Julian Emery
Guitarist turned songwriter and producer, with early sessions for the likes of Atomic Kitten and Enrique Iglesias behind him and two decades writing and producing since, from McFly to Nothing But Thieves. Julian gives the writer-producer's view a session player can't.
About this episode
Julian grew up in a musical house, his dad an orchestral percussionist who worked on film scores, and switched from trumpet to guitar around eleven when AC/DC and Rush flipped the switch. By nineteen he was recording West End show albums in his dad's home studio, before covers bands, session work, and a deliberate move into writing and producing that has been his day job for twenty years.
It is really the story of that move from player to writer, and unusually open about the inner life of it: why he left session playing, how a writing room actually works, and how publishing advances, PRS, PPL and production points really add up. He is also candid about managing his own nervous system, with routine, short work stints and a philosophy of enjoying the process.
In this episode
Every theme we put to every guest. Jump straight to it in the video.
- 6:53The Road InAtomic Kitten's guitarist, a couple of Taylor Swift sessions, then back to the musical house he grew up in: an orchestral dad, gongs everywhere, and the day Rush and AC/DC arrived.
- 26:19The CraftWhy he had to be the one in charge of the sound, and the long climb in songwriting where every year you look back at the last one and wince.
- 38:34The HeadFive people in a room, an idea quietly dying, and somebody else starting something better. Accepting rejection several times a day, and why leaving the ego at the door took years rather than being a personality trait.
- 42:05The BodyThe massage table, and the fact he massages other people to get his objectivity back. A CrossFit class where a coach and a stranger hold him to it, the school run that sets the clock, a nap at half two, and being careful with how much thinking he does in a day.
- 50:50The MoneyPRS, PPL, mechanicals and a publishing advance that behaves exactly like a bank loan. What recouping really means, from someone who has done it.
- 55:08The MachineWarner Chappell writing camps. Two writers from every country in Europe, a castle in France, and a song written and produced radio-ready by seven each evening.
- 59:43The GearA butterscotch Telecaster thrown at a wall, the signature prototype that replaced it, and a JCM800 he keeps rebuilding back into exactly what it already was.
- 1:10:20The ReckoningWhat he would tell his eighteen-year-old self about flashy playing, and why the drummers on all the records are the ones nobody notices.
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