PRODUCER, writer, and DJ 220 Kid a.k.a. William Edward Graydon, played at ‘Into the Woods’ music festival last weekend.

Having lived in Weobley and played his first ever gigs here he was excited to return and support the county’s music scene for Bartestree's Into The Woods festival, the first unrestricted music event since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020.

He topped the UK singles chart with his sea shanty track Wellerman, which he produced alongside Billen Ted for former Scottish postman and social media star Nathan Evans.

Then his collaboration ‘Don’t Need Love’ with Gracey peaked at no 9 on the UK singles chart in 2020.

This subsequently led to another achievement for 220 Kid by getting shortlisted for the 2021 British Single with Mastercard award at this year’s Brit awards.

When he returned to play his set on the Friday at the festival, he shared his thoughts on the festival and music scene in Herefordshire with Hereford Times reporter, Hattie Young:

What’s it like being back in Herefordshire?

I love it, it’s class here, it’s so nice and everyone is always so nice. Everyone really wants to have a good time today so it’s really great.

What do you think about Into the Woods?

I think it’s brilliant, it’s great, it’s so nice. We’ve had such a negative couple of years so you see people having a great time, dancing, smiling being happy, why would you not want that, I want to be behind that, I want to be a part of it.

How did you become a part of Into the Woods?

When I was in Herefordshire, I didn’t know there was much of a music scene, then I saw these guys on Instagram and I thought ‘ah there’s stuff going on’ and then it started building, then they asked me to come and play and I said, ‘Yes absolutely’.

Do you think it’s important for the music industry to be supported in Hereford?

Of course. You don’t really know where talent is, my breaks came from people getting behind me and giving me opportunities. Unless there’s a scene no one can find the talent, even the people making the music don’t have a chance.

If you have no one supporting you, no one that cares, then you might give up.

Do you think it’s important for you to be here?

I want to take what I can do with my platform and people and be like ‘this is a sick festival’ so maybe next year other people can be like ‘I want to go and play there’.

It’s brilliant, you don’t really even realise translating it how good it is. So, I want to use my platform to show other artists I know and other people to help grow it, because I think it’s great.

What advice would you give to people in Herefordshire trying to get into the music industry?

Just don’t give up. There are always times when you want to quit. If I’m the last person doing what I’m doing then I have to succeed, at some point someone will understand it.

If anyone’s ever working on there music and not sure about it, always stick with it, just be yourself. My first big hit ‘Don’t Need Love’, I had for two years, and no one cared about it, but I knew it was a good song, so I just never gave up.

I thought I’m not going to chase other sounds; I’m not going to chase other people. I’m just going to be me and eventually someone’s going to like it. And they did.

Will you come back to play in Hereford again?

Definitely. Coming here is great so if I could come back, I’d love it.

You’ve got to support your local community because it’s easy to use it as a steppingstone and leave, but I can come back and sell out shows and give new talent a platform to show their music, share it on my social media, it’s really important.

People gave me a platform and without that it wouldn’t have happened for me.