Today we are thrilled to introduce you to Paul McKeever who just released his very first single under the name of Oroco. ‘Enough’ is an emotional one, not just because of the piano, voice that touches your heart but also it was inspired by one very tragic real story. We already featured the track on our New Music Sunday playlist and we’ve been waiting for this moment where we will be able to share this conversation. We invite you to join us on a journey and get to know Oroco a little better.
Congratulations on your debut release! Tell us about the journey until the moment ‘Enough’ saw the light of day!
I’d been focused on production music for several years, creating pop tracks for library releases and sync. That was fun and it’s always great to hear your songs on TV.
In music there are so many directions you can go in.
OROCO
I think you have to stay true to what you enjoy doing the most and feel confident of delivering it to a high standard. I realised the things I love doing the most are writing and recording, and I really wanted to expand this to other avenues beyond production music.
This coincided with a real urge to start a fresh project and get more active in commercial releases. So, Oroco was born in early 2021 and Enough was chosen as my first single release.
Debut single will always be remembered by your true fans as the song that started it all. What made you decide to select ‘Enough’ to begin the journey?
Enough was one of the tracks I’d written for a production music album at the time. After listening to the whole album before finalising it with the label this song stood out to me, and I wanted to try to do something different with it. After a few unsuccessful pitches to publishers, I decided to earmark it as a potential first single for my own commercial music project which was itself starting to become clearer.
What is the story behind your moniker Oroco? What is the meaning behind it and do you remember when it was born?
I was trying to think of a name that was short, memorable, and sounded right for an emotive piano-based artist. There wasn’t a lot of science to it. Oroco just arrived in my head one day and I added it to my list of potentials. It was the one I just kept coming back to all the time. I thought it just sounded and felt right. I did multiple checks and couldn’t find any other artist with that name. So, I just went with it. It was pretty much around the same time I decided to release ‘Enough’ as a first single.
‘Enough’ is emotive and moving, highlighting the pain of the human race. This is a powerful statement. Can you tell us more about the situation that inspired you to write the song?
I was on my way to Rome for a songwriting session and I read about a British guy in the UAE who was imprisoned on suspicion of being gay. Even though his accuser dropped the case, he was still prosecuted and sentenced. His family were unable to visit or assist with his legal case due to the preventative laws in the UAE. This, along with multiple other stories I read about honour crimes at the time, sparked a song idea which was to address the feeling of not being able to be your true self or hiding away all the time for fear of being victimized, or prosecuted, or worse. I wanted to acknowledge the personal torment of this as well as offer hope that you can take charge of your situation and change it over time.
In ‘Enough’ I wanted to address the feeling of not being able to be your true self or hiding away all the time for fear of being victimized, or prosecuted, or worse.
OROCO
What does it mean for you to be truly free?
Having choices, being happy with who you are (and aren’t), being able to set your own direction and live your life fully.
It’s about loving who you want to love, living the life you want to live and being able to be your true self in relationships and situations.
OROCO
Living in London, I’m grateful to see true freedom in action every day. People of all ethnicities, social backgrounds, sexualities, ages, and abilities are able to live completely freely together.
It’s not just about where you live though. Many people don’t feel they can be themselves because of family, work, or social expectations. But with growing confidence in who you are and the direction you want to go in you can make more conscious choices that are right for you rather than primarily to appease others, and that’s ultimately what being free is about I’d say.
2020-2021 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, however at the same time a lot of positive things are happening too. What were the moments that you were truly grateful for that happened in the last 15 months?
Firstly, I was grateful I remained healthy through 2020-21 as did all my close family and friends. It was an incredibly tough year for a lot of people who I know suffered immensely.
I’d say the last 15 months have made me a bit more appreciative of small things, such as personal freedoms and wellbeing, that I would have probably taken for granted in previous years.
The last 15 months have made me a bit more appreciative of small things
OROCO
Being fundamentally an optimist, I thought we’d be out of this pandemic before now. There’s still a significant way to go to get back to where we were. But I’m excited about the fantastic vaccine program now underway in the UK. I really hope the wider vaccine rollout across the world happens fast now too.
Did the lockdown have an impact on how you create music?
Well, I invested in a new piano at home! That inspired me to get back to basics more with chords, harmonies, and melodies. It also got me laying down tracks in the living room rather than a studio, which was really liberating and something I want to keep up.
Even though this is your first solo single, you are no newcomer in the music business. What is your proudest achievement so far?
As mentioned, my projects have been mostly writing and producing in the broadcast music world so far. It has been great hearing my tracks played on TV shows. A particular highlight was a recent episode of The Voice UK where my song was nicely slotted between an Ed Sheeran track and a Miley Cyrus one. Other proud usages of note were on the Craig David episode of Channel 4’s Jamie & Jimmy’s Friday Night Dinners and the popular Netflix dating show Love is Blind.
Tell us more about your creative process? How do songs come to you?
Usually, it starts with defining a vision for the song. Sometimes that could be based on another song or artist I like. Then I come up with a key, chord progression and tempo that I think fits that vision.
Typically, I’ll experiment with the chord progression and how it’s played on the piano or a synth. Then I’ll build out two or three variations of the chords. Then I’ll do an arrangement i.e., this progression for the verses, this one for the pre-chorus, this for the middle 8 etc.
After that I usually start laying in some melody ideas, differentiating the verse, p/c, and chorus. Sometimes a lyric will also come to me at that point which could become an idea for the song. I remember that happening with ‘Enough’. I just kept singing ‘there’s nothing new about the moonlight’ over one section for some reason.
When I get a good melody down then I start with the lyrics in earnest. I go back to what I intended the song to be about and try to come up with a theme/ title or some idea to get the lyric writing process going. I love this part of the process. It’s never a linear thing for me. It’s more likely I’ll come up with a couple of lines in the chorus first, or even the pre-chorus. It’s like tackling a puzzle thereafter. I must build the story up to get to those lines in the song. Then take the story somewhere else in the second verse, bridge etc. I will usually re-write the lyrics many times until it all fits.
I’m just pleased we have notes on the phone these days. If I hand wrote lyrics into a notebook, it would be a total dog’s dinner by the finish.
OROCO
Do you remember the moment your song was played on TV? Tell us about how you feel?
I remember my first usage on Neighbours (Channel 5). My song Thunder was blaring out in the background in a café scene, then it played over the Ramsay Street sign in the next filler section. It was nice, I always wanted to be on Neighbours! I thought, ‘hey, I’m right up there with Kylie now!’.
What advice would you share to those who would like to focus on sync too?
I’d say firstly work out what your goal is and be clear what your strategy is to achieve it. If your main goal is to build your profile as an artist, then you probably need a sync agent or to dedicate time to pitching directly for sync opportunities. If your goal is just to get your music used by production companies and you’re not bothered about raising your artist profile (e.g., you just want another outlet for music you’ve produced) then you could go down the production/ library music route. But in the latter route you’ll either need to pay to get your music included in a non-exclusive aggregator/ library or sign your copyright over to a label/ publisher who will exploit it on your behalf.
Production music channels work differently from commercial music channels. Quite often artists are confused about the differences and have the wrong expectations. It’s important to do your research, set the right goal for yourself, partner with proven players and be patient. It’s also generally a slow burn as royalties don’t come until quite some time after the TV usages but it can build up to a decent regular income stream over time.
OROCO
Music to me is probably the most powerful form of self-expression and communication there is in the world.
You are planning to share not only your original music this year but also cover versions of other songs. I’m curious what is the criteria for selecting the songs?
The covers will be piano acoustic versions of songs that I really admire. I will be collaborating with vocalists and other musicians on these. It’s an exciting challenge covering an existing song, particularly well-known ones. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while and I’m very much looking forward to the experience.
Do you have a song that when you hear it, you’d day “damn, I wish I’d written that’?
‘Anywhere Away From Here’ by Rag’N’Bone Man. His performance of that with Pink at this year’s Brits was phenomenal, one of the all-time greats. I love the recorded song (wish I’d written it) and that live performance took it to another level.
Close your eyes. Imagine its 20th of January 2022. How would you summarize 2021?
The year we all tried so hard to get back up.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
Just a personal thank you if you have taken an interest in my music. I’m ever grateful for your engagement, comments, feedback, or suggestions on any of it.
Make sure to connect with Oroco
Introducing » Artists We Interviewed
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
