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.

Saint Raymond: Young Blood EP

January 2014

BRAMCOTE teenager Callum Burrows is in a battle with music superstar Beyoncé at the top of the iTunes chart.

The 18-year-old, who goes under the name Saint Raymond, released latest EP Young Blood on Tuesday. In 24 hours it was at No. 3.

“It’s beyond anything I expected,” says Callum, whose last EP, Escapade, reached No. 24 on the same chart.

“My only hopes for it were that it would beat Escapade, so when it was at No. 11 I thought ‘that’s amazing, I’m done’. Then it climbed to No. 6, then No. 4 and someone tweeted me saying it was at No. 3, sat right behind Beyoncé... which isn’t a bad view.”

Due to the rules of the chart, the EP is listed with the albums, not the singles – or “songs”.

While Beyoncé’s self-titled album was at No. 2, the compilation The Trevor Nelson Collection 2 was at the top. Lagging behind were Ellie Goulding and Bastille.

“It’s a youthful anthem,” he says of the lead song. “I wanted to celebrate what it was to be young and daring.”

Zane Lowe and Greg James have played it on Radio 1 and Jo Whiley on Radio 2.

“It was played on Celebrity Big Brother the other night as well,” he says. “I got a tweet about that because I don’t watch it. I’d rather watch paint dry.”

The video was shot in Australia but he’s not in it: “The last few months have been a bit crazy and there wasn’t the time for me to shoot the video. The opportunity arose for this video to be shot in Australia of a guy going for it and jumping around. I thought it was a cool idea and exactly what the song is about.”

This week he’s in Hertfordshire writing his first album, due out in the summer. He started it at the end of last year in Los Angeles.

Since then he’s been on a tour of Europe and the UK with chart-topping US band Haim.

He says: “Haim were cool. On the last night they gave me a bottle of champagne and invited me and the band to join in a birthday party they were having for one of the girls.”

His headline tour comes to the Rescue Rooms in March. Callum, who lives with his mum and dad in Bramcote, adds: “The whole family will be down for that so it’s going to be a special night.”


Tickets to see him at the Rescue Rooms on Friday, March 28 are £8, call 0845 413 4444 or go to alt-tickets.co.uk. Watch the video for Young Blood at nottinghampost.com. 

Saint Raymond to tour with Haim

October 2013

A BRAMCOTE teenager will be heading out on a sell-out tour of the UK and Europe with one of America’s biggest new bands.
Callum Burrows, who performs under the name Saint Raymond, will support Los Angeles trio Haim for three weeks in November and December.
“That’s going to be good fun,” says the 18-year-old. “They are a hot property at the minute.”
Haim’s album, Days Are Gone, last night won its neck-and-neck battle with Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience for the UK No. 1.
Sisters Danielle, Alana and Este Haim have already sold out the tour, meaning Callum will be playing to tens of thousands of people.

The news came just as he was finishing his own headline tour of the UK, with shows selling out, not just in Nottingham, where he played The Bodega, but also in London, Manchester and Bristol.
“It’s crazy,” he says. “It’s the first time I’d played London and it was sold out. On the Haim tour I’ll be playing to crowds ten times the size, though.”
It’s been quite a year for him.
“I’ve spent a lot of time away from home, touring and writing songs. You have got to put the graft in to make sure that you are ready for when it does take off.”
Over the summer he signed to major Asylum, home to Ed Sheeran and Rudimental, and part of the Atlantic group.
“We had a lot of meetings with different labels and we took our time. I felt that Asylum and the people there were right for what I wanted to do.
“We’ve got the tracks ready for the first EP release on the label but we’re working out the logistics – the best time to get it out there. It’ll be January at the latest.
“I’m really keen that it’s right so I’m taking my time. Whatever that first release is, it has got to better than the last EP.”
That was called Escapade and it reached No. 24 on the iTunes chart.
He supported Gabrielle Aplin on a tour of Europe earlier in the year. The singer behind the No. 1 hit The Power Of Love, as used in the John Lewis TV ad campaign at Christmas, has been Callum’s mentor, releasing his first two singles on her own label.
Over the summer he played Splendour, Y Not and the Leeds and Reading Festival, where he met actress Gemma Arterton.
“I had a bit of a fanboy moment,” he admits. “It was in the VIP section and there were quite a few celebrities hanging around. I was trying to play it cool but then I gave up and thought I’ll just be an idiot and ask for a photo with her. And I asked Chris Moyles to take the photo, which was kind of funny.”
Rapper Example has expressed his desire to write with him.
“It’s just been a whirlwind,” says Callum, back home at his parents’ house in Bramcote for the weekend.
“It is nice to get home and have a couple of days to rest up and have some home cooking. And to be in a proper bed.”
But he’s back to work today, writing more new material.
“My mum and dad are loving it. So are my sister and two brothers. The bass player in my band is my brother-in-law so there is a nice family vibe.”
He’s aware of the inevitable comparisons to that other Nottingham teenager, Jake Bugg but says: “ If you build too big a picture and look too far ahead then you can take your eye off the ball. It’s all about building everything slowly. I’m in this for the long haul.”
For more about Saint Raymond, follow him on Twitter: @Callum_SR.
Haim have just booked a second UK tour that will include Rock City on March 4. The support for that has yet to be announced.