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Biography

Conor O’Hanlon is a dynamic session guitarist known for breaking boundaries between genres and redefining what it means to be a modern musician. With a style that seamlessly blends technical precision and raw emotional expression. Conor has built a reputation as a versatile and forward-thinking player, equally at home in the studio as he is on stage.

O’Hanlon began playing guitar during primary school and he instantly fell in love. Throughout the rest of his school life he strived for music, jumping at any chance to play. By the time it came to choose his studies for college Conor knew what he wanted to do. Choosing to study Music Technology and BTEC music. During his 2 years spent studying at Lewes College Conor engaged in lots of extracurricular activities that lead to collaborating with other musicians and playing various venues around East Sussex.  

Growing up in Brighton, Conor was surrounded by a diverse music culture, from bands like Royal Blood, to artists like FatBoy Slim, giving a wide range of influences to take from. This led to Conor developing an early appreciation for a wide range of sounds, from classic rock and blues to jazz, funk, and contemporary pop. This foundation has become a defining feature of his playing, allowing him to move fluidly between styles while maintaining a distinctive sound. Whether delivering intricate lead lines, textured rhythm parts, or atmospheric soundscapes, his approach is always rooted in musicality and intent.

In addition to his studio work, Conor is an engaging live performer. His stage presence reflects both confidence and sensitivity, allowing him to connect with audiences while supporting the artists he performs with. Whether playing in intimate venues or larger settings, he brings the same level of dedication and artistry to every performance.

Conor O’Hanlon represents a new kind of session musician, one who is not confined by genre, but instead thrives in the space between them. His ability to adapt, innovate, and connect through music has made him a distinctive voice in today’s musical landscape. As he continues to collaborate, perform, and explore new creative directions, O’Hanlon is steadily carving out a unique place for himself as a guitarist who doesn’t just play across genres, but reshapes them.

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Supporting Commentary

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Group Work

During lessons we collaborated on different ideas for our EPK’s looking at examples of artists’ bios. This was one of the biggest discussions we had. We looked at a few examples of successful artists’ biographies, this helped us come up with ideas for our own. A big struggle I had with writing my own was talking about myself in the third person, but the group sessions helped with that. An exercise we did was to try to write the first few lines of a biography using a structure given to us then read it out to the class. I found this especially helpful because, having a guideline for what to write helped start the process, then by sharing with other classmates it helped me rewrite parts to make more sense or add more to it. Another aspect of collaborating with classmates was talking about the overall design for the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for example, the colour pallet for the website, style and content within the website. We collaborated on lots of ideas giving each of us a way to show our personalities and musicianships through the look of our EPK’s. Throughout the semester we spent more time looking at different aspects of advertisement within the music industry. We had a group discussion about social media and how vital it is to musicians, despite this we also spoke about artists that completely refrain from using social media. The band The Gulls try to stay away from social media as a marketing strategy and rely on word of mouth instead. I thought this was quite an interesting approach and something different to the majority of the music industry. Using some of the discussions we had in these seminars I  put them towards creating my EPK and writing my biography, keeping in mind the way artists have written their bios and how they use marketing strategies like social media to boost their audiences.