Saint Raymond

October 2014

HE’S already played a dozen shows but Callum Burrows admits “it hasn’t quite sunk in yet”.

The tour supporting Ed Sheeran, whose latest album X is Britain’s biggest-selling of the year so far, will run to a total of 37 dates across the UK and Europe, keeping Burrows, aka Saint Raymond, busy until the end of November.

The 19-year-old from Bramcote is facing crowds of up to 20,000 people a night.

“It’s a crazy experience,” he admits.

“It’s harder to see faces in arenas so you don’t realise how many people there are... not until the moment in the set where we get everyone to light up their phones. That freaks me out a little bit.

“Smaller venues are more nerve-wracking in a way because you can see their faces and how they’re reacting. When it’s on such a big scale you kind of forget where you are for a bit, which is great for the nerves. It doesn’t really sink in until you come off stage.”

This is especially true of the colossal O2 Arena in London, where he played four shows with Sheeran in front of 20,000 people each night.

“Even as a support, when the place isn’t full because not everyone has left the bar yet, there are still 10,000 people there, which is crazy.”

Has the Bramcote teenager been bricking it, preparing to face such numbers?

“I’m usually kind of chilled before shows but I must admit I have been pretty overwhelmed by it. The crowd have been really welcoming. When you get a really good reception from that amount of people, it feels amazing.”

Most of them may have forked out to see Sheeran but many know Saint Raymond, as he’s discovered when he’s “busked” outside venues for people queuing up.

“It’s been weird seeing some of them sing along,” he laughs.

“It’s really random.”

Do any of them think you are a busker and throw money?

“I wish.”

He’s also been meeting fans after shows.

“We’re getting hundreds of people turn up.”

Burrows, who signed to Asylum, part of the Atlantic group, last summer, has been doing a 40-minute set with his band.

“We do the same set every night to keep it solid. That’s seemed to work really well. And I don’t approach these gigs any differently to what I’ve done before. It’s just about keeping the confidence I’ve built up in the smaller venues. I’m not changing anything too drastically.”

The effect of being on the road with such a big artist has been a sharp increase in his following on social media, topping 26,000 followers on Twitter and 23,000 likes on Facebook.

If they all buy his new single Fall At Your Feet, released at the end of November, he’ll be guaranteed a place in the chart.

It’ll be his first single release after a series of EPs that have all landed in the iTunes chart.

And the album?

“It’ll be early next year, I think, but I’m not too focused on that at the moment,” says Burrows, who has been amusing himself on the road by playing Fifa 2014 (“I play that on the bus, like a loser, but I love it”).

He adds: “I’m always cautious about saying the album’s finished because I’ve been speaking to a lot of artists like Ed and they’ve said they wrote the best song on their album a week before going to press.”

It is common for support artists never to meet the headline act but that’s not been the case with Burrows and Sheeran.

“The first few days he was super ill and then he came to hang out in the dressing room a bit and I caught it,” he says.

“So we’re both still on the mend. But he’s often asking how it’s going and we’re texting. I think for an artist like Ed Sheeran to do that... a lot of artists wouldn’t give a toss.”

His shows often attract celebrities but Burrows hasn’t been star-spotting a great deal, it seems.

“I think Brooklyn Beckham was at the show the other night. And I was stood next to one of One Direction watching Ed last night.”

Did any of the magic rub off... on him?

“(Laughs) Yeah. Probably.”

Does he know which one it was?

“Yeah it was Niall, the blonde one, the Irish kid. It’s how I roll these days.”

The tour comes to Nottingham next week, with two shows at the Capital FM Arena.

“There’s nothing like being at home,” he says.

“I haven’t been back for three weeks. It’ll be nice to go back to my own bed and see the family, all the nieces and nephews. Especially after the craziness of doing all this.”

This week Saint Raymond was confirmed to headline a show at Rock City, only the fourth Nottingham artist to do so, following local boys Jake Bugg, Dog Is Dead and – way back in the 90s – electro-metal band Pitchshifter.

Callum says: “It’s always been the dream – and it’s definitely something to look forward to.”

Saint Raymond supports Ed Sheeran at the Capital FM Arena on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced from £36.40, are limited. Call 0843 373 3000 or go to capitalfmarena.com to find out more details.

He plays Rock City on Wednesday, February 11 and tickets are £10 from the box office. Call 0845 413 4444 or go to alt-tickets.co.uk.

Saint Raymond

March 28 2014

ANY birthday for a teenager is usually a big occasion but when Callum Burrows turns 19 on Sunday he’ll be taking it easy.
“It’s going to be a bit of an anti-climax because I’ve got a show in Southampton that night,” says Bramcote’s rising music star, better known as Saint Raymond.
“The party will probably happen tonight because I’ve got a day off tomorrow.”
Is he worried about turning 19?
“It’s game over, isn’t it!?,” he jokes.
“I’ve got until Sunday to enjoy it while I can.”
Tonight is a sold-out gig at the Rescue Rooms, one of the last few dates on his current headline UK tour. It finishes in Norwich on Monday.
“I’m quite looking forward to getting home and chilling out for two days before getting back on it,” he adds.
That means more writing, a couple of shows in Ireland, then back to the US.
“I didn’t really have any expectations for this tour but it’s been really good. Sometimes you worry that no-one’s going to turn up but every show’s been really busy.
“We’ve been building towards Nottingham really. I’m really excited about that. I don’t want to wish the tour away but I’m so excited about the Nottingham show. And that it’s sold out is kind of crazy. I’ve wanted to play there for so long.”
Next stop, Rock City?
“That’s the dream,” says Callum, who believes he’s played every venue in Nottingham.
The current tour has meant him swapping the comfort of his bed at his parents’ home for a bunk on a tour bus.
“I don’t mind it,” he says.
“There are seven of us on the bus and we play football, Xbox, watch films and a lot of nothing... just chilling out before the show.
“All of us get a bit rowdy. We put music on at stupid o’clock but you can take yourself to bed whenever you want. You’ve got your own space.”
He adds: “After the gig we’ll travel to the next city at around midnight and wake up in the car park of the venue.”
As well as London band The Mispers, who have been supporting him on the UK tour - “and showing me how to party” - Saint Raymond will be joined by Nottingham’s Amber Run at the gig tonight, a last minute addition.
The quintet played their own headline show at Nottingham Contemporary on Wednesday (see review right).
Says Callum: “Me and Joe (Keough, singer) had a drunken chat and said ‘let’s do it’. I really like those boys.”
When Jake Bugg, the one for Callum and others to chase, played his sell-out gig at the Capital FM Arena last month, Callum couldn’t make it because he was back in Los Angeles.
“We’re just starting to piece the album together really,” he says of his debut, which he hopes will be released after the summer festival season is over.
“The songs are there, I’ve just got to get them done but it’s coming together nicely.”
The hold up is finding the right producer.
“When that’s all sorted we can get cracking,” says the Notts County fan, who had his first session for Radio 2 this week.
Is he fussy?
“Well I struggle to decide what socks to wear in the morning, put it that way,” he admits.

DHP Group

January 2013

THEY rounded off 2012 by picking up an award for National Promoter of the Year, beating industry giants Live Nation, SJM and Metropolis. It was an acknowledgement of how far the DHP Group had come in just a few years of running tours around the UK, something that isn’t so well known about this independent Nottingham company.
DHP (Daybrook House Promotions) is probably better known for being the parent company of Rock City, the iconic Talbot Street venue now in its 33rd year. Then there are the Rescue Rooms, Stealth, the Black Cherry Lounge and the Bodega, plus Thekla in Bristol.
“Rock City is still the flagship venue and the venues are the biggest earners for us, but everything else is growing, particularly the tours,” says chairman George Akins.
Unless you’ve read the finer detail on your gig tickets for venues across the city and seen “DHP presents...” above the artist’s name, you may well have never heard of them. But DHP puts on around 1,200 gigs in the UK every year with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Ray, Rufus Wainwright, the Human League, Flaming Lips and New Order.
A promoter hires out venues for a tour, organises the publicity, sells the tickets and guarantees the artist a fee.
“As the promoter you take the risk because you are guaranteeing the artist their money,” says George.
“They get that come what may.”
DHP began promoting shows in Nottingham, building relationships with bands who had played smaller venues like the Bodega and the Rescue Rooms, bringing them back to the city as their popularity grew to play Rock City and the Capital FM Arena.

Says George: “We did that with the White Stripes who had first played at the Social (now the Bodega) when few people knew who they were. In 2005 we put them on at the arena.”
The same year they also promoted Incubus and System Of A Down at the arena.
“We then moved out of Nottingham. Our first significant tour was Dropkick Murphys around the UK, then we did Human League, the Flaming Lips, Garbage, Imelda May...
“Last year we did nine shows for Ed Sheeran, a couple for Lana Del Ray, 11 dates for the Human League, some for Rufus Wainwright and New Order.
“This year we’ll be doing more with Lana Del Ray, the Gaslight Anthem and the Flaming Lips.”
As a festival promoter, DHP is responsible for Splendour at Wollaton Park, Hit The Deck (Nottingham), Dot To Dot (Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester) and Gathering (Oxford).
“We have more city festivals than any other company. Gathering is a new one that we did in Oxford in October and that sold out. We’ll expand that to another city this year. Hit The Deck we’ll expand to another city as well. Dot to Dot is essentially an indoor festival for new artists with a couple of names as headliners. It’s an important stepping stone for new acts.”
In Nottingham it’s held at Rock City, Rescue Rooms, Stealth, the Bodega and Jongleurs, with a 4,500 capacity. Hit The Deck festival in April is the rock equivalent.
DHP also runs a ticket agency, Alt Tickets, and relatively recently moved into artist management with Dog Is Dead.
Although DHP had tinkered with developing a band with House of Brothers, Dog Is Dead were their first “proper” signing and led to a major label deal, Radio 1 playlists, sell-out shows and TV appearances.
“I first heard about them from my manager at the Bodega, who phoned me up and said ‘these kids have brought about 70 people down with them for a support slot and their sound-check was really good. You should come and have a look’.
“At the time I was looking for a band for DHP to manage and develop and I was blown away by their songwriting. We didn’t actually sign a deal with them for a year or so because they weren’t yet 18. They committed to a gap year before going to university, then they committed to another gap year... and went from playing Junktion 7 to Glastonbury to Skins, Atlantic Records, selling out the Scala in London, the Radio 1 playlist...
“We’ve got a great band there that are going places. We expect them to sell out their show at Rock City in March.”
The band have been a part of the wave of Nottingham artists enjoying national acclaim, along with Jake Bugg and Natalie Duncan.
“There will be more from Nottingham this year. And we are looking at developing other acts. We are in a unique position to do that because we manage venues and promote shows nationally. We had the money to put out their first three singles before they signed to Atlantic.”

Who will be getting the Dog Is Dead treatment from DHP in 2013?
“We’ve been looking but we haven’t decided yet ,” he says.
DHP employs around 300 staff and HQ is on the corner of Talbot Street, behind Rock City, but there are plans to move into the Lace Market.
The company was started by his dad, entrepreneur George Akins, who made his fortune in bookmakers, amusement arcades and property.
The entertainment arm of the business came in 1980 when George senior transformed the variety venue Heart of the Midlands into Rock City. At the time, George junior (who also has a son named George), was just five.
“I think it was inevitable that I’d work in the family business. It just happened sooner than I’d expected,” he says, recalling the time he was called back from a jolly in Australia to begin managing the venue. He was just 19. His older brother Sean looks after the property side of the business, Bildurn.
George, 37, says: “It was just Rock City at the time, but we started expanding pretty quickly after that, with The Rig (now Black Cherry Lounge) in 1995 and RKO, the sports bar (now Rescue Rooms/Stealth) in 1996. I did my first festival in 1997, which was City in the Park at Wollaton Park with Saw Doctors.”
These were the pre-Splendour days and more followed with the Corrs and Bryan Adams headlining, then Green Day for Distortion.

“It didn’t really work for us back then but we teamed up with the city council six years ago for Splendour and that’s become a successful annual event.”
It returns this summer but he’s staying tight-lipped on possible headliners.
The glass trophy awarded to DHP at the end of last year for National Promoter of the Year is hidden away in a drawer.
“Don’t say that,” he laughs. “Say it’s pride of place in my office.”
It’s an industry award voted for by agents, bands and record companies.
“It’s the first time we were nominated and we won it. And to have someone from outside London or
Manchester winning was quite significant.”
For more about the DHP Group go to www.dhpgroup.co.uk or on Twitter: @DHPGroup.