Backstage at Splendour: Saint Raymond

July 2014

AFTER a host of Nottingham artists last year, the sole representative on the Main Stage at this year's Splendour was Saint Raymond, aka Bramcote 19-year-old Callum Burrows, who spoke to us before his set...

Two years ago you made your Splendour debut on the Courtyard Stage, then the second stage last year and now the Main Stage...
Yeah, it’s a bit crazy. It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago that I was playing the Courtyard Stage. It’s flown by. Last year was the first gig with the live band. We had our first rehearsal the night before but it went really great. I’ve been touring with them ever since so it’s nice to come back. I wasn’t signed at that point. I signed a month later.

 Going from stage to stage is following the same trajectory as Jake Bugg, who continues to go from strength to strength...
Yeah, as a Nottingham artist, it’s inspiring seeing a local lad doing so well. Definitely.

Which song tends to get the crowd going?
In Nottingham it’s Bonfires. We do a bit of an outro and have a bit of dance about to that.

You started the first of a string of dates opening for Ed Sheeran this week. How was that?
That was in Vienna and there were 3,000 people. We were blown away by the noise they made. Ed Sheeran is the biggest sweetheart in the world. He took time out to come to the dressing room and hang out. That was a one-off until the tour in October. I’m off to Majorca and Ibiza next week, then the tour with Ed starts in October.

Backstage at Splendour: Foxes

July 2014

AFTER her main stage set, Louisa Allen aka Foxes, spoke about the downpour that greeted her and the amazing Nottingham crowd...

How was that?
I will never forget that crowd, ever. They were really amazing.

 The weather didn’t spoilt it then?
It was really strange because the weather went a bit bi-polar. The rain was literally pouring from the stage into the audience. It was bucketing down.
But that was such a great crowd. They were incredible. It was quite mystical. You know when the stars just align and something just happens? Something happened. And it felt really magical. I always think the weather gets weird when there’s energy in the air. It was really nice.

What’s next?
We’ve got another show in Sheffield tonight. This is just the busiest summer of my life. It’s good though, it beats working for a living. I’m going on tour with Pharrell for five weeks quite soon. That will be amazing. We’re doing a European tour. I love him so I’m really excited about that. And I have lots of other UK festivals to do.

Splendour interviews: Jake Bugg, Dog Is Dead, Indiana, Georgie Rose, Gorgeous Chans

July 20, 2013




JAKE Bugg isn’t known for his happy-go-lucky banter or cheesy grin, preferring to let the music do all the talking on his behalf.

And while he wasn’t exactly channeling Freddie Mercury during his one-hour headline set at Splendour on Saturday, he was smiling and talking more than he has at any show in Nottingham – and probably anywhere else.

And he was much the same backstage an hour before he was due on the main stage in front of 17,000 people in Wollaton Park.

Although he’d flown in to Nottingham from Ireland the night before and landed around midnight, he’d gone back to Clifton to see an old friend.

“I was at my cousin Scott’s,” says the 19-year-old chart-topper, sat in a portacabin, dressed in black like an early Sixties Beatle.

“I thought ‘who’s still going to be up at midnight?’”

They stayed up in to the early hours and now he’s paying the price.

“I’m tired, mate,” he admits.

Jake arrived at the Splendour site around 7pm after spending the afternoon sleeping and working.

“I went through some songs for the second album.”

He’d not seen any other friends or family?

“No. My phone’s been going off all day but I’ll see them later,” he promises.

During the set, Jake plays three songs from the next album, which he’ll finish recording at the end of August in Malibu with legendary producer Rick Rubin. It’ll be released in November.

He sayd: “I’ve got about 20 songs and I’ll record all of them to see how they come out.”

Before that he has a show to do.

“It’s amazing to be back and to be playing in my hometown and to be headlining but I also have to stay focused; just so I can play as well and not get carried away with familiar faces in the crowd.

“Or when a girl takes her bra off. It happened in Portugal the other day. Some girl lifted her T-shirt up and she didn’t know the camera was on her and it came up on the big screen,” he laughs.

Jake played Splendour on the main stage last year, but fellow Notts success story Dog Is Dead were notching up their fifth appearance.




I first saw them in the Courtyard at the first Splendour in 2008.

“We knew it was going to be a big hometown gig and something special and it happened, it was really cool, “ says frontman Rob Milton, 22, from West Bridgford.

“Something always happens here; when we play the first chord they open the circle pits and start moshing. I have to remind people it’s not a Slayer show.”

He adds: “It’s nice to play an all-age show. It was actually the first show my nan’s been to. The family were super proud, so it’s good.”

There are more festivals for Dog Is Dead to play before they record their follow-up to last year’s All Our Favourite Stories.

Of their status as Splendour veterans, he says: “It’s five times in six years. Next time we get a free cappuccino.”

Less than 18 months ago, Indiana played her first gig in the Old Market Square in the Future Sound of Nottingham, a competition to open the main stage at Splendour.



She didn’t even reach the final but since then she has signed to the Epic label, been played on Radio 1, appeared at Glastonbury and performed for the Queen with The Script.

She is the second artist to be signed to DHP (the Nottingham-based organisers of Splendour, owners of Rock City and much more) after Dog Is Dead.

And she’s pregnant! Baby Etta is due in September.

“She was kicking a lot,” says the 25-year-old from Long Eaton. “When you’re halfway through a song and you’re really into it... it’s really off-putting,” she laughs.

She has one more festival next weekend then will be on maternity leave from the world of pop until October when her debut single is released.

She’s thankful that the scorching weather settled down for Splendour, a largely cloudy, if warm, day.

“It was my first main stage, ever,” she says, adding that it was a better experience than Glastonbury.

“That was the most special performance ever,” she says of her early afternoon slot.

“I could really feel that everyone was like ‘we like you actually Indiana... it made me want to cry. I wasn’t expecting to be so overwhelmed.”

It would have been understandable for The Gorgeous Chans to have felt overwhelmed by opening the main stage as the winners of the Future Sound of Nottingham competition but the indie/ska band of mostly teenagers enjoyed it.

“It was great fun, “ says 19-year-old saxophone player Liam Webber.

“We were a bit worried the samba wouldn’t go down well but it seemed to,” he adds, of their sound, a mix of Paul Simon’s Graceland and Vampire Weekend.

Although the line-up was buoyed up to a ten-piece, two core members were missing.

“Our trumpet and organ player couldn’t make it so we replaced them with a samba band,” he says.

After the set they sped off in all directions and reported back with positive reviews about fellow Notts artists Rob Green, Dog Is Dead and Georgie Rose.

The latter, an 18-year-old from Mansfield, is one of the region’s most-talked-about female singer-songwriters and yet she’s only been performing for just a year. Her set was on the smallest stage in the Courtyard but she is a contender for the main stage next year.



“The security were turning people away,” she says.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be that busy so it kind of blew me away a little bit.”

She adds: “I’ve got a lot of work to do but I aim to get on the main stage.”

Dozens of artists played over the three music stages with an afternoon of chuckles delivered on the comedy stage, plus a market, a funfair and cabaret.

Harleighblu

July 19, 2013

IT feels like she’s been on the Nottingham music scene for years and yet Harleighblu is still only 21.

She started early: “I was in gospel choirs from being quite little,” says the music student, who lives in Carrington.

“And I entered singing competitions all over the country, winning vouchers to buy equipment. A karaoke machine was one do the first things I bought because there was a recording setting on it,” she laughs.

Although she moved all over the country with her mum’s job – a Toni & Guy hair stylist – Harls (you can call her that, go on) has spent most of her life here.

“It was my mum’s passion for rare groove, soul and R&B that got me interested in that kind of music. Even when I was at school I wouldn’t listen to anything else. My school friends were listening to Britney Spears or Busted while I was listening to Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott.”

Those influences remain despite many describing her next single, Play Me, as sounding like Amy Winehouse.

“It’s definitely a good thing as she’s amazing but it’s just a coincidence that Play Me sounds that way. The last track I had out, Enough Now, everyone said sounded like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill and Floertry. And that is what I listen to more than Amy. But it’s a massive compliment.”

She describes her music as hip-hop soul: “It’s beat driven with a soulful edge.”

Harls signed to Tru-Thoughts in December and has since been played on 1Xtra, 6Music and Radio 1. Play Me will be released on July 29 with the debut album due in October, after which she’ll tour the UK, France and the US.

Which means she is unlikely to finish her music studies at NCN.

How she manages to get to college is a mystery as she often stays up until the early hours writing music.

“I get the most creative in the middle of the night. I don’t know why,” she admits.

Harleighblu will be on the Courtyard Stage with a band slimmed down to a five-piece.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Jake because the last time was when he was about 16,” she says.

“He was amazing. Off stage, he was a typical Nottingham lad but when he was singing it impressed me so much! No one had done Bob Dylan since Bob Dylan and Jake added his own twist.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Georgie Rose as well and Joel Baker because they’re both amazing. And no, they’re not friends of mine before you start...”

Indiana

July 19, 2013

THE fastest rising Nottingham music star of recent times is Indiana, a 25-year-old from Long Eaton who only played her first gig just over a year ago.

That was in the Future Sound of Nottingham competition to open the main stage at Splendour. She didn’t even come close but tomorrow she’ll be lining up with Jake Bugg, Squeeze and KT Tunstall on her own merit.

In the past 12 months she’s been signed to the Epic label, played on Radio 1, appeared at Glastonbury and sang for the Queen.

The latter was in the Radio 1 Live Lounge with Irish band The Script for a version of David Bowie’s Heroes, with her singing to the line “I will be Queen” to the Queen sitting just six feet away.

“Buckingham Palace requested The Script and the guys at Radio 1 wanted to showcase BBC Introducing,” she says of the initiative that has seen a lot of new artists getting played on national radio.

“And I was their favourite,” she beams.

She rehearsed with the band for a couple of hours the night before.

“I was nervous going into their space but they were really welcoming and a laugh. I was elated after that and not nervous at all but just before the Queen walked in I thought I was going to faint.”

The performance was screened live on BBC News 24.

“My family and friends found it really bizarre. They were messaging me saying ‘Did I just see you on the news?’”

After the performance she spoke to the Queen.

“It was quite annoying because the papers said she only clapped once – ‘one was not impressed!’ – but afterwards she was all smiles and chatting away.

“She spoke to me about Glastonbury. A guy from Radio 1 explained to her what BBC Introducing was and how I’d gone from writing music in my bedroom to performing at Glastonbury. And she said ‘Is that where it gets ever so muddy?’

“But the papers said she spoke to Danny (O’Donoghue, The Script singer) about Glastonbury and they weren’t even performing there, so I was annoyed that my claim to fame was taken away from me,” she laughs.

“Afterward, I walked out of the BBC and they were replaying everything on the big screen outside. I was stood in the middle of this crowd wearing exactly the same clothes but no one noticed me,” she continues, giggling.

Although she signed an autograph.

“Yes, just one. A girl asked for it and I got a pen out of my bag and started practising it before doing one for her.”

It was while at Glastonbury that she revealed to the crowd in the BBC Introducing tent that she was pregnant.

Etta, named after jazz singer Etta James, is due on September 7.

Is she worried about the timing?

“No, I’m embracing it. My label said I couldn’t have picked a better time because that’s the quietest month.”

Her boyfriend, James, will be a stay-at-home dad while she returns to her music career, with her first official single, Mess Around, due out in October.

She laughs: “I’ll have hopefully worked the baby weight off by then.”

Jake Bugg

July 19 2013

HE is in London about to buy a guitar at a price that – after tax – rivals my annual salary.

And it’s not the first time that Jake Bugg has forked out a few quid for a vintage six string; in Nashville he paid $20,000 for a 1954 Fender Telecaster.

This time it’s a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop.

Still, when you’ve sold 800,000 copies of your debut album, what are you going to spend it on? And there’s wisdom in these purchases.

“Investments, man,” says the 19-year-old, whose return to Nottingham today is one of only a handful he’s managed this year.

“It might be a kid’s education,” he adds, looking toward a future that seems a long way off. For now it’s music that dominates the life of Jake Bugg.

So is that his thing, collecting guitars?

“No man, I just want something that sounds amazing. The guitars they made years ago... some parts you just can’t make anymore.”

Of the Gibson, he adds: “Any guitarist wants one. And it’s an investment. I can’t lose any money on it. It won’t deteriorate in value.”

He won’t be locking it in a vault but using it for recording and on stage.

“They’re meant to be played. But as much as I love them and want to play them, if I was ever in financial need....”

It doesn’t seem likely the way his career is going.

“You never know,” says Jake, who already knows he will be busy with recording and touring commitments well into next year.

His first guitar, given to him by his uncle Mark when he was still at school was, he reckons, about £30.

“I had that fixed up because it has a lot of sentimental value,” he says.

And he still has the Yamaha acoustic his mum bought him (£50, if memory serves), on which he wrote most of his self-titled debut album.

“I don’t take that on the road because I don’t want it to get broken.”

Since the No. 1 album in October there’s been a tour with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, shows with the Stones Roses, tours of the US (where he appeared on national TV and the album reached the Billboard Top 100), Europe and Japan and he’s halfway through recording his second album with legendary producer Rick Rubin, the man who revived Johnny Cash’s career with the series of American Recordings albums.

He’ll be returning to Rubin’s studio in Malibu at the end of August.

He has said that the album is going well but he needed to write more upbeat songs.

“Yeah, I could do with one or two but I’m not struggling,” he says, casually.

The album will reflect what he’s experienced over the past year.

“I’ve met a lot of people and heard a lot of crazy stories,” he says.

“I’ve just been writing about that.

“It would be very dishonest of me to talk about smoking and drinking and stabbings in car parks... I’m not saying that’s all that goes off in Notts because it’s not.

“But I’ve not spent much time at home because I’ve been travelling around.”

He adds: “I’ll never forget where I’ve come from.”

So he’ll be singing about buying expensive guitars and sunning himself on a California beach?

“Certainly not,” he replies before adding, “It is an inspiring place to write, though.”

Musically will it be similar to the debut that showed his love of 60s and 70s singer-songwriters like Donovan, Dylan and The Beatles?

“It’s hard to explain because I just write the songs,” he says.

“I like it. Whether everyone else thinks it sounds good... that’s up to them. I’m making the record I want to make. If people like it then great but, if not, I’ll just keep making records.”

This summer has been a busy one already. When we speak he’s just returned from Portugal. Last weekend he was at T In The Park and supporting the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park.

Prior to that it was Glastonbury.

“It was the biggest gig I’ve ever played,” he says of his second set on the Pyramid Stage, which was watched by an estimated 40,000 people.

Then he remembers there were 80,000 people at the Stones gig.

“That was the most amount of people I’ve played to but they were there to see the Stones. I told the band ‘when you get on the stage just think that no one knows who we are and if one person claps it’s a bonus’.”

Does he get nervous playing to so many people?

“It is a big crowd but they all look the same after the first few rows,” he says, with characteristic cool.

Does he scan the crowd and see how people are reacting?

“I’ve played those songs a lot of times so you’ve got to keep yourself occupied,” he jokes.

“It is interesting to see what people’s reactions and expressions are to certain songs. That helps you to develop your set.”

He describes the Glastonbury experience as “a bit mad.”

Says Jake: “Two years ago I played the smallest stage and then ended up on the Pyramid. That’s pretty cool.”

He’s been open about his dislike of festivals and didn’t make an exception for Glastonbury by only staying for his two sets.

“I had to get off anyway,” he says. “I’m doing festival after festival all summer.”

Although Glastonbury was bigger, Jake enjoyed T In The Park.

“The crowd appreciated it that much that it sent shivers up my spine, which was dead weird.”

The same may well happen today, playing the biggest stage in his home city.

“It’ll be the first festival I’ve headlined as well so it’s a massive thing for me. But as much as I’m looking forward to it and excited about being a headline act I’ve got to treat it like any other gig and play the way I play. I’ve got to give it 100 per cent, stay focused and try and give the folks a good show.”

He doesn’t mean his folks, although they will be there.

“They’re all coming down and it’ll be nice to see everyone. There will be a lot of people who want to chat and I want to be able to chat to everyone but I can’t really stick around that much because I’ve got to move on to the next show. But I will try my best to see everyone.”