HT Media & Octave Match would like to introduce you to Paul Miller. We found Paul & his group Believe through his MySpace page. We'd also like
to thank Paul for his hard word & dedication to championing our cause here at Octave Match. Paul is the essence of what music should be about,
the art. Believe is an indei/folk group that is wonderfully melodic with expressions that will run deep in your soul with every verse.
to thank Paul for his hard word & dedication to championing our cause here at Octave Match. Paul is the essence of what music should be about,
the art. Believe is an indei/folk group that is wonderfully melodic with expressions that will run deep in your soul with every verse.
(Don Thatcher/Christopher Houp, Octave Match, June 2008
I forget how I came across Paul Miller’s MySpace BELIEVE page, I just know that when I heard the song, “Hide and Seek” I was
intrigued. A simple song, but when I heard Paul’s vocals I immediately knew that this was a special band. We were fortunate
enough to get an interview with the man from Bolton, UK. Paul’s lyrics are heartfelt and his vocals captivate the essence of his
being. Here is a little bit about who Paul is in his own words: “I am not a person who has university degrees, hell anything, I am a
labourer, drive a van round for a living at mo working for builders, but when hear an acoustic guitar or tap on the door in a
regular beat I will sing to it. I will find a melody, find a line out of nowhere, baffles me where from. Never sung or wrote a word
until LIVE AID, hearing U2, I have 3 sisters and up until that point I had lived in a cave and believed all songs/bands were for girls,
that’s all I had really heard, so I just didn’t bother but then the mass concert.
Then came buying everything U2. Watching “Under A Blood Red Sky” VHS over and over again. I had been singing along to
these U2 songs to a girl on the cb radio, she liked me to sing “MLK” by U2 before she slept (sad I know), people used to key up
afterwards said how much they enjoyed it, should get in a band. Used to work on youth training scheme, Maggie Thatcher’s idea
of getting the dole numbers down, I worked in a shop (boring), but upstairs there was a record shop with a damned fine love of
living kind of bloke who ran it.
I forget how I came across Paul Miller’s MySpace BELIEVE page, I just know that when I heard the song, “Hide and Seek” I was
intrigued. A simple song, but when I heard Paul’s vocals I immediately knew that this was a special band. We were fortunate
enough to get an interview with the man from Bolton, UK. Paul’s lyrics are heartfelt and his vocals captivate the essence of his
being. Here is a little bit about who Paul is in his own words: “I am not a person who has university degrees, hell anything, I am a
labourer, drive a van round for a living at mo working for builders, but when hear an acoustic guitar or tap on the door in a
regular beat I will sing to it. I will find a melody, find a line out of nowhere, baffles me where from. Never sung or wrote a word
until LIVE AID, hearing U2, I have 3 sisters and up until that point I had lived in a cave and believed all songs/bands were for girls,
that’s all I had really heard, so I just didn’t bother but then the mass concert.
Then came buying everything U2. Watching “Under A Blood Red Sky” VHS over and over again. I had been singing along to
these U2 songs to a girl on the cb radio, she liked me to sing “MLK” by U2 before she slept (sad I know), people used to key up
afterwards said how much they enjoyed it, should get in a band. Used to work on youth training scheme, Maggie Thatcher’s idea
of getting the dole numbers down, I worked in a shop (boring), but upstairs there was a record shop with a damned fine love of
living kind of bloke who ran it.
Anyway after persuasion I recorded myself to take into the bloke at the record shop (can’t remember his name) to see what he thought. He liked it and was
encouraging but what he did was perfect. During my lunch hours I went up there, he suggested looking at the back of album covers of songs I didn’t know, making a
melody up to the lyrics wrote down, but me in good stead and woke in me the lyrical side.
So he got us a band, we were crap tis true, I screamed and howled like a dying cat, got sore throats all the time lol, eeh those where the days. I like to think I got
better though maybe I am being delusional, but I still enjoy it, love it more than ever. I know it’s not a fad, I know this is what I will do for the rest of my life, still
working driving a van or not. This is who I am, I don’t have a choice and I wouldn’t change a thing anyway if I could.”
While you listen to interview you will hear a sample of, “The Road Is Long”. During his discussion he mentions how he gets so engrossed in the song that
sometimes he forgets to breathe. Here is the backstory to, “The Road Is Long”.
From Paul Miller, “The Road Is Long” was about a girl called Joanne, went out with her for about 5 years but in the last year we broke up, made up, broke up, made
up…ya get the picture. Got to be that when in the same room, we just annoyed each other, when apart there was something missing. One night after a break up I
went up to Andy’s house and we had a jam, the finished lyrics are 80% the original on the night jammed out and those words I could not have wrote the day after,
one hour later, only as I was feeling that way could those lines come, they would of had a different slant the day after, I would of slept on the situation, seen things
differently. We never made up, twas the final night.
"I THOUGHT I WAS RIGHT, TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG, NOW I DONT SEE WHERE YOU ARE"
Paul began to describe some more details around the BELIEVE songs: “I do like the uniqueness of ‘TRUE’, one of those dizzy head moments, a complete jam wrote
leaning against a wall as the guitarist had a spirit of creativity. ‘Picture In A Frame’ had so much emotion, wrote on a day that I realized a German girl I was seeing
for a few months was not a good fit for me. ‘Then Is Gone’ was written about the break-up of one of the bands I was in.” I then asked Paul why the band chose the
name BELIEVE:
“BELIEVE was a culmination of all those life events. Band break-ups are sad, you live for the dream, have some great gigs but people need regular money
eventually and wives/girlfriends want your time. Priorities change and sometimes you need to part ways. During that time I met Andy, Darren, Tony and I wrote
songs with them separately because I had more lyrics in me than one band could cater. With Andy we choose the band name, SANE but we never really promoted
in any sense except a two week stay in coffee shops in Amsterdam pass cds out to people who were just as smoked up as we where . Those songs included, ‘Road
Is Long’, ‘Plastic Sense Of Sanity’, and ‘Alone In The Dark’. With Tony we formed HEADSHAKER which was just a fun time to play wacky club tunes with echoed
vocal and weird lyrics. The weirder the better was out motto. Then it was Darren and BELIEVE. We can both get very reminiscient of the times and often chat
about life and its good/bad. Conversations which then culminate a mood where a song like ‘So Sorry’ and ‘Black Canvas’ usually pops out. We called ourselves
BELIEVE more as a reminder to believe but I have since fallen for the name. The nakedness of the lyrics suit what I feel are very open lyrics, this my thought diary
and I will hide no pages.” Paul goes onto describe why all of his songs are special:“I am emotionally attached to the songs, binded by the memory.”
Paul has surrounded himself with two talented guitar players. Paul stated, “Darren Birmingham is the guitarist in the songs which are just acoustic / vocal..nothing
else. The guitar Darren used was a Jim Deacon Ovatation semi acoustic guitar,sunburst in colour. Darren used 20 pence piece as a plectrum in “picture in a
frame” and an r.iggot plectrum flexi on the other songs.Paul on guitarist Andrew Walton, “For the song the Road is Long and many others, Andrew used an Ovation
Elite Specials S778 Autumn Burst Acoustic Guitar. The bass he used was an EB Musicman Stingray V, 5 string Black and Maple. The fretless bass was a Fender
Precision four string. The synth/keys was a Roland Super JV1080, Technics AX7 and various soft synths. The Drums were all copyright free sames arranged by
Andrew. The Recording was done on a Cubase PC V5 and Soundforge. “The Road Is Long” music was written, arranged, composed and produced by Andrew
Walton.” The vocals and lyrics were performed and written by Paul Miller.
encouraging but what he did was perfect. During my lunch hours I went up there, he suggested looking at the back of album covers of songs I didn’t know, making a
melody up to the lyrics wrote down, but me in good stead and woke in me the lyrical side.
So he got us a band, we were crap tis true, I screamed and howled like a dying cat, got sore throats all the time lol, eeh those where the days. I like to think I got
better though maybe I am being delusional, but I still enjoy it, love it more than ever. I know it’s not a fad, I know this is what I will do for the rest of my life, still
working driving a van or not. This is who I am, I don’t have a choice and I wouldn’t change a thing anyway if I could.”
While you listen to interview you will hear a sample of, “The Road Is Long”. During his discussion he mentions how he gets so engrossed in the song that
sometimes he forgets to breathe. Here is the backstory to, “The Road Is Long”.
From Paul Miller, “The Road Is Long” was about a girl called Joanne, went out with her for about 5 years but in the last year we broke up, made up, broke up, made
up…ya get the picture. Got to be that when in the same room, we just annoyed each other, when apart there was something missing. One night after a break up I
went up to Andy’s house and we had a jam, the finished lyrics are 80% the original on the night jammed out and those words I could not have wrote the day after,
one hour later, only as I was feeling that way could those lines come, they would of had a different slant the day after, I would of slept on the situation, seen things
differently. We never made up, twas the final night.
"I THOUGHT I WAS RIGHT, TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG, NOW I DONT SEE WHERE YOU ARE"
Paul began to describe some more details around the BELIEVE songs: “I do like the uniqueness of ‘TRUE’, one of those dizzy head moments, a complete jam wrote
leaning against a wall as the guitarist had a spirit of creativity. ‘Picture In A Frame’ had so much emotion, wrote on a day that I realized a German girl I was seeing
for a few months was not a good fit for me. ‘Then Is Gone’ was written about the break-up of one of the bands I was in.” I then asked Paul why the band chose the
name BELIEVE:
“BELIEVE was a culmination of all those life events. Band break-ups are sad, you live for the dream, have some great gigs but people need regular money
eventually and wives/girlfriends want your time. Priorities change and sometimes you need to part ways. During that time I met Andy, Darren, Tony and I wrote
songs with them separately because I had more lyrics in me than one band could cater. With Andy we choose the band name, SANE but we never really promoted
in any sense except a two week stay in coffee shops in Amsterdam pass cds out to people who were just as smoked up as we where . Those songs included, ‘Road
Is Long’, ‘Plastic Sense Of Sanity’, and ‘Alone In The Dark’. With Tony we formed HEADSHAKER which was just a fun time to play wacky club tunes with echoed
vocal and weird lyrics. The weirder the better was out motto. Then it was Darren and BELIEVE. We can both get very reminiscient of the times and often chat
about life and its good/bad. Conversations which then culminate a mood where a song like ‘So Sorry’ and ‘Black Canvas’ usually pops out. We called ourselves
BELIEVE more as a reminder to believe but I have since fallen for the name. The nakedness of the lyrics suit what I feel are very open lyrics, this my thought diary
and I will hide no pages.” Paul goes onto describe why all of his songs are special:“I am emotionally attached to the songs, binded by the memory.”
Paul has surrounded himself with two talented guitar players. Paul stated, “Darren Birmingham is the guitarist in the songs which are just acoustic / vocal..nothing
else. The guitar Darren used was a Jim Deacon Ovatation semi acoustic guitar,sunburst in colour. Darren used 20 pence piece as a plectrum in “picture in a
frame” and an r.iggot plectrum flexi on the other songs.Paul on guitarist Andrew Walton, “For the song the Road is Long and many others, Andrew used an Ovation
Elite Specials S778 Autumn Burst Acoustic Guitar. The bass he used was an EB Musicman Stingray V, 5 string Black and Maple. The fretless bass was a Fender
Precision four string. The synth/keys was a Roland Super JV1080, Technics AX7 and various soft synths. The Drums were all copyright free sames arranged by
Andrew. The Recording was done on a Cubase PC V5 and Soundforge. “The Road Is Long” music was written, arranged, composed and produced by Andrew
Walton.” The vocals and lyrics were performed and written by Paul Miller.
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