I caught up with the charming local singer/songwriter Harry Smith, chatting about everything from the £1 Fish bloke, to Stevie Nicks to the Newcastle music scene.
Describe your music
with one word?
Honest.
If you had to give yourself a
stage name, what would it be?
I've
never really thought about a stage name, I've always just been me. I wouldn't
want to be called something like 'Vance Meridian' or something because it's
always seemed quite pretentious to me.
Who are your musical heroes and influences?
Stevie Nicks, Lana del Rey, Hozier, Peace. I think I'm more into like older bands and
stuff. I feel like older musicians and bands have much more original ideas,
especially since a lot of old tunes and riffs and stuff are being re-used...
Don't get me wrong though I love seeing people putting their own spin on
things, I do it sometimes hahaha!
What was the first and last gig
ticket you bought?
First
and last gig ticket... The first gig I went to was Busted at the Metro Radio (Arena),
my mum took me and it was absolutely class; I got a scarf and everything.
Amazing.
The last
gig I went to was Hozier at the O2 Academy and it was absolutely unbelievable. Literally if that gig was a food it would be a cinnamon swirl, absolutely
divine.
Out of all your songs, which one is your personal favourite?
Out of every song I've written, the newest one; which is called 'Things you said to me' is my favourite on the musical side because it has quite a few little technical bits to it, but at the same time that makes it a nightmare to play and sing because I'm always concentrating on just playing it right. My favourite one to play though is 'Forget your name' especially when it's with my band because those guys are legends and just make it sound massive and pretty cool so I'm pleased to have such talented guys on my side.
Name an
album that summarises your personality?
I'd
probably say 'Vampire Weekend' by... Well.. Vampire weekend, simply because is
like the happiest album ever and I'm a massive optimist and it's a bit weird
which in my head is always good crack.
Do you
prefer big arena gigs or smaller, more intimate venues?
Definitely
smaller venues, you can actually feel a connection to the artist rather than
just being another face in the crowd. This however creates the problem where I
have a bigger chance of meeting the artist and I'm the worst for panicking when
I see someone even slightly famous or known. Like if I bumped into Phil
Mitchell off EASTENDERS I'd be nearly crying, it's that bad!
What is
your earliest memory of music?
My
earliest memory of music is when I got a CD player for Christmas one year and
my mum got me this class three CD box set thing called 'party animal' and it
had like Whigfield 'Saturday night' on it and Eiffel 65 'Blue da ba dee'. So
basically it was the greatest compilation album that has and will ever exist.
Festivals,
albums or live music - pick one.
Well
I've never been to a festival so I can't really judge there, but I'm one for a
live performance, depending on the style of music. For example if it's something
like HOZIER or Rae Morris, I'd always choose live because that's more of an
experience. Whereas people like Taylor Swift or One direction would probably be
album for me because their live shows wouldn't be as intimate for me I don't
think
What is your
opinion on the vinyl revival?
The
vinyl revival is absolutely mint, there's something really nice about owning a
massive bit of round plastic, it's expensive like but it's worth it with how
therapeutic it is when you take the massive bit of cellophane off
Clever
lyrics or killer guitar riffs?
Clever
lyrics? Definitely the 'Thunder only happens when it's raining, players only
love you when they're playing' bit from 'Rumours'... Because it says it like it
is doesn't it?... Apart from the thunder bit because I've definitely heard
thunder when it's not been raining, but The Mac can have that because it's Stevie's
birthday today.
Killer
guitar riffs... The beginning of 'There she goes' by The La's is absolutely
amazing... Is that a riff or a hook? Or is that the same thing? I'm really not
sure... Either way it's absolutely mint and I love it.
If you
could join any band and play any part in it, what would you chose?
If I
could join any band, it was definitely be Fleetwood Mac and I'd settle for
absolutely any job, I'd braid Mick Fleetwood's hair for pennies if it meant I'd
get to be that close to Christ. That's the dream. Braiding men's hair for
coppers.
How
important do you think image is for an artist or band to succeed?
How
important do I think image is? It depends really what music scene you're on
about... If you want to be mainstream you usually need to look cool/have mint
crack to get big quite quickly but obviously you need to be good at what you're
doing... Sometimes people get lucky though, like that £1 fish bloke, he was a
pioneer.
Would you rather
never sing or never play guitar again?
I'd definitely never sing again, I just couldn't part with my beloved six string babies.
Which local artists or bands have caught your
attention?
Local bands that have caught my attention? To list a few Sun
Dance, Kobadelta, Coquin Migale, Schultz. They're my favourites so far, I've
always had a class time at any of their shows and they're all really really
good at writing mint tunes, I think Newcastle has a lot more class bands than
what you'd expect
Biggest musical achievement to date?
Biggest musical achievement to date? I'm looking forward to playing Think Tank. That's quite cool. I'm quite new to this whole thing because I've never really known how to go about gigging and stuff so to be able to play on the same stage that I've seen unreal bands is a big 10/10 for me, I'm excited.
What lies on the
horizon for you?
What lies on the
horizon? Well I'm hoping to record soon so that should happen hopefully sooner
rather than later, but at the minute I'm just going to keep writing and gigging
and basically just see what happens.
Smith will be playing with his band at Think Tank on Saturday June 27th, alongside Motion of Youth, Temple Avenue and Black Velvet. The gig is brought to you by HeartRock Live.
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