Liam Talks Inspirations, His Future & X Factor…
With a pending EP release on Amy Winehouse’s label, a debut album due out on Polydor and enough raw ability to bring a TV talent show to a grinding a halt, Liam Bailey is an artist on the up and one many may well have been waiting for.
Growing up in Nottingham, Liam took a winding path through various indie rock/soul acts before finally landing on a sound that is deeply-indebted to the greats of soul and R&B. Not to be labelled with the recent reincarnations of these genres, his repertoire offers the timeless, traditional qualities of a style that continues to have such wide appeal.
Standout tracks ‘You Better Leave Me‘ and ‘It’s Not the Same‘ have that instantaneous and classic charm, but as you move further into his ever-evolving oeuvre, it is evident that his varied musical background has had a positive effect – ‘Your Hearts Not Safe‘ and ‘Breaking Out‘ highlight a diverse songwriting ability.
Aside from his solo compositions, Liam has offered up even more disparate collaborations, which have seen him move from hip-hop way out into the realm of electronica and drum n’ bass. His distinctive vocals can be heard on a new single from Chase & Status, ‘Blind Faith‘, which will be out in January. He is also currently supporting the London electro duo on a series of UK dates.
The wave of female singers to have come out of the UK in the recent years – Duffy, Adele and Ms. Winehouse, of course – obviously brought a much needed dose of quality to the charts, but it is good to see a male performer of a similar vein rising to the top. If many aspiring singers had a future this bright, they could be forgiven for getting a bit excited.
But even though Liam Bailey is cherishing every moment, Live4ever discovered an insightful, grounded (and outspoken) artist, who was all too aware of how talent is no guarantee of success in the paradoxical business of music. All he’ll do, he says, is just keep doing it.
L4E: You have had a varied start to your music career – moving from R&B to Indie Rock and back to R&B again. At what point did you finally decide to go this route?
LB: Yeah, I was in an indie band called Rock and Soul Riot and another called Bosco. But I was always with an old LP collection and, at that time in the 90’s, there was that whole phenomenon with Oasis. At the same time I was buying Definitely Maybe I was also buying Wu Tang Clan or maybe one of the R&B hits of the day.
Indie music – I don’t like the term ‘indie’, just like I don’t like the term ‘folk music’ anymore – opened me up to other forms of guitar music and when I finished with the band, I just played the guitar as I had always done, but I started to pay more attention to me carrying the songs on my own. It was a natural thing, really.
L4E: How did you fair on the singer-songwriter circuit as an R&B artist?
LB: Yeah, I did all that. I still do it now and again, but I’m glad I moved on – you can get lost in that scene and it can be quite depressing. I think just being who I am always meant that I could only ever have one foot in that camp – looking the way I do and singing and playing the way I do. That world is predominately made up of people who aren’t very good to be honest, but they are in it for the right reasons. It is a cliquey scene – a lot of people sitting around talking about Tom Waits for hours on end.
Some people will tell you after a show (with a full band) that they much preferred your acoustic set. I have learned from the singer songwriter scene – in London and in Nottingham – that if people say they preferred something about your old sound, you know you have done something right. You’ve done it, but now you’ve moved on.
L4E: Could you name any artist/ artists that have inspired you?
LB: There have been several – it just depends at what point of my life they came around. I was captivated by John Martyn and I also remember being immensely captivated by Otis Redding. But I never wanted to do what other people were doing, it would seem foolish. Actually one of my favourite singers of all time is Shaun Ryder.
L4E: Interesting – wouldn’t have thought that!
LB: It is more the attitude and self expression that is the best thing with him. I think part of the reason why X Factor winners don’t fair to well in the real world is because they aren’t really allowed to express themselves. If they were allowed to they would develop more of a tone to their voice – that is more important than ability. Liam Gallagher and Phil Lynott are not very good singers, but the tone is what makes them stand out.
L4E: So in terms of your overall sound, would you describe your style of R&B as American?
LB: I would say yes, because that, for want of a better word, ‘genre’ was born there. Though, we’ve really got to a point now that it’s more of a universal sound. The soul you can hear on the record is definitely from America.
L4E: Do you think your music will travel well over there, or has it made the journey already?
LB: Well I recorded the album in Miami, with a couple of tracks in New York and then back to London. I’ve yet to gig in the US, but I’m quite looking forward to it.
L4E: Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse, Jazmine Sullivan) has obviously shown how capable and talented he is as a producer. What was he like to work with?
LB: Yeah, he produced the majority of the album and he was really good to work with. I came to him playing the acoustic, singing the songs and we jammed – he played the drums or the bass. He built the arrangements around the songs – he added to the sound rather than changed what I was doing.
L4E: And in terms of the live setup, have you been playing mainly as a solo act or have you got a full band behind you?
LB: I play electric or acoustic and I have another electric guitarist, drummer, a keyboard player and a bass player. That’s what we used to record the album. I want the live sound to be the sound of the album.
L4E: So could you name your most memorable gig to date?
LB: Well, the most memorable, maybe the Shepherd’s Bus Empire. But it’s hard for me to say – playing a packed house in the Forum (Kentish Town, North London) or Shepherd’s Bush is not always better than playing an intimate show to a small number of people. Actually, one of the best gigs I played so far was at the Y not Festival (an annual festival in Derbyshire, UK).
L4E: You have also teamed up with Electro-duo Chase & Status for a new single. Is crossing over into genres such as theirs something you would consider doing on your own in the future?
LB: Yeah, I think the single is coming out in the beginning of January. Any time I listen to drum and bass it’s in a club, and I hardly ever do that. I’m not really into it, but you never know – I have a hip-hop group up in Nottingham. Basically me and my mates get together and play gigs and one of the guys who produces the tracks makes a lot of drum n’ bass, breakbeat and electro type of sounds. Sometimes he fancies me dropping a few vocals on the track. And I get in there, put the headphones on and get into it.
I’m familiar with the territory and to be honest I’ve played a few gigs with Chase & Status and it’s an amazing buzz playing to that kind of crowd with that kind of music. For a few days I was thinking fuck it, I’ll do a drum n’ bass album next – then I thought, nah, maybe not. So you never know what might happen.
L4E: 2011 is set to be a very big year for you. What are you most looking forward to?
LB: Well I hope it will be – we’ll see how it goes. I know how fickle this game, as we call it, can be. I’m happy enough being a musician – I’ve been a musician since I left school – but I’ve always worked, whether it’s in an office, behind a bar. I’ll always make music no matter what and I really do hope it takes off in a real way, but I have no problems working a job. You see them on X Factor crying their eyes out – I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.
For the album launch, I wouldn’t mind getting (comedian) Charlie Chuck in. I should be doing some tours and then I might be playing some festivals with Chase & Status – that would be wicked.
But in an ideal world I would like to be recording again. What I realised with this shit, is that when people are interested you have got to keep going. Many groups get people interested and then wait a year or two to put out another album, and try and do it all again. Maybe you can get away with that when you’re Coldplay or something, but I want to keep putting stuff out there. Everybody is so internet obsessed and shit last for five minutes. So with me writing so much and having so many ideas, I can’t see it doing any harm, so I may as well do it.
L4E: Your next EP is out at the end of this month on Amy Winehouse’s Lioness Records. What can we expect?
LB: Yeah, it’s going to be out as a digital download and on LP. My first EP was just me and my mate off our heads, not been to bed, and recording through Garageband on the Mac – we loved it, as you do when your drunk. We put them up on MySpace, the label heard them and they went up on iTunes. Luckily they were good.
But I thought to myself, I don’t want to do that again, so I went into the studio to do some stripped-down acoustic songs and one with the band. I just recorded it the other day – I expect a shit storm to come my way!
Liam’s debut album is due out next March. You can watch out for his EP from the end of November or catch him touring the UK with Chase & Status.
(Conor O’Brien)
Phil Lynott is not a good singer ? Ah Ah Ah. He was The Singer !!!
He has shit voice