| Ivor Novello-nominated songwriter Jamie Hartman returns with the second album from his Ben's Brother project this month. The first single from it, 'Apologise', which was co-written with Natalie Umbruglia no less, is out on 3 May, and will be followed by the album, 'Battling Giants', on 11 May. Hartman will heading out on a wider tour of the UK starting on the album's release date. So, he's going to be getting very busy very soon, but luckily we managed to catch up with him in time to get him to answer our Same Six Questions.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started out playing the recorder at school for about five minutes. Then I scraped away horribly on a violin - taught by Mrs Maunder. She had really dry frizzy wavy hair and thick glasses, which are clearly pre-requisites for any teacher of a classical instrument. Anyway, I wasn't any good at either of those. But one day, when I was 13, my brother Ben played me a Rolling Stones record and that was that. I taught myself guitar and piano and starting singing and writing songs.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The latest album is called 'Battling Giants'. I wrote a song by that name last year in the run up to making the album, and when the credit crunch happened, along with me parting ways with EMI and going alone, it suddenly seemed like the perfect title. We're all 'Battling Giants' now.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
I'm a pretty conventional songwriter. I sit and play and play until something - some chord sequence or melody I'm humming - stands out as different from anything else I've heard, just enough to make it original and attractive to listen to. Then I put lyrics to it. Not like Bowie does - randomly picking words from newspaper clippings - I just let the words come from what's in my head.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
As Keith Richards put it - anything you hear comes out in what you play. And I hear a lot!
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Turn it up loud and don't turn it off just because your phone goes or the neighbours complain. Keep it on and listen to the album from start to finish. It's not a soundbite - it's a living breathing work and it deserves your attention. I'm extremely proud of it, as you can tell!
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single/album, and for the future?
My ambitions? Well last year I was nominated for an Ivor Novello award (Amy Winehouse beat me to it), and I played a festival show to 35,000 people, so I thought I hadn't any big ambitions left. But that was last year. This year I want to have a number one, win that Ivor and play to 70,000 people. Not sure what to do next year, though.
published may 2009
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