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Interview: The Clink Talks to James Vincent McMorrow

Dubliner James Vincent McMorrow has hit the ground running since his debut album “Early In The Morning” was released in Ireland last year. There was the Choice Music Prize nomination, and a triumphant return to this years Electric Picnic which saw him play two stunning sets. But all the work isn’t done yet.

James and his band are currently on tour in the US and Canada building up significant buzz along the way. I chatted to him this week ahead of his sold out Toronto show at El Mocambo. Arriving at the venue just after sound check, we got talking about the album, touring, some interesting collaborations, and…The Neptunes!

The Clink: Welcome back to Toronto, you’ve been here a couple of times before?

JVMcM: Yeah, this is the third time – first time playing on our own. Our first time here was opening for Bell X1 in September, and then I was back for Canadian Music Week.

The Clink: You played Electric Picnic last week, how did that go?

JVMcM: It was amazing, the tent was absolutely rammed…it was a big loud kind of show which was great. It was different from last year, we played last year and the tent we were in was really full, but it was early in the morning, people were very quiet – I think a lot of people were more curious as to who I was, so it was different this time – everyone was singing along which was a lot of fun.

The Clink: I heard you played two sets at the festival?

JVMcM: I did Body & Soul as well…

The Clink: Was that much different?

JVMcM: Yeah that was really nice, I did that one by myself and did some covers and some new songs…it was lovely

The Clink: You previously toured solo, by yourself, is this the first tour where you’re doing it with a full band?

JVMcM: Yes it is…we did a couple of shows around SXSW and we opened for a band called the Rural Alberta Advantage, for like 5 shows and then 6 shows at SXSW, but it wasn’t the same, these are my shows, we’re the ones having to sell the tickets, it’s a totally different thing.

The Clink: Did this change your approach to the live show itself?

JVMcM: It’s completely different to solo; it’s like night and day. With solo the songs are different, everything sounds different, I mean there’s things that I can’t do, but there’s things that I can’t do with both. I love them both but its great – the way things have been going over here it was just the right time to come over and play some shows. Bringing a band to the US is never easy, but the label was on board, they agreed we needed to be here and do 3 weeks. It’s been great so far.

The Clink: The album, Early in the Morning was released last year in Ireland, and just this year in the US, how are you finding the reaction to it on this side of the world?

JVMcM: It’s been great, like it’s been quite similar to how it was in Ireland, as in last year the album didn’t really do that much in Ireland, it was out and it sold a couple of thousand copies, which was incredible because it was just me. But it was slow and it was kind of hand to hand, which is fine – it gave me an opportunity to figure out the live stuff and put together a band. And it’s been the same here, but obviously you’ve got more infrastructure, but then you’re dealing with a bigger country.

It’s been steady, we came out and everything was great, and NPR and a lot of the things over here that you need to get on board to sustain a campaign were there, and they still are. Now we’re coming back into September, and we’re here and the show’s are all sold out, it seems to be going the right way for what I want, which is something that is sustained…I’m happy to be patient and let people find the music on their own.

The Clink: Is there much of a difference between the audiences here and in Ireland?

JVMcM: It’s really hard to compare the two. These days in Ireland the shows are bigger, and everybody knows the record and it’s a different thing. This is where people might be hearing for the first time, it’s smaller rooms, but the crowds are completely on board.

The Clink: Back to the album itself, can you share a bit of insight on how it was recorded? I read that you spent 5 months by yourself and concentrated solely on the album, can you share a bit about the experience?

JVMcM: You’ve summed it up pretty well! (laughs). I wanted to make a record, didn’t have any money, tale as old as time. I just wanted to get out of Dublin.

The Clink: Where abouts in Ireland did you go?

JVMcM: It was near a place near Clara Head, just outside Drogheda. It was beautiful, just nice and quite. It wasn’t a dramatic thing, it wasn’t some profound notion I had, I didn’t want to connect with nature or anything like that.

The Clink: It’s seems to be a thing that people have latched onto…

JVMcM: Ha, I know, I think that’s the myth of a record sometimes, and I’m fine with people going off in that kind of direction, it’s not the reality of the situation. The reality was far more fundamental and dare I say sort of tedious at times, because it’s a really tough endeavor, there was no spark of where I woke up every morning and the sun was shining and I wanted to make music. It was just…. I knew I had to make a record, that I wanted to make a record and that was where I had to make it, because I had no options.

It makes me laugh a bit when people ask about it sometimes like I was out shooting deer (laughs), people have been going out to houses to make records since the dawn of time – Neil Young made Harvest in a house in Laurel Canyon, it’s not a unique idea. But the reason I initially talked about it is, you can’t separate the two, I couldn’t separate the record from the house, because had I made that record in downtown Toronto it would have been completely different.

If I Had A Boat

The Clink: I read somewhere that you were influenced a lot by The Neptunes & Timbaland, in terms of learning how to build and structure a song?

JVMcM: Yeah, I’m a huge huge Neptunes fan in particular. The Neptunes, and Timbaland with Missy Elliott’s first record. I’m actually a big hip-hop fan. The first time I heard the Neptunes was around when I was in school, it’s similar to if it was 1979 and Prince brought out his first record, it was kind of like that to me, it was just huge. Because, I was listening to a lot of heavy rock, heavy metal and playing drums at the time, but I wanted to learn how to record music and The Neptures were just brilliant, it was like nothing I’d ever heard before. So I saved up my money, and bought a Korg Triton, which is the keyboard that they use to write all their stuff. And the same goes for Timbaland. The musicality to it so was way beyond what anyone else was doing, to not recognize that…The N.E.R.D record In Search Of… is amazing.

The Clink: That’s one of my favorite records too.

JVMcM: I listen to it constantly, all the time. I’ve all the records.

The Clink: Do you’ve any other influences?

JVMcM: Thousands! Because of the music I make, I think people think that I’ll sit around just listening to folk / country music, but that’s not the case. I’ll listen to bands like The National, and Sufjan Stevens, they’re the reason that I make the music that I make, not traditional folk. Although, I find tags really hard, because if anyone comes to a show of ours they’ll leave not thinking that they’ve seen a folk show. We played the Cambridge Folk Festival, and the tent almost fell over. It’s loud, it’s dynamic, and it’s pop music I guess…

The Clink: With your songwriting, is there a particular way you work – what usually comes first, the lyrics or the melody? Or is it different every time?

JVMcM: There does tend to be a quite a specific pattern to it. I’ll always start with the music, never the lyrics. Lyrics are always quite late in the game, I’ll usually have a piece of music that’s up and running, multi-parts, different ideas and then at that point I’ll sing some stuff over it, not words, just melody and when I listen to it back I might hear a phrase in the melody. It can be quite piecemeal like that, it can be a page of abstract lyrics and I’ll thread them all together. But yeah, it always goes that way, I think only once I’ve ever written a lyric from start to finish and then applied it to music. I envy people that can do that. I’m a slow writer; it can take me awhile to draw songs out.

The Clink: Did you play all the instruments on the album?

JVMcM: Yeah.

The Clink: Do you have any music training?

JVMcM: Not really, my background for learning instruments is predominately heavy metal and jazz. I learned to sing by listening to jazz singers and I learned to play all of my instruments by listening to At The Drive In and Pantera, and I learned to write songs by listening to Neil Young.

The Clink: You’re featured on the Japanese Popstars track “Shell of Silver”, which I love. How did that collaboration come about?

JVMcM: We share a publisher in the UK, a chap named Felix at EMI, and I was away on holidays, it was right after I had finished my record and was just getting ready to mix it and I decided I’d take what money I had a go on a holiday. Came back, and there was an email from Felix saying he was signing these guys, he had played them my un-mixed record and they flipped.

Up until that point they had just been making instrumental music, so then they decided they wanted to have singers throw down on the record. The list of people was incredible, people like Robert Smith, Morgan from M83. I really like their ideas and they seemed like great guys who work hard, plus they’re Irish, it just seemed like a no brainer. They sent me the track and I had it for a couple of months, and then just woke up one morning and wrote the lyric and melody and everything in like 15 minutes. I recorded it on my laptop, and they put it straight on the record. I’m really proud of that and the fact that we could do it, the remix that Morgan did of it is incredible too.

The Japanese Popstars – Shells Of Silver feat James Vincent McMorrow (White Sea Remix) by The Japanese Popstars

The Clink: I was surprised when I heard it, it was interesting to hear your voice over an Electronic track, and I thought it really suited it.

JVMcM: A lot of people react well, some people react badly; you’re going to get that. I’ve gotten remixes done of the record because I love electronic music. Adventure Club from Montreal did a dubstep remix and it’s brilliant (check it out here).

The Clink: Of which track?

JVMcM: We Don’t Eat. It’s got a huge drop, I loved it, it was really well received. Star Slinger did a remix of If I Had A Boat, which is like a 80s slow jam. There’s a couple of more remixes I’ve got lined up from people that I love.

The Clink: Are you open to collaborating more with other artists?

JVMcM: I think so. I think I’ve been quite dictatorial about my music up to this point. For the first record, by necessity I played everything myself because I couldn’t afford to bring people in. But now, with the band, the way they’re playing is so good and intuitive and they’re better musicians on other instruments than I am, so I want them to be involved. I like the idea of recording a lot of stuff myself for the second record, and then renting a house in LA and just bringing everybody in for a month and hit record. I’ve got a long list of people that I want to involve. More of a collaborative effort.

The Clink: What’s your plan for the remainder of the year?

JVMcM: We’re touring through the UK and Europe all the way through November, record for a month in December, and go away for Christmas and then move out to the US in January to make the second record. Then back out touring with this record in February and then the festivals. The way it’s rolling out is quite slow and deliberate, and that’s intentional, I want to give everybody as much time as possible. But the second record will be there and ready to go.

The Clink: I look forward to it!

The Clink: We’ve got a feature on the site where we put out two tracks every weekend, one on a Friday to kick-start your weekend, and then a more chilled out Sunday number. What would you recommend?

JVMcM: Anything off the new Kanye West & Jay Z record, no song in particular but anything off it.

And then a relaxing song on a Sunday…something off The Antlers record. The albums are too good to say a specific song! The Antlers are one of my favorite bands.

Deadly.

So that was our chat with James! Our conversation also skirted around the possibility of a remix collaboration with Active Child – more on that next week. After the interview he went on to play a stomping set at El Mocambo. His live show is way more boisterous than I was expecting, he can really hold his own live. A charismatic performer, with a voice that can quieten a room or bring it to an all time high. Highlight for me was From The Woods, along with the much buzzed about cover of Higher Love followed by an and unexpected encore of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Games.

James Vincent McMorrow – Higher Love by The Clink

If you don’t have a hold of it yet, James’ debut Early in the Morning is out now [iTunes].