10 Questions With Gavin James

Sophie Bird

5 years ago

Yes, you heard it here. Gavin James is back with his long-awaited new single ‘Boxes‘

Having had over one billion global streams, selling 250,000 tickets worldwide and toured with some of the hottest pop acts including Ed Sheeran, Niall Horan and Sam Smith, Gavin James shares his highly anticipated new single ‘Boxes’.

With huge support on his side from friends Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan, Gavin is certainly someone who needs to be on your radar instantly.

Hey Gavin. How are you? Have you been doing anything interesting to stay creative during the lockdown?

G– The plan at the start of lockdown was to write as many songs as possible, however, I started watching tiger king and cooking, I’ve been on the road for so long that I started to really enjoy being home. But I soon got over that and started doing charity live stream gigs from my house, which have been great and I started a Zoom Quiz we had a thousand people on Zoom last week and I’m back writing a song!

How did your first venture into music?

G- I started playing in bands and started doing pub gigs in Dublin’s temple bar seven nights a week for about five years, I added a few of my own songs and amazingly people started listening, I was busking at the time too. I then started to do my own headline shows

Tell us about your latest track ‘Boxes’?

G- Boxes I wrote over a year ago and I just could not get the production right, until earlier this year. It’s a song that partly tells my story of not being interested in school and only loving music, and being told that you would not make it in life with music. But I kept dreaming and just like the lyric of the songs says “Don’t Wake Me Up” from your dreams!

How do you know when a song or album is finished? What’s the marking point?

G- That’s a really good question and it’s always hard to know when it’s finished, a lot of the time I add a lot of production and then start stripping it back down, it’s finished just when it feels right which may take a long time but a deadline also helps.

You’ve toured with the likes of Niall Horan, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. Do you have a highlight from any these shows?

G- I’ve been really lucky to tour with such great acts, there have been so many highlights. To pick one playing ‘Red Rocks’ with Sam was a bucket list moment, it’s a place for me that was made iconic by U2’s album Under a Blood Red Sky (I had a few beers that night not knowing that the high up we were and the altitude and beer do not go well together.

What albums are you loving right now?
G- Since Covid I have been rediscovering Bob Dylan his lyrics are just on another level, I’m a huge fan of his work and it’s still connects to the times we are in right now! Once everything goes back to normal. Is there any artist you’d love to tour with?

G- By the time everything is back to normal, I think any tour would be amazing to do! I can’t wait to get back out there. I do have a drive-in tour happening next month in Ireland which is sold out, it’s going to be different but a lot of fun and we all get back to work! What’s the theme tune of your life?
G- I have too many favourite songs, but only as I just watched “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and everyone needs a happy song. So for today it’s “Hooked On A Feeling by Blue Swede…Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga.