When Jamie T's Kings and Queens record was released in 2009, it came at a perfect time for me, it seemed. I'd moved out of home and interstate that year, was starting my first year of uni and generally figuring out what the hell I was supposed to do and how to adult. "Sticks 'n' Stones" became a festival anthem and a tune I played relentlessly (as I think many fans did); in Jamie's songwriting was something so refreshing and fun and the material was easily relatable. It seemed strange then, that it would be a full five years before we'd see him release a new studio album.
With solid amount of time having passed without hearing much in the way of full albums from Jamie, the absence felt somewhat greater being in Australia. However, with the release of Carry on the Grudge, it felt like Jamie slipped right back in as if no time had passed at all. NME described the record as the greatest music moment of 2014 and it wasn't long before the Londoner was back in Australia for a long-awaited headline tour that was met with awesome reviews. Sure, we're older now but just like its predecessors, this new record still had that sense of familiarity and fun about it that instantly pulled you in.
As I speak with Jamie now, the 29 year old is fresh off a wild Glastonbury set (performing to a massive crowd on the Other Stage) and is soon to be on a plane back to Australia, where he'll be performing at Splendour in the Grass and joining Blur on their Australian headline tour - a childhood dream, he says.
"Five years isn’t a long time in life," he admits. "But in music and in this day and age, it’s quite a long time. We were really surprised by the reception we’ve had. I mean, we’ve already been to Australia once this year, but to be able to go back is great. Especially with Blur, it’s a real childhood dream for me. That’s fucking ace. I can’t wait."
Carry on the Grudge has had Jamie and his band on the road fairly consistently so far this year and while it may have been obvious to many on the other side of the stage barrier that this comeback was a highly-anticipated and well executed one, Jamie is still surprised it's taken off as well as it has.
"We’ve had a great year." he agrees. "I don’t think any of us involved in releasing it really thought that it was going to be as well received as it has been. It’s been a really exciting year and playing it live has been great. I’m really enjoying the live shows; I just couldn’t really ask for more from it all, really. After five years away, it’s been quite an exciting year for us."
While Splendour takes him away from Europe for a short amount of time, once Jamie returns to the UK, he'll head into Reading and Leeds next month, arguably one of the biggest dates on the European summer festival circuit. With the schedule seeing a lot of the same bands zig-zagging through Europe over a few months, he admits he relishes this period of weekend shows.
"It’s been pretty amazing," Jamie says of the live opportunities they've been offered recently. "We’ve actually had to turn down a couple of things because we either don’t have the time or for money reasons as well. Even being offered these things though is great, we’re being offered fucking mad shit, really. We’ve got a real busy year and I’ve got studio time booked in as well towards the end of the year, so we’re pretty non-stop at the moment, which is how I like it. It’s good to be touring; the summers are great for me, because the festival stuff is good. On the weekends, you’re playing festivals and then in the week, I can go in the studio - it’s the best of both worlds."
Returning to the studio to work on Carry On the Grudge understandably brought with it certain challenges and apprehension that Jamie puts down to an ever changing industry. With a body of work - up until that point - featuring two solid albums o f material that had put him in the eyes of critics and fans as certain type of writer, coming back after five years out of the spotlight rocked him a little more than perhaps expected.
"There was apprehension for sure, " he says. and looking back on my year, it takes time to find your feet. Music changes so much and the way things work now is just different to how it was when I started. Weird things, like, I sell half as many records as I used to, right? But my ticket sales have tripled. So even weird things like that are confusing to me. Trying to my feet in it has taken a minute and also, it’s important for me to know where I stand on the musical geography of genre and shit. I quite like to know where I am, so I can play around with that. Jumping back into it, I wasn’t really aware of where I was. Now, I feel that, after this year, I feel more comfortable and I know where I am and I know my identity within the scene. That’s where I strive to fuck with that. I feel like I’m in a really good place now, you know?"
"That’s part of the fun of it." he says playfully, on the joys of being comfortable enough to make the music he wants to make with no outside pressures. "It’s all good to be sat in a room on your own and writing songs, but part of it I’ve always really enjoyed is fucking with people. Someone would go, ‘Oh, he’s this kind of artist,’ and then I’d go, ‘No, I’m not’. People would go, ‘Well what kind of artist are you?’ and you’d go, ‘I don’t know! I’m just trying to fuck you off!’ That’s always part of it for me, so to know where I am is important for it."
Having written Kings and Queens and debut Panic Prevention when he was still a teenager, Jamie's progression as a musician and songwriter can be seen in each record noticeably. The lyrics are still playful and cheeky in some places, yet there's a maturity with the arrangements and way more texture in Carry On the Grudge that obviously can only come from experiences learned over the last however many years on the road and off.
"I’m not trying to necessarily go like, ‘This is where I am right now’," he admits. "But it’s nice to know that that’s coming across. Someone said to me, ‘This stuff’s so different, are you worried?’ and I thought, ‘Well no, because the other albums...’ The first record was written when I was 19! People who were 19 liked it and hopefully, people who are 28 or 29 will like this one. Hopefully young people like it too! That seems to be the case, from the crowds we’ve been getting, the amazing thing is is that we seem to be getting a lot of young people coming to the shows and that’s fucking great. It’s nice to know that my music is growing up as I’m growing up, that’s a natural thing, but that’s nice to know."
"The thing that really spurs me on to keep doing it is that thing of...I don’t want to do another Panic Prevention. I want to grow up and I want the music to grow and go in different directions, that’s the fun of it. That’s why it’s exciting for me, you know?"
Though fans in Australia have seen Jamie bring Carry On the Grudge to the live stage a few times around the country in 2015 already, we shouldn't be expecting these upcoming dates to be straight up the same. Look at recent shows and you can see where elements of his live shows have lifted, even if the chaos and sense of looseness that often comes with it has remained at that high level. Being able to return is an opportunity that hasn't gone over Jamie's head, as he speaks of Australia and his fans with a level of enthusiasm and excitement as if he's never taken the trip before.
"I’ve spoken to a few other musicians about this in the past," he says. "It’s definitely not lost on you that you are on the other side of the world, you know? It still dumbfounds me, even after doing this for quite a long time. It’s like, ‘Fucking hell, we’re on the other side of the world - this is wicked!’ It’s always a pleasure."
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Carry On the Grduge is available now. Jamie T appears at Splendour in the Grass this July, and will also be touring with Blur around the country - tour dates below:
July 25th - QANTAS Credit Union Arena, Sydney
July 28th - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
July 30th - Perth Arena
Tickets and show information via www.secret-sounds.com.au.
