--- title: "Oliver Price of Forget Them Wendy: Why I Had to Stop Chasing Ad-Agency Burnout to Finally Make Real Music" url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/oliver-price-of-forget-them-wendy-why-i-had-to-stop-chasing-ad-agency-burnout-to-finally-make-re" publisher: "Authority Magazine" author: "Tavares Beverly" authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/tavares-beverly" interviewee: "Oliver Price" company: "Forget Them Wendy" category: "Pop Culture" datePublished: "2026-11-14T13:34:06.689Z" dateModified: "2026-11-14T13:38:06.817Z" tags: "Pop Culture" --- # Oliver Price of Forget Them Wendy: Why I Had to Stop Chasing Ad-Agency Burnout to Finally Make Real Music *The musician and co-founder discusses his unconventional journey into the industry, the reality of creative persistence, and why staying away from social media pranks helps maintain artistic authenticity.* > I helped make a song with some people with learning difficulties called 'Watermelon Fantasy' which got sampled by Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre and became the lead single on their latest album. --- *As a part of our interview series with leaders, stars, and rising stars in the music industry, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Oliver Price.* *Oliver Price is a musician and co-founder of the project Forget Them Wendy. Alongside his creative partner Laura, he crafts 90s-infused guitar-driven music inspired by the themes of eternal youth and artistic immortality. Based in London, Price has built a career defined by persistence and a unique approach to collaborative songwriting, recently gaining international recognition for his work in diverse and cross-disciplinary musical projects.* --- **Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about your “origin story”. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?** Laura grew up in Hexham, near Newcastle, and Olly grew up in the middle of nowhere near Edinburgh. But the truth is maybe they didn’t actually grow up, and when they met each other several years later, whilst they were living in London, they saw in each other an opportunity to live forever young in the communion of joyous song making. And so it is was that they named their mutual creation after a passage in a book about an immortal nymph called Peter Pan who refused to become an adult, and in birthing this body of work truly became immortal themselves, forever remembered by a select few for their catchy 90s-infused guitar ditties. **What inspired you to pursue a career in music, and how did your journey begin?** Olly — I decided against my better judgement that this was what I was going to do, without realising quite what it would mean to actually do it. I’m very bloody minded so I stuck to my guns even though I clearly sucked at it early on, and just got better at it. There were always just enough successes in amongst the ruins of my various attempts to keep me encouraged to do it. I’m very lucky to have made a career out of it, eventually. **Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?** I helped make a song with some people with learning difficulties called “Watermelon Fantasy’ which got sampled by Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre and became the lead single on their latest album. Still sounds like I’m telling fibs when I tell people about it. **It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?** Could be that when I was at university studying music production I ‘borrowed’ the university minibus without telling anyone and crashed it. No one seemed to notice so I learned that you can sometimes get away with things you shouldn’t, and when my friends band got an opportunity to records at Air studios with a famous producer I ‘borrowed’ it again and drove them and all their gear to the studio. **None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?** My wife Jen, without question. She’s self employed now, but historically always had the sensible job and put up with my obnoxiously loud noodlings in the house until I was able to build a studio in the garden. The studio itself was build by a famous shed builder come TV personality called Joel Bird, just before he got too famous and too expensive, and features in his Book of Shed. **What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?** The Forget Them Wendy album, which is coming out in January, and will be followed up by an EP too… I haven’t told anyone that yet. Now you know… **We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in music, film, and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?** It’s what makes the world go around, the mixing and cross pollinating of ideas from people from all walks of life and perspectives, with different influences. The combinations create novelty and innovation. Like the music we made with the people with learning difficulties. They have a very different life experience to most people but we proved that they have something very relevant and enjoyable to offer. **As a successful music star, you’ve likely faced challenges along the way. How do you stay motivated? How do you overcome obstacles in your career?** The bloody-mindedness helps, but also you have to choose a sustainable path. I used to make a lot of bespoke music for adverts for example, which I did not enjoy and frequently involved working all night long and almost every weekend. It was an adrenaline rush and quite addictive and ultimately a pretty unhealthy lifestyle — You can do that for a while but not forever and I saw that I needed to transition out of that otherwise I would burn out. You can’t always do exactly what you want, but if you do enough of what you want you can enjoy it all enough to do the next thing, and sometimes its the things you least expect that pay off. **What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.** 1. You can actually make it, and you are closer than you think. The main thing is to persist… 2. But you got to be sure that the thing your persisting in is the one you want to succeed at. 3. Otherwise you’ll be pigeon-holed into a hole you don’t want to be pigeoned in. 4. Pigeons are smelly. 5. So get away from the pigeons and fly with the eagles, why not? **Can you share some insights into your creative process? How do you approach songwriting? How do you approach musical collaborations?** I like to keep the starting of an idea fresh, so sometimes I’ll start with a guitar, sometimes with a drum loop, and sometimes with a synth sound. You never quite know where inspiration is going to come from you just have to rummage in the undergrowth until you find a truffle. When I work with someone I often like to sketch out an idea and then ambush them with it to harvest their first reactions to it, I find that 9 times out of 10 their first ideas are the most natural and energetically instinctive. **Your music has resonated with so many fans worldwide. What do you believe sets your music apart?** Every piece of music is an expression of the people who made it. No two people are the same and no one person is the same at two different times, and no time is the same as two different people making one thing at the same time as two other people doing three things at the same time as the first guys. Which is a round about way of saying our music is different because Laura and I made it when we did, and if we tried to do it again it would sound different now, which is good news for you guys because otherwise you’d get bored. **How do you connect with your audience?** Laura and I are largely social media prudes, we are trying to find ways to connect which don’t involve sharing our breakfast on Instagram or dancing and miming to our songs on Tik Tok. So that leaves interviews in magazines! **With your busy schedule and demanding performances, how do you prioritize self-care and maintain a balance between your personal life and career in the music industry?** I did crash out once, almost lost my mind from overworking myself. Luckily I managed to pull back from the brink and I realised that I’m not Peter Pan and I do have limits, and made sure to take care of myself. It’s simple stuff — eat well, exercise, have regular sleep patterns, have some time to relax and put your feet up, but it really makes all the difference, and means you can work better too. **You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)** I’d love for everyone to disagree better, most people want to make the world a better place, they just have different ideas about how to do that. Seek out friendships amongst people you disagree with and discuss things with them you never know what you might learn. I recently learned, for example, that the world is flat and secretly ruled by reptilian creatures that live in a mountain and came here through fold in space-time on an aeroplane built by Sting. **Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)** Ooh please tag Rick Beato. I love what he’s doing with his music YouTube channel, he’s bringing the music I grew up listening to to whole new audiences. It’s having a profound effect, he’s a one man 90’s revival. I’d spend the brunch persuading him to let us do our first Forget Them Wendy performance on his channel. **How can our readers continue to follow your work online?** You can hear about our music, but not our breakfast over on [www.instagram.com/Forgetthemwendyforgetthemall](http://www.instagram.com/Forgetthemwendyforgetthemall) **This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!** --- ***About The Interviewer:****Tavares Beverly (*[www.tavaresbeverly.com](http://www.tavaresbeverly.com)*) is the Founder and CEO of Beverly Boy Productions, a national video production company that has helped organizations tell their stories through video for more than two decades. Over the course of his career, he has worked with everyone from Fortune 500 executives and healthcare professionals to politicians, nonprofit leaders, educators, and artists, gaining a unique perspective on the role communication plays in leadership, business, and human connection. A frequent contributor on topics including communication, entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal development, Tavares believes that the ability to communicate effectively is one of the most valuable skills a person can develop. His work is driven by a passion for helping organizations connect with their audiences and helping individuals unlock their potential through mentorship, perseverance, and meaningful relationships. To learn more, connect with Tavares on LinkedIn or visit*[www.BeverlyBoy.com](http://www.BeverlyBoy.com)*. If you’re interested in using the power of storytelling and communication to grow your organization, strengthen your brand, or inspire your audience, he welcomes the opportunity to connect.* --- Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/oliver-price-of-forget-them-wendy-why-i-had-to-stop-chasing-ad-agency-burnout-to-finally-make-re (Authority Magazine, Pop Culture). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. Index of all pages: https://authoritymag.co/llms.txt