Interviews
Jamie Cullum talks to Britsound
Interview by Rob Quicke, October 5, 2006.
The following interview took place as Jamie Cullum was touring America to support his album Catching Tales.
RQ: By the time you’ve finished touring at the end of this year, you will have been on tour for almost an entire year promoting Catching Tales by playing live. How’s it going so far?
JC: You know when you tour for that long on the back of one album, it can be a little bit crazy. But because I’m in a band full of jazz musicians, and we had three other albums prior to that, one of our things we do is pretty much change the sound, change the set, and change the feel every night. It means it’s a much more variable product you know. So certainly from our point of view it keeps it really interesting for us because we’re not playing the same thing every night and hopefully for the audiences they can see us four of five times in one year and hopefully see a completely different show every time.
RQ: Now obviously you are tremendously popular over here in America, even though you’re not exactly heard all the time on radio stations over here. You don’t have massive radio play, so why would you say you’re so successful over here in America?
JC: I think you know, we’ve done so much touring now. What tends to happen is we do a show to 50 people in a new town and the next time we come back we play to a couple of hundred, and then the next time we come back we play to five hundred and then like on this recent tour we’re playing to over 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 a night and it’s really kind of word of mouth kind of thing, because the large shows have been so strong, you know. It seems to be really kind of growing from that point. We just put the time in and it seems to be really working.
RQ: You said in an interview ‘I have absolutely no desire to get rid of this mainstream appeal that I’ve managed to attain.’ Do you view touring almost as an insurance policy against obscurity?
JC: Touring just makes sense really if you’re a musician, because I’m someone who wants to play all the time and obviously you get to play if you tour all the time. And really it’s the best way to communicate to people what you’re about. For me, I’ve always fallen in love with bands when I’ve seen them live, whether it was you know, Herbie Hancock or Radiohead, or even like classical concerts or anything you know, it’s like, I don’t do things because I think, “oh that would be good for my career.” I mean, obviously that’s a consideration, but really if I want to do and it feels good it then it’s something I feel I can communicate to people with, then I’ll do it, and touring is one of those things.
RQ: I’ve read lots of reviews about you from people who’ve seen you live, and they say they never know what they’re going to get with you, but it’s very exciting. How much of that is intentional? Because I read an interview with you saying when you first started you didn’t really have that much self-confidence. I find that hard to believe looking at you now. How did you get your confidence?
JC: Again, it wasn’t something I sat down and worked on. I’ve been playing gigs for so long now since I was about 15 or 16 so that, you know gradually it just grew and grew, so you know my first few gigs I was a bit crappy at kind of presenting myself and communicating, and then you know, after a billion gigs in a billion pubs across the UK, gradually it kind of grows and grows. Your ability to communicate and be more confident, so by the time I put my first major label album out, Twentysomething, I had so much experience that the kind of confidence was second nature really.
RQ: A lot of people obviously view Twentysomething as your true debut album and a lot of people said, “Wow, this guy is incredible. He’s got all this confidence from the get-go.” Did they not realise that you’d actually been playing for several years before that?
JC: It’s always much more fun to write about an overnight star isn’t it? But no, I’d done two albums previous to that. I’d toured and done two albums prior to Twenty Something so you know, Catching Tales is my fourth album,
RQ: Obviously you’re in America right now; and you’re playing audiences of a few thousand a night presumably, a couple of thousand. And then earlier this year you played in the Netherlands to 180,000 people. Which kind of audiences do you prefer - do you prefer smaller audiences or do you find it equally as fund to connect with 180,000 people?
JC: Yes it’s a slightly different process really, I mean the actual feature of playing and singing - it kind of remains pretty similar. But the opportunities to engage like huge amounts of people or maybe a smaller crowd is quite different. So I really enjoy both challenges.
RQ: Let me ask you about the Blenheim Palace gig. Obviously it’s on DVD. There’s a point in that gig when you’re singing Singing in The Rain, and you go out you leave the stage and you go amongst the audience, was that planned? And what does it take for you to actually do that?
JC: One of the things about my stage show is that although obviously there are things that repeat themselves, things almost happen completely by chance, almost on a complete whim you know. So like walking into the audience that night was just something I thought like “bollocks to it, I’m just gonna do it!” It just felt right and I never deny myself anything on stage whether it’s you know, a shot of Jack Daniels or a cartwheel or jumping off the stage or jumping on the piano or throwing guitars into the audience or whatever. If it feels right then I’ll do it. It’s not about guts; it’s just about impulse.
RQ: Have there been times when that impulse has led to any embarrassing moment on stage?
JC: I tried to crowd surf in Japan and that went horribly wrong. I go to the middle of the audience and couldn’t get back because they were just clinging on to me. So they had to stop the show and security guys had to come and get me out, but they were cheering the whole time, so it was fine!
RQ: Well there you go. Well let’s talk about American audiences. Do you find that American audiences are different than British ones?
JC: Yes they are, they definitely are. I mean, they are more outwardly passionate about just watching a gig I think. I find they communicate with the performer much more efficiently. The cheering is better and the clapping is better. Probably my favourite audience to play to in the world are American audiences.
RQ: What’s the plan, are you going to finish touring at the end of this year?
JC: That’s right, yes.
RQ: And then how are you going to follow up Catching Tales? And also, has Catching Tales in terms of sales now exceeded Twentysomething?
JC: Well, first of all I’m going to head home in December and think about, you know, start making a record, but I’m not in any particular hurry. I just want to make something again that I’m really proud of, and have a little but of time off because I’ve been travelling. You know, Catching Tales has not done quite as well as Twentysomething, but it’s always really hard to follow up an album that becomes as much of a phenomenon rather than just an album of music. You know, it became like a kind of lifestyle kind of record that got given to people before they even knew whether they’d like it, because lots of other people had it. And I’m just proud that I followed up with a record like Catching Tales. It still sold really really well, and still done about one and a half million so I’ve got nothing to complain about.
RQ: Will you continue doing the same kind of albums? I mean you’ve collaborated with Ed Harcourt, Guy Chambers, you’ve worked with your brother as well, Ben. Is that still the direction you want to take in the future?
JC: There’s no specific direction I’ve got in mind apart from to carry on making good music with whoever I feel like really. There are no real boundaries there.
RQ: Are you familiar with Bruce Hornsby?
JC: Of course, yes.
RQ: He had a very commercially successful start to his career and then he sort of went off the tracks, and he believes he’s done some of his best work since he learned to say ‘no’. He said that since he has said ‘no’, his career has flourished and he’s become a lot more authentic. Can you relate to any of that at all?
JC: Well, of course its easy to say that from the point of view of someone who’s probably already made a huge amount of cash and built a huge fan base and a huge career, I mean I don’t think I’ve ever done anything I’ve regretted afterwards, and you know you have to make some concessions, you have to do some things when you’re an artist like me. You need to get out there when you’re not necessarily played on the radio a lot, you know. I’ve done promo videos and I’ve done all sorts of things but I’ve never been dissatisfied with anything I’ve done. And its all part of the learning process, it’s got me out there and enables me to do what I do today. But of course you have to say no, because otherwise you’d lose your identity and become another homogenous chart artist, which of course I’m not interested in being.
RQ: Now in terms of Catching Tales is there one song that you’re most proud of, what would it be?
JC: It is of course impossible to say, but one of my enduring affections with that album is the first track Get Your Way, because it’s really instant but it’s also quite fun and its jazzy and it’s poppy and it’s hip-hoppy and it’s got really sophisticated lyrics that are just ultimately about sex if you listen closely enough. So, you know it appeals to me on a lot of different levels, that song.
RQ: And also you did an amazing version of Doves’ Catch the Sun, why did you choose to do that song?
JC: Well it’s a beautiful song I’ve loved for ages and I thought I could do a good version of it really, so, that’s about as simple as it gets!
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