We recently connected with Graham Mallany and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Graham thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

My first semester at the University of Guelph Ontario. I was enrolled in a general arts and science program and quickly realized it wasn’t for me. I was skipping every class except music, to practice guitar and watch John Mayer’s Neon (Live in L.A.) on youtube. I became obsessed with the idea of dedicating my life to music and can viscerally remember the night where I said to myself “Ok. I’m ready to spend my life doing this.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Music has always been a part of my life. I grew up listening to my dad sing and play songs around the campfire, while my mom would harmonize along. They played the music of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, The Allman Brothers, Yes and David Bowie around the house and having music on was a part of daily life. They have a beautiful love and reverence for music, which was passed on to both my brother and I. They bought me my first drum kit at 12 years old and that was the beginning of my musical pursuits. When I started exploring my own tastes, I quickly gravitated towards metal and I was enamored with bands like Opeth, System of A Down and Tool. When I started taking guitar lessons at 14, my teacher Stan Olejarz, showed me the kings of the blues, B.B., Freddie and Albert and my musical palette expanded. The kings led me to Stevie Ray Vaughan who led me to John Mayer trio, which was my gateway into Pop music.

Getting into the industry for me was a combination of hard work and luck. After dropping out of university to pursue a degree in music at Humber College, I failed my first audition miserably. It went worse then I could have possibly imagined and realized that talent was only going to take me so far. I spent the next year working landscaping full time and was waking up at 4am every morning to practice 2 hours before work and then coming home and practicing the rest of the night. The hard work paid off and I was accepted into humber college. It was the base of a new mountain. My time at music school consisted of me feeling like I needed to practice 12 hours a day just to keep up with the level of musicians around me. As someone who never listened to Jazz music prior to studying it in school, it felt like I entered into Jazz bootcamp. I spent 3 years at school, doing cover band shows and wedding/corporate gigs until I caught a lucky break from a craigslist ad. I auditioned with Canadian country artist Tim Hicks, got the gig, and a month after dropping out of school I was playing massive festival stages and arenas.

For the past 11 years, being a touring sideman has been my bread and butter. Throughout the years I expanded my skillset and have existed in the utility role playing keys, guitar, singing BGV’s with Drake White. When I moved to Nashville in 2018, it became apparent that there was an abundance of world class guitar players who lived here so it became advantages to lean into some of my other skills. Having financial stability throughout the years has allowed me to focus on production and songwriting. Production work kept me afloat during the pandemic and has been my main area of focus since moving to Nashville. As a multi instrumentalist, producing was a natural progression in my musical journey. It allows me to utilize all of my skills and combine them into one discipline. I am most proud of my artist project, Francis Graham, that is set to release on Feb 14th. As someone who’s been writing and producing my own songs for years but never sharing them, it feels amazing to finally take the first step. Francis Graham is an R&B/Pop project that showcases a side of my voice and musicality that a lot of people might not associate with me.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Artists and creatives most valuable resource is time. Time to be still. Time to think. Time to experiment. Time to create without any stipulations. The societal pressure put on artists these days to be marketers, video editors, content creators, brand managers is taking away their time to develop new ideas. Artist development takes a long time. As a society, I think we need to value art more and value the time that it takes to create it. If you want to support an artist, buying their music, buying their merch and going to see them live will have a real impact beyond just streaming their music.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think a lot of people underestimate how much work and energy being a creative takes. It’s a 24/7 job, there are no weekends or holidays. I’ll often hear remarks about how I might now wake up until noon because I’m a musician and people assume that it’s the rock and roll lifestyle they see on TV. All those cliches couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s such a competitive field that you have to constantly be pushing yourself to be better. It’s a way of existing and you have to constantly be looking a life through a creative and imaginative lens. Inspiration is often found in the unlikeliest of places.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.francisgraham.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gmallany/

Image Credits
Zack Knudsen Anna-Micaiah Fairlight Hubbard