Discussing 'James' with Band Member Saul Davies
The first thing that springs to mind when hearing the band ‘James’ name being uttered is probably the iconic and timeless track ‘Sit Down’ and every party, gathering, or get together you’ve heard it at. After speaking with Saul Davies from the group, it’s clear that they are pretty over the hit song. It is undoubtably obvious that James are proud of their past but Davies showed me a different perspective on how the band views their progression, creative processes and their future.
The new album ‘Living in Extraordinary Times’ is a collection of rock ballads, instant classic anthems, and alternative new-agey feelings which Davies explained ‘have no creative process’ behind them. It’s as simple as a group of creative minds together in a room and playing instruments, shouting lyrics back and fourth until they have something rough to work with, which ‘only then can you impose some sort of structure to the madness’.
After speaking for a few moments it became unquestionably clear why James has been so successful for so long. Other than their infectiously catchy tunes the band has a raw and unadulterated passion for do what they do. Only two weeks prior to the release of ‘Living in Extraordinary Times’ the band’s 15th full-length studio album, they had already started writing the next!
During the band’s jamming sessions, Davies says by the end they will have tracks lasting 15 minutes which will be cut down to 4 or 5 minutes and start to look like the songs we hear on the album. Davies also mentioned that they write and and jam in the [Yorkshire] Dales and Sheffield which when listening to the tracks, the peaceful countryside seems like a contrast to the heavy riffs, drumbeats, and powerful vocals that are encapsulated within the album.
When taking the jam recordings to the studio to re-record what they had written, the band end up finding a lot of value in their original and unfiltered creations. Davies said that when in the studio no one said ‘these sound crap, we can’t use this’ it was more like ‘they sound crap but we kinda like it’. And thinking even further to the future, Davies informed me that himself and the band are still learning this album for themselves, trying to understand how they are going to replicate what ten people did in a studio when they tour the album and preform the complex tracks live.
Over the last two albums and now three including ‘Living in Extraordinary Times’ James has gained a whole new audience with Davies himself stating that the youth ‘don’t give a fuck about Sit Down’ and speaking from the new generation’s perspective, it is ‘just something my dad plays’. It was clear that Davies wasn’t dwelling in the past but rather is, with the rest of James, focused on the future. Constantly making new music and progressing to a new era. The band are nonstop and if anything better than ever! Always moving along, adapting, and evolving with the Extraordinary Times we are Living In.
