Jamie Higgs | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: That's another great track from Jamie Higgs. And we're gonna

0:03 Speaker 1: be talking with Jamie in just a moment. Welcome everybody.

0:06 Speaker 1: We've entered our number two new marrowed dose of Matt

0:08 Speaker 1: Connorton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of

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0:22 Speaker 1: media links, contact info, show archives, et cetera, et cetera.

0:25 Speaker 1: If you are listening live. Today is Saturday, November twenty second,

0:28 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, and let's see. I think we have

0:31 Speaker 1: Jamie on the line with us. Hi, Jamie, are you there.

0:34 Speaker 2: I'm Hea Muss. How about you?

0:35 Speaker 1: Hey, doing well? Welcome back to the show. It's great

0:38 Speaker 1: to have you back.

0:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you Betty much. I'm glad to be back.

0:41 Speaker 1: Home, absolutely so. I love that song we talk. Of course,

0:44 Speaker 1: the last time we add you on you just come

0:47 Speaker 1: out with peace and your Sound, which we are going

0:48 Speaker 1: to play again at the end of our conversation today.

0:51 Speaker 1: But I love I love this song. We talk. That

0:53 Speaker 1: is so good. Everything about it is great. I love

0:56 Speaker 1: your voice, the production is great. Just a really really

0:58 Speaker 1: great track. And this is this is pretty new, right,

1:01 Speaker 1: this just came out.

1:04 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a month or so old.

1:06 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, so so pretty new. What can you

1:10 Speaker 1: tell us about this about this song? Like, what is it? Uh?

1:14 Speaker 1: You know, it's I feel like there's some deeper meaning

1:17 Speaker 1: to the lyrics. But uh. And you know, when we

1:20 Speaker 1: had you on before, we talked a lot about the

1:22 Speaker 1: meaning of the lyrics a piece in your sound. But

1:23 Speaker 1: I'm curious about we talk what this song means to you?

1:30 Speaker 2: It is.

1:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be I've been with my wife now for

1:37 Speaker 3: ten years.

1:38 Speaker 2: Okay, maney just over the year, but we've been together

1:41 Speaker 2: ten years. Yeah.

1:44 Speaker 3: If you've been in a long tend relationship, you'll know

1:47 Speaker 3: there's ups and downs. Sure, and this was a song

1:52 Speaker 3: about one of the downs. I was speaking to me mate,

1:55 Speaker 3: he was having a similar low with his girlfriend at

1:59 Speaker 3: the time. Yeah, we're just saying, like we end up

2:01 Speaker 3: sitting up late talking and yeah, I was just thinking

2:06 Speaker 3: about how problems and we just we talked through them.

2:09 Speaker 1: Yeah.

2:10 Speaker 3: Yeah, that was like kind of the idea of the song, Well,

2:14 Speaker 3: I kind of one of the songs to finish unresolved, right,

2:19 Speaker 3: So you don't actually know whether they figured that I

2:21 Speaker 3: was sold, whether they broke up.

2:23 Speaker 1: Interesting, interesting idea. Yeah, so this is a deeply personal

2:28 Speaker 1: one to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I remember,

2:32 Speaker 1: I remember when we talked about Piece in your Sound.

2:34 Speaker 1: I mean that you know that that song was personal too,

2:36 Speaker 1: in the sense that from from what I recall from

2:38 Speaker 1: our conversation, it was about how, you know, finding you know,

2:41 Speaker 1: kind of finding peace in the chaos of life and

2:44 Speaker 1: and uh but but this one obviously, but I think

2:49 Speaker 1: both songs are are highly relatable. This one is relatable

2:51 Speaker 1: because anyone who's been in a long term relationship, you know,

2:54 Speaker 1: you do go through your ups and downs and or

2:56 Speaker 1: even a short term relationship. And uh uh, so I

3:00 Speaker 1: think this is very relatable as well. But when you

3:02 Speaker 1: when you write a song like this and then and

3:04 Speaker 1: then your wife here is it like what? Well, I'm

3:09 Speaker 1: curious what the what the reaction is, I mean, does

3:12 Speaker 1: she like it or does she kind of say, oh,

3:14 Speaker 1: I don't know, this is a little much, or what like,

3:18 Speaker 1: how does she respond to it? When you present a

3:20 Speaker 1: song like this jor.

3:22 Speaker 2: Yeah, I fully get the nerves laughter it.

3:26 Speaker 3: I get it because I was unsure how she'll reactively,

3:30 Speaker 3: but she actually preferred it ding yeah, which I was

3:35 Speaker 3: surprised because I think Piecing sounds a better sort of

3:39 Speaker 3: song genetically.

3:40 Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I suppose.

3:42 Speaker 3: Anyone who understands that song kind of connects with it. Yeah,

3:50 Speaker 3: So it's got because it's got that deeper meaning where

3:52 Speaker 3: piecing sounds a bit more. It's a bit more for everyone, right, we.

3:59 Speaker 2: Got more of a specific audience. Yeah, And obviously because Tasha.

4:04 Speaker 3: And my wife knew where to come from, I think

4:06 Speaker 3: she's just kind of related with it.

4:08 Speaker 1: Sure, But so she really likes this one.

4:11 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, good, it's a I'd say it's a better.

4:15 Speaker 3: Written song, okay, okay in terms of song writing perspective.

4:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Does she give you feedback like, like does

4:24 Speaker 1: she does she ever say, like, you know, I don't

4:26 Speaker 1: know I would change this or or maybe do this differently,

4:30 Speaker 1: or does she just does she just kind of take

4:32 Speaker 1: it in and give you her her overall impression of it.

4:36 Speaker 2: She kind of just stays away from it, does she really?

4:40 Speaker 1: Yeah?

4:40 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of like, well, that's like my outlet.

4:46 Speaker 3: Yeah, which is obviously why a lot of MEW songs

4:49 Speaker 3: come out personal. Yeah, it's like my it's like my

4:53 Speaker 3: personal therapy.

4:54 Speaker 1: Oh interesting, Yeah, yeah, now that makes sense. I'm also

4:59 Speaker 1: curious too. So the last time we talked, which that

5:02 Speaker 1: wasn't that long ago, but I think, tell me if

5:05 Speaker 1: I'm remembering this correctly, you were in the process of

5:08 Speaker 1: putting a band, because you you've been operating as a

5:11 Speaker 1: solo artist. But I think you you were either in

5:13 Speaker 1: the process of putting a band together or you had

5:15 Speaker 1: put a band together. Am I on the right track

5:17 Speaker 1: with that?

5:18 Speaker 2: You are on the right track? Mark? Yeah, okay.

5:21 Speaker 3: I basically put a quick band together for a gig

5:25 Speaker 3: in the June. Yeah, and then through like July and

5:29 Speaker 3: August it was a bit chop and changey, and then

5:34 Speaker 3: now we've settled.

5:35 Speaker 2: Into a good band okay. Yeah, quite consistent, No, okay, excellent.

5:41 Speaker 1: Well, like like when you when you talk about you know,

5:43 Speaker 1: some of the the problems with with putting the band

5:46 Speaker 1: together at first, like what what did you run into

5:49 Speaker 1: was it was it difficult to find people who just

5:51 Speaker 1: you know, were who could play well enough to pull

5:54 Speaker 1: these songs off live or what was you know, because

5:57 Speaker 1: I've been in bands and I know there are a

5:59 Speaker 1: lot of different challenges. Is this you know when you're

6:00 Speaker 1: starting something kind of new or you have people you know,

6:03 Speaker 1: you've got your established project and you have people you're

6:05 Speaker 1: bringing into it. Yeah, No, there's there's a lot of

6:07 Speaker 1: things that can that can come up.

6:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, no ideas that I think the biggest thing for

6:13 Speaker 2: me is chemistry. H I think it.

6:19 Speaker 3: Like if if you're a good guitarist, but you need

6:22 Speaker 3: a great guitarist, Yeah, but the chemistry is right, they

6:25 Speaker 3: can get better, true, so Jeremy.

6:28 Speaker 2: So it's like the chemistry is kind of more important

6:31 Speaker 2: than the ability.

6:32 Speaker 3: Luckily, we seem to have struck gold and we have

6:36 Speaker 3: both chemistry and quality in our band.

6:39 Speaker 2: So yeah, any lucky.

6:41 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's that's excellent. Yeah. So how long has

6:45 Speaker 1: the It can't have been too long now, right, a

6:48 Speaker 1: few months that the current lineup has existed.

6:52 Speaker 2: Yeah.

6:52 Speaker 3: So I think we torn maybe the last four or

6:56 Speaker 3: five gigs with the same band. Okay, maybe maybe like

7:01 Speaker 3: one or two couldn't make it or something. So yeah,

7:05 Speaker 3: we've maybe like we've used Tom on Basse for one

7:09 Speaker 3: gig and then Hardison who plays keyboard.

7:13 Speaker 2: He's missed two so gigs just because he's so busy. Sure,

7:19 Speaker 2: so pass from that, but pretty solid.

7:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, good good. Now do you feel like, how do

7:24 Speaker 1: you feel on stage with a band versus if you're

7:26 Speaker 1: if you're kind of doing the solo thing, because you know,

7:30 Speaker 1: to me, I mean just from my own experience, when

7:31 Speaker 1: you're when you're with a band, it's kind of the

7:33 Speaker 1: safety in numbers, right, Like you just you're all in

7:36 Speaker 1: it together, and it just feels like there's there's not

7:41 Speaker 1: as much that can you know, even if something goes wrong,

7:44 Speaker 1: you know you're you're all you're all in there together.

7:46 Speaker 1: You're like a like a little army, a little battalion

7:49 Speaker 1: on stage. I mean, that's that's kind of how I

7:50 Speaker 1: always thought of it. But I'm curious how the how

7:52 Speaker 1: the transition has been for you, especially where you know

7:55 Speaker 1: these these players are coming in and playing your music

7:57 Speaker 1: that that you've created. I mean, do you feel more

8:00 Speaker 1: confident with the band on stage or is it harder?

8:03 Speaker 1: In some ways?

8:05 Speaker 2: I think it was harder first because I was just

8:07 Speaker 2: so used to me and my guitar. Can you can

8:11 Speaker 2: kind of go where you feel.

8:13 Speaker 3: With the band, it's got to be a bit more

8:15 Speaker 3: structured and follow the music. Yeah, but now I've kind

8:21 Speaker 3: of settled into that.

8:22 Speaker 2: It's so much better. I feel like Superman on stage.

8:28 Speaker 2: It's like.

8:30 Speaker 3: I don't want to describe, but I still love me

8:32 Speaker 3: acoustic gigs because that's a intimate and personal and you

8:37 Speaker 3: can really like connect with the songs again. But then

8:41 Speaker 3: when I go live, I just feel like a show

8:43 Speaker 3: man with the big band.

8:45 Speaker 1: Oh that's cool, that's excellent. Yeah, but you're still doing

8:48 Speaker 1: some Are you still doing some solo acoustic gigs?

8:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, more so with Eddie.

8:54 Speaker 3: So Eddie's like me main guitarists, and me and him

8:59 Speaker 3: kind of like do a few duet gigs where we

9:03 Speaker 3: just got with our acoustics. So there's a local artist

9:09 Speaker 3: called Lewis Betty and he's actually moved out to Canada, Okay,

9:14 Speaker 3: and he's done some he's done some big gigs over Lake,

9:17 Speaker 3: Canada and North America and stuff, and we got up

9:21 Speaker 3: support him in Liverpool recently and we've just done being

9:24 Speaker 3: Eddie with the two guitars.

9:25 Speaker 2: I think it's like it's a good opening to a

9:27 Speaker 2: gig and we loved it.

9:30 Speaker 1: It was yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent. I read something too

9:35 Speaker 1: about did you have you been performing or did you

9:37 Speaker 1: perform recently at a sports event?

9:42 Speaker 2: Yeah.

9:42 Speaker 3: So when Liverpool Football Club we won the league in May. Yeah,

9:49 Speaker 3: I want to say, it's what May and to day

9:53 Speaker 3: we were going to win the league. Well we we

9:55 Speaker 3: allssumed we were going to win it. The new loads

9:59 Speaker 3: of the fans going to lie in the streets before

10:01 Speaker 3: the game, so like encordage the players as they were

10:05 Speaker 3: coming in.

10:06 Speaker 1: Oh interesting, so the club.

10:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, the club flds' be a good ideas put like

10:10 Speaker 3: a lot of music and as the coach was coming in,

10:13 Speaker 3: the team coach. Yeah, so luckily they picked me and

10:17 Speaker 3: there must have been.

10:20 Speaker 2: Ten, fifteen, twenty zero people.

10:22 Speaker 3: Oh wow, so we're all setting off flairs and yeah,

10:27 Speaker 3: all kinds of it was madness.

10:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, see that was surreal. And then so you performed

10:33 Speaker 1: there with the band.

10:35 Speaker 2: No, that was just on me only the guitar.

10:36 Speaker 1: Oh my god, really in front of all those people?

10:39 Speaker 1: Oh what what was that like? Was that? I would

10:42 Speaker 1: think that would be a little bit scary. Well, I mean,

10:44 Speaker 1: you know, in a good way, but I mean, was

10:46 Speaker 1: it or how did you feel doing that?

10:50 Speaker 3: I wouldn't say scary, It was the sound system. I

10:53 Speaker 3: knew the sound system weren't going to be big enough. Oh,

10:57 Speaker 3: so it was like it was like anxiety, anxiousness of that,

11:01 Speaker 3: But the actual singing of the songs all that, I've

11:03 Speaker 3: done it.

11:04 Speaker 2: Every week, so that didn't really phase me.

11:07 Speaker 3: Sure, But what kind of ended up happening is I'll

11:11 Speaker 3: start singing one of the Liverpool songs and then the

11:15 Speaker 3: first few hundred thousand people start singing it, and then

11:20 Speaker 3: I could name myself and then the rest.

11:22 Speaker 2: Of the street will take over. Oh wow, like a wave.

11:26 Speaker 1: Yeah that sounds challenging.

11:30 Speaker 3: Yeah, but it was like I want to kind of

11:32 Speaker 3: relaxed and thought, well, that's the way it is. I

11:36 Speaker 3: just stopped a few times just watching them. I'm getting

11:41 Speaker 3: to do that.

11:42 Speaker 1: Oh wow, is there a video of that online on

11:44 Speaker 1: YouTube or anything. I'm curious to see that.

11:47 Speaker 3: I think there's a small video on we TikTok, but

11:50 Speaker 3: I've not shared a loft from And I said this

11:52 Speaker 3: to our manager recently. I was like, I've got all

11:55 Speaker 3: this Liverpool footage and I've never used it.

12:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a yeah, I'm very very curious just to

12:05 Speaker 1: see that. Actually, that sounds like such a unique experience.

12:09 Speaker 1: Another thing I love.

12:10 Speaker 2: Look, I'll send you someone here. What's up?

12:13 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, what did you say?

12:15 Speaker 2: I'll have a look on my phone. I'll send you

12:16 Speaker 2: someone what's up?

12:17 Speaker 1: Oh perfect? Yeah, awesome. I would love that. Yeah, i'd

12:19 Speaker 1: love to see that. I'd love to see that. Another

12:23 Speaker 1: thing I read too that I wanted to ask you about. So,

12:25 Speaker 1: going back to piece in your sound for a moment,

12:27 Speaker 1: is this true? It's up over one hundred thousand streams.

12:31 Speaker 2: No, it's all about fifteen thousands.

12:34 Speaker 1: Oh, fifteen thousand. Okay, No, that's still pretty good. It's

12:37 Speaker 1: still yes, yeah, No, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's great. That song.

12:42 Speaker 1: I would imagine that goes over well live right.

12:46 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's we play it on the Friday Saturday

12:49 Speaker 3: night and local bars and stuff.

12:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it goes down well. So it's a very clatchy,

12:57 Speaker 2: it's got upbeat feel.

12:59 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, it's good. Yeah. No, I would imagine

13:02 Speaker 1: that's a lot of fun live. Now, what's kind of

13:03 Speaker 1: the so we talk obviously the newest single, and then

13:06 Speaker 1: do you have another one on the way or what's

13:09 Speaker 1: what's kind of your future trajectory at this point?

13:13 Speaker 3: So, yeah, so we're in a little bit of a

13:16 Speaker 3: good position at the minute. We've got a couple of

13:21 Speaker 3: big promoters kind of negotiating with us a bit.

13:25 Speaker 2: That's the right team.

13:26 Speaker 1: Oh good.

13:27 Speaker 3: So we've got one gig coming up on the fifth

13:31 Speaker 3: of December and that's with like a big promoter in

13:36 Speaker 3: the UK called This Feeling, So that's kind of like

13:41 Speaker 3: a trial and hopefully we do well on that gig

13:45 Speaker 3: and then that opens a big door with them. But

13:49 Speaker 3: also talking to I Love Live, which are massive and

13:52 Speaker 3: Liverpool okay, and we're looking at doing stuff with them

13:55 Speaker 3: next year. So we're just kind of putting an action

13:59 Speaker 3: plan together.

14:00 Speaker 1: Yeah.

14:01 Speaker 3: So we're in the studio in January. We're sort about

14:06 Speaker 3: doing three songs in like a couple of days, and

14:12 Speaker 3: then that kind of sets us up for like most

14:14 Speaker 3: of the year because then you've released one, say February,

14:19 Speaker 3: one early summer, one late summer, and like that kind

14:23 Speaker 3: of sets you up for the year.

14:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you have plans to put these

14:28 Speaker 1: into an EP or an album or or just doing

14:31 Speaker 1: singles for now?

14:33 Speaker 2: Again, we're sort of debating it.

14:35 Speaker 3: Yeah, So there's a bit of a toss up between

14:39 Speaker 3: do you just release singles or do you release an EP.

14:45 Speaker 2: And you can kind of do it both.

14:46 Speaker 3: So we've put two singles out, so we could put

14:50 Speaker 3: a third single out and then when you do the

14:53 Speaker 3: fourth you release that as an EP with.

14:55 Speaker 2: The four songs.

14:56 Speaker 1: Yeah.

14:57 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to get the best of both. But

14:59 Speaker 2: it's a with this ghost at a minute.

15:02 Speaker 1: There's there's so many different ways to do it. I mean,

15:04 Speaker 1: that's that's one of the interesting challenges. You know, when

15:06 Speaker 1: I was growing up, I might have said this last

15:08 Speaker 1: time we talked, but when I was growing up, it

15:10 Speaker 1: was pretty pretty straightforward. You know, first single goes to

15:13 Speaker 1: radio four to six weeks before the album, and then

15:15 Speaker 1: the album comes out, and then if all goes well,

15:17 Speaker 1: you know, you do the second single and go from there.

15:20 Speaker 1: But now today, I mean, there's so many different ways

15:22 Speaker 1: to do it. And yeah, it seems like a lot

15:25 Speaker 1: of the guests that we've had recently their strategy is

15:27 Speaker 1: do a series of singles that do eventually coalesce into

15:30 Speaker 1: an EP or an album. But yeah, but there's no

15:34 Speaker 1: there's no shortage of different strategies you can use.

15:37 Speaker 3: Well, I think I think that's what most people try

15:39 Speaker 3: and do, always keep releasing singles.

15:41 Speaker 2: Hope and one of them kind of blows up a bit.

15:44 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and then from nothing might get some sort

15:48 Speaker 3: of offer to go and record a full album something

15:52 Speaker 3: along them lines.

15:53 Speaker 1: Right right, yeah, absolutely, yeah, so many ways to do it. Well, Jamie,

15:58 Speaker 1: it's it's wonderful to talk to you this morning. Or

16:00 Speaker 1: I don't know what time it is there, it's probably

16:02 Speaker 1: is it afternoon there.

16:03 Speaker 2: Three o'clock in the afternoon, three o'clock.

16:05 Speaker 1: In the afternoon, So wonderful, wonderful to talk to you

16:07 Speaker 1: this afternoon. It's great to have you back, and you

16:10 Speaker 1: know we'll do it again when when the next singles out.

16:12 Speaker 1: We'd love to have you back. I love what you're doing,

16:15 Speaker 1: and in a moment we'll finish the conversation with a

16:18 Speaker 1: peace in your sound. For those who who did not

16:21 Speaker 1: hear our previous conversation, though, can you because I part

16:24 Speaker 1: of this is just selfishly I want to hear it

16:26 Speaker 1: again because I love this song so much, as you

16:28 Speaker 1: know from the last time we talked, absolutely adore this song.

16:31 Speaker 1: But what is this about again? For newer listeners who

16:34 Speaker 1: might not know.

16:35 Speaker 3: Well, fairly, thank you very much because I massively appreciate

16:39 Speaker 3: peoplet your self support on the music for us because oh,

16:42 Speaker 3: of course, if people don't, we might as well just

16:44 Speaker 3: stay in the plattice room, right, So we do appreciate it. Yeah,

16:50 Speaker 3: the song itself is kind of explanatory to my life

16:56 Speaker 3: because it's very loud and chayota.

17:00 Speaker 2: But the more thoughts about it, I was.

17:01 Speaker 3: Like, everyone's so busy, Like there's so much going on

17:05 Speaker 3: in the world. I don't know whether it's always been

17:08 Speaker 3: like this or whether it's modern times, but.

17:09 Speaker 2: It just seems crazy, so.

17:12 Speaker 3: Loud, and once I kind of just accepted it and thought,

17:17 Speaker 3: you know what, I'm very lucky. I've got amazing wife,

17:21 Speaker 3: two beautiful kids. I'm a full time singer. Like that's

17:24 Speaker 3: like the dream I'm like, once A kind of accepted that,

17:29 Speaker 3: I'm I've got piece in the sound. The song just

17:34 Speaker 3: kind of came from that. It's like, fine piece in

17:36 Speaker 3: your sound and you love life.

17:39 Speaker 1: Yeah.

17:40 Speaker 3: Absolutely, And obviously if you hear in some of the lyrics,

17:43 Speaker 3: I kind of devoted a bit to me wife because

17:46 Speaker 3: it's like sort of makes it a bit love related.

17:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's more just about like find your piece in

17:53 Speaker 2: your sound.

17:54 Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, No, I think that's uh, I think that's

17:57 Speaker 1: pretty relatable. A lot of us have chaotic lives, that's

18:00 Speaker 1: for sure. That's for sure. So we're gonna we're gonna

18:02 Speaker 1: hit that track in a moment. We'll let you go.

18:04 Speaker 1: But Jamie Higgs again, thank you so much for joining us.

18:06 Speaker 1: I look forward to the next single and and and

18:09 Speaker 1: talking to you again and keep up the great work.

18:11 Speaker 1: We're we're really big fans over here, so so we.

18:14 Speaker 2: Thank you very much.

18:15 Speaker 3: Absolutely, thank you to everyone listening as well, really appreciate it.

18:19 Speaker 1: Absolutely. All right, we'll let you go. Jamie Higgs, thank

18:22 Speaker 1: you so much, and we'll we'll talk to you soon.

18:24 Speaker 1: Take care, gee, thank you, all right, bye bye. All right,

18:28 Speaker 1: that is the great Jamie Higgs. And without further ado,

18:30 Speaker 1: we're going to hit this track. I love this so much. Uh,

18:34 Speaker 1: this is this piece in your sound. Bye Jamie Higgs.