at school who’ve now bought the tight jeans and the pointy shoes and they’re out there with you,’ he says, ‘which is simultaneously uplifting and morbidly depressing.’ Judging by the increasing flow of positive comments doing the rounds, it may be the one man band that has the last laugh.

www.myspace.com/myonemanband

This article was published in the June edition of Sandman music magazine.
www.sandmanmagazine.co.uk