CAT On
The Prowl
CAT: This is the
2nd time you’ve played Cambridge isn’t it - the first year being 2 years ago in
the club tent. So how did that all come about?
Jim: I met Eddie Barcan at the Folk Awards and
kept in touch. He said, I don’t know whether he says this to everyone, but
he said; “keep in touch” and I actually did, I think very few people take him at
his word. So, when I had a demo I sent it off to him and two days later I
got a phone call, literally, cause he’d just received his post and put it on in
the car on his way home and rang me from his car phone and said: “Would you like
to play?” So that was pretty dramatic and I was pretty impressed at the
time.
CAT: What a fabulous opportunity for you!
Jim: Yeah. He put me on in the Club Tent and he
got me on at Glastonbury. He put a word in for me and I played the
Acoustic Tent. So Glastonbury and Cambridge were the two gigs, my first
proper, professional gigs…like ‘high stakes’ ones.
CAT: So, today has been quite a big step for you, how
did it feel?
Jim: To be honest, I wish I’d done a
bit better. It was a rush and also the team of people you have around you….you
can’t really do what we do, especially with this band…it’s a rock band and any
other rock band playing in front of an audience that size has got a proper crew
and I’ve got a couple of old mates from school who just help me out a bit.
You know, we’re disadvantaged in numbers but then again I’m proud of what I do –
I’d rather be doing that than work in a shop. I love my job really,
so…
CAT: Couldn’t get any better?
Jim: But it is a job, the last six months has rotated round.
Like I say it’s the best job in the world, but it feels like a job
now.
CAT: You went to university didn’t you and studied music
composition so you took a very conscious decision to have a career in
music?
Jim: Yeah, I think [with] a lot of people, it
gets their backs up. With my family, people go to university, there was
never any question, I was expected to get to university and I kinda always
expected to do it. And also, I’ve never done anything other than music,
I’ve never…I got 9/10 GCSEs like everyone else and 1 A-level in music cause I
basically didn’t put…I got an offer based on interview so basically deliberately
failed all my exams! So I haven’t really left myself any other
opportunities, so it’s either this or be on the dole, there’s nothing else I can
really do.
CAT: Well, you’ve won 2 folk awards, which is a terrific
accolade. How has such a quick ‘rise to fame’ felt?
Jim: Again, I don’t want to sound…at the time it didn’t really
sink in. I just went to the night, cause I was playing as well, you kinda
work up this bravado when you play and I didn’t expect to win but when my name
was called out it seemed like the right thing. It was only a couple of
months ago that it hit me that I did win Best Album. Best Newcomer is one
thing – it’s the same thing a qualifying – ‘he’s very good for his age’ – but
Best Album is a big deal.
CAT: Absolutely and were you pleased with the
album?
Jim: Yeah, yeah. I was pleased with the fact that I stuck
up for myself.
CAT: In what respect?
Jim: That album is all my own work
which makes it all the better. I produced it myself and I engineered it myself
and I play most of the instruments. So yeah, at that point in time, when I
was making it, I had to do that because I felt that I had to something that was
my own idea and if it failed I only had myself to blame. If it worked, then I
could go: ‘I knew what I was doing all along’. The bands I was in fell
apart through being diplomatic and weren’t getting anywhere and I thought ‘I’m
going to do this and see if I’m in right’. And it worked so…and I think it
worked cause I got a kinda purity of ideas, I guess.