Interview by Melanie Jones
Photography by Nardip Singh
I have seen you perform. On stage you look very at ease,
you have a good command of the audience, captivating them and
holding their attention to the end. The nerves of some acts seem to
get the better of them or struggle in maintaining their interest.
So you seem quite at ease?
I think so and I almost think that I am more at ease doing that
than I am in every day life. Once I get the guitar and I am
singing, I am away. I am somewhere else. Like I am asleep.
In your own world?
Exactly.
Your label, Sweet Luigi Records, which was created in 2005,
is it producing just you or other artists as well and where did the
name originate from?
It is the title to one of my tracks. We created it just as an
outlet for me – just for now but we will see where we get to. If we
can get into a position where we can stand up on our own feet I
don’t think it would be out of the question to be looking at other
acts but its early days so far.
Apart from you who else is behind the label?
Livingston Brown (my producer) James Lawrence (my manager) and
Patrick Haveron are part of it.
How did partnering up with them come about?
James has been my manager for quite a few years now and we began
working together in 2005. Shortly after I signed a deal with a
major record company, Sony. Then that kind of ran it’s course. It
was just a few years of you know fighting and battling to get
things that I wanted to do. It wasn’t really very good creatively
for me so we decided to walk away from that deal. I like working
with Liv (Livingston Brown) because he is just a fantastic
musician. He is very musical a lot more so than me. I can only wish
to be as good as he is and he brings different things out of
me
You didn’t have creative freedom?
No, I was kind of shoe horned into a place I didn’t really want to
be. So we decided that I was young enough and energetic enough
(laughs) to leave that deal and try to start afresh. We decided to
club together and create our own label and James (Lawrence),
Patrick (Haveron) a colleague of James and my producer, Livingston
Brown, a well-known musician.
The way Sony operates it is very much
formulated?
I signed with Sony when I was very young, around 15 or 16. It was
just a constant grind between what they wanted to do and what I
wanted to do. They saw me, just cause I was young, played an
instrument and sung; they envisioned a Bieber kind of a guy, which
was totally against what the music was. I couldn’t really deal with
that, as an artist. I had a hard time explaining to everyone that
it’s the right thing to do – to leave a major (label) and unless
you are in there, people don’t understand exactly what it is. For
some artists, a major record company is certainly the way to go.
Some people have the raw material but no vision or formula to move
forward. So I think they will alway--s be there. There will always
be a place for major record companies and who knows maybe later
down the road I will be part of a major label again but it would
have to be on my terms.
On your website we notice something unusual, a record club.
How does that work?
Yes. It comes out of necessity really. When we decided to go ahead
with this label, we didn’t want to get lost in the mire of putting
out an album and a single. You are kind of selling to no one unless
you are engaging with your fans; they are the most important
people. Unless you have a great fan base you really are selling
into nothing. So we kind of had a meeting and out of this meeting
we had the idea to go retro, which given the age of digital, would
produce a CD and send them through the post like old fan clubs used
to work. It forces me as well as the label to work to deadlines. So
creatively that has allowed me to get better and better as well as
work under pressure. I have grown so much since we have been doing
this. So it basically works in that we do 2 to 3 tracks a month and
people subscribe for a year and we send a CD out each month. Each
month is focused on working on what is being released at the end of
the month so it is pretty intense. To begin with there was a meagre
number of less than a hundred, but then in the next month as people
got to hear about it and were talking to each other, it just kind
of shot up. Took us all completely by surprise. Now it is getting
to a point to where I like to individually sign the CDs but it is
getting really hard to do that to keep up with the numbers. But you
got to keep going because it’s a special thing. People like
that.
I have noticed you done stuff with Burberry. You modelled
as well as performed for them. What came first? The modelling or
Burberry Acoustics?
The music kind of came first. Christopher Bailey the Art Director
at Burberry spotted me. I think it might have been at a gig or
something like that. He got in touch with my management and asked
if I would be up for a campaign that they did in 2009 which is all
about British actors, musicians and artists. We did a shoot with
Mario Testino for that campaign and yeah it is not a world that I
particularly feel comfortable in - yet but it was great to do and
it widened my audience.
We’ve been in touch over the years and recently they set up a
Burberry Acoustic that they do on YouTube. So I did one of them a
few months ago and it was great.
So modelling wasn’t necessarily something you planned on
getting into it seems more of a by-product for you?
Yeah it’s a happy accident. I never aspired to that and I still
quite… (pauses) I feel, I don’t feel gifted (laughs) in terms of
looks and that to be in that world. I guess it’s a comfort thing,
you know. I don’t feel relaxed.
From that acoustic how has your audience been
affected?
Its grown kind of immeasurably really. Just from a youtube video
and the latest report has been like 30000 viewers in two days. It
is still growing and growing. People watch the video and come
straight to the website. We get subscriptions through and we have
noticed a huge impact on the subscriptions since the Burberry thing
and we have been speaking to them saying you know you are really
making a difference here with unknown acts. You are almost “taste
makers” in a way and you are introducing these things to people who
wouldn’t otherwise find it. The impact of that people coming to
gigs and subscribing to the record club has been phenomenal
really.
When did you start singing?
I started really really early and I have always been writing little
tunes and silly little things. Funny enough it wasn’t really
something that I was looking at going into. It kind of happened you
know. I played in a bar quite regularly just for fun and a producer
was in there one day and said, ‘listen, come into the studio and
lets see what happens’. The tracks we then cut in the studio then
got heard by people. Then things happened. All of a sudden I was in
it. Yeah, again a happy accident.
Do you remember the first song that you ever
sung?
I think it was “I am looking through you’ by the Beetles, it’s a
song that my dad taught me.
You just mentioned your dad. Do you have a lot of support
from your parents? Did they provide music lessons or was it more
innate?
They are very relaxed about the whole thing, with a whatever you
want to do kind of attitude. They are not pressuring me or
anything. My dad’s always been in and around music. He’s been in
bands and he is a fantastic singer. He is someone that I look up to
as a singer. The family is into music a hell of a lot so that’s
rubbed of on me.
Who inspires you musically?
It’s a difficult question. When I was younger, I would always hear
Jeff Buckley which my Brother was into. They are the kind of a
records where I wouldn’t know what he was doing. I couldn’t really
read into it too much because it was so evolved. Even today, it
still retains a mystery to it that I can't really work it out.
Musically, lyrically and vocally, I could never imagine myself
being able to get close to that even though I hope. I don’t know in
terms of production and how he writes his songs, how he has done
it. He’s like a magician that doesn’t tell his secrets. And that
still fascinates me and he is really one of the only ones left that
I have that special thing about.
Apart from Jeff Buckley, who else do you listen
to?
I listen to a lot of Stevie Wonder, that’s someone that I always
return to. The Beetles, Paul Simon, Ray LaMontagne, Neil Finn,
Crowded House and all that stuff. Quite eclectic. I listen to a lot
of things you wouldn’t expect me to listen to as well like Hip Hop
and electro but I keep that quiet (laughs).
Where would you love to perform?
I would like to one day - and this is very far - to perform at the
Royal Albert Hall. Its somewhere I’d always have liked to perform
whether it is in the hallway (laughs) or on stage it doesn’t really
matter. I really like that place. It’s almost like a church and I
like that. Anywhere that I perform is important and I hope to gain
new friends I guess every time I perform.
Picking up on your comment of the hallway. You have a thing
about performing in smaller spaces as well?
That kind of came from being in a place - in the very genesis of
this Luigi (Sweet Luigi Records) thing. We couldn’t really go to
promoters and say: ‘Listen, we got a record coming out and we need
to go on tours. We didn’t have any real traditional forms of
getting out there. So we ended up having to play anywhere, pubs,
bars,nights that do acoustic music. Luckily people happily wanted
to come to those things because they loved the music. So we thought
we're not getting enough time on stage for these people. They are
coming from far away places. So we decided that after I come of
stage we find a room, cram them all in there and carry on the
gig.
What other instruments do you play aside from your
guitar?
Piano, Drums, Base, most things that I pick up, I can get something
out of. Violin, I can play a very tiny amount, just enough.
Did you take classes or are you self-taught?
Self taught. I find with the way that I work, I like things to be a
mystery. For instance I never really write down my music. I like to
just leave it. It helps with the song writing to get into an
unknown instrument and pick something out of it. Its what I was on
about earlier with Jeff Buckley, the mystery - I would like to keep
that. I think if that went away I wouldn’t be as prolific and
inspired I guess.
If you would get into another musical genre what genre
would you get into?
That’s very hard. I guess it would be (pauses) I always fancied
Jazz.(laughs). I know it sounds quite traditional but I like jazz a
lot and its hard to put it in a particular place. If I could have a
self-indulgent time for a year then it would be spent doing
that.
What do you prefer in the creative process, the lyrical
side of things or the instrumental side?
I think the two are so close that I can’t really tell them apart
because the melody informs the lyrics so much. I can never write
lyrics without a melody.
But you can’t have a melody without lyrics?
Yes. And its never been something I have been able to do: trying to
write something without the music in it. It doesn’t seem to
work.(laughs)
What is the best advice you have been given in your musical
career?
Don’t give it away too soon. Don’t give things away to soon. As an
aspiring artist what one person said to me was don’t be to hasty
going with major labels, PR firms or whatever it be. You‘ve got to
make sure you have your own thing first. Make sure you have a
suitcase full of your own ideas, your own artistry before you go
into something like that because its so hard to keep a sense of
self in a big place like that. It’s a lot of people telling you
what you should and shouldn’t do. You got to have something solid
to stick to. That’s an advice that was given to me that was
listened to but not heeded all the way. But now it makes sense. Now
I am kind of doing what I should have done from the start.
So what is your advise to other aspiring artists out
there?
Be inspired by other artists but make sure you have your own thing.
Make sure it’s you, it is just inspiration and not a copy. If you
don’t have your own original voice, original sound, original ideas,
it then kind of renders the thing pointless - though that’s a
strong word. I think that would be the advise that I would give.
Try to find something that is you.
What is your opinion on the state of the music industry
now?
It’s in the midst of changing and it’s hard to see where it will
end up. I do think it’s a positive thing in a way. Like me its
forcing people in different ways, but that always breeds creativity
and originality. Innovation. People have to start working with each
other and collaborating. It almost kind of like one tree dies and
another comes up. I don’t know if the decline of the major record
companies is something that is going to continue as fast as it is.
I really can’t see what’s ahead. I think we’ll see a lot more
joining of the art forms you know like film, music, phones and
technology all kind of blend into one.
Do you find new media like facebook, myspace, youtube etc
gives you more of an opportunity as an independent
artist?
Absolutely, if you have the ideas and the energy to harness it. You
now can do anything you like with very little amount of money. Now,
more than ever before, it’s about you, needing the drive to make it
happen yourself and people will begin to take notice. It’s an open
forum with so many platforms to do things. Like for instance the
little silly things that we do with little gigs in tiny rooms. It
takes no effort at all but we film these things then put them on
youtube and people are drawn to them.
So it’s a case of holding your audience, captivating them
and keeping them also?
Yes. That’s a really good point because the record club
subscription has a bit of that thinking in it. Because now it’s so
easy to just download one track. People have loads of different
favourite artists. You kind of pick and choose what you like. You
don’t really buy into an artist any more. With the subscription you
either do or you don’t. In a way you buy into me for a year. You
put your faith in that it’s going to be good for a year. That in
turn makes me change in how I approach it. You know it’s got to be
good. We have an opportunity to have fans for life. If it’s
good.
What are you plans for this year?
Working on tracks for next record club volume. Spreading the word
about my music and seeing how we can interact with radio with a
record club format. Traditionally you would have a single to go
with a release date and an album release date. We’ve thrown that
all out and it’s a constant thing. So how do we interact with a
radio audience? I am lucky to have people around me in the record
company that are not afraid to try new things you know. Patrick in
particular is always coming out with fantastic ideas to use the
internet. Sometimes it can be a scary thing because you can arrange
things and no one knows what may happen. Things will fall through
but we got to go through it to see what works.
Do you find people are getting more tired of the
homogenised electro music genres?
I would hope they are (laughs) because every genre has its time.
With this stuff it seems like we had that in Europe with the dance
kind of sound all the way through the nineties. It never really
happened in America. So now it kind of got there now and they are
sending it back to us. It is one of those things that breeds
plagiarism so much so that you can never really distinguish on
track from another. It just gets to a point where creatively there
isn’t really anything happening. I think when you get an artist
like Lady Gaga who does the whole thing and is kind of at the
pinnacle of all that, that kind of signals the death now because
anything that comes after that is kind of imitation. So I like some
of that stuff but I think its about time that there is a change
now. It always seems to go that you go from one extreme to another.
So maybe we will start seeing a return to real music at least for a
bit. (Laughs)
Who would you love to collaborate with? Pick three
different genres. Something totally out of the box but you would
love to see what happens?
Oh ok. That’s interesting (muses). I would like to work with the
Preservation Hall jazz Band new Orleans. That would be great! I
would love to do that. I have always been a big fan of that
traditional kind of music. So that’s one and then… I know! Someone
completely wild like Naz or Dr Dre someone like that. I would love
to do that just to see what would come out of it! It might be big
rubbish but it would be so interesting. And then who else? I guess
Nine Inch Nails or something like that. Why not? If I am thinking
completely out there… Because I think I have a little bit of a gift
for melody, as long as you have that (laughs) there is really no
stopping you. It’s all sounds, its all music.
Have a listen:
www.sambeeton.com
As featured in Unfolded Magazine Issue 03