James Walsh
"Sometimes, if you are too much of a perfectionist, you are denying an audience the music that they might really enjoy."
It is a philosophy James Walsh has gradually embraced over the years. Speaking in Helmond shortly after the release of It's All Happening, the Starsailor frontman reflects on creativity, inspiration, streaming, AI-generated music and the freedom that comes with learning to let go.
Looking back at the person who recorded “Lullaby” in 2012, what would he recognise and what would he be surprised with in “It’s all happening”?
He would probably recognise some of the songwriting traits, it is quite hard to get away from them. Not that I want to get away from them, it is what made me have some success over the years. Definitely some of the habits and the way of writing songs, the emotion of the songs would be recognisable. But I could not have imagined back in 2012, when I made the “Lullaby” album, that I would be able to make albums on my own, in my bedroom. It was really something I picked up quite recently, over the lockdown. In my personal life there was also a lot of turmoil back in 2012, I was quite a troubled soul, whereas now I’ve got a new baby and a young daughter and it is quite a happy time.
Speaking of recording at home, the new album was recorded entirely in your home studio. How did you find that process?
I enjoyed it! I think it is important to lean into the limitations. Obviously, you can get carried away and think: “I could add some strings to it, get to a big studio and make this even better”. At the end of the day, it is all about the songwriting and as soon as you are happy with the song, you think it is strong enough, that is what really matters. I still worked hard on the songs with the tools that I had, but once you decide to try and polish everything, it snowballs. There is no point in having one song on the record done in the big studio and the rest of it – home-made. Apart from everything else, you don’t always have the money to do it and it is nice to have an idea and get it out in the world quite quickly. I’ve learned to, instead of being too much of a perfectionist, put the thoughts and feelings I have into a song and make sure I am happy with it, it is a good song. If I listen to it down the line and think “I could do that better”, I just put that into the next project and keep evolving like that, because sometimes if you are too much of a perfectionist, you are denying an audience the music that they might really enjoy and even enjoy its flaws. It’s a balance. If you’re looking for problems in songs, you can always find them, but if you take a step back and ask yourself: if it was another artist, would you enjoy listening to this song? If the answer is Yes, then other people might like it as well.
As a singer-songwriter with such a vast catalogue, have you developed any rituals for songwriting?
I like to read and watch films. I do feel quite inspired after I’ve read a good book or watched a good film. Sometimes I am inspired by a film, not just the music in the film, it can trigger something. With a busy house, I don’t get so much time on my own. On the occasion when I am alone at home, it can be quite a creative time. When suddenly the house is quiet, it can be sad and melancholy in a way, but the way to get through that is make use of that and write. Use that time to think and be creative.
There is a long-standing idea in music that great art comes from struggle rather than contentment. Do you think that's true?
I am not sure. I think there are a lot of young people who relate to pain and heartbreak and you can reminisce on those times, but it gets harder to channel that when you’re in a good point in your life. There are some great happy songs as well. Songs like “Heroes”, even though it is not a particularly jolly song, but it is not a love song either. It is more universal.
Navigating between writing songs for Starsailor and solo projects, did you ever start writing a song for Starsailor that ended up on your solo record, or vice versa?
No, I tend to write for whatever project I have got coming up. Recently I have been focused on solo writing, but with the album coming out, I am already moving on to writing for Starsailor again. It is interesting because I have the band in the back of my mind during the process, trying to half-guess what they might think of an idea and at what level it must be to present it to them. Whereas the solo stuff is a bit more self-contained and it is just about whether I am happy with it or not.
What do you think about the mainstream music scene of today?
I think there are some great artists out there at the moment. Sam Fender is an obvious example, and Olivia Dean who sang that song with him that had been at No.1 in the UK for god knows how many weeks.There is still an appetite for earnest good song-writing. I went to see Big Thief at Brixton, that was a fantastic show! They are not a brand new band, but a band who is still releasing some quality music. I don’t know about the mainstream, I don’t really listen to Radio 1 any more.
One of the biggest shifts in the industry is buying CDs versus streaming music. Can you reminisce on that?
I feel like it is a shame that monetisation is so complex. Now it is all about algorithms. You think that if you listen to Starsailor or you listen to my music, that benefits me directly, but it all goes into a big pot. It doesn’t need to be that complex. I think artists, songwriters and everyone involved needs to be paid a bit more from streaming. It is crazy that you can just access almost every song. The way it is being manipulated by AI artists as well that skew the algorithm of what people are listening to. You can’t imagine walking into a record store and going: “I’ve got this new vinyl by a band that does not exist”, you just get laughed out of the store, whereas on streaming platforms that seems to get lots of traction, music of people that don’t exist. It is a bit depressing really. But I think that the positive thing is there is still an appetite for live music and especially if you can keep the ticket prices at affordable level, then this is really the way forward. Try and get that whole thing back on track and that is the one experience you can’t fake or AI-generate.
I would say that another example of a fantastic live interaction with the fans is through social platforms. You are very active on Instagram and you enjoy doing a lot of covers, from Britney to The Eagles. What makes you choose a certain song to cover?
I suppose a lot of the times it is just because I love a song and sometimes I want to try and tackle something that people might not expect me to cover, like Britney.
The covers we heard during the concert in Helmond – Neil Young and Louis Armstrong – how do you choose those? Mood of the day?
I think “What a Wonderful World” is one of the best songs ever written, it is such a powerful message and a great, timeless song. I can imagine an older person connecting with it as much as a young person. And Neil Young is such a quality songwriter. He has got dozens of great songs, it is just the style that never gets old. A lot of his songs exist in the same world, but you don’t get bored, you still appreciate them.
This autumn, you are bringing “Love is Here” with strings on tour. Can you tell us about the idea behind this project and how it came to be?
We did a one-off show with Joe Duddell for the 25th anniversary of the band in Liverpool last year. That one went so well we thought with the anniversary of the album coming up, we wanted to do something special for that as well. A few of venues got in touch and they wanted to do the strings shows. We expanded the Liverpool experience and got some arrangements done for all the songs from “Love is here”. Joe is going to conduct all the musicians, we just let him do his thing and listen back to it all. I think it is important to be somewhat adaptable to the arrangements that he comes up with. We don’t want the band to get in the way of the strings or vice versa, we want it to be a nice balance and sometimes that takes playing as a band slightly differently. It is a good collaboration.
You mentioned you are already working on some new material for Starsailor, what does the future hold for the band and for you personally?
It is very early stages, but we are working on new material and we are excited for the string shows coming up.
One thing that I am really itching to do at some point in the future is to write music for another film or a TV project. If anyone in that world comes across this interview – that is a shout-out! That is the one thing that you are always searching for as a musician – what can inspire the next project, the next song. When it is already there, like a film or a script or a play or a TV show – it makes it slightly easier because you have some confines to work within.
Click on the picture and listen to James’ new album, ‘It’s All Happening’, on Spotify!
