Ladies and gentlemen, Lewis Watson is back.
His third album the love that you want is out on the 29th of May and we could not be more excited about it. We’ve already been spoiled with three stunners from the sure-to-be-gorgeous album, so we thought it was only right to sit down with the OG Lewis – sorry, Mr. Capaldi – to discuss all things the love that you want, his predictions for 2020, and more…
How has the creative process for this album differed from that for your second long-player, Midnight?
‘I’ve been lucky, and not only because I’ve been fortunate enough to make 3 albums. I’ve actually made albums in 3 different ways, and each time has been a unique experience. My first album was made over two years with 8/9 producers; the second record was myself and my band in a studio for 2 weeks in this bubble, and nothing was done without us all agreeing on it, and then this one was different again.
‘For the love that you want, it was just me and Rich Wilkinson, and we sat in his studio in Archway for about 15 hours a day for a year making music. It was quite daunting and being a co-producer of this album meant that it was totally different from anything I’ve done before.
‘Fortunately, though, it was super fun, albeit eye-opening and absolutely knackering! It means I’m more terrified of this music coming out as I’m now responsible for how the songs sound, but that has added a whole new element of pride to this album. It is like each album was my baby and now this one is my baby’s baby – it’s like my grandchild!
What was the time frame on this album? We know that ‘spark’ is quite an old song but is that the oldest song on the record?
‘No, spark is the oldest one. I wrote it in a church tower in 2013 with a wonderful man called Iain Archer. So, you could say I started writing this album in 2013 – but, I never thought I’d use Spark, so it’s nice to come back to it with a fresh set of ears. Every other song on the album was written either in 2019 or late in 2018.
We’ve heard you say you wanted to give ‘spark’ to One Direction?! What is the story behind this?
‘We never set out to write a One Direction song, but as soon as we finished, I asked everyone if we could try our hardest to get it to them. I even planned which part each of them would sing… Zayn had a wonderful “riffy” thing in the instrumental. It was perfect. But it didn’t happen for whatever reason, and I am kind of glad it didn’t; I think my manager wanted to hold onto it and for me to release it, and I am glad he did. If One Direction used it, I would probably be in a very different position to where I am right now, but then I wouldn’t have the song…
Do you have any goals for this album?
‘I’d love to get some radio play. I know it isn’t the be-all and end-all of the industry these days, but it is still such a fantastic way to reach lots of potential new fans. But I get that if they see my name compared to a brand new up and coming musician, they will pick the up and comer every time; I would do the same. I’d also love to tour a lot. I think in 2017 I did a gig every other night and I’d love to be doing that again (as well as playing lots of festivals!).
Do you think this is an album that your current fans will be able to get behind?
‘There’s nothing massively different on the album that would make anyone say “Wow, that’s not Lewis Watson!”, but there are some elements of contemporary music that we have incorporated into the album – things like software instruments, for instance. I also get to play the drums on a lot of the songs which is really cool!
‘I’m in a fortunate position where I have this community around me and can keep them connected, and the Patreon community we’ve been able to set up (the lower-case gang) has been wonderful in keeping everyone close. So, hopefully, they’ll be able to get behind, unless it comes out that I’m incredibly racist or something like that… Otherwise, it’ll be fine.
I know we’ve got the benefit of hindsight, but are there any songs you wish you had held onto a little longer?
‘About 4 songs into recording this album, we discovered the perfect vocal recording set up for me and I just wish we had discovered it beforehand. Sonically, it’s not that different, and I don’t think anyone other than me will pick up on it, but… Yeah.
‘In terms of holding onto things, I don’t think there are any songs. There was a last-minute change to the secret track on this album, though; I changed the chorus and added some vocoder to bring it into 2019. If we hadn’t changed that, I think that would have been one of my regrets of the album.
All of your albums have had a secret track at the end of them. Where did the secret track come from? Was there an artist you admired who did this and inspired you to do something similar?
‘I don’t know if admired is the right word, but the band Five had a secret track on one of their albums… You had to manually skip to track 55 to get the secret track. So, when it came time for the first album, the label said, ‘you can give it a go if you want’.
‘We really struggled to name the first album, and the secret track was called the morning, which ended up being the title track; then, the same happened with album 2 with the album being called midnight, and it all just felt like it came full circle. I don’t know if I’ll do them for the rest of my career, but I really like the idea of including an extra song for people who have stuck around for long enough to get to the end of the album.
Who are your top tips for 2020?
‘It’s tough because you just can’t predict what the public will enjoy. There’s a band called COIN who are doing well in America – it’s only a matter of time before they go mainstream. Clario will only get better; Pinegrove are a wonderful band and I don’t know how they aren’t bigger, and Bruno Major will have a fantastic 2020. I went to see Eloise at Hoxton Hall, too, and there is such a buzz around her.
And, finally… What do you think of your namesake, Lewis Capaldi?
‘I think he’s here to stay. He’s the nicest man around and is genuinely likable, which is about 70% of making a career of this. It’s just a shame we share the same first name…! Any other name and it would be fine… I’m going to have to change my name. I’ll go with Colin: no-one is called Colin!
‘Luckily, though, he has told people that I am the reason that he picked up the guitar and I’m just thankful for that. It was so nice to support him in Scarborough and a mark of the man to invite everyone who he’d ever supported to support him at that show.