Uttoxeter singer-songwriter Richard Castle is in an uncompromising mood as he contemplates the inspirations for One-horse Town, his new album.
"It is a bit of a criticism of the modern world, I suppose," he said. "Music, what you see on television and films, much of it has got nothing any more to do with art, it is all about selling, what gets you heard.
"I think there are a lot of people out there who are what I would call beautiful people with vacuous brains - nice covers maybe but no substance."
Many of Richard's personal insights into the looking-glass world of 2018 have been distilled into the two-year labour of love which will see the release of One-horse Town later this month.
And he has little doubt where much of the blame lies for today's 'look at me' culture, with millions seemingly happy to reveal every detail of their humdrum daily existences via the phenomenon of social media.
He said: "There is nothing private any more. Everything has been turned into a public competition to see who has the most perfect life.
"I think that the Internet has killed a lot of stuff - it is hard to feel too positive about it, quite frankly."
But Richard is keen to stress that his vision of the modern world - keenly expressed on a track such as Bitchin on the Internet - is rooted in realism, not pessimism.
"The Internet has killed music and it has killed any meaningful hope for many of having a career in music," he said.
"But that is not something that I aspire to do any more. I am quite happy having the pleasure of playing live - I love it.
"Some people may see parts of the album as pessimism but I am not an overtly miserable person. I like having a laugh and joke."
Richard will get the chance to demonstrate his long-held love of playing live in front of an audience when he launches One-horse Town in tandem with fellow Uttoxeter musicians the Vice-Bishops - including his own former school music teacher Dave Blant and Fred Hopwood - at Doveridge Club on Friday, April 13.
That date will be another milestone in a lengthy musical journey which began with life in a household where music had always been a huge part of growing up.
His mother is a classically trained pianist, his father played in a 'weddings' band which covered soul and Motown classics while his sister plays in a church choir and his brother plays acoustic guitar, sings and writes music.
Growing up in Marchington, Richard soaked up a variety of influences from the Stones to the Kinks and the Beatles to the Who before his early formative years saw him fall under the spell of Oasis at the age of around 11.
Inevitably he decided he wanted to develop his own love for music by learning to play - and by the age of 11 Richard was the proud owner of a Fender Squire guitar bought for £100 from Pete Oakley's shop in Burton, plus a "crappy" Marshall amp.
Self-taught, he later formed bands at Thomas Alleynes High School in Uttoxeter, including a group called Vertigo.
We thought we were Nirvana, but we were pretty poor," he said."We were playing original stuff but it was pretty ropey. It was part of my musical experience."
He graduated with a 2:2 degree from Leeds University in 2007 - "Perhaps I didn't work as hard as I could have done" - and has since combined his love of music with pursuing a career as a journalist with the Burton Mail.
"The main thing is to keep enjoying the music. I want it to be a release. I am happy where I am and am just trying to reflect what is going on in my head. A lot of it is tongue in cheek and comically bleak."
The album can be downloaded on all online music stores, including iTunes, Amazon Music and Google Play, and at www.richardcastlemusic.com , where CD copies can be requested. It can also be streamed on Spotify.
