James Morrison

July 2010

My weekend

IF I get a weekend off I’ll be at home with the family. I’ve got a kid now. We live near Brighton. It’s a nice lifestyle for going out, it’s good for kids because there are nice schools and the air’s clean. I moved down there initially because it was near the sea and that reminded me of growing up in Cornwall.

There’s loads for the family to do. The other week I took (Elsie) to a farm. So my weekend’s will be normal family stuff like that, if I’m not working. The time I get with my family is pretty precious at the moment because I’m away so much.

I still go out for a drink. I still want have a good time because I don’t get a lot of time off, so I mix the two.

My daughter’s nearly two. She loves Peppa Pig. I can’t stand it, I think the character is a spoilt little brat. She also likes Tom & Jerry. I’ve been trying to get her in to the old school stuff, like Jungle Book, all the stuff I watched when I was a kid.

My little girl likes being outside so we don’t sit in front of the telly much at all.

I like stupid comedies, like

Anchorman, or a Bruce Willis action film. I watched Daybreakers the other day, about vampires. It wasn’t too bad. I’ll watch anything really apart from period dramas. I can’t stand them.

My girlfriend doesn’t like action films or anything violent. She gets scared really easily. So I always try and steer her in that direction just so I can watch her get scared. She likes comedies and girly films, like The Notebook, stuff that’ll make girls cry. There’s always a handsome bloke and romantic story.

I don’t watch that much telly anymore. When I do it’ll be Family Guy, Harry Hill, Oops TV and You’ve Been Framed. Pop telly, you know. I even still watch Friends.

The music I buy is new stuff that I’ve been told about, like Jack Johnson, Mumford & Sons and old classics, like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers or Chairman Of The Board.

I used to get sent a lot of stuff but I don’t mind buying it. I know I should milk it and get as many free CDs as I can.

I don’t see many gigs when I’m touring but when I’ve got time off I will. I’ve seen Plan B recently. I saw David Gray, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, an American girl called Ingrid Michaelson... I’ve been to quite a few. That’s the good thing about being in this business, you get a lot of free tickets.

I’m not bad at cooking. I’ve got better over the last couple of years because I’ve been reading cookbooks. Before, I didn’t know how to cook any proper meals. I could do a roast but it wouldn’t be very good, whereas now it tastes good every time.

If Beyonce and Lady Gaga came round for dinner what would I cook? I don’t think they’d be happy with anything I cooked. I’d do them a nice, wholesome English meal, a Yorkshire pudding and some nice veg, if they didn’t like it then tough. (he actually said: “then screw you”)

I’m really not that good at keeping fit. That’s the main thing I’m trying to tackle. That and smoking. I let it go recently. I was running three times a week and I was going snowboarding, but since I’ve been a home, I’ve found it really hard to find the energy to do a workout.

A perfect weekend would be having some friends round on a Friday night, having a jam, a drink and a smoke. The weather would be nice so we’d be outside. We recently went to a rundown castle, which was great. So it’d be simple stuff like that with the family and friends.

James Morrison plays his only East Midlands date this summer at Leicester’s Welford Road stadium on Thursday July 15. Tickets are £32/£35, 0844 847 1742 or visit www.ticketmaster.co.uk