Interview - The Gleeman: "'It Ain't Over' really just challenges age prejudice in general, but it is my experiences in the music industry that inspired it"

The Gleeman (aka Dean Morris) returned on 27th March with ‘Even If You Miss’, the second mini-album in an ambitious trilogy of releases that also includes January’s ‘You’ll Land Among The Stars’ and the forthcoming full-length album ‘Shoot For The Moon’ (out 11 th September 2026). Released just weeks apart, the trilogy stands as a defiant statement of creative momentum, proving that age does not stifle ambition, imagination, or prolific output but sharpens it.

LATCH Magazine spoke to Dean last week, just after the release of the 2nd mini album.

With ‘Even If You Miss’ forming part of a rapid-release trilogy, what drove your decision to structure these records as an interconnected body of work rather than standalone albums?

Even though my debut album 'Something To Say' was only released in November 24, the majority of it was recorded in 2020, though a few later songs pushed some of the original off. I had been writing with quite some renewed vigor in the intervening period and found myself with a bucketful of songs that I needed to get out into the world. The songs very much capture and are informed by that particular period of time. I always knew the title of the second album was going to be 'Shoot For The Moon' (actually foreshadowed in the vinyl version of 'Something To Say' for those who know where to look!) but had too many songs that would 'go to waste' had I stuck to that format.

However, that title in it's expanded form of the full quote attributed to Norman Vincent Peale allowed me to conceive the trilogy concept of the connected albums and to take the listener on a longer voyage. Deciding what was going to go where was a challenge. In my view the songs on an album should take you on journey and not only are the songs arranged for that to happen there is also a notable journey across the three releases. 

The themes of ageing and resilience run strongly through this release—how have your personal experiences shaped the message behind the trilogy?

As a new artist in the music industry in my 50's, resilience is not optional and if I fell at every first hurdle I would be spending the majority of my time on the floor. The music industry at large remains systemically youth obsessed and it doesn't want me, or any other older new artist to succeed as it would break their ecosystem. This is not just a perceived wrong, there are many tangible and demonstrable examples that I could give, but I have been actively battling against them and advocating for better age inclusivity and representation which has included getting in front of senior and influential industry figures to try to effect change. I have managed some but there is a mountain left to climb. So these experiences have certainly shaped some of my song writing and the message across the trilogy couldn't be more apt. The biggest way I can open up the industry is to lead by example and the only approach you can take to achieve that is to shoot for the moon...

‘It Ain’t Over’ directly challenges ageism in the music industry. Have you personally encountered barriers as a 40+ artist, and how have they influenced your creative output?

'It Ain't Over' really just challenges age prejudice in general, but it is my experiences in the music industry that inspired it. As mentioned above, there are some very tangible barriers I've encountered, for which I could give various examples of but lets go with just one for now. The BBC has a platform called BBC Introducing which helps spotlight new artists on regional radio through to national radio and on stages at some of the biggest festivals.

At the national radio level, there are three BBC Introducing shows on Radio 1 each week and a specific BBC Introducing slot on the playlist for a track to get played on general rotation. BBC 1Xtra has one show and a playlist slot, as does BBC Asian Network and 6 Music has a new music show. If you add the monthly listeners of all those radio stations together the total is less than that of Radio 2. There is no new music show or Introducing playlist slot on Radio 2. The BBC themselves target Radio 1 and Radio 2 on age demographic, the former 15-29 the latter 35+ (the average age of Radio listeners is early 50's). The natural home for most older new artists and their target demographic would be Radio 2. So there are support platforms and a way to reach your audience if you are young, if you are an urban artist, or an Asian artist, but not if you are a new older artist.

Age is a protected characteristic under the UK equality act as much as race, religion, gender etc are but there is no equality or equity in the above situation.

Your songwriting on this mini-album feels especially candid and confrontational. Was there a particular moment or experience that pushed you toward this level of emotional openness?

I think it honestly comes with age and the associated experiences of a life lived over more decades. The more the years go by the more you become you and hopefully are more comfortable in your own skin. You also give less of a flying one what others think about you and are less concerned about trying to please everyone all of the time and also that it's the quality and not the quantity of friends that count. For me that means I also call people out on their bullshit. I believe all of that has helped me be more open and also confrontational in my song writing but in a measured rather than dramatic or hyperbolic way.

‘Singing About You’ taps into the tradition of turning personal conflict into song. How do you balance honesty with vulnerability when writing about real-life situations?

That comes from having to have a certain amount of self awareness. Ultimately though being vulnerable is about being honest, so the two very much go hand in hand. A bit of cynicism sprinkled here and there with a dusting of humour doesn't hurt either.

The trilogy spans a wide emotional and sonic landscape, from intimate storytelling to cinematic elements like ‘This Town’. How do you approach maintaining cohesion across such varied material?

Ha - I'm not sure there is much cohesion! I already have a reputation for eclecticism in my song writing, but that is very much how I roll, which can be a bit of a curse and a blessing. The cohesive element essentially comes from my voice. I've been told it's quite 'distinctive' and that you can easily tell if you hear one of my songs that it is me, so I think that ties my material together despite how varied some of the styles might be.

Collaborating with artists like Marco Pirroni and Fred Abbott must have been significant—what did they bring to ‘Another Version Of You’ that elevated the track?

Both of those play electric guitar on that track. Although acoustic guitar is my go to instrument, I can and do play electric (everything on 'The Seminal Lie', for example, is me) but because I don't play it so much I like to get others to add their creativity on electric where appropriate. Fred (from Noah And The Whale) is a great all round musician, was a major contributor on my debut album 'Something To Say' and has also joined me on stage a few times. On 'Another Version Of You' he plays the lead electric parts which dictates the feel of the whole song. I had an idea of what I wanted and sang some bits to him for the intro and wanted harmonised layered guitars a la Queen/Thin Lizzy/Steely Dan etc (or 'Guitarmony' as Fred calls it) and he did a cracking job. In fact there is another version of (see what I did there!) the song with a 'guitarmony' solo through the middle eight section, which I loved, but the song in the end needed the variation of the vocal melody now in it, though I chopped what he did up and kept a few bits in there.

Marco Pirroni is the guitarist and co-songwriter for Adam And The Ants / Adam Ant, and getting to work with him was very special for me. The first album I ever owned was Kings Of The Wild Frontier by Adam And The Ants which my parents bought for me on vinyl when I was 8, they were also the first band I ever saw live at age 9 and I was a huge fan. Marco plays some subtler rhythm parts on this track (and some others coming on 'Shoot For The Moon') but again, his rhythmic guitar stabs which start in the second verse, just bring the song to life.  I did allow myself one fanboy moment and got him to sign that original copy of Kings Of The Wild Frontier that my parents bought me and it has become a very treasured possession.

The closing track, ‘Just A Financial Transaction’, is particularly raw. Did you always intend for the record to end on such a stark and reflective note?

It wasn't intentional from the outset, but a lot of thought went into the running order and track listing of each album. The predecessor 'You'll Land Among The Stars' ends in a very bold and even starker place with 'My Final Song' and 'Just A Financial Transaction' felt the right place to end the middle chapter of the trilogy on. It is most definitely one of the rawest tracks I have written and I was still quite in the depths of hurt when I wrote it and recorded the vocal, but hey that's what you do when you are a singer songwriter, right?

Also, the album opens with the words 'Welcome to my world', which is an apt a place as any to step into the album and my inner psyche. Ending it with 'Just A Financial Transaction''s closing (and opening) lyrics of 'What a fool I've been' seemed just as apt a place to end it!

Through #MatureMusicMatters, you’re advocating for greater visibility of older artists. What changes would you most like to see in the industry to support this movement?

There are some specific issues I would like to see addressed (like the BBC Introducing disparity described above) but the problem is the whole collective mind set of the industry needs to change, but that isn't easy and is not going to happen overnight. Name any new artists writing original material aged 40+ without any prior profile that have broken into the music industry mainstream in the last 20 years? You will struggle, it just doesn't happen, but why shouldn't it?

In most industries and professions, experience counts for something. Those that have lived longer are likely to have gained more knowledge, experience and skills than those of the young. It is hard to understand why the music industry solely focuses on youth in terms of its expectation of uncovering and promoting the next ‘musical superstar’ and not consider that people with more years behind them who have had more time to hone the craft of songwriting, experienced more, absorbed more, spent more time mastering instruments and other music related skills don’t have as much or more to offer the industry and the world of music as a new artist.

I have read opinions from others that people are less inclined to discover and invest in new artists and their music as they get older, but my experiences couldn’t be further apart from this. The reality is that the music industry has not and does not invest in, support, promote and market new older artists whose music is more likely to be relevant and resonate with older music fans.

Looking ahead to ‘Shoot For The Moon’, how will the final part of the trilogy build on the narrative and themes established in the first two releases?

'Shoot For The Moon' is certainly a fitting climax to the trilogy and the end of the path that the preceding albums have been traversing. It's a full length album of, well it was 12 but is now going to be 13 tracks (I've been restricting myself from writing new songs during this period but one popped out by accident and a killer of one it is to (EIIDSSM) and will likely be the first single from the album) and dials the eclecticism and breadth of styles and narrative up a few notches further. It definitely has a fair share of its confrontational, reflective, raw and honest moments plus some lighter uplifting bangers! And a song called 'Too Many Dinosaurs'. There should be more song titles and songs with the word 'Dinosaurs' in them.

Listen to The Gleeman on Spotify: