 |
Jeremy Warmsley began writing songs at 17 and has created a distinct style, which has been described as a cross between “Aphex Twin and The Beatles”. His live shows are rarely the same, sometimes he appears solo, sometimes with available friends, sometimes with a full band. His debut album ‘The Art Of Fiction’ was released in 2006, via Transgressive Records. The follow-up will be released later this year, with a new double A-side single ‘The Boat Song’/’Temptation’ in June. |
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Opportunity and loneliness, my dad's classical guitar and a book of Beatles chords on a sunny afternoon in 1999.
Q2 What inspired your latest single?
I wrote it with my friend Emma. She had a chord sequence and a few words and I added some other bits, then we finished it off together. It's a story, told in an impressionist style; two children playing in a sandpit, imagining a flood. It's destined to become one of the classic duets. Rod Stewart and Charlotte Church are going to record it for his next album, apparently, or am I telling a barefaced lie?
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
It varies. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to write about, sometimes I flounder in the dark ‘til I cast my hands on some nugget of meaning. The aim is always to express something of value, of worth, something worth expressing, through the music and the lyrics, and to dress the songs up in clothes either appropriate or appropriately inappropriate.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
It's hard for me to say... Actually, on this album, I must say, there are parts that point particularly to Kate Bush, whose 'Hounds Of Love' was an early, then abandoned blueprint for the album. My piano playing is heavily influenced by my good friend Tom Rogerson of Three Trapped Tigers, one of the most original piano players out there, whose style I ape pathetically. I recently played in a Velvet Underground covers band, which was an eye-opening experience. Sunglasses on stage are definitely the way forward.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Nothing, really. It's a bit embarrassing being in the same room as someone listening to your music for the first time.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
I can't wait to put my record out, and I want to go on tour forever. Also: I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller.
published april 2008
