A Madrid Merienda with Ryan Keen

Before his slot supporting Tom Odell in Madrid, Ryan Keen and I have a chat over some tapas and sangria in a bar close to Joy Eslava. The Totnes born singer/songwriter released his début album 'Room For Light' in 2013 and has supported Ed Sheeran, Leona Lewis and Plan B on tour...

I ask who he'd one day like to open for him, "Hopefully it will be some friends. Fiona Bevan and Sam Brookes, both good friends of mine, are just about to release albums. It's a big deal getting the opportunity to play to bigger crowds, that's a real key part of music, the opportunity to play to more people, new people."

Ryan will be headlining his own European tour soon. "I'm really excited!" he smiles. "It's hard to know what to expect. My album's coming out in Germany, Switzerland and Austria on 21st March and then in different European countries over the next few months. It's all quite new so it depends how well we do with radio play and the new promoters. The Germany tour for May is already selling pretty well, I love Europe so to be out here gigging is cool. I've done quite a few laps of the UK so I'm quite familiar with it but this is new territory for me." I ask the most crucial question - will he be coming to Spain?! "I will be, at the minute I'm only doing Germany, Switzerland, Austria. Holland and Belgium but since touring with Tom [Odell] we're looking to try and put in other countries. I plan to venture out to as many countries as I can!"

His guitar playing has a strong influence from Flamenco, "I've seen the guitarists in Andalucia before and they're incredible, the genre that I'm classified in is called Percussive Finger Style Guitar which is using the whole body of the guitar to make as much sound from it as you can, hitting beats and lots of tapping and harmonics."

I ask him the the first gig he ever attended as a fan? "Do you remember a band called Reef? They had a song called 'Place Your Hands'," he begins to sing it as I look at him blankly and shake my head, perhaps before my time? "It's a good song, you should check it out!" he laughs. "I was probably early teens in Plymouth Pavilions in the South-West of England."

Ryan tells me he studied music management at Uni because he didn't really know what he wanted to do, and didn't have the confidence to sing at that point. It was after losing a friend five years ago who died very suddenly that he realised the fragility of life and decided might as well just go for it. 

"Having creative control is massively important to me, I'm working with some major labels now, I self-funded, made and released the album independently in the UK and I've licensed it to Warner Brothers in Australia so it's still the album that I wanted to make and I'm totally content with that.   If I can make the records I want to make then I'm happy to work with whoever wants to promote the music."

"It's still early days," Ryan tells me about his success on the other side of the world, "the radios have been spinning it a lot, the singles have just started charting over there." His album reached No.1 in the Australian singer/songwriter chart. "I want to be back out there in the next couple of months. Australia's massive, ." Not to mention the 24 hour flight from the UK to Oz.

“For me the top 3 venues that are milestones are Madison Square Gardens in New York, Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Royal Albert Hall in London. I've been very lucky in that I've played both the Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall but they haven't been my own gigs yet. The ultimate for me would be to headline the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, that's crazy.”

Photo credit: Elle Hanratty

So how did supporting Tom Odell in Europe come about? “Really last minute, my booking agent put me forward originally. I was already doing another tour around Europe and four days before this tour started I got a phone call saying “Tom's listened to your songs and asked if you're up for it.” The tour I was on finished in Vienna on the Thursday, and I had to be in Bremen on the Saturday for his tour, it's a long drive!” On Tom Odell himself… “Tom is fantastic, an amazing musician and really cool. Seeing him sound check when working on some new songs, you can see how his mind works, the guy is a fantastic composer. He's like "I've got a baseline for it, I wrote this one already, it's arpeggio to this, these are the chords, GO" and he knows what he's doing.” 

When I ask who he’d one day love to collaborate he doesn't have to think for a second before he answers, “Chris Martin, as a writer he’s my favourite living composer. I've been lucky enough to work with artists I've always looked up to, Newton Faulkner was a massive inspiration so to work with him was a real pleasure and now we've become friends, it's quite surreal, really cool. We wrote this duet and then he asked me on tour with him. Someone else was Fink, he's one of my favourite artists and has been for a long time and I've worked with him, I feel pretty lucky so far. I'd love to work with other female singers, maybe Adele or Emeli Sande.”

What songs might we find on Ryan Keen’s iPod? “Quite a variety. Yesterday I downloaded John Hopkins’ album, he's a composer/producer, and apparently heavily influenced Chris Martin's stuff and has been working with Coldplay on their latest album Ghost Stories. Some James Blake, and Paca de Lucia, and I just downloaded some Ludovici Einaudi. I’m very up to date with music that’s in the charts too.” 

I discover he's straight off to France in the morning to stay in the Quiksilver house, a company who sponsor him. If he won £1,000 on a scratch card right now he would hire some jet skis, an obsession of his apparently. “I’ve only been on one once and it was AWESOME.”

Finally, I ask for 3 words to sum up his début album ‘Room For Light', “Positive, honest, and...” Music? “Hmm, I'm trying to think of the right words... traditional, old-school.” I'm pretty sure that’s more than 3 words, Ryan, “Okay, okay, ‘Room for Light’”

As the intense wailing Spanish music in the background gets even louder, we say goodbye before he dashes to the venue. Watching Ryan perform it’s clear he is something special and a genuine talent. He has the Madrid crowd so tightly in the palm of his hand that he’s able to perform an unplugged (no mic, no amps) rendition of ‘Orelia’.

Ryan Keen's debut album 'Room For Light' is out now on iTunes, Amazon, etc. 

Tickets for his mini-UK and Ireland tour at the end of April, and European tour, are on sale now.

Website: www.ryankeen.co.uk

YouTube: /ryankeenmusic

Facebook: /ryankeenmusic

Twitter: @ryankeen

Instagram: @ryankeen

See the full album of photos on my Facebook page

Glasvegas Talk Glowsticks and Gallagher

I caught up with lead guitarist Rab Allan and drummer Jonna Löfgren backstage at Low Cost Festival ahead of them headlining the main stage on Sunday night. They were most surprised to find out they were being interviewed in English by a fellow Scot! Here's what happened when a Glaswegian journalist (me) interviewed a Glaswegian band (Glasvegas) in Benidorm...

So this is your first time playing Low Cost Festival....

Rab: Yes! We've done some festivals here before like Benicassim, Summer Case, Dia de La Musica in Madrid, BBK Bilbao - It's always been great whenever we come to Spain.

Have you been to Benidorm before?

Rab: No, our manager Denise came when she was 18 and James came as well when he was 16 and I think that was the first time he ever got really drunk and threw up.

What was the first gig you ever attended as fans?

Jonna: It was probably some Swedish act, I don't know, I want to say some cool band like "oh yeah, that was the first gig I went to". [Laughs]
Rab: I saw The Bootleg Beatles, that was my first ever gig in Glasgow, in the Royal Concert Hall, and after that I saw Travis and about ten bands in a month.

Where is your favourite venue to go to in Glasgow?

Rab: Barrowlands, definitely.
Jonna: I've only been to Barrowlands once, I saw The Vaccines there and it was really good.
Rab: I saw Oasis there in 2001, we've played there twice. Once we supported The Wombats, that was good fun, there were lots of kids with glowsticks. All the parents were at the back of the hall and all the kids were at the front, I think James ended up threatening someone because they threw a glowstick at him. It was one of our first ever gigs just before we signed to Columbia and all of the big people from the label were there.

You've supported Oasis on tour, that must have been an amazing experience?

Rab: It was funny because that was the band that we kind of got into music with and then we supported them, so it's a strange thing but it was fun.

Was it kind of "dream come true" or did you get a bit disillusioned?

Rab: They were the sweetest guys, even Liam [Gallagher] is a bit of a pussy cat. He walked around backstage with his leopard print slippers on. He came in to talk to us and was saying that when he was our age he loved The Stone Roses and then he met Ian Brown and we were saying "oh we've met you" and he was really humble. He met my mum and James' mum and gave them hugs and kisses. He's a big pussy cat, he really is, you heard it hear first...

Are you excited about The Hydro (capacity 12,000) opening in Glasgow?

Rab: We're actually playing it with The Proclaimers, I think it's one of the first gigs, it's like the Scottish Showcase kind of thing so it's us and Roddy Hart and The Proclaimers, I think it's going to be great.
Jonna: That's gonna be mad! Our biggest gig I think, we might have played a wee bit bigger at festivals but not like a one-off venue.

You've just changed record company to BMG, do you feel that's a better direction for you creatively?

Rab: To be honest, I don't really think it was a creative thing, I think we were going to release the album on our own.
Jonna: It feels like we've got a bit more to say about things in general. We don't feel the pressure of "oh, we think you should release this and this..."
Rab: The thing is with Sony, we had complete control, we decided everything that happened but it's just that they would put pressure on us to try and do other things.
Jonna: They would suggest something...
Rab: BMG are basically funding us and we're putting our own team together and they're letting us run with it. They loved the album and that's why we signed with them. We'd been offered other record deals but with them, they loved the album as much as we did.
Jonna: It feels so good to actually have the album and then sign with them.
Rab: We haven't had any issues, everything has been great so far, we've met the people from BMG in Spain and they're lovely and paid for our drinks!

Have you eaten much Tapas while you've been here?

Rab: We actually all went out for Tapas in Glasgow about a month ago to Cafe Andalucia in the West End, there's one in Byres Road and it's really nice too. I love Tapas! We've been to a few restaurants but my girlfriend on really eats pizza and pasta, she doesn't eat meat so it's been limited. She had a pizza everyday for like three or four days [Laughs] so we've had to broaden our horizons a bit.
Jonna: It's been good, we've been getting the swordfish and all that.
Rab: Pretty exotic for Glaswegians.

Your album comes out in September, will you be doing a promo tour for it?

Rab: We've started doing a bit, I keep forgetting it's only not long now. We usually do quite a lot of press, I think there are some gigs planned as well but I'm not really sure, in Europe not the UK.
Jonna: We never know what's going to happen in advance, someone just tells us. We're lucky if it's as much as three days before, usually it's like "tomorrow, you're doing this".
Rab: We get told day to day.

Where's your next big tour?

Rab: September/October we do a big UK tour and then November/December we do a big European tour, we're playing Madrid and Barcelona.

I loved watching Glasvegas perform on the main stage at Low Cost Festival, Jonna is the craziest and most incredible drummer I have ever seen. The new album Later... When The TV Turns To Static is released 2nd September 2013.

Web: glasvegas.net
Facebook: /glasvegas
Twitter: @glasvegas
Instagram: @glasvegasofficial

Two Door Cinema Club Bring the Cool to Benidorm

21:30h in Benidorm on Friday 26th July and I'm standing with Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird aka Two Door Cinema Club in the middle of a football pitch. We were, of course, backstage at Low Cost Festival. Alex heads back to his dressing room with the Spanish translator we didn't need and birthday boy Sam goes off to catering, leaving Kevin who says, "Shall we just do the interview here?"

We sit down on the sub-benches and the interview commences. I ask when they arrived here in Spain, "We got here this afternoon, we were shooting a video in London. We actually flew out from Gatwick on an Easyjet flight. We haven´t been to Benidorm before but haven´t seen any of it yet. Wer'e heading down to Alicante for the rest of the weekend for Sam's stag do!"

What was it like playing the main stage at T in the Park? "It was great having played before to have a point of reference. When you've played the smaller stages you know how important it is to be playing the headline stage. In 2010 we played the Small Tent at T and last year the 2nd Stage, so it's good to have that."
Their music has been used in adverts for the likes of Vodafone, Meteor, clothing retailers Debenhams and Next and by Microsoft. I wonder how much say the boys have in it, "We have full control over what we do, for instance, we've been asked to do loads - I won't tell you what - that we decided not to do. We're not fortunate enough to be in Adeles' postition where we can turn down the offers all the time. In the beginning it really helped to get us known and in fact a track for Debenhams became a single when we weren't releasing it, purely on the basis of the advert. We've also had tracks for Playstation and Xbox, Fifa games and NBA which has got us known in America so it's all been good really... It's also quite lucrative. I wouldn't want to not be able to decide what we do as I'm a control freak."

I ask Kevin what the first gig was he ever attended as a fan, "I think it was probably a Radio 1
Roadshow, I can remember it came to our hometown in Ireland which was quite major as nobody ever came. Zoe Ball was the presenter and I remember seeing The Corrs."

On Wikipedia Two Door Cinema Clubs' Genre is described as Indie rock dance-punk synthpop new wave post-punk revival, I ask if he could sum up their genre in no more than 3 words. "Alternelectronica, when we first started out someone came up with that and we thought it was really good. I guess we're more Indie now, we used to be to be three guys and beats, but now we have a drummer..."

The band have 1.5 Million Likes on Facebook and growing, I ask how important Kevin thinks social media is for musicians? "It's definitely the way things are going now, but just because you have 1.5 million Likes doesn't mean they all see your posts. Facebook uses algorithms to decide how important each post is and how they show up in feeds. For example, if you add a photo or not it can make a big difference and you can actually pay to promote an individual post and decide how many hits you want it to get." Wow, so you've really thought about this? [Laughs] "Well as I said, I'm a control freak."

As his manager makes exaggerated winding notions with his hands as he's on the phone, I ask Kevin one last question, what's the most expensive item of clothing he's ever bought? "I bought a Cristian Dior jacket... the other guys still make fun of me for it, I bought it in Browns in London." Eeek! How much was it? "I'm not saying... but it was a lot."

Two Door Cinema Club played the main stage at midnight, despite being 90% Spanish the crowd sang along to every song. It was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen, their energy was phenomenal with some amazing pyrotechnics.

The Theme Park Everyone is Talking About...

On this freezing cold Monday night, before their (incredible) gig I go backstage with Theme Park for an exclusive interview at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. The guys were very friendly and we got chatting before the voice recorder was even turned on. Twenty-two year old twins, Marcus and Miles, and childhood friend twenty-three year old Oscar from North London are the kind of guys you would love to have as friends. They have a very cool natural air about them while remaining genuine and down to earth.

How old were you when you decided to form a band?

Miles: I was in a sort of Black Sabbath cover group when I was about 14, it was just Brother M (Marcus), another friend and I. The first band we did with Oscar was maybe 4 years ago. We decided to start doing Theme Park when we finished university, we were 21 and took a post-uni gap year to do writing to see if we could come up with songs. So that was the time Theme Park was born.

(From left to right) Oscar, Marcus, myself and Miles.
They are all over 6ft, I'm over 5ft,8! 

Can you give me three words to sum up your début album?

Miles: Exceptional..[laughs]..No seriously...I think it is optimistic, groovy and textured.

You said previously you like Theme Parks, which is your favourite?

Marcus: That's actually not quite true!
Miles: A misquote!

I read an old interview and it said that you loved theme parks so that's why you chose the name...

Miles: I think our sarcasm doesn't translate on the page... We're big fans of Legoland, that was a life changer when I was younger. Oscar always gets annoyed at this point because he likes them.
Oscar: Annoyed is not the word...disgruntled.
Miles: Misrepresented! Personally, the log flume is enough. Drifting through the plants and then plopping down at the end but after that it's not my kettle of fish.

What has been your favourite gig to date?

Marcus: Ooh, there have been a couple! When we supported Misfits at Bixton Academy that was a really special gig. Ibiza Rocks was fun too!
Miles: Up until a week ago I might have said Reading... but the Heaven show in London that we did was definitely my favourite one.
Oscar: It was the trump card.
Marcus: That was our own show and everyone had come specially to see us, so that's really nice.

Where would be your dream venue?

Miles: The Hollywood Bowl, it's a huge amphitheatre in Los Angeles, the kind of place you would see Simon & Garfunkel or Fleetwood Mac. To play there with the sun set would be really cool.
Marcus: Does it have to exist?
Oscar (to Marcus): Didn't you want to play on the moon? I already got to play Ally Pally (Alexander Palace) and I always wanted to play there. I remember seeing the Strokes there when I was 14 and I thought they were just too cool.

Who would you one day love to support you on tour?

Oscar: Ooh it's hard because it feels like you have to look down and you don't want to offend someone really good.
Marcus: I'd quite like Two Door Cinema Club to support us on tour.
Miles: I think someone who would really get the crowd going, maybe Daft Punk as they can get everyone dancing!
Oscar: Have you gone mental?




Is there a particular artist you'd love to collaborate with?

Marcus: I think it would be fun to collaborate with Tom York. We're actually going to be doing a track with Edwin Collins.
Miles: Who is the lead singer of a band called Orange Juice.
Oscar: I don't really dream people to collaborate with as I'd just be a gibbering wreck, like "Hi....." so I'd prefer not to do it at all.

If you weren't in music what other careers might you have gone into?

Marcus: I'd like to work on an exotic animal farm, like a crocodile farm but not where they kill the crocodiles, where they look after them.
Miles: I don't know whether I was bemused or something but I considered being a barrister, I looked around the temple and came to my senses pretty quickly. I'm writing a screen play at the moment, I think that'd be fun.
Oscar: I'd like to teach one day, maybe teach guitar when I stop doing this.

What do you mean stop doing this? You will never stop!

Oscar:Yeah, I suppose in my mind-
Marcus: Oscar's planning an exit already!

Could you give me a quick iTunes shuffle and tell me the first 3 songs to come up? [The boys use the MacBook sitting in front of them]

The BeeGees - Living Together, The Rapture - How Deep Is Your Love and Prince - I wanna be your lover.
 
If you won £1,000 pounds on a scratch card right now, what would you do with it?

Marcus: Go and buy a very nice classic car.
For £1,000?
Marcus: Yeah, on eBay, second hand.
Miles: £1,000 is one of those amounts of money that's in between small things but not enough for a big thing. I think I'd put it into savings. I'm joking, I'm joking!
Oscar: I would repay my mum for a guitar she bought me.
Miles: Last Christmas we went on holiday to this house in Norfolk, it was the coolest place I've been and I would just pay for it as a treat for my friends next Christmas.

What's the most expensive item of clothing you've ever bought?

Miles: Mine is hanging up over there, it's a coat by a company called Canada Goose, it's my prized item in the whole world. It's so warm!
Oscar: I've got a nice suit by Paul Smith.
Miles: Brother M bought some swimming trunks from Paul Smith for £90!
Marcus: I've only worn them once, I don't really like getting wet.

Are you looking forward to playing the festivals this year? You've already announced Reading and Leeds, what others are you doing?

Oscar: We're doing loads!
Marcus: We'll be at Bush Stock and we're doing lots that have been discussed but aren't official yet.

Have you made any plans for next year?

Oscar: Plans at the moment are to circle round playing many, many lives shows to lots and lots of people hopefully. We have very lightly pencilled in starting work on the next album. That's the lightest pencil, 1B? 7H?
Marcus: 8H is lighter.
Oscar: 8H then, that's how lightly it's pencilled in.
Miles: You might want to use the 7B because that's when you really get soft. H is more of a thin point.

We wind up the interview with me telling the boys how much I'm looking forward to seeing them perform. I got the impression they enjoyed the interview as much as I did grilling them!

I also filmed a game of 'Theme Park's Favourite Things...' to be uploaded next week. While you wait in anticipation, enjoy their latest single 'Tonight' and have a gander on their YouTube channel and, of course, buy the album.

Website: themeparkband.com
Twitter: @ThemeParkBand (@mileshaughton @marcuscus and @oscarmanthorpe)
Facebook: /ThemeParkBand
YouTube: /thmprk

A Window to Lewis Watsons' World

Here I am, on the 1^st of July, off to the Electric Circus in Edinburgh to interview up and coming musician – Lewis Watson. On arrival I was allowed into the venue, and when Lewis arrived, I had the privilege of watching him soundcheck. I’ve been following him and his music for a while, so was excited to spend some time with him. The talented 19-year-old was one of the most charming guys I have ever met and the conversation flowed.

Having only picked up the guitar 3 years ago, I wondered how long Lewis had been performing professionally. "Well, I did my first gig last May, it was an open mic at a college in Oxford and I covered a Charlie Simpson song. Charlie saw it and invited me to his gig in London, which was crazy because nothing like that had ever happened before," he tells me with a big smile on his face. "He mentioned doing a little festival thing in September with him, so asked me if I'd ever performed but I hadn’t, for anybody, not even my Mum and Dad. He told me to rack up some gig experience and then come September we could probably do a gig together. Charlie's one of my heroes so that was crazy! I then did open mics three times a week because I wanted to be as good as possible, but the gig didn't actually happen in the end. He's really lovely and I'm a big fan of his music so to have him say that really made me think 'screw the nerves and just do it, if you want to'. I thank Charlie Simpson for me being here today!"

I ask how he’s found trying to promote himself through the internet. "I joined YouTube three years ago; I think that was the perfect time because people weren't using it a lot. Every other video wasn't somebody covering a song; it was harder to come across someone you enjoyed listening to. I always said that YouTube was good because you get the honest truth, which isn't the case now because people go on there to hate for the sake of hating. It's a shame, if I were to have started now, I don't think I would've carried on. YouTube is hard work because you have to stay active and you have to cover the right songs," he explains. "I'm really lucky because I talk to other musicians, there's a little group of YouTube buddies, and it’s pretty cool actually. Other medias such as tumblr, I made that at the same time, again it was the perfect time because everybody was using it and enjoying it, now people don’t use it as much. I think I just hit the social media boom. It only takes one person with 1,000 friends to share it, to then have 30 more shares. The internet is fantastic and I'm so happy it exists."

With such a beautiful voice and lyrics people really connect with, I wondered if he had always wanted to be a singer/songwriter. "I think everybody wants to be a singer, so it's almost like a far out ambition of mine but I never really thought it could happen until last year when things started to pick up. I thought 'hang on, if I really apply myself here and give 100% this could maybe just happen'. The fact it has happened has blown my mind, I'm a bad sleeper anyway but I lie in bed and I'm just so overwhelmed by everything. It's annoying though because I don't really get much sleep anymore!" he laughs. These days it’s unusual to hear of an artist who really appreciates everything he has and doesn’t take it all for granted, I admire him for that.

"I'm extremely lucky because I have a very supportive family," he smiles. "My sister did my website and my dad used to be my manager. My mum, my step-mum and my brother have all just been so supportive, I'm really lucky for that. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I left school so I don't think they had a clue either but they’ve been great ever since I decided I wanted to do this. I am really lucky with my family, I love them to bits, make sure you put that in," I promise I will.

With a lot coming up, I wanted to know what he was looking forward to most, "My sold out UK tour, definitely! The fact it's sold out, in the first place, is completely crazy, it's mad. I'm really excited to do it because I've supported loads of people at their gigs so for people to have bought tickets to come and see me is a bit wacky. It'll be the first time that it's my show, so it’s going to be great to make decisions and pick support acts.”

"I'm doing a free show in July in Oxford and that's going to be filmed and recorded and hopefully that'll be made into a live EP. Come October time I'm looking to maybe release another EP and then next year an album."

I ask about the furthest away fan that he’s aware of, "My third and fourth most liked cities on Facebook are Melbourne and Sydney, which is crazy because that's the other side of the world. I also had somebody message me telling me they were from the Blue Mountains in Australia which has a really small population, so for them to have found me is mental." At the moment there’s “Get Lewis toAustralia” challenges which his fans have to complete, via social medias, in order to get him there.   If he could play a venue anywhere in the world, it would be Australia. 

And in 5-10 years? “I hope to still be doing music and I hope that I'm still enjoying it as much as I am now,  and that I'll be touring the world, instead of just  four dates in England and Scotland!"

I love Lewis’ new music video for his song Windows, he tells me how it was made, “I went to Electric Lights Studios and they were brilliant, I just did about 20 takes of the song in different positions and they printed each frame, cut it out, and then filmed the video again. I'm really happy with it.” The video had only been online for two days when I met Lewis and it already had 15,000 hits, it now has over 21,000!

"The biggest influence on my music career is definitely Ed Sheeran. He did a great thing and opened the door to so many people to let them think they could do it, just them and their guitar. He put in the hard work for four years doing gigs every night, sleeping on sofas, just because he wanted people to hear his music. I think that's so admirable, whoever you are, you don't even have to like him but you should admire that kind of work ethic. He has now toured everywhere and he's still doing it, he's got a number 1 on the American iTunes, which is mad. Ed is a complete eye opener for me. I thought music was going down that slope where it was so throw away it would be number 1, and then next week it would be number 40 because everyone's got a new disposable song. I think Ed really broke that because he's been number 1 with ‘+’ so many times and the songs were all written by him.”

Lewis tells me about the first gig he ever attended as a fan, “It was Linkin Park, November 23rd 2003, Lost Prophets were supporting them at Wembley. I was 11 and I had the time of my life,” he remembers. “I just listened to their new album today, I was really happy with it because I feel like they've gone back to their roots.”

“I just tried to do well at school,” he shrugs, as I ask what he was like as a child. “I didn't see a need in being badly behaved and doing stuff that you shouldn't. I was really boring, thinking about it, I should've made the most out of my childhood. Although, I guess I'm still an adolescent, kind of…”  He’ll be 20 in October, will we give him that?

Mr Watson isn’t short of “fangirls” and they’re not afraid to go to extremes, I ask him the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to him with a fan. He says, “I recently got a letter hand-delivered through my door. That was quite weird for me because I just woke up and there was a letter, with no stamp just put through the door, I mean that person knows where I live. It wasn’t signed, just had a mobile number? I think that's the bit that got me because I don't know who they are but they know where I live.”

Lewis’ answer to being anyone in the world for one day…“Kanye West because he's the coolest man on Earth, or Ryan Gosling because he's just gorgeous and women would fall at my feet." After seeing some of his glamorous fans swooning over him later at the gig, I don’t think Lewis will be short of girls falling at his feet. The fact he writes beautiful music, sings and plays guitar is just a bonus really.

People love it when @levvis_ tweets them back, he tells me how important it is for an artist to make time for their fans. “I, and I'm sure a lot of other people, wouldn't be in the position where they could just play music and earn a living out of it if it wasn't for the people that enjoyed the music. I think it’s key for people to tweet people back, although it's very hard sometimes. This month, for me is manic, I don't really have a day off so it's very hard to tweet everybody. You’d be surprised how many tweets come in, it’s a fantastic feeling but it's very hard to think 'oh well that question's been asked four times by four different people, I don't know how to see to that'. It does grind on you because people get upset if you don't reply to them. It's not that I don't want to reply to you, I just really can't if I want to be sane,” he laughs.

In the past he’s done an #asklewis where he tries to answer every question he can. It trended worldwide last time, “I was just on the train and usually I forget my headphones, I had plenty of battery on my phone so I did it.”  

“I remember people's twitters and if they come to a gig I say "oh, you're blah blah blah on twitter!" and it freaks them out a bit. Recently I went to a Lucy Rose gig and she knew who I was just because she'd heard my music before. That was wacky because I've listened to her for years and I love her music.”

When I ask Lewis what embarrassing songs we may find on his iPod, he puts it on shuffle and after about 10 tracks reveals he wouldn’t have skipped any of them. He tells me he likes lots of different genres, and can easily go from Slipknot to Kanye West. Although, I was lucky enough to hear a couple of his original demos!

As we finish off the interview with my Either Or video, I feel a little sad as I've so enjoyed the time I've spent with him. I'm sure it won't be long before Lewis Watson is a household name with a flock of fangirls in love him; in fact I think I may be a little in love with him myself...

Check out my Either Or with Lewis below!

You can purchase Lewis' EP 'It's Got Four Sad Songs on it btw' on iTunes now.

lewiswatsonmusic.com

youtube.com/HolyLoowis

twitter.com/levvis_

facebook.com/lewiswatsonmusic

levvis.tumblr.com

Everything is Designed, Few Things are Designed Well

As I read back the notes from my interview with 21-year old Jade, I realise what a remarkable girl she really is. Despite not turning up to school much and dropping out at 15, she still got the best marks possible. Living with a younger brother and sister with more than a fair share of family drama, at age 16 she got a part-time job, while starting an entry-level college course to what would eventually become a way to earn her degree in graphic design.

“Growing up in Glasgow was quite good”, she tells me, and “I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else. I grew up in rough places but I had a really happy childhood, you learn to appreciate things when you move to other places.”

I asked her when she realised she wanted to become a graphic designer, “Quite late I guess compared to some people; I think I was about 16. I had studied a few courses including Communications and Media and the whole time I can remember thinking 'I want this to look like this'. I was more focused on the layout than anything else so after that I knew that’s what I wanted to do, graphic design.  When I went into it I didn't really know what it was about, I didn't even know what typography was and that's like one of the main things in graphic design, it’s now my favourite thing.”

Having often been branded a ‘teacher’s pet’ myself I wanted to know if Jade put herself in that category too, “Erm, not really, I was always quite smart at school. Quiet in class but outside of class I was quite loud and obnoxious. In first year I was quite smart and quiet and then when it got to about second year, I got in with the wrong crowd and started smoking during lunch breaks. I was still smarter than them, I was in top classes but I wish I had gone into school more instead of thinking 'I can't be bothered'. For all of my exams I got As, despite the fact that I wasn't in for most of that year. So I did well but I left when I was 15 and went to college which I regret because doing your exams in school is probably easier than college but at the same time that's when I found out I wanted to be a graphic designer.”

“I think it's important to still try and do your best at school because when you get older it is a lot harder. Most people should stay and stick it at school even until fifth year at least because it does make it a lot easier trying to get into uni.”

The obvious question for me to ask was ‘What logo do you wish you’d designed?’ “That's a hard one, the obvious choice would be the Nike logo but that was designed by a student who literally just did a tick for a competition and they basically thought 'oh, that's an awesome logo' and it became their whole brand identity. I don't think there's just one logo I wish I'd designed because there's just so many that are just so great, I can't just choose one.”

Everyone idolises someone in their profession, Jade says “I quite like a lot of illustrators at the moment and handwritten letters which is like handwritten typography. Someone called Alison Carmichael and another lady called Johanna Basford, their stuff is all handwritten styles. They do so many adverts, you'd probably recognise some of their stuff. Johanna Basford did the Christmas one for Buchanan Galleries with all of the Christmas decorations and candy canes and stuff, it's really nice, I didn't actually realise it was her until I went onto her website. I'm quite into that at the moment and they're probably the people that I aspire to be like. It's good to be good at typography and graphic design but to have a particular niche like that; it's quite in demand at the moment."

Without coming across too negative I asked Jade if she ever wishes she had gone down a different profession, “Yeah, probably every day” she nods, to my surprise, “because it's quite stressful and a lot of people don't understand. For example, if you meet someone for the first time and they say, ' what do you do?' and you say 'oh I'm a graphic designer' so they're like 'right, okay!' because they don't really understand what it is that you do. People tend to think it's just sitting on a computer all day or drawing a quick logo but it's not. There are times where you're designing something that you think is just no good , other times where you do something and you think it's amazing, and then two weeks later you think 'no, it's not good'. I think it's quite good to be like that though because if you always think that your work's great then there's not going to be any room for improvements. I do wish I'd chosen a different profession sometimes but at the same time I can't imagine myself doing anything else.”

“Hopefully with a fancy kitchen from Dwell!” she giggles as to where she sees herself in five years’ time. However, on the more serious note, she says, “I'd quite like to move to Manchester because they've got a lot of really good design studios that are quite young and professional, London as well but I think Manchester more so because it's not as busy. Hopefully I'll just be in a small design studio but one that's really good.”

Throughout her college years Jade maintained her part-time job, gaining more responsibilities and often working the equivalent of four full days a week. All this while studying extremely hard yet still managing to be a typical student; partying through the night and living (or should I say mudding) it up at festivals such as Sonisphere and Download. 

Since the interview Jade has bagged herself a full-time job in graphic design starting someday very soon, while continuing to do her own freelance work under the name iambiko. I wish Jade the very best of luck with her new job and I'm sure it won't be long until she's partying hard in Manchester.

Check out Jade's website iambiko.com

Down at the Apple Tree with Nina Nesbitt

Ahead of her King Tuts gig on the 17^th May, I was lucky enough to go backstage to catch up with one of my favourite musicians of the moment, singer/songwriter, Nina Nesbitt. On entering the young star’s dressing room I noticed a small fridge containing a pint glass of milk, bizarrely, lit up like the Crown Jewels. Nina had no more clues than I did as to why it was there.

On the 23^rd of April Nina released her EP ‘The Apple Tree’ with five original tracks which fans went mad for. She reached number 6 in the album chart on iTunes and is still, one month later, number 5 in the Singer/Songwriter chart. I asked how she reacted to it’s success, “I thought it was quite funny to be honest, I didn’t really expect it to do that well, I was just putting it out there for fans to hear the music. Then, it charted. It’s just weird, but I’m really grateful that loads of people have bought it, it’s cool.”

The talented 17 year old now has over 16,000 twitter followers and Sold Out her own headline mini-UK tour. “It’s a bit crazy,” she smiles, “a year ago I played my first gig in Manchester. Since then it’s escalated really fast but it’s great, I’m really grateful that I’ve got loads of followers and people coming to see the gigs.”

Along with the positive, there is also the negative. There’s lots of internet ‘trolls’ out there, sending hate for no apparent reason. After supporting Ed Sheeran on tour a rumour spread that they were an item, promting abuse from many of his young fans. Nina tells me, “I think I’ve been quite fortunate with the number of people that send me abuse, I get about 1 or 2 every month but it can be pretty deep, they don’t know me at all. If they knew me, I don’t mind them not liking me but I find it quite odd when people say ‘I hate you’ or make up things like ‘you’ve stolen my boyfriend’ because I’m not dating Ed Sheeran. I don’t know why anyone would hate me if they don’t know me, it’s weird.  Fair enough not liking my music but when they send me stuff I do get quite angry and have to laugh at them, my fans are really supportive as well.” Her fans don’t let the trolls off lightly and as Nina says herself, it’s better just to ignore it.

I asked Nina her highlight gig to date, “I had a really good gig in Denmark supporting Ed Sheeran and usually as a support act you get about 50% listening and then the rest coming in and chatting away, in Denmark it was like pin drop silence. For The Apple Tree they were all singing along and I loved that gig, it was nice to know that there are actually people that don’t know you that do listen because most people aren't bothered if they don't know your name. Or in September last year I had my tenth gig at the Glasgow SECC, it was Jim Gellatly from Clyde1 that had asked me to play and it was just two songs at this arena, just me and my guitar. It was crazy, but the crowd were really good there.” Although, after her sold out gig in King Tuts, Glasgow, that night, she posted on her Facebook, “That was my favourite gig I've played, thank you GLASGOW! It was crazy to hear you all singing back the songs word for word that I wrote in my room a few months back.”  

I first met Nina at the Young Scot Awards last month when I was reporting and she won an award in the Entertainment category. She told me how much it meant to win as other stories were so inspirational. “I’m so grateful to have won an award like that. It’s so important that I’ve got support from Scotland and it’s great I think because that’s where I’m from.”

For her tour she plays an acoustic set with either piano or guitar, “I’ve brought in a trigger pedal which triggers beats off behind me and I think when my album comes out I would think about getting a band, I’m not really wanting to get the standard four piece band though, I’d like something a bit different.”

“I think quite a lot of people’s parents would hope they’d go to uni but I’ve always been quite a strong willed child “, she laughs, “and my parents know that once my mind made up about something, it’s what I’m going to do. They’re great and really supportive, it’s good that they understand music is a career because some people don’t think it is.”

“I’m writing with Elliot aka Example, over the summer. We need to find a date that we’re both free but I’m really looking forward to writing with him. At the moment I have a lot of tracks for the album but I’d like some cool co-writes on it. I think our song-writing style is quite similar even though our music is quite different.”

A couple of times I asked Nina about designers or coveted items but she seems to have little interest in the latest designer must have but much prefers to mooch about in vintage shops.

“A mansion and a swimming pool,” she chooses as something she’d love to buy but couldn’t justify spending the money on, “but I couldn’t afford that anyway!” she laughs. (Although she will be able to soon as her success continues!)

Nina’s had an immense amount of airplay for an unsigned artist. Jim Gellatly plays her single ‘The Apple Tree’ every Sunday and Radio Scotland have added it to their playlist, in fact my granny was telling me the other day how she’d heard Nina’s “lovely voice” on the radio. She has also found herself a big fan in Fearne Cotton and is in fact her ‘Big Thing This Week’ which means she’ll be played on Radio1 everyday. “It’s definitely a really important part of music, radio play, it’s really weird to hear it on the radio. All of the Scottish stations have been really supportive as well, it’s amazing.”

When I ask how she came to song-writing she tells me she loved to write stories when she was 5, when she was 10 she picked up keyboard and started putting the stories to music. Two years ago she taught herself guitar and that’s when her songs developed.

I asked about her music video influences but she struggles to tell me one she wishes was hers. “To be honest I don’t watch a lot of music videos but most these days seem to be girls dancing around with no clothes on,” she sighs. Nina has spoken out before about her disapproval for people stripping off to sell records, The Guardian were supposed to be writing about the ‘Up and coming star Nina Nesbitt’ but instead decided a porn pop star was more important, proving her point perhaps.

Just like me Nina is not a fan of camping and mud, which would explain why she hasn’t been an avid festival goer. However, as a playing artist it’s a different story. “I’m excited to be doing some pretty big festivals this year.”

The interview concluded with Nina and I posing for photographs which took longer than anticipated as the camera was on video setting. Luckily, Nina isn’t the diva type and laughed about it.  

You can purchase both the 'Live Take EP' and 'The Apple Tree' from iTunes now!

Another Stage, Another Story

Recently I met up with the lovely Ross McKinnon, 17, an up and coming musical theatre performer from Glasgow. He's currently on a 2 year course at the Glasgow Academy of Musical Theatre Arts (GAMTA), whilst studying at school. Ross was recently awarded a full-time 3 year Scholarship to GAMTA.

I asked him how old he was when he first got into musical theatre, "It's kind of been all of my life, I was about eight when I started, I got into a local drama group  but my mum had been taking me to see shows for years. The first show I did was South Pacific, and from there on it's been kind of constant," he says. "Musical theatre is what I want to do. I went to see Oliver, my first ever show, when I was 4 and it's always stuck with me. I wanted to play the Artful Dodger after seeing it, I can even remember the day when I realised I was too old for the part. Also, my Dad used to take me to see panto every Christmas."

In 2009, at the age of fourteen, Ross made the transition from amateur dramatics to becoming a professional with GAMTA. "It was horrible for me because I really didn't want to leave, I can remember being so upset," he tells me, "but now I know it was the right move at the right time."

For someone so talented and after everything he has achieved, it's incredible how little self belief Ross has. So many talentless people are so cocky, yet he sits there in his Jack Wills hoodie and tells me he isn't even that good. "I got the scholarship and people were complementing me and I'm like 'guys, this isn't me you're talking about?' because I don't believe them. I don't sit there and think "wow, I'm amazing" because I'm not, looking at the people around me I can see how good they are and how hard I really need to work because I'm nowhere near as good," he says with a look of determination. When the reality is his hard work is already paying off, hence winning the only scholarship.

I admire Ross' dedication and ambition, between his hard work at school and theatrical studies, I doubt he has much time left to Facebook, watch soaps and play Xbox like most teens his age.

"Musical Theatre is what I want to do, it's my passion, it's all I listen to on my iPod and it's all I have on my phone, one of my friends insists I should put some 'proper music' on there. My Dad keeps saying I could tell you anything about musical theatre but I couldn't tell you the top 10 in the charts."

When asked if he would consider doing serious drama, he said "There's different ranks in acting and it's like there is; 'Shakespearian actors' then 'Theatre Actors' and then 'TV and Movies' and right at the bottom, musicals. People look down on musical theatre and say it's not serious but it's so much harder. You have to sing, act and dance at the same time. If you do a play, you have to act, yes it can be very intense and most musicals tend to be quite upbeat but there is a whole different side to musical theatre that people don't see at first glance. It is  looked down on it because of commercial stuff but if you really look into it, it's quite serious and in some ways harder. I do like plays, I read a lot of plays but musical theatre is what I want to do."

Most people get nervous having to perform to even a small crowd but for Ross, his nerves really depend on the situation. "At the Young Scot Awards last year I wasn't very nervous because I was so comfortable with the people I was performing with. I just thought it's going to go well, they know what they're doing," Ross tells me. "Taken out of my musical theatre scenario, I do get very nervous. Also a lot of the time changes are made just before a show and that's quite nerve racking. You can't predict how it's going to go. One time we did a show and the main character lost his voice on the night. He had a lot of big notes and just couldn't hit them, we had a panic rehearsal and the show was changed up a lot, that made me really nervous. Usually I'm part of a cast I can trust, you can play off each other and work it out."

Ross found it hard to pick just one favourite performance, "I loved 'Me and My Girl', I did that when I was a lot younger but at GAMTA we did a performance of 'Scrooge', an adaption of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'. They wrote it themselves and it was brilliant, I loved it. It was double-cast and it was brilliant, just a brilliant show, amazing music and an amazing part.." he stops to think, "But 13 was brilliant as well, the one where lead lost his voice. I heard his voice was going and I just went on stage and started singing. By the end of the song, I realised everyone else had gathered on stage too, singing.  It felt like a big family came out and supported him and that was a really good night, I would probably say that was the best performance I've had just because I will never forget that."

"Just give me any theatre in London and I'll go," he answers when I ask which venue he'd love to perform in. "I'd love to play in the Adelphi in London just because they have staged some amazing shows. To stand on that stage and think 'wow, the people who've stood here before me'. I think it would depend what show as well, the experience you have and be like 'this is the place, this is where it happened'."

I asked him if there's a part he would love to play and a person he'd most want to perform with, he blushes, "Oh, this is really embarrassing, it's on Broadway just now. I'd love to play Bert in Mary Poppins, that's my dream part, how sad is that?" he laughs. "And as far as people go, Chris Colfer or Michael Ball, I admire them both so much."

He recently featured on BBC's Glee Club for Sport's Relief, "We only did it for a bit of fun, it was for charity and it was an experience. It was brilliant because now I know that I don't like that kind of scene." He continues, "I had an idea that I didn't like talent shows, I would never go on The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent but now I can say I've done it and I didn't like it."

Of course, I had to ask Ross his professional opinion on Glee, "I really like certain things about Glee but then I don't like other things about it. I like that they have brought musical theatre to a wider audience and it's like a 'thing' now," he explains. "Although, I don't like the fact they make out it can be handed to you on a plate if you join the school's glee club, because a lot of people think they can do it and it will be easy."

The industry is very competitive and he's definitely not naive, "I see the amount of people I perform with and how good they are. I went to an audition for a show on the BBC called MI:5 and there were so many people there, literally hundreds, that wasn't the only day they were auditioning and there were only 3 parts going." If he doesn't make it, he would love to teach Drama or English.

I asked Ross if he thought tickets for West End Shows in London are out of reach for most people because of their prices, he replied, "I think it's terrible, I paid £75 for my Sweeney Todd ticket alone so for a family, it's hundreds. However, these shows seem to sell out."

Ross has a lot going on in the next few months, "We're doing a show called Spring Awakening, it's quite an edgy show, with sexual content and it's all a bit grown-up. Then, I'll be leaving school at the end of the year and going to start the course full time. So there's exciting times but first it's my exams," he sighs.