Jesse Neo (born April 28, 1997) is a British-Australian singer, songwriter, musician, DJ and producer. He records on a German-made Neumann microphone. Born into a musical family, he started learning the violin, piano and singing at the tender age of 7, and began composing the same year. By his teens, he had written over 20 songs, and by 18, more than 100.
You started writing music at the age of 7. What inspired you to begin writing? How did your upbringing influence your style?
I’ve been composing music since I started taking lessons, mostly to keep myself entertained when practising became tedious. Hence, I can’t really remember the actual date I started writing.
However, when I was in 5th Grade, I remember being given English homework to compose a lullaby and then perform it in class the next day. While most of the kids came up with cheesy lyrics to the tune of Rock-A-Bye Baby, my teacher was fascinated that I came up with an original song that the entire class loved. Eventually, the desire to write found a place in my heart.
As I grew, I was really into punk, rock and pop. Eventually when electronic music started becoming mainstream, I realized how easy it was to create such genre with a computer and a DAW. My knowledge of classical music also helped. To this day, I am inspired by David Guetta, Carl Cox, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki and Skrillex.
Of the more than 100 songs you’ve composed, which is your favorite, and why? Tell us about it.
I’ll say around 50 of the songs I’ve composed were symphonies, and the other 50 were more pop induced. My favorited one to date, I’ll admit, must be the score I composed titled, “Shooting Star Carnival’ that I did for a Music assessment when I was a 12th Grader. It took me around a week to write. At first, I didn’t give much thought about it. Then I remember my teacher listening to it and exclaiming that it sounded a lot like the Hungarian composer, Gábor Darvas – which at that time, I had no idea who he was. After some research, I realized he was one of the pioneers of electronic music!
Please tell us all about Gemtracks.com. How are you involved? What can someone visiting the site expect?
After I started releasing electronic music in 2017, I was suddenly approached by several YouTube channels requesting me to create some study music for them. They were pretty much instrumental beats to help the listener concentrate and calm down. I received a good pay for the job, and the clients were very happy. That gave me the idea to create a marketplace where I could sell unused instrumentals and beats for anyone to purchase. That marketplace eventually became known as Gemtracks.
I am involved with everything on the website. I programmed it (I studied Music and Computer Science at university), designed the interface and graphics, and eventually did the marketing too.
Today, Gemtracks is a public marketplace that anyone can use to sell and buy beats. Soon, I will be releasing a tool that visitors will be able to use to create their own websites to sell beats on.
If you could collaborate with one musician, living or dead, who would that be and why?
I really want to collaborate with Lady Gaga. She is such a talented musician, having bought up classical music education like I did – who then eventually became a pop icon. I also love the fact that she is also into technology and is constantly looking for ways to reinvent pop culture.
How has the ongoing pandemic affected your music career? Where do you see music going in the next couple of years?
Ever since the pandemic started, I have not visited any recording studios or performed any gigs. So, for now, I have been working solely on Gemtracks and helping other people get their names out as beatmakers and composers. However, when the pandemic is over, I will surely get back into the studio to work on some more electronic music.