James Blunt chats to I Like Music

ILM: Your music is catchy with great melodies. Please can you describe the James Blunt music making process? Does it tend to be lyrics or melodies first?

JAMES: It's pretty random but I guess on the whole its probably messing around on an instrument like a piano or guitar and then really finding a bit of music I enjoy, some chords and a bit of rhythm with it and a bit of melody and then I'll try and concentrate on an emotion. Songs are four minutes long and probably describes an emotion, so it's focusing on that.

ILM: What's your advice to young people on following their dream career, not necessarily in the music industry but just doing what they want to do career wise?

JAMES: I guess the first thing for me is to work out how you would find success. The success of being a musician is just the actual act of being a musician. Just playing and writing songs and recording them… in whatever format…whether it's just in your own room, that's being a musician, regardless of commercial success. When I started to be a musician it was more about having a laugh and as long as I really enjoyed just playing then that was fine. And then beyond that you need to find yourself the right manager and the right team.

ILM: Now, about your song, 1973………… I was born in 1974 so 1973 my parents were getting jiggy. Ick! What does 1973 mean to you personally?

JAMES: Well I was born in 1978. So I wrote it about a girl called Simona in a song about a nostalgiac moment...it's a celebration of something we did last year in Ibiza. And Pacha originally opened in 1973, but 1973 was also a great year for music, so many fantastic albums came out at that time.

ILM: And what's your advice to young people on peer pressure?

JAMES: Just be yourself. Don't follow the herd.page << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >>