Stereoboard Chat To Britain's Got Talent Star Sam Kelly About The Release Of His Debut Album
Tuesday, 02 October 2012
Written by Josh Adams
Not even a year after he made an appearance on Simon Cowell’s quest to find talent, Sam Kelly is living, breathing proof that yes, Britain has got some. In one intimate Swindon gig he has quashed any potential naysayer and has maintained the form that brought him so much attention. Over a beer, Stereoboard sat down and talked strategy for the future, music taste, debut album and more.
Well you made a bit of an impact on Britain's Got Talent…
Hopefully yeah..
Well you did, and you got pretty far...
Yeah, further than I expected
That’s a lot of attention, how did that feel?
Erm, it was really weird man, because there was a lot of people in the competition who were kind of doing it to get famous and saying it was their big break and stuff like that... I was just trying to get a bit of experience, having fun doing what I love doing. I didn’t expect to get that far, and because the final and the semi-final are in the same week - for the whole week I was in a complete daze. But it was a great experience and I’d do it again, yeah definitely.
What would you say to the people who talk the show down, with the whole Simon Cowell thing...
Well I can understand where people are coming from with shows like that - like with X Factor and The Voice and stuff like that - talent shows in general, because it is kind of....it’s a bit...it’s difficult to put, kind of like a game. So I can understand why people criticise but with Britain’s Got Talent you’re just allowed to do your own thing, like I was just doing my own stuff; playing songs I wanted to play, they were my own arrangements and that’s the stuff I’d do at open mic gigs anyway. I can understand when someone goes on a competition and gets their make-up and clothes picked for them, new hair and changes their whole style. But personally I think Britain’s Got Talent is alright.
So you were allowed that creative control?
Oh yeah. They have input obviously, but it’s up to you whether you let them do that. If your assertive and say ‘No I want to do this, this is my thing...'
Like...“Back off!”
Yeah, yeah! Where I think with other shows - singing shows - I think they’re more in control.
What made you do Britain‘s Got Talent, and not X Factor?
Well firstly, I don’t really feel like much of a singer, I feel more like a musician/songwriter and I’ve never really performed without an instrument - just the whole kind of - it was fun for a while with all the hype behind it, press ringing you up and turning up at my Dad’s house - but I’d hate for that to happen day in, day out. And I think X Factor, people go a bit more mad for it than Britain’s Got Talent.
Because it’s more like, people step back... it’s less crazy?
Yeah, and because there is so much variety on Britain’s Got Talent it’s not so much about people finding a new celebrity they fancy or whatever. I think with other competitions it’s a lot about that, um, yeah. To be honest, I don’t think I’d of gotten through on X Factor if I’d of sang without my guitar, I’d of looked like an idiot.
Hmmm...
(Laughs) Yeah, well, I would of.
Well you did ‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls, that’s one of your more famous ones. Does that reflect your music taste?
Well I like folk music, because obviously the gigs I’ve been doing since I’ve been doing my own stuff. And yeah, I don’t exclusively like Folk music, for the show I was playing songs that were a bit more... well known. ‘Iris’ obviously has been performed a lot on Talent Shows, and that was kind of a compromise for me because I wanted to do something - not less obvious - but sort of, less well known.
But you’ve got to strike the balance...
Exactly. But I did my own arrangement and I wanted to do it with live musicians, I think that was the first time they’d done that on that sort of show, rather than a backing track. And I love that song anyway, I think it’s a great song! Obviously it’s a bit more pop inclined but I’d tried to take it away from that - not do the massive backing choir thing and the big key change at the end because I tend to like more acoustic sounds anyway.
You said in an interview that you didn't want to come out and release an album straight away...
It’s mainly because you see in these kinds of shows all the time that some young person will go into it, get really caught up in the whole roller-coaster ride of it, and just try and get an album out as quickly as possible - of whatever style - and just end up releasing an album in a month or something. And I know if I did that I’d look back in a couple of years - don’t get me wrong, I’d of probably got more money that way.
But that would’ve probably been it...
Yeah, exactly. In a couple of years I’d of looked back and said ‘Why did you do that? That was rubbish’. So I’d much rather take time and do something that’s of my own doing, something I want to do. Even though I know that’ll alienate quite a lot of people who would've possibly been fans because they saw me on the show. I don’t want that to happen, but I can’t do stuff I don’t wanna do, I do music because I love doing it: so I wanna release music that I like to play as well.
On that note, according to your Twitter, you've got a debut album coming out quite soon?
Yeah yeah! Well after the show a few of the finalists got together we did a few gigs at Butlins, and that gave me the funds to get a home studio set up. I haven’t got label backing so I'm basically self funding, self producing, self promoting. My EP is all my own stuff and I play every instrument on it so it’s been a bit of a learning curve. But I’m hoping to have it done by the end of the year.
Any approximate release date?
Really hoping to get it out by the end of December, but as I said it’s a complete learning curve for me because I'm doing it all my self. I’ll record some vocals then swivel over to the computer and edit it all in and stuff like that and then do another take. So it’s hard, and it’s taking a longer time than doing it with a Producer - but then it’s just all me, and I like that.
So you didn't want any co-writers or anything either?
No I have some, at this stage I've got five tracks on the EP - and I love doing co-writing because it always comes out better. I don’t get people who are really selfish about their music... well, not selfish but protective and never wanna co-write.
Well yeah, some of the most successful and credible artists still co-write...
Of course, you look at anyone in the Pop Charts now - even if they’ve said they’ve written it - guaranteed they’ve had a co-writer somewhere along the way. People like Ed Sheeran, he’d of done most of it but he’d of had some input as well. There’s no shame in co-writing at all, because you’ll come up with ideas that you wouldn’t of come up with by yourself. 3 of the 5 tracks on the EP are co-writes, one I wrote with Jamie [nods to his friend and fellow musician], one with a guy who played piano with me in BGT and another with one of my old mates. All those songs I’ve written the majority of it, it’s got little elements in it where they’ll go ‘Why don’t you do that here’ and I’m like ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that’. So yeah, I have no problem with co-writing at all, everyone should at least try it.
5 years down the line where do you want to be?
5 years, wow, that’s a pretty long time in music. This time last year I was a complete nobody. I’d just love to be able to do it for a job, I’m not interested in getting loads of money or being famous or whatever, I’d love to just be able to tour around the country, play my music and have a dedicated, small fan base that like to listen to my music. But the main thing is the job, that’s as far as I’m planning ahead really.
Any albums that people might not of heard that you’d recommend?
To listen to?
No, to eat on.
(Laughs) Yeah, to use as a dinner plate! Urm, the band that I played a song by in the BGT Final, an American band called Rascal Flatts - well now X Factor have been using one of their songs for the boot camp round - and none of the producers had heard of it when I sang it, which is really cool. Yeah, they’re an awesome band and their debut album is just called ‘Rascal Flatts’, that’s one of my favourite albums. I don’t think people - with all the pop music around now - I don’t think they listen to enough old stuff. ‘Blue’ by Jodie Mitchell is one of my favourite albums. If anyone at all is interested in writing music they should listen to people like Jodie Mitchell, Tracy Chapman and like Ray Charles - people who are really influential figures from a song writing perspective. Obviously each to their own, if they’d rather listen to Justin Bieber or One Direction that is absolutely fine, you are more than welcome to do that.
On that note, what do you think of One Direction’s success?
Brilliant, they’re my favourite band. No, but to be fair it’s not my kind of music - they won’t write any of their songs; it’s a product, and they are the product. You can’t really get any more successful than that though, so for what they do they’ve done a brilliant job. Obviously, not mine kind of thing but if I say anything negative about One Direction I will lose 59,000 of my followers on Twitter, and all the people that are here tonight will just walk out. So don’t even mention One Direction, if they have a sniff that your going to say something about One Direction your career is over (Laughs)!
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Well you made a bit of an impact on Britain's Got Talent…
