Teacher by trade, music maker by passion, Archer is a proud Transgender man and LGBTQI+ musician based in Perth Western Australia. He draws his influence from artists such as noahfinnce, Alex the Astronaut, Jake Scott and Ed Sheeran to bring you quirky and catchy tunes.
Armed with a new voice and a new outlook on life, Archie is now ready to bring his own self-produced songs out for your listening pleasure. On his new song, “Finally Gonna Say,” Phan gives us a cotton candy love song with a bittersweet ending. The warmth and Phan’s voice — coupled with the joy he so obviously takes in it — makes the song into a beautiful moment.
Who are some of your musical influences?
It’s cliché but one of my musical influences is Ed Sheeran, I fell in love with the way he writes and how he captures you with his lyrics. I can see the world he is singing about, play out in my head and I think that’s just magical. I was also a massive fan of musicals and punk rock (Green Day, Blink 182), pop punk (Paramore) and emo music (My Chemical Romance) which I feel plays subtly in my sound. I am also influenced by other transgender artists like Ryan Cassata, Skylar Kergil and Jaimie Wilson.
Do you start off with the music or lyrics first? Why?
It depends, I like to be organic as much as possible and sit somewhere with my guitar and hand and see what flows out of me. Sometimes there is a line or some lyrics that pop into my head and I start there, sometimes I’m playing around with chord progressions until a feeling or idea comes to life. If I am trying to be in a song writing mood, I will sit down with pen and paper and just scribble words, but I usually find that process doesn’t work as effectively for me.
How do you feel your coming out journey plays into your music?
Before transitioning, I’d sing lyrics and sometimes they felt like they didn’t sit, that they didn’t feel right. I was singing lyrics based on what society would expect in a song or expect to hear and to me my music and lyrics just weren’t authentic. Now singing and writing songs as a transman has helped bring new life into my songs and allowed me to feel more connected to the lyrics I’m writing and true to myself as an artist.
Do you try to make the most of being in a city, or do you prefer to just rest up?
When I am traveling I love to see the sites and explore, so I like to make the most of it. Before I go to a city, I like to do my research and find cool things to do and plan out how I am going to make the most of my time there.
What’s the best way a fan can support you?
It’s really simple actually, just streaming my songs on whatever major streaming platform they listen to and sharing my track to others. Little things like that make a massive difference and can really help a small artist.
Archer Phan — Instagram, TikTok
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