Camden New Journal - Music: Grace

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

The Review - MUSIC - grooves with CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 21 June 2007

Amazing Grace

INTERVIEW: GRACE

GRACE’S debut single, released on their own label, Stand Still, was voted into the top 40 singles of 2006 by the Sunday Times. The five-piece indie pop merchants released their debut album Detour last week on Charisma – which EMI resurrected just for them. Singer John Paul Jones, 28, spilled the beans.

CC: You’ve just finished a UK tour. How was it?
JP: Brilliant. In November we were playing to no one – two people in Manchester – but this time every venue was packed.

CC: How would you describe the album?
JP: The songs are really eclectic. Some are three years old, from when we first formed the band. But in the making of it Chris’s father and mine both died so we wrote a lot about that. We didn’t want to make a record that was one directional – which I think a lot of indie bands are doing.

CC: Someone wrote on a fan blog: “I bet they get national TV ads for their debut album… It grates on me when there’s loads of better bands out there who won’t get the same amount of support simply because their music isn’t as ‘safe’ as the MOR stuff Grace write.”
JP: The fact that it’s easier to market… it’s just that’s what people want to hear. It really annoys me. We’re more daring – we’re literally wearing our hearts on our sleeves. It’s easier musically to make things sound weird but to get across an emotion is much harder. It always gets put in the Coldplay Snow Patrol Keane bracket, but I don’t have a problem with that, I like those bands.

CC: You’re on Genesis’s old label Charisma.
JP: I feel wicked about it. Genesis wrote some of the best songs around – it’s an honour.

CC: Some of you play the church organ I’ve heard?
JP: Sammy (Swallow, keyboards) plays in a church on Sundays for a free flat. It’s a really nice flat in Shepherd’s Bush. He’s not religious at all.

CC: What’s the best and worst gig you’ve ever played in Camden?
JP: The first gig we ever did in London was at HQ (now Lockside Lounge). Sam played drums on a Casio keyboard and it was terrible but we thought it was ok. We learned the hard way. The best gigs were at the Water Rats in King’s Cross where we did a two-month residency, once every two weeks and it was full every time.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Check Prices, Availability & Book Online
Receive Online Discounts and Instant Confirmation

» Rock & Pop
» Gig Listings
» Classical & Jazz
» C&J Listings
» Book concerts/gigs
» Buy CDs