Skip to main content

hannah-brierley
17th June 2018

Interview: Jamie Lawson

Hannah Brierley gets the chance to interview ‘Never Expected That’ singer, Jamie Lawson
Categories:
TLDR
Interview: Jamie Lawson
Photo: Wiki Commons

Currently sat at an Airbnb just north of Dublin.

“Its been a good year ya know. I’ve done a good tour of my own of the UK and Europe, and now I’ve been on tour with one of the biggest pop stars on the planet! That’s not too bad eh?” laughs Jamie Lawson whose just embarked on a Stadium tour with the one and only Ed Sheeran, since being signed with Ed’s record label Gingerbread Records.

“The great thing about Ed is he lets me do what I want to do. I’ve made two records with him already and working on a third, and he never says ‘oh you should do this’ or ‘don’t do this’ he’s always very encouraging making the record I want to make. I think that’s one of the reasons he signed me, is because I know who I am as an artist and what we want to make and create, which are amazing records. he’s very positive and great to work with.”

I ask Lawson if he’s got any more exciting plans coming up after, and he laughs that can anything be more exciting than the stadium tour that he’s doing now, which is a fair point I’ll admit.

He goes on to explain that he’s not having a break after this either, even though there are a lot of days off during this tour, because it is just so huge and it takes ages to move the big stages from city to city, so there’s plenty of time off, rehearsing new songs for the next record. He explains that his band are set up in the next room eagerly waiting for him to finish these interviews (sorry!) so that they can get rehearsing and practising and trying new things for the new music.

Jamie Lawson’s music is wonderfully put together and the lyrics are stunning to listen to, I ask him about his process of writing lyrics. “I don’t know, these things are inside and they want out. I’ve always used singing from a young age as a way of purging, for use of a better word. I’m not very good at talking or reaching out about feelings, so I tend to put all of those emotions into songs and elaborate on that and make it bigger. I like to find interesting imagery and new ways of making that come to life.”

Jamie doesn’t have any least favourite songs to perform: “If I didn’t like the song I wouldn’t perform it, it’s that simple really”. But for favourites, “I would think maybe the first song of the set ‘Fall Into Me’ it’s a really good way to get people up on their feet and joining in and getting involved.” ‘Ahead of Myself’, which is the final song of the set, where Lawson tries to get the crowd to sing harmonies, “is fun to do and to hear.”

He doesn’t really get nerves either, he explains: “I just never got it, the only time I get nervous is when there are TV things because I feel like I don’t have control over that, but gigs and performing things like that dont seem to bother me that much. I mean its like all things, the more you do it the easier it gets, and there’s not a huge amount of opportunities to do television but that’s the thing that gets me the most.”

I ask Jamie what his best advice would be for people who are just starting out. “You’re in Manchester right? Manchester has a great songwriter scene, honestly one of the best i’ve ever been a part of, so, if you’re a songwriter, get out and watch as many others as you can, meet as many others as you can. Don’t be afraid to say hello to anyone ever. Write as much as you can and dig as much as you can too. My favourite nights are places like the Whisky Jar in NQ, they have great songwriters nights and I still play there now when I get the chance, and I’m never the best! But just keep at it and at it and at it, keep gigging as much as you can. “

 


More Coverage

Liam Gallagher and John Squire: Not quite a match made in Britpop Heaven

After the much anticipated collaboration between Oasis’ Liam Gallagher and John Squire, of Stone Roses fame, the LP ‘Liam Gallagher and John Squire’ ultimately falls flat

International Women’s Day at Radio 6 Music Festival: Gossip headline CMAT and Afrodeutsche

Artists Gossip, CMAT, and Afrodeutsche were on the line-up at BBC 6 Music Festival for a musical celebration of International Women’s Day

Young Fathers bring community together at 6 Music Festival

Young Fathers, Hak Baker, and Sherelle launch the first day of 6 Music Festival, situated for a second year in Manchester

Snow Strippers live at The White Hotel: The industrial EDM future is in good hands

The Florida duo Snow Strippers are successfully reviving a lost EDM sound which infected pop music throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. Here they came to Manchester to showcase this new, revised sound in the dark, dingy White Hotel in Salford