Former Snow Patrol guitarist and Ivor Novello Award winner Iain Archer talks songwriting, and the business side of music.

Like most guitar players Iain is fascinated by equipment, and he has worked hard on getting his set up just right.  As a songwriter he knows it is important that his guitar sound complements his melodies and gets his ideas across to the listener clearly and expressively.

Iain’s acoustic guitar is a Lowden Dreadnought that he has owned for over a decade, with a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker pickup across the soundhole.  The only problem Iain has with Rare Earth is their reliability.  “I’ve used four different ones and each seems to have a working life of about ten months.  The one I have at the moment tunes into BBC Radio 5 Live.  If you’re in the middle of gig and have run out of anecdotes to tell it can be very useful, because you can entertain everyone with a blast of talk radio between songs.”

You really know what you are talking about in terms of reference points and influences.  Who is your most important influence?

John Martyn was the person who made me pick up an acoustic guitar.  He can effortlessly go from being really melodic to being totally off the wall and he creates fantastic sonic landscapes and excursions. 

In terms of songwriting you can trace the whole UK folk scene back to Davey Graham, who wrote a famous track called Anji.  He brought Moroccan flavours into steel string acoustic guitars and is credited with introducing the DADGAD tuning into common usage.  He influenced loads of people, from Paul Simon to Jimmy Page.  Basically everybody who was anybody learned Anji, and that song kicked off the 1960s acoustic folk explosion. Well, that’s my version of it anyway!

I grew up in a very religious family in Bangor, Northern Ireland, where my dad was a vocal arranger for gospel quartets.  Early gospel is just so heavily dosed with harmony that it really gets under your skin.  It is amazing music to listen to for anyone who wants to understand how chords work.

How did you get involved with Snow Patrol?

Jonny Quinn and I played in countless Belfast bands together before he joined Snow Patrol.  When they needed some extra guitar for a TV appearance I was drafted in.  I did a lot of touring with them and helped to develop material for what became the Final Straw album. 

When we won the Ivor Novello Award the rest of the band was in the States, so I was designated award-picker-upper for the evening.  It was terrifying!  Lou Reed was sitting on the table next to me waiting to pick up his lifetime achievement award and there seemed to be legends everywhere.

What about the business side of things?  Who is your manager?

I am with a small company called Trust Management.  I never wanted to be on a huge roster with ten other bands all vying for attention.  I think it is vital to work with people that you can communicate with and have a consistent relationship with, and the guys at Trust work at a level that matches what I am trying to do.

You have a great history of collaboration and are working with some interesting artists at the moment.  Do you think collaboration makes for better songs and what tips do you have for people who are writing together?

When you work with someone else you are always being exposed to new ideas, so collaboration is important because it means I am always learning from the other person.  The most challenging thing when collaborating is to keep things moving.  It is important not to get bogged down in one idea.  Work on creating a rapport before you start writing, and be prepared to keep moving on and experimenting together until something clicks.  You’re looking for that moment where, as a unit, you sense that you're on to something.   As a rule I'm not sure that collaboration always makes for better songs, but sometimes it can create real magic. 

You have great arrangement and part-writing skills.  What do you try to do to make each song different?

When arranging songs I am always trying to create 'moments'.  Points where there is release or alignment.  Writing music is all about tension and release.  It is important that it doesn't happen predictably, otherwise it stops being interesting.  So I will work and rework parts.  I won't necessarily go for the first thing that comes, and I also try to avoid over-embellishing.  I find personally that overstatement, be it lyrically, melodically, sonically, is just a big turn off. 

Publishing is an important part of songwriting.  Who is your publisher and how useful are they? 

I am published by a company called Kobalt.  They are a relatively new company and are quite unusual in their set up.  Kobalt team me up with other writers and work to get my songs placed in film and TV.  They also collect my songwriting royalties worldwide.  Many publishing companies will often delay paying royalties by anything up to two years, but Kobalt account quarterly and pay you immediately.  I know that this stuff sounds really boring and insignificant, but believe me it becomes really important when it’s how you make your living