MUSIC – Interview with Lewis Watson

Photo: Alex Brown

[Published in The Student newspaper 5/03/12]

Hailing from Oxford, 20-year old singer-songwriter Lewis Watson is part of a new generation of self-promoted musicians. Having begun his music career by uploading covers to popular platform Youtube, he now has a small army of avid followers. His low-budget debut EP It’s Got Four Sad Songs On It BTW was recorded in 3 days and quickly caught the eye of record labels. Finally, Watson chose to sign to music giants Warner Bros Records, following in the footsteps of acts like David Gray and Damien Rice.

Two years after his first upload, Lewis Watson is rapidly building a name for himself. Promoting his latest EP The Wild and set to begin his UK tour this week, the young man took time out to speak to me about touring, his career inspiration and the changing music industry.

What’s your favourite gig you’ve played so far?

I played a gig in December in Oxford, which was 400-capacity. That was really cool because that’s where I’m from. It was a really big gig and I felt really good.

 Who would you dream of opening for?

Oh [pauses]. It’s probably between two people. City and Colour as they really introduced me to acoustic music and they’re really cool. It would be a massive honour to open for them. My second would have to be Matt Corby, I’m really into his music.

What would you say is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to face as a musician so far?

That would probably be playing live. I used to get really, really nervous and never used to play in front of anybody. It’s one of the best things to do though.

 Your debut EP ‘It’s Got Four Sad Songs On It BTW’ topped the iTunes singer-songwriter chart on the first day of release. What did that feel like?

I was kind of shocked if I’m honest, I didn’t expect it to chart at all, so to chart that high was huge for me. I’m just really overwhelmed. I was watching the charts all day. I noticed that when I woke up it was at number four and I didn’t take my eyes off it all day. I was fixed on it. It’s kind of embarrassing!

Your latest EP ‘The Wild’ is coming out in March. How would you say it compares to your previous music?

 I think it’s just evolved a bit. It’s been drip-fed a bit more production. A lot of the tracks are still very true to the previous EPs. I hope that people don’t get put off by the fact that Into The Wild has a bigger band production on it, because the rest of the songs are very stripped back. It’s got a few more textures rather than simply me and an acoustic guitar.

I see you’re friends with Hudson Taylor and supported Gabrielle Aplin on her tour. Is there any chance of collaboration someday?

We did Twist and Shout together when we were all playing a festival [Barn on the Farm 2012]. It was a really cool and organic thing. I think that was where the charm of it came from. I don’t know if we’ll collaborate on a record, but I’d love to do so, as I love the guys. It’d be a great thing to feature on.

You have quite a large online following, on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Do you think it’s an important part of the industry these days to have a decent online presence?

It helps. I think some people don’t use it because, although it has helped so many people, it has broken a lot of people too. The worst thing that could happen is that you get no publicity, but if you do, it ends up going viral and you’re suddenly the thing everyone is talking about. But it means that CDs and vinyl are disappearing. I try to push physical sales of my EPs by signing as many as I can. I want people to buy physical because I think that it makes everything so much less disposable. I saw Bombay Bicycle Club do a cover session and Jack Steadman [lead singer] said that he had bought one of the songs in a bargain bin. He wouldn’t have listened to the song otherwise. He gave it a chance and now it’s one of his favourite songs. I think that’s cool. You can’t just delete a whole album from your CD rack, it’ll be there and it’s an incentive to listen to it and hear it out.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

If I’m still in the music industry, and still somewhat relevant, then I would be very happy. This is what I want my career to be. It would be an honour if I were still doing what I am doing. Still touring, still recording, still writing. I would feel that I’ve succeeded.