{"id":562680,"date":"2026-05-02T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/562680\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:30:10","slug":"its-been-really-humbling-hull-singer-delights-in-other-peoples-response-to-his-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/562680\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s been really humbling\u2019 – Hull singer delights in other people\u2019s response to his music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now a new Mandatory Volunteers single is out with an album in the works\"29\/04\/26<\/p>\n

Graham Duffill, who records as Mandatory Volunteers, performing Nightdreamers (Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n

A Hull singer who writes and records music when he is not working full-time for a finance company was thrilled by the response to his last track. Graham Duffill, who records as Mandatory Volunteers, accompanied \u201ca light in the noir\u201d with a video shot in the early hours of the morning <\/a>in the city.<\/p>\n

Now there is a new Mandatory Volunteers release for people to plug into, and an album in the works that should be out in May or June. Graham said: \u201cThe response to my last track has been really nice, people have said they have really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really humbling. Lots of people have shared the Hull Live<\/a> story about it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mandatory Volunteers latest work is Nightdreamers, with an accompanying video filmed on a cold January day in Hull live music venue O\u2019Riley\u2019s, in Beverley Road<\/a>. \u201cThe last video was aimed to be a bit more about light and dark, the isolation people can feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new song is based around the same theme but about past relationships, when you\u2019re wondering about how they worked out, what happened, are they okay? It\u2019s about being positive again, out of a bit of a rubbish situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nightdreamers video was again filmed with the help of photographer and videographer Joey, of JWA Creations, and Darren Bunting of O’Rileys, and has Graham surrounded by darkness but lit by different effects. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit more of an upbeat song,\u201d he said, \u201ca bit more energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has been enjoying the process of creating an album after learning new production techniques and using new audio equipment. He is getting \u201cbetter results\u201d, while still being hyper-critical of them, partially from having tinnitus – that came from suffering meningitis when he was five – and wondering if what he is hearing is actually good.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy left ear is a little bit duller and my right ear is more sensitive,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it comes to mixing I am really critical of myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am fortunate to have some really good friends who will listen and give me an honest opinion.\u201d Graham said: \u201cHopefully the album will be released this summer and then ideally I would love to play live.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a challenge in itself for me, I\u2019d have to get my friends to play for me. Later in the year it would be good to do an unplugged version of the album, done in a different way, maybe some solo shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham said: \u201cThe value in music for me is in the creativity. You want to enjoy the process. It\u2019s in that moment, rather than getting a million views.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old performer\u2019s last song was about \u201cbeing alone, and feeling stuck in darkness\u201d. The video for it depicts him wandering the deserted streets of Hull in scenes reminiscent of the apocalyptic film, 28 Days Later.<\/p>\n

Mandatory Volunteers’ Nightdreamers’ is available to listen to on streaming platforms and you can watch the video on YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now a new Mandatory Volunteers single is out with an album in the works Graham Duffill, who records…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,2207,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-562680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-people","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}