Growing up listening to his parents records and teaching himself how to play the guitar and piano, music became a passion early on for William John Titus Bishop. Inspired by a range of music from classical composers like Mozart to artists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, he creates music with the purpose of making you think and reflect. Partnering with the Salvation Army and the O2 for charity campaigns and having hopes to further his support for other charity campaigns in the future, Bishop also uses his music to amplify the voice of charity. To learn more about William John Titus Bishop and his music, read on.

Where are you based?
I am currently based in Kalmar, which is a beautiful town in the south of Sweden. I moved over from the UK to work on an album with some Swedish musicians.

What inspired you to get into music?
I had always learnt music, from when I started school until I finished University.

What drew you from orchestral music into writing your own songs and performing on the London circuit? Does your orchestral music training influence the way you write or structure your songs today?
I listened to a lot of music growing up which was different from what I was learning in an academic setting. I remember listening to my parents record collection and thinking ‘I want to play music like this now’. I taught myself guitar and learnt piano in order to write my own songs. I had grown up performing in orchestras, but I wanted to write and perform my own material. It was a natural progression for me to play the songs I had written in venues in London and across the UK. I think musical theory is very important for understanding what notes and chords work together well. In that respect classical training heavily influences the way I write today although I don’t consciously sit down and write the music on a piece of manuscript paper.

Are there any artists that shaped you as a musician?
The first artists I listened to were the great composers: Mozart, Schopenhauer and anyone you would expect to hear on a classical music radio station. They would have had an influence on my understanding of music. The artists I listen to today the most are Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave, but I still listen to composers like Phillip Glass.

You’ve performed at a wide range of venues and festivals across Europe. Was there a particular moment or show that felt like a turning point for you as an artist?
I very much enjoy every performance and I like to play as wide a variety of venues and festivals as possible. The first festival I was booked to play at was the Live at Heart festival in Sweden and after that performance I felt confident in myself about continuing with writing songs and playing live.

You describe your new album Vintergatan as focusing on the political and cultural currents present in Europe over the past three years as well as the more interpersonal aspects of human relationships. Can you please expand on what you mean by this?
At the beginning of 2020 Britain voted to leave the European Union. At the time I was travelling and performing in Europe and there was a palpable tension whenever the subject was bought up in conversation with people from both the UK and Europe. There are also more practical concerns such as the increased difficulty in obtaining travel visas for musicians touring in the EU. Vintergatan was not meant to be a political statement of any kind, rather a description of relationships of a more romantic nature that were formed during that period.

You told Tinnitist that the songs in Americana follow a tumultuous relationship — did you approach Americana as a concept album?
Americana was recorded after the album Keeping Some Kind of A Record and is meant to be a development of the sound of that album. I had been listening to a lot of contemporary folk artists and I noticed the use of synthesisers and distortion effects. I wanted to include those on Americana.

Your cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” is distorted and muffled. What made you want to reinterpret that song in this way?
I had recorded a version of “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” for just guitar and voice which sounds a lot closer to the original. On Americana I wanted to re-interpret the song in a more contemporary folk style, which involved the use of more electronic sounds.

A diverse group of musicians collaborated in the creation of Americana . How did working with artists from pop, classical, folk, rock, and blues shape the album’s sound?
I had learnt guitar and piano in a folk, rock and blues style so I worked with musicians who would play the songs in the same way. I wanted to re-introduce some classical elements into the more electronic, synthesised sounds so I also chose to record alongside musicians playing in a more classical style.

Your song “Hesperus and Phosphorus” has been used in campaigns by both the Salvation Army and O2. What does it mean to you to have your music aligned with causes like these?
It is a great thing and I am very grateful to be aligned with these causes. Music can amplify the voice of these hugely important organisations and I hope that my songs have done that.

How did the collaboration with O2 UK’s National Databank campaign come about? What was it like seeing your work involved in a national campaign?
I was approached by O2 through an agency which connects brands to individuals who have a certain social media presence. It was amazing to see my work used by O2 in a way that would affect people all over the UK. Communication is crucial to everyone and O2 are doing a wonderful thing by making sure communication remains possible even under challenging financial circumstances.

In terms of charity work, do you tend to choose campaigns that reflect personal values or causes that resonate with your own experiences?
I like to work with as many great causes as possible. I tend to chose causes that I have some experience of myself. I have worked for the Salvation Army in the past so it was natural for me to work with them again.

With over 1.5 million followers across social media platforms, how do you balance visibility and authenticity?
I don’t think you can be visible all the time, but I think you can be authentic all the time. If you are too visible it can appear inauthentic and at the same time if you try too hard to be authentic it appears inauthentic. I try to be as authentic as possible with the people I am engaging with regardless of the visibility.

Your music is being studied at universities like York and Sussex. How do you feel about your songs becoming part of academic coursework? And have you, yourself ever gotten involved in the conversations within the classroom?
I hope that the students and their coursework benefit from using my songs. I would like to say that I have had some say in how that material is received in the classroom, but I feel that is between the tutors and their pupils.

What elements of your music (lyrics or structure) do you think resonates most with students?
I hope that the music appeals to students inside and outside of the classroom. I would like to say that the lyrics resonate most, but I think the songs structure is what catches their ears.

If someone were discovering your work for the first time through one of these charity campaigns, what would you hope they take away from your music?
I would hope they were able to focus on the cause involved first and foremost. After that I would hope people feel they were encouraged to think, reflect and be moved.

What is the next step for you ? Musically, personally, or in terms of your philanthropic work?
I would like to continue working with as many great causes as possible with a view to working shoulder to shoulder with charities abroad. Musically I have a further album coming out later this Summer and I am performing at a number of festivals later this year.

It has been a crazy past few years, and we suspect at least four more. How have you been staying positive?
I like to look at positive and negative experiences in a similar way. The experience should be acknowledged, whether positive or negative, and then move on to the next one, building on the positivity of course.

What is your motto in life?
Persevere

To learn more about William John Titus Bishop, please check out the links below:
https://www.williamjohntitusbishop.com
Instagram: @williamjohntitusbishop
YouTube: williambishopofficial
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/william-john-titus-bishop/1453976683

William John Titus Bishop: Music Amplifying the Voice for Charity