Today we’d like to introduce you to Oliver Lynch.
Hi Oliver, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started playing drums when I was 12 and eventually began playing every week in the youth band at the church I grew up going to. That was really my first consistent experience playing music with other people and being part of something bigger musically.
Over the years, I would pick up a guitar here and there, but I never really committed to learning it. Eventually, I picked one up again with the intention of actually sticking with it and seeing where it could take me.
Then, in April of this year, I met rememberbuddha through our day job. I found out that he wrote and produced his own music, so I listened to some of his work and immediately loved what he was doing. Eventually, we got to talking about music, and he asked me to put some guitar on a few songs he was working on.
A few weeks into collaborating, I came to him one day and told him that I had written a song of my own. That conversation basically set everything in motion. Now we’re finishing up my first release, glitter, along with the promotional content surrounding it, and it’s exciting to finally be at the point where something that started as just an idea is about to become real and have the opportunity to share it with people.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’d say it’s been one of those roads that intermittently has foot-deep potholes in it that completely rock you before becoming smooth again. There have definitely been stretches where life felt impossible, and I’ve had to deal with my own internal struggles along the way—being trans in a conservative state and religious family, gaining and maintaining my sobriety, mental health struggles, and unstable relationships.
But I think those experiences have also shaped the way I approach music. Sometimes the things you’re trying to work through are exactly the things that give you something worth creating from. I don’t think the road has been perfectly smooth, but I’m starting to appreciate that maybe it wasn’t supposed to be. I wouldn’t be able to create what I’m currently creating without the experiences that shaped me.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Right now, I’m still at the beginning of figuring out exactly who I am as an artist, which is honestly part of what makes this exciting. I’m not coming into this with everything already mapped out. I’m learning, experimenting, and trying to create music that feels honest to me rather than forcing myself into a particular sound or identity. Most of what I’m working on right now falls under indie or punk categories, though.
What I’m most proud of so far is simply taking the step from being someone who plays and collaborates on music to actually writing something of my own and putting it out into the world. There’s a big difference between having ideas privately and deciding to share them with other people. I’ve always had anxiety surrounding displaying myself and my inner world in such a public way, and this experience is giving me the confidence to do exactly that.
I think what will ultimately set me apart is my perspective and willingness to be vulnerable. There are obviously a lot of talented musicians out there, but nobody else has lived my exact life, experienced things the way I have, or translated those experiences into words and music in exactly the way I can. I’m still discovering how that translates into my music, but I think authenticity is more interesting than trying to be the next version of someone else.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’d definitely consider myself a risk-taker. The funny thing is, I also overthink pretty much everything, so it’s not usually a case of me jumping into something without considering the consequences. It’s more like I’ll spend an absurd amount of time thinking through every possible outcome, fully acknowledge that something might be an objectively horrible idea, and then do it anyway. I love to learn things the hard way.
I think, for me, risk is less about being fearless and more about not letting fear make the final decision. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes you learn a very expensive and painful lesson, but I’d rather deal with the consequences of doing something than constantly wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t.
Putting out my own music definitely falls into that category. It’s vulnerable to create something that’s actually yours and then put it in front of people to judge, ignore, connect with, misunderstand, or whatever else they might do with it. But at a certain point, you have to accept that you can’t control any of that and just hope that the right people listen and feel even a little less isolated in this world.
I think some of the best and worst experiences in my life have come from taking risks. I’m still figuring out which ones belong in which category. But I will always take the risk, because I know I’m going to learn something valuable from it, regardless of whether the experience is ultimately positive or negative.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olivermichael.13
