Ben Hogwood gets a DMCWORLD world exclusive Newman unveils his brand new long player ‘Revolve’…
It’s actually difficult to remember the fact that John Newman is only 25, because he is an established and extremely successful British artist who feels like he has been around for some time. With his single hits ‘Love Me Again’ and ‘Come And Get It’, as well as chart topping collaborations with Calvin Harris and Rudimental, Newman is on a sure musical path as he contemplates the release of his second solo album. So, with ‘Revolve’ about to hit the front pages of consumer sites, DMC World begin by asking him about his musical upbringing, centred on Northern Soul and Motown…
“I was really into artists like Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye – and then it developed more to soul music in general. I was listening to a load of stuff on the Stax label, and I started loving the history of it all, and the music of that time. I’d have been about sixteen or seventeen, and before that I was DJing house music and producing hip hop, which was what came together. I really found the music of Otis Redding spoke to me deeply when I was going through a difficult time, and I changed from a young teenager that could play guitar and sing a bit to impress girls, to using lyrics in a way where I could really express myself!”
How does that music define his sound today? “I think it built up all my influences and they all come out in the music I make now. The culture of Northern Soul is really important to me, and that’s an amazing part of it. My family are all huge Northern Soul heads”. Newman spent some of his formative years in Settle, effectively the gateway to the Lake District, which you might think would make the transition to Los Angeles, where he recorded ‘Revolve’, hard to make. Not so. “I think you’ve just got to take the place as it comes. Obviously in LA the weather’s a lot nicer than it is in Settle, but I find growing up as a Northerner has made me appreciate the more humbling things, and I’m always like “where’s the people I can go down the pub with?”
Speaking of ‘Revolve’, what was his aim with the supposedly difficult second album? “To express myself with my music I guess, and I really wanted to progress on this record. Because of that I ripped into my first album and took it apart, because I wanted to enjoy making the second one with no pressure. I worked with some amazing guest artists as well, with Michael Jackson’s musicians and with Charlie Wilson of the Fatback Band. I wanted to make a much more positive statement with this album, because the last one came from a much darker place.”
‘Revolve’ starts with genuine power, thanks chiefly to a spoken word contribution in its opening minutes from Idris Elba. Was it Newman’s aim to make a powerful statement from the off? “Massively. The intention was to explain the concept of the album in the first track, and I wanted to market it as more of a product. I wanted to make it touching to people, and I wanted to have an American voice at the start. We were talking to Will Smith for a while, and it looked like he was going to do it, but then I thought it might be a bit ‘Johnny Big Balls’, and that it might be a bit of a gimmick. Idris is big in a global sense I think, and as it turns out we got more of a theatrical performance!”
He goes on to talk enthusiastically about his meeting with Charlie Wilson, his co-vocalist on ‘Tiring Game’, the second single from the album. “I met him on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny last year, and I think the guy is incredible. He is such an inspiration musically, personally, everything really, and I wanted to get him on the record. I felt that he could help me say about the relationship that I was in at the time. If we had three more hours in this interview I could easily fill it by talking to you about Charlie Wilson! He gave me some really good advice before we performed on Jools, he said, “You’ve only got one chance, so take the crowd and put them in the palm of your hand, and only let them go afterwards!” He’s an amazing man.”
Newman has put in a few show stopping live performances lately, among them an appearance at this year’s Ibiza Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, guest of Pete Tong. “It was a big moment for me, that. I got so far into the dance sound of Radio 1 when I was growing up! I used to listen to Judge Jules with the Cut Up Boys, those tunes were my childhood. I would have loved to have gone as a punter to that in any case, but it was such an honour. The amazing thing about dance music from that time was that the music it produced was pretty much orchestral. Those records in the Ibiza Prom were the records I was DJing at the time.”
Looking ahead, how does he see his music progressing in the future? Given the styles he has worked with, is it a case of keeping options open? “Massively. I just had a meeting about that, actually. I constantly want to write, so it was a question of thinking what have I got in mind? I’ve just been doing some more work with Calvin Harris, and I’ve been in the studio with Rudimental again. I want to work not just as a singer as well, but as a writer. I love working with other people.”
He admits that often personal experience is the starting point for his songwriting. “Yeah, that’s the core – often my relationships. I don’t like to go into too much detail about what the song is about, because that’s the most personal thing, and you want people who listen to the song to be able to relate it to their own experiences too. When I’m down the pub I don’t want to say “I’m just splitting up with my bird” because they’d say “Oh, is that the time? I’m heading off, I’ve got work in the morning!””
And the Newman voice – is it fair to say he sounds a bit older than he looks? “I think that’s a combination of too many cigarettes and Otis Redding, to be honest! It’s also about the productions and the songs that make it more current.”
From limited experience, he is a down to earth guy – an observation he confirms as a meaningful one. “Yeah, it is important to me. I have a good family around me to help me with that. I don’t put on a front for people, I’m always the same no matter who I’m talking to. It’s about letting my music do the talking. I just want to have some integrity as an artist, and because of that I don’t like to get involved in social media chats with celebrities or anything. It needs to be about my music and nothing else.”
For this reason he felt it important to issue a book with the deluxe edition of ‘Revolve’, detailing the recording of the album. “I think when you’re about to put out videos of me getting off with fit birds in LA, it’s important to say that’s a promotional gimmick and that I’m still just the northern lad I always have been. Someone told me about the video for the Michael Jackson track The Girl Is Mine, and how he detailed the shooting of that. I wanted to do something like that and there’s something special about seeing the joins of albums I think. It’s the right way to learn about an artist, to get an insight into their way of doing things for an album.”
