Nottingham’s Saint Raymond is back with a bang(er). He dropped his new single, Right Way Round, a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve had it on repeat ever since.
So, naturally, we couldn’t resist catching with the man himself to chat about his long-awaited second album, life in lockdown, and the eternal regrets of a missed opportunity at Glastonbury…
Saint Raymond! How’s lockdown been treating you?
‘I mean, I did agree to do a boot camp this morning and regretted it, like, 2 seconds into it… But, generally, I’m not bad. I’m glad that there’s light at the end of the tunnel now. I quite like my own company so the idea of just chilling for a bit was nice. I’ve been trying to do some form of exercise and be creative each day, but it’s kind of hard as I prefer working with people. Some days you do just feel like you’ve hit a wall and end up watching rubbish on TV all day, too!
So, you’ve got a new single, Right Way Round, out now. What’s the story behind it? Is it going to be part of a larger project?
‘Yep – it’s going to be part of an album! I’m not sure when its coming, but it’s ready to go bar like 1 song. It’s such a weird time to be putting music out – normally you’d do the tour and then promote everything around that, so we’re just playing everything by ear and waiting to see how things go. There’ll be loads more new music before the record comes out anyway. In terms of the track… Well, the song itself is probably the oldest off the album. I wrote it a few years ago.
‘It was quite nice to write something around the stigma of mental health, rather than a relationship, and I was in a moment of my life where I was a bit lost in the musical world. There’s a beauty in just doing what you want to do and not focusing on other people; and, maybe, asking why they’re on the radio and you’re not. It’s so easy to compare yourself to others but it’s rarely a healthy thing to do.
What were you listening to whilst you were writing the album?
‘I really ebb and flow with how much I listen to music. When you know that you’re going to be writing for the next 2 weeks, you kind of don’t want to listen to music for a little bit. So, I ended up just listening to a ton of podcasts to try and learn some stuff. Musically, the album just spans the last three years of my life; and lyrically, it stems from things I’ve learnt from podcasts.
There’s been quite a gap between your first album, Young Blood, and now – was that always your plan or has it just taken this long to get a record together that you want the world to see?
‘I always said when I released that record that I don’t want to be that person that takes forever to put out a new one. Yet, by the time we finished with Young Blood, I’d been on the road for 3 or 4 years, so I needed to step away from it all for a bit. It all started to ramp up again last summer and felt there really was an album there to be made, so I started recording it then.
What are you excited most for when all this madness is over?
‘Gigging in general, but definitely festivals. When you’re really heavy into the festival side of it and doing like 3 or 4 shows a weekend… It’s just so much fun. We had a good run a few years back and played some crazy big stages and I just really miss that.
What have you been listening to lately?
‘I’ve just been rinsing songs that were on Top Boy, to be honest – I was so late to that one. A bit of DMA’s, Example, Vistas, some Sea Girls… I’m a bit weird with music. If there’s a song I love, I’ll just listen to that over and over until I get tired of it. I’m not particularly genre specific.
If you could curate a festival bill, who would you have playing?
‘Bon Iver are playing the Friday night; The 1975 for the Saturday night; and I have managed to persuade Oasis the reform for the Sunday night. I think there has to be some pure pop in there as well – so, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande.
And, finally – what would be your dream venue?
‘Rock City in Nottingham is always a dream, and then the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury would be ideal. The first year I went to Glasto, I managed to get a side of stage pass for the Pyramid – to this day, I regret not at least going up just to say I’ve been on it