More about: Jamie Webster

Since the release of his debut record We Get By back in 2020 — which scored a Top 10 in the Official Charts as well as a Number One in the Official Folk Chart — proud Liverpudlian singer/songwriter Jamie Webster has grown a dedicated following of fans.

“People who say politics shouldn’t be brought into music can fuck off, life is political…” he says, speaking passionately to Gigwise about his music and its political heart. An important voice for a new generation, Jamie is preparing to release his second album, Moments, this Friday (28 January), so we used it as an excuse to catch up with him.

On the lead-up to the release of the new record…

"It was a hectic end to the year with the tour, then I had a nice break over Christmas to do nothing really but just chill and eat some food and put a bit of weight back on. But as soon as the first week of January came it was obviously album month, so it was a busier start to the year. It's been good: I’d rather be busy.

I can’t wait for people to just hear the album now: I’ve been sitting on it for a long time. Chart placements, streams and sales are all well and good but the main thing I want is for people to hear these songs, that’s my main focus, and hopefully they can relate to them again like they did the first record."

On writing for the second record…

"One of the tracks was three quarters written by the time the first record was done, which is actually the title track from the new record, Moments. We only had like two or three days left in the studio to finish the album and it was a bit of a toss up between whether ‘Moments’ or ‘Out On The Street’ — which was finished at the time — made it onto the album. The lockdown was just about to kick in, it was the last day in the studio and we didn’t know how long for, we had three tunes left to do that day and the rest of the band didn’t know them so I thought it would be better to record one that was finished rather than one that was unfinished. But every other track on the album has been a brand new scribble since then."

On feeling pride in the new record…

"I was proper made up with We Get By, but I’m really openly proud about this record. From a songwriting point of view and a sonic point of view I am just genuinely really proud about it and I cannot wait for people to just get their ears into it now. On the last night at Rockfield (studio) we decided we were going to have a bit of a party and listen back to the album on the big speakers from start to finish and reflect on the couple of weeks that we had together as a band along with the producer and engineer that we worked with.

We all sat down and structured the track-listing with how we thought the album should be. It’s more of a band orientated album rather than just me in my bedroom, so it sounds like more of a band and recorded as a band and was written with a band in mind. We all bounced off each other and worked out the journey with the big sounds, and stories on like ‘Davey Kane’ then the eeriness coming into ‘Knock At My Door’. ’Moments’ builds it up euphorically into the big end with ‘What’s Wrong?’ and ‘What More’ to finish it on a political statement that summarises the moment of the album and I hope people see it like I do."

On the importance of track sequencing…

"The conventional way that most people do it is by putting all the big singles on Side A of the vinyl, but that’s not how I wanted to do it. You want people to feel something when they listen to it, you want them to go somewhere else, you want them to go on a journey and submerge themselves in the record from start to finish. It’s all about coming up and down like a rollercoaster. You go slow, you go fast, you go up and then you come down. It’s the constant friction and pulling and pushing on all the different elements of life."

On hopes of surpassing the success of his debut album...

"I remember when we had our first party to celebrate getting into the Top Ten, my manager saying 'it’s good to be here isn’t it?'. And I said 'Yeah, it’s nice to be here tonight, but tomorrow morning we’ve got to work on how to beat this and do better'. And he agreed. I’m one of these people where I will not rest on something I’ve done. I could play at Anfield tomorrow and then straight away I’ll be like 'right, well let’s do Wembley then'. It’s always about the next step.

I’ll never be like: 'look at all my medals' or 'look at all my awards'. I don’t even sit there and look at them myself: I might pass my little Number One plaque on my way to the garage for a smoke but I don’t stand and admire it.

I didn’t feel any pressure going into this album, but because the way I see it is you’re naturally going to get better the more you do it, and your songwriting should develop. 

I had loads of fuel for my fire: we got thrown into the lockdown and there was everything there for me to write about. It was all just coming to me because we were all feeling so much pain and misery and where we could we’d be taking those little triumphs and wins, those little moments of joy. They stuck with you because they were so few and far between, so there were no problems [with finding content]. This album is basically We Get By 2.0, but it’s more real, it’s bigger, it’s better sounding. It was recorded live in Rockfield Studios! It’s got all the makings to be We Get By on steroids."

On working with producer Dave Eringa…

"The job he done on it, and working with him, made Moments what it is. He’s a platinum-selling record producer with Manic Street Preachers and was the perfect man for the job. I can’t see myself working with anyone else now going forward. We just clicked and he became like a member of the band.

Even before we got down to Rockfield we were on the phone and he drove up here from Essex. He watched us for two days playing in a shitty little room and stayed in the spare room at my house. We were going down the chippy and eating bags of chips together. He got stuck right in and rolled up his sleeves and got involved. It was a breath of fresh air to work with him: you just felt so reassured to have him there working through the whole record. His ear and his vision is just incredible. He walks the same paths as me with his views and his politics so it was the perfect harmonious match."

On his songwriting for the new album…

"It’s an expression of what we all feel, and politics has a lot to do with what we feel. It’s at the forefront of everyone’s day to day life right now, and people who say that music is not political or don’t make music political: fuck off. Life is political.

I can only write from the heart and write what I feel needs to be said, I’m not going to write about the champagne lifestyle that I don’t live: that’s out of the question and I couldn’t do it if I tried. I couldn’t contemplate writing words and telling stories to people that aren’t going to do them any good.

Everyone’s fed up with being lied to by the government, and fed up with bureaucracy and being told what to do and not being able to live their lives freely without consequences. We don’t have a voice, we are voiceless and I am writing for the working class. No matter where I go, album after album it will always be relative and it will always be real and come from the heart, it will always be for the people that I’ve always represented because they are the people who need a voice.

I feel like people are ready for this album. I’d love for someone to play it to Boris Johnson and film his reaction to see if he understood what I was talking about, he probably wouldn’t even get it, the soft cunt."

On his album launch shows and getting to finally play King Tuts…

It actually wasn’t on the run of dates originally but I was like: 'why aren’t we playing King Tuts?'. I was meant to play there on the tour we just finished but with it being rescheduled a number of times it kept getting upgraded and we ended up at SWG3 which itself was a cracking venue and a cracking night.

I’ve seen some atmospheres in my life coming from where I have in the industry, seeing some wild crowds at the football gigs and that, but fuck me, that Glasgow crowd...they just do not disappoint. You could feel the atmosphere from the green room, the noise was echoing up the stairs and when I got out there you just knew they were ready for it. That was my first ever time in Glasgow which was surreal. But I like the little venues and King Tuts' is a place that I’ve always wanted to play at since I was a kid and I’ve said no matter how big I get or anything I’d play there because it’s like a rite of passage so I’m buzzing to finally get there."

On playing to 50-60k Liverpool supporters in Madrid before the Champions League final…

"It was the stuff dreams are made of: the only way I could have topped it would’ve been if I was on the pitch and scored the winning goal. It was an unbelievable time. That was the one day that really did change my life, playing for that amount of people on that scale. Everyone was interested in me then and I gained so many more fans and had more people engage with me.

The fella who owns the record label (Modern Sky) who’s my manager now, David Pichilingi, was there that day and as soon as I got off stage he texted me and said 'let's make a record', and that’s why I’m where I am today. It was such a big moment and I made sure that I enjoyed it, but it was also a defining moment in my life which led to all the things that I’ve done and everything else I’ve got coming up. It was a special time and a bit of a coming-of-age moment. I was moving on and moving up after that. I burst into tears straight after the gig: I was overwhelmed with happiness and everything.

I had my family and my girlfriend on the stage with me, it was the perfect day, and we went on and won the European cup. It gave me that fuel to now go and get to that point with my own music away from the Liverpool side of things with my own records, that 60k gig is the goal with my own songs being belted out back to me, whether that is at Glastonbury, or Anfield or wherever it is. And even if I don’t get there I’ll happily die trying and enjoy the ride."

Moments arrives 28 January via Modern Sky.

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More about: Jamie Webster