You’re just about to release your debut album! Are you proud of it?
I am, yeah. I’ve been proud of it ever since we’ve finished it – it’s been a long wait. I finished recording it a year ago, so I’m dying to get it out there. It takes a lot of time – you get signed, and then you’ve got to bring out three singles before the album, and you’ve got to do all the promo… Time flies!
What’s your favourite song on the album?
Hmm, that’s a good question… At the moment it’s probably either Life On The Line or I’ve Realised.
You’re touring the UK later in the year – are you excited?
So excited. I love touring – it’s my favourite part of this whole music malarkey.
What’s the best thing about playing live?
I just love the crowds. There are a lot of people there who share a common bond and, in that situation, that bond happens to be my music– it’s always a nice little ego massage! You get as much energy as a performer as the crowd is supposed to get from you. You get up onto the stage and you see this sea of emotions – sometimes you’ll play a song that makes someone happy, and sometimes you’ll play a song that makes someone sad, and it’s amazing to just see how the crowd react differently to every song. It’s the only aspect of this business where you get to see first-hand the reactions to the things you’ve created.
What’s your favourite song to play live?
Either The Craig Bang or Dirty Rider.
Do you prefer playing big festivals or your own headline shows?
It varies – if you play a festival you might play a stage that you’re not big enough for, so you’d be better off packing out a small little venue. However, sometimes they can be absolutely amazing. The best crowd I’ve had so far this summer at a festival was actually at Camp Bestival, which is a very family orientated festival. I took a song out of my set because I thought it was too offensive, and when I told the crowd that I’d taken a song out of the set they demanded that I play it! When it came to a bit where I ask the crowd to shout out profanities (by means of crowd-participation) you had parents there who were covering their children’s ears and shouting out the profanities themselves! It was brilliant. I love the little surprises – I genuinely thought that I was going to have a pretty bad show at Camp Bestival, but it’s probably been my highlight of the summer so far.
You’ve released a few EPs – what made you think that the time was right to release a debut album?
I’ve always wanted to make an album. You can’t just make an album straight away, so you’ve got to get it right. Your album is your greatest work – if you put out an album and it just gets received by a mere fraction of the people who could have received it it’s a little bit pointless. You wanna make sure it’s the best thing you could possibly have done, so it’s got to be right.
You worked with a lot of different artists on the You Guest It EP – why do you enjoy working with other artists?
I do prefer making songs by myself, but You Guest It was a great excuse to just go and make music with a few friends. I had a lot of friends like Example, Ed Sheeran and Paloma Faith who wanted to work for me, so we decided that it would be a great idea to work with these artists and give it all away for free on an EP. I think it’s still the most downloaded EP of all time on SB.TV, which I couldn’t have done if I’d decided to sell the EP.
Didn’t you work with Katie Price on that EP?
Yeah, and it almost happened by accident! I was trying to find some female friends who could do some ad-libs on a track, but they were all at work. We ended up with Katie doing it down the phone, which was absolutely lovely of her.
Who would be your dream collaboration?
Annie Lennox – I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it until it actually happens.
You’ve supported Mac Miller, Rizzle Kicks and Ed Sheeran on UK tours, but which tour was the most enjoyable for you?
I really enjoyed the last Rizzle Kicks tour I was on – I’d say that was the one I had the most fun on. I’ve toured extensively with Ed as a special guest – it was always great fun, but because I was a special guest I was only on for about three minutes. With Rizzle Kicks I had the opportunity to perform for half an hour as the main support act, so that was great. Rizzle Kicks tours are manic, just wall-to-wall jokes – Ed’s tours, because of the nature of Ed and his lovely people, are much more chilled.
What made you want to start making music in the first place?
The fact that spoken word wasn’t working for me! I started out as a spoken word artist, but back when I was doing it people never really paid attention. Nowadays you’ve got loads of cool guys like George the Poet who are doing really well for themselves, but it’s only just started to really grab people’s attention. Even rap fans are starting to look at it and starting to realise how good it can be.
Who’s your ultimate musical icon?
Jay-Z and the Arctic Monkeys are the artists that I really love. I adore the Arctic Monkeys’ work, and with Jay-Z… He’s just a legend.
Describe yourself in three words?
Right now? Angrily awaiting plumber…