Ralph Bishop: An 18-Year-Old Virtuoso with a Timeless Sound
Ralph Bishop is an 18-year-old singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist from Dorset, UK, whose remarkable journey in music began as the frontman of a band at just 11 years old. Known for his passionate vocals and intricate guitar work, Ralph’s talent has already earned him accolades, including winning the Hangover Hill Under 18s original music competition in 2022. His electrifying performance with his band, Reddle, at a sold-out Poole Lighthouse was immortalized in the 2024 live album Live at The Lighthouse.
Currently studying jazz guitar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ralph blends influences like David Bowie, The Beatles, and The Zombies into a unique sound that straddles classic and modern, jazz and psychedelia. His debut single, The Man Without Words, was lauded by BBC Introducing as "musically genius," setting the stage for his highly anticipated debut album, The Path.
Crafted with a DIY ethos and refined in the studio, The Path is a heartfelt reflection of Ralph’s journey from Dorset to London, filled with sophisticated musicianship and lyrical depth. Poised to captivate audiences with his passion and skill, Ralph Bishop is a rising star with a sound and story that’s undeniably his own.
1. You’ve been in music since the age of 11, from fronting a band to releasing a live album. How has that early experience shaped your journey as a solo artist?
Having first picked up the guitar at the age of seven, I had my first experience in a band at the age of 11. Alongside playing covers from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, being in a band helped encourage me to start writing music. Although it was a few years before I started doing so consistently, many of my early songs have endured: Trash Society, written when I was 12, was still on my band’s setlist 6 years later. Initially, most of my songs were guitar led, suiting the classic rock sound of the band I was in by that time, Reddle, though with influences from jazz and other genres. In April 2023 we had the opportunity to perform our full set-list of original songs to a capacity audience at the
prestigious Lighthouse in Poole, supporting touring Welsh rock band, The Now, which also led to the release of our album Live at The Lighthouse. Being in a band certainly taught me valuable communication skills and the importance of listening to one another as a means of creating a good sound as a collective. But it was also what first fuelled my drive as a songwriter, leading me in new, more experimental directions, and eventually to the release of my solo album.
2. Your debut single, The Man Without Words, has been praised as “musically genius.” What inspired the song, and how did you approach blending intricate musicianship with emotional storytelling?
As a musician I draw upon my experience with an array of different genres, including jazz, classical and rock; my proficiency as an instrumentalist (mainly on guitar but also piano) and my desire to do things which are musically or conceptually unusual. For example, I made the decision to subtly employ different tempos throughout the song, which is interesting in itself, but also reflects the theme: I married this with the lyrics "Doctor Sober has nothing new, drinks his life away into...", in which the tempo speeds up, reflecting a sense of helplessness as life passes you by. I also like to have an approach to harmony that is unconventional (at least for popular music), making use of modal interchange/borrowed chords, which can be heard in the refrain with, "Night comes so fast and seems so long". Here I go from a pretty standard chord sequence/line cliché in A minor to suddenly using an ominous B-flat7 chord which helps to portray the sudden change from day to night. My approach to lyrics tends to involve stream of consciousness writing, inspired by the music, as I find this gives rise to richer imagery and twists and turns, so that the full themes and meaning often reveal themselves only in the process of writing the song, However, in essence the central theme of
this song is an awareness of time passing, which is something we all inevitably feel as we get older, best reflected in the lyric, "The clocks are cruel these days, forlorn their hands spin round and round and round", as we never feel like we have enough time to fulfil the things we aspire to.
3. You cite influences like David Bowie, The Beatles, and The Zombies, particularly the lyrical imagery and harmonies of Odessey and Oracle. How have these artists shaped your sound, and how do you balance classic inspiration with modern creativity?
From the day I was born, I was exposed to a range of music that included The Beatles, David Bowie, The Kinks, Elvis, The Zombies and even classical music, such as J.S. Bach and Ralph Vaughan Williams, all of which left an indelible impression upon me. The first album I fell in love with was Odessey and Oracle, at the age of four, and this has remained
one of my favourites. My debut album undoubtedly draws upon psychedelia and experimental rock from this period, both subconsciously and consciously, such as in the use of ethereal vocal harmonies in Solstice; the use of a mellotron plugin in Long Lonely Day and of a harpsichord in Photographs. Although I also listen to other genres, such as jazz and
more modern artists such as Hozier, Tom Odell, Keane, Travis, Michael Kiwanuka and even Geordie Greep, my earliest music influences run deeper. Nevertheless, time will tell where my music will go and how my influences will change, as I neither strive to be the next David Bowie nor to exactly adapt to 'modern creativity’. If a songwriter wants the best results, they should approach their work without judgement: they should never compromise their art to fit the Zeitgeist nor try to directly imitate something that has come and gone.
4. Your debut album, The Path, reflects two years of writing and recording. Can you share the story behind its creation—how did your DIY setup evolve into the polished studio version we hear today?
The earliest track that made it to this album was Solstice, written in 2022, but I had actually been writing songs and honing my arranging and production skills for a number of years before that. The impetus for the recording of the album came about through a new association with local record label and recording studio, Hangover Hill Records, after I won their under 18s original music competition and showcase in 2022. I was awarded some free studio time, which kickstarted the process. Over the next two years, I then gradually built up this new collection of songs, writing, arranging and recording them initially using my own DIY setup and then taking them to be refined and finished in a full studio. This involved re-recording the vocals to get better quality takes; adding drums; making tweaks and adding a additional parts to some of the songs, and then getting them mixed and mastered. The album draws heavily, both culturally and environmentally, upon the place I grew up, as someone who lived in the middle of nowhere: surrounded by trees, hills and empty fields. This album explores solitude, but equally my desire to achieve things in the wider world.
5. As a jazz guitar student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, how has your formal education influenced your approach to songwriting and performance? What’s next for you as you share The Path with the world?
My experience as a jazz guitarist has meant that I have the strong grasp of harmony that is necessary to produce the best compositions as a songwriter. While this is not a jazz album as such (in a compositional sense), I feel that a lot of aspects of jazz have carried across into my songwriting. This is perhaps best seen in Banker's Wages, with its a jazz-inspired guitar accompaniment and harmony that involves lots of II-V chord progressions, ubiquitous in jazz. Perhaps the most direct influence from jazz on this album was in the opening track, Chakra (Prelude) which was inspired by the introduction to Chick Corea's Spain on his album Light as a Feather - this is an artist I had been listening to a lot at the time of writing.Beyond this, my guitar solos have a lot of jazz influence, as can be heard for instance on The Man Without Words, where I blend my knowledge of jazz guitar language with a rock sensibility. I am already planning for my next projects in the coming years, and I am exploring the idea of making a more jazzy, guitar-based album with some potential collaborations. I also have many unreleased songs which didn't make it on to the album, some of which I may release over the next year.
