An Evening With Temporex

I’ll set the scene for you.

A cold February Friday night. Dublin’s streets awash with a medley of parkas, mini-skirts and everything in between. Pre drinks in every kind of bottle that would contain a half naggin of Huzzar with an atmosphere so electric you could almost taste it. The first day of the month and last day of the week. Pay day had brought us all out of our shells and onto the lash. Something about the cold seems to bring about an indescribable excitement you simply can’t find at any other time of year, the yearning for warmth and the anticipation of the night brings out the best in us all.

And there was I, sipping on my cocktail in Peruke and Periwig. I had a job to do, to capture how Spotify had given up and coming indie performer Temporex the ability to reach an audience as far out as Dublin within the space of just under two years. Was I nervous? Fucking terrified. Here I was half a year into my course in Journalism with no clue of where my boundaries started or ended. With no press pass and looking like I had come straight out of NSYNC fan club the only thing I had on my side was my gumption. I had a point to prove, to myself if no one else.

I arrived at the Sound House on the keys of the Liffey around 20 minutes early to try suss out how I would get this interview my night relied so much on. Surprisingly the only thing that was checked was my ID as the mere mention of being a journalist seemed to be enough to prove my legitimacy. I spoke briefly to the organiser and was told chances are I’d get my interview. My night had been made before it even began.

Up the stairs I went to find being early had its merits. The venue was nearly empty save for a few lovely people who were more than happy to give me their time to find out how they had come to know Temporex.

The first lads I spoke to were two lads from Dundalk named Connor and Owen.

“So lads how did you discover Temporex?” I asked.

“On Spotify recommended” Conor Responded.

“Yeah me too to be honest through Spotify radio” Owen added with a laugh.

After this we had a bit of banter about the Irish music scene over a sly pint of Hop House. It wouldn’t be until after the concert that I’d get what felt like the interview of my lifetime and so I slowly sipped on my brew until the concert was over, getting a few sly interviews in while I could.

I then turned to Maddie and Sam, two girls from America, to ask them the same questions.

“How did you discover Temporex?” I asked.

“Through discover weekly on Spotify!” Said Maddie with a smile.

“Through Instagram actually, I saw him and found out he made music after following him for a while and gave him a listen” Said Sam.

Sorted, vox pops out of the way. I enjoyed the rest of the concert with my new friends all the while internally screaming at the thought of interviewing the same guy who I’d been listening to on repeat for the past 3 months.

The concert finished. Time to get serious. Joseph Flores aka Temporex came out into the crowd to grace us all with a fresh new picture for the Instagram to show all our followers how Indie we all were. I approached him, stomach in my mouth and asked to pull him aside for an interview. The thought of him turning to me and out straight saying “No” was near overwhelming, almost as overwhelming as him smiling at me and obliging.

So the interview began.

“Temporex, or Joseph sorry. How have you found Spotify has changed music recently ” I said trying with every part of me to hide my stutter.

“It gives artists pretty much a free-way straight to fans ears, and like, no matter where the location of that fan or music listener is, music is available to them at all the times and through their algorithm anyone no matter how small their audience is recommended to people all the time.”

“And who’d be your inspirations in music”

“When I was starting out I was really going off Gerry Paper and Tyler, The Creator. Now I’m starting to get into the classics like Prince and all them”

“Well listen thank you so much for the interview”

“No problem dude, thank you”

And so it was done. My whole night had led up to a minute and a half of what felt like a regular conversation . Joseph headed off shortly afterwards as he was off to London the next day as part of his Europe tour. A day or two later his song Nice Boys was added to Spotify's own Indie playlist, further extending his following.

I on the other hand spent my night with the rest of the concert goers talking about music and what-not finally free from my nerves. For my first night as a “music-journalist” it couldn’t have gone better. I had made my point, the ease of sharing music makes listening to music easier (a shocker I know). Everyone there had found Joseph through social media, be it Spotify or Instagram, and as a result he didn’t have to work his way up by playing in local dive bars.

In fact I’d argue that being a musician nowadays means the opportunity to be free of locality.

There is no such thing as local recognition anymore, in its place is genre recognition. You’re known based on the genre you specialise in and the quality of your content.

I’d like to end the article off with this. Clout now seems to be at its most acquirable place yet and much like news in its infancy, once something is easily acquired and accessible it then is no longer a goal but a commodity. We all have our own clout, be it your collection of Instagram followers or people like PewdiePie who have more followers than most countries have people. As a result the media we consume and produce defines us by far more than in our psyche but it is the very core of how we are perceived by those who follow us.

That is all. Thank you.