And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox.
When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue.
to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and
Nick and today our special guest is IJ Swannypool
aka Stephen Gawkin aka the nuclear lyricist We're
Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about
musical entertainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox! And
now on Chatterbox UK, we're lucky enough to welcome
Jay, aka Stephen Gorkin, the nuclear lyricist.
Stephen, welcome. How are you, sir? Good evening,
Jay. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Yeah,
we're all good. Thank you. And thank you for
coming on Chatterbox. As I said off air, I got
to know you through the late Dussie Clayton,
through his excellent podcast. I've heard you
on there two or three times, and that's why I
sent you a friend request and a request to come
on to Chatterbox. The production, the stuff you
come out with is first class. So I thought, yeah,
it'd be great for the British audience to hear
your stuff and to have an interview with you.
So there we go. How did it all start? Let's talk
about perhaps your... the personal aspects of
your life, like the disability, because obviously
that's been a major part. So I believe it's Spinal
Muscular Astrophy Type 2. Tell us all about that
and was it from birth? How old were you? Give
us that and then we'll talk about how it affected
you as a kid and how you developed into the music
through it. Yeah, so I was basically... diagnosed
at the age of one and spinal muscular atrophy
it's very similar to what Stephen Hawking had
MND but it's much less progressive so it takes
much longer to you know to take effect on your
body so yeah so I've been living with it my whole
life I'm 33 years old now and yeah so it has
taken quite a toll on my body still hopeful and
positive and now we keep fighting the good fight.
I wouldn't say it was more of a passion than
anyone else as I feel about music. Music has
always just been around and on a separate capacity.
I always liked playing around with words and
writing lyrics and stuff like that, but I never
really thought of doing anything with it. And
around 2018, around there, I decided maybe I
should produce two what you call it, passion,
homies together, and let's see what comes of
it, you know? And, yeah. So, it's next to a legacy
project now, you know, it gives me, gives me
a sense of purpose, and, yeah, yeah. Well, it's
some really great stuff as well because We've
got a wonderful thing called bubblegum milkshake
Featuring Eva Morgan now that is quite quite
fantastic. That is so I mean, how did you you
meet Eva? How do you meet the people you work
with? I mean, is it just social media through
does he was it or or how did that all come because
you seem to have a You know a group of people
you've been working with anyway, it seems. Yeah.
No, you know, we were fortunate to live in a
technological area, you know. So, you know, we
can connect with people right around the world.
So, but yeah, I got in contact with a producer
called Bobby Johnson and he's like my co -producer.
He has a studio in Bloomfontein Field Study in
South Africa. So we... got in contact and i told
him you know i'm gonna do this this is a concept
what do you think and he said yeah i know he
loves the idea let's see where it goes yeah and
that's how it all started so and then yeah every
song we produce and write together we then decide
okay who are we going to get on as a vocalist
let's try someone new let's try you know a different
angle and stuff like that, so we're not like
limited, like I would say, you know, your ordinary
or typical band or group or artist, you know,
we play around the sounds and female, male, you
know, depends, you know, so we are not limited
in terms of creativity, we just go with the flow
and, you know, where the sound takes us and we
go with it. Sure in your press release The demographic
music sent me a lovely lovely thing from you
and it says My life is a portrait and I hold
the paintbrush. I got dealt a bad hand, but I
play it like a royal flush Oh, that's amazing.
So it says it all Growing up, I mean, how did
you find things growing up? Was it a normal school?
Were the kids okay? Or were they cruel like kids
can be? How did life treat you as you were growing
up? Yeah, look, it always comes to the theatre,
you know. People always, you know, treat you
differently in a certain way. But I wouldn't
say more cruel or anything like that. It's just...
you will always have that, you know, it comes
with the territory. Like I say, you know, people
will always treat you differently until you earn
a sense of, how can I say, I don't want to say
earn a sense of respect, but you have to put
yourself out there in a way. And then when people
get to know you, then, you know, it kind of equals
the, how can I say, the playing ground, if that
makes sense, you know? So you just have to, I
mean, The world is religious, you know, and we
have to face it as it is, and it's just religious.
I mean, I don't play the victim card ever. Like
with Dero, who is my PR manager, you know, the
first thing I told him is like, you know, we
never play the victim card. We don't do that.
We just carry on and do what we do and try to
inspire other people in doing what we do. Yeah,
so that's how we go with it. Yeah, yeah. I'm
asking these questions mainly for other people
at home that might be needing the... I mean,
you're the great ambassador. You get on and you
do your music and you believe in your music and
that's really what you are. You're the musician
and producer and everything else. I'm asking
these questions just for people at home, maybe
alone, may not have your outlook in life and
just hoping it might help them a little bit.
That's where I was going with it. Sue would like
to ask you a question. Jay, who inspires you?
Yeah, no, it looks great. That's a difficult
question to answer. I can't really explain it.
It's like, I guess, you know, I came to the realization
that I have this fire inside of me that is ultimately
given to me by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
you know, and ultimately that has just kept me
going in my own life. I can't explain, like...
that like a certain thing keeps me going. I just,
you get up, you go on, and you carry on. But
in terms of inspiration for my art, you know,
I get inspiration, especially even from TV, film,
it doesn't matter, you know, artists can inspire
other artists ultimately, and that's what art
is, you know, it's a reflection of the human
soul. And yeah, at the end of the day, I see
myself mostly as a storyteller and I just chose
the medium of music to tell my stories at the
moment, you know? So yeah, I hope that answers
your question. Perfectly. Now you said you got
into this in about 2018, so of course COVID -19
came along effectively we say early 2020. So
would you say, I mean it was a very, what should
we say, creative time for a lot of people, so
would you say, that's just really bad wording
saying it came at the right time, would you say
that, you know... it got you it was the right
it was the right time to get your creative juices
flowing because 2018 2019 early 2020 was say
uh of course that's when all the lockdowns started
coming in around the world so uh what what did
you do during the lockdowns i mean was it creative
for you did you did you just escalate for you
and that's how you ended up being the person
we see today yeah ultimately like even like our
business model or creative model you know that
no effect on us you know like I said previously
you know fortunately we live in a technological
age so we could just carry on you know the same
it really had no effect on us personally so but
you know you see social media and people get
you know they're getting down and frustrated
with life and in in that sense it inspired me
to try to be a shining light of hope in a dark
time, I guess. We just carried on doing what
we do. Hopefully, for us, it was not as bad as
other artists that use a different business model
like they do live performances. tour at the county
or whatever you know so it doesn't have effect
on us but other artists really really fronted
and they still you know they still struggle with
the aftermath of the launch. Well yeah because
some people uh some artists of course were reliant
100 % on uh uh on their income from concerts
and gigging and things like that so yeah that
is the number that's the number one uh business
model in South Africa for an artist you know
in terms of streams and technological sales I
guess you won't make your living you know so
you have to do you have to do a gig here and
there and do what you do so yeah for us you know
we are fortunate and I'm in a privileged position
with family and loved ones you know always supporting
me so I can't complain. Yeah. Great. Fantastic.
I see obviously we've come out of the lockdown.
I see 2023 as the release of a single. Do excuse
my pronunciation in case I make a big zero of
it. Chesley and Colby in an office... Cubisil
featuring Hemel, Bessam, Luffy, Gazelle and Vickers
Visser, is it? A powerful hip -hop pop anthem,
champions perseverance in the face of doubt,
echoing the ethos. Rather try and fail than fail
to try the song embodies and potentially. So
yeah, that was 2023. also in 2023 i see here
this is very race and what was an incredible
year uh your late sister andrea she she passed
i believe from spinal muscular astrophy type
one yes the age of just five so we're really
sorry to hear about that but thank you for for
sharing that so this has been so you did a collaboration
with uh edwin cat and kulaks and the single release
was Andrea the angelic yeah yeah yeah that's
absolutely beautiful yeah yeah she passed away
in uh 1994 oh sorry i see you did the you did
the you did the song in that year sorry i've
got you yeah it's a story to tell and i should
uh do something with it and yeah it takes two
to tangle and to to present a radio show so here's
Nick and Sue your musical duo this is Nick and
Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to
know about musical entertainment Shadowbox, Shadowbox,
Shadowbox, Shadowbox 2024, your musical journey
took a profound turn with Demons and Disorders
featuring Nathan Blur and then we've also got,
let's have a look, Remember the Dream also again
featuring Nathan Blur And then we take us to
2025. We've already mentioned the fantastic Bubblegum
Milkshake, which Sue's not had the pleasure of
hearing yet, but she will do later. Had we not
got stuck in the traffic jam, she would have
heard it before. I just love the name. It's an
amazing effort, that one. Also in 2025, with
Clint Brink, you did a thing called The Way.
And you remember the dream we've mentioned now,
yeah. What have we got? Now we're in 2026, Jay.
What have we got coming out in 2026? What are
your plans for this year? What can we expect
to hear from you? and you know it's a threat
to creativity but there's also a side to it where
we ultimately must embrace it you know i mean
it's not going anywhere and at the end of the
day true creativity comes from the human soul
and that's what the title manna you know it's
it's we don't really know where it comes from
or what it is but creativity comes from human.
So, you know, it will be genetic and all that,
but it will never tell a story like a human can
tell a story. So that will, that will situation
we find ourselves in and yeah. As you say, embrace
it. I mean, AI, there's no points. In my opinion,
someone bringing out something that's 100 % AI.
singing or, you know, music production. However,
it can be useful. It can be helpful. But like
I say, as you say, embrace it is a great way
of looking at it. However, we did have this thing
in the in the 80s when the drum machines come
out and everybody thought it was going to be
the end of a drummer. Now there's plenty of groups
out there still with drum drummers. So possibly
not. I think people are panicking a bit, but
no. it's not going to replace it embrace it as
you say technically we didn't use the word embrace
the drum machine back in the day but that's what
happened and there's plenty of drummers out there
as you know yourself so hopefully it's going
to be something similar to that hopefully yeah
i mean even if you look at autotune when it came
out you know it's the same concept if you really
think about you know it's a set to real vocalist
but at the end of the day we still have good
vocalist where we are here in this day and age
so I feel like it will be a place for everyone
to do what they love and you know experience
themselves and like I said ultimately we as human
beings we are artists it comes from our soul
and yeah we can just express ourselves and whatever
medium we use we might just tell our stories
If that makes sense, you know? Absolutely. When
can we expect the new song to be out? The new
single to be out? Yeah, I'm aiming for around
end of April, May. Then I think everything will
be in line and we can run a solid PR campaign.
So yeah, we're looking at end of April, beginning
of May. Sure, no, absolutely. So I'll be getting
all your stuff anyway. He's going to be sending
me everything. So we'll be looking for that and
playing that. I'll be looking forward to hearing
from you. If there's anything up to the standard
of your other stuff, it's going to be fantastic
and worthy of some radio play. So there you go.
Let me ask you, what's it like having a British
audience listening to you on the scale of 230
stations and what's it like people in the UK
being interested in you? It's a massive honour
and it's a privilege to be on your show and to
tell my story. It doesn't matter. who listens
to my story, I just want to tell my story and
hopefully inspire people to keep fighting the
good fight. It doesn't matter what your demographic
or your location is. Have you got anything for
Jay? Jay, what sort of music was you listening
to when you were growing up? Yeah, so that's
the thing. I was always mostly eclectic, but
my favorite was hip -hop. So when we started
in 2018 -19, you know, our first few singles
was very much hip -hop influenced. And, you know,
at the end of the day, you have to listen to
your audience and the people around you. So me
and Devo got together and we said, maybe we should
move into a more of a... pop commercial type
of genre to reach more people and get more radio
play ultimately so that's why you will see ultimately
i guess from remember the dream we made that
shift into a more pop So that's the way we're
going forward now, you know, not limited, but
we want to be as commercial as possible to reach
as many people as possible. So, you know, it's
not about, you know, I can be selfish and stubborn
and do what I want to do, but ultimately you
have to listen to what people say around you.
And, you know, you can't just let your creativity
flow. uncontrollably if that makes sense so you
have to keep yourself in check and people around
you must keep you also in check you know so yeah
stay in touch with your audience is basically
what I'm trying to say that's cool absolutely
you've been great chatting Jim before we let
you go let's look at your social media I've got
it all up here by the looks of it so it's uh
Stephen Gorkin the uh nuclear lyricist and uh
you're on facebook literally as nuclear lyricist
uh got x nuclear lyricist uh same as instagram
uh tiktok is at the nuclear lyricist uh youtube
you got a channel on there Fantastic, so they
could be looking at you there. Spotify, you're
on. Apple Music, so YouTube we mentioned, and
you're on Deezer as well. No doubt you're on
a whole bunch of other stuff. Is there websites
or any other social media that I've missed there
that you'd like to mention? The website is stevengooking
.online. but yeah you can go to all the social
media platforms as you mentioned and all the
streaming platforms yeah will be uh searched
away so please share and search and you know
like and subscribe to anyone that's listening
we appreciate the support No, it's fantastic
and and and you are a great great artist great
great producer and Like I say, it wasn't just
the interview with does he? He went a bit further
there. I thought that this guy's really great
I need to talk to him not only about about the
music but also about him as well And I thought
yeah the the British audience will love to meet
you. So that's what we've done and here you are
So thank you so much. It's been a great interview.
Yeah No, thank you both for having me Are you
on now? Yeah, no, likewise. So Jay, Steve Gawkin,
the nuclear lyricist, thank you so much for coming
on Chatterbox UK and the Redux podcast, and let's
do it again sometime. So keep in touch and we'll
keep an eye on chat about something else you're
doing in the future. Anytime, thank you. Thank
you very much. Jay, thank you very much. Thanks,
Jay. Thank you, thank you. You've been listening
to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and
Nick and today our special guest was IJ Swanipool
aka Stephen Galkin aka the nuclear lyricist.
If you're interested in becoming a future guest
on the Chatterbox Redux podcast or the radio
show Chatterbox UK you're welcome to submit songs,
books or whatever it is you do and send us a
CV, synopsis or press release. However, we receive
several thousand such press releases every week
and it's impossible to reply to each one. individually.
Why not email us or leave a comment because we'd
love to know what you think of the podcast. Our
email address is nickelbum at myyahoo .com. Alternatively,
you could write to us at P .O. Box 26, the Old
Observer Building, Telford Road, St. Leonard
-on -Sea, East Sussex, England, TN 38 9LZ. And
wherever it is you choose to listen to the Chatterbox
Redux podcast. Don't forget to give us a like,
a follow, a favorite or whatever it is on that
platform just so you don't miss a future episode.
Sue, myself Nick and Twinkle the tuxedo cat,
thank you very much for your company and we look
forward to welcoming you again next time for
another Chatterbox Redux podcast. In the meantime,
take care, we thank you for your company and
we catch you then. Bye bye. This is Nick and
Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to
know about musical attainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox!
The best news is...