Lewis Watson was opening his 27 date tour which takes him across the UK, into Europe prior to hitting North America, finishing on November 1st (boy is going to be a busy boy).

We had just watched him perform a superb set at the Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre (September 20th 2014) and loitered about 'with intent' to grab a few minutes with him to chat about his debut album, social media and collaborating with other singer songwriters, here's how we got on....

So, the first night of your tour, what are your thoughts about the show?

Extremely happy, especially that we came here, really really really enjoyed the venue when we were last in Exeter (he filled The 220 capacity Cavern Club in June 2013), it was amazing to play a bigger venue this time round and to almost fill it again is incredible, we couldn’t have asked for a better night to be honest with you, I’m over the moon. It’s put me in a great mood for the remainder of the tour!

 

Your debut album ‘The Morning’, how long was this in the making?

2 and a half years, I was signed (to a record label) in April 2012 and my goal was always to create an album of material and I wanted to do it in the right order, luckily so did the label, we wanted to approach things ‘organically’ and have the EP’s to almost back the album up, my thinking (and the labels) was to keep things really lo-fi and when it came to writing the album, I could look back over the earlier EP’s and almost use these as demos for the album tracks.

 

You have 107,000 Facebook followers and 75,000 on Twitter, these are pretty impressive stats, what are your views on social media?

Thanks, I think it’s incredible and I feel so grateful and lucky to be in the generation where this kind of communication is so key, it’s also easier for me to exploit the various channels as the fans are so used to consuming content via these methods, part of me longs for the ‘golden era’ when you had to send your demo tape into a record label, it was touring that really got your name out there and recognised by the fans, I’d be really into that but I’d be stupid not to use the social media channels that are available in this day and age too.

 

Who would you say are your key influences?

I’ve got quite a few, my main influence is a guy called Dallas Green who produces his music under City and Colour, he was in a band called Alexisonfire, this was my first real experience with acoustic music, I wish I could say that I grew up listening to the greats like Nick Drake, Dylan and The Beatles but I didn’t, in my house we listened to Bon Jovi, Queen and Prince and so I didn’t really have the memories to link to the classic acoustic material so Dallas Green was the guy who started me off on the path to where I am now! I also love the work of Bon Iver, been a big fan of his for a long time.

 

You mentioned that you duetted with a lovely lady called Kimberly Anne who you joined forces with to cover a track by Everything Everything called ‘The Peaks’, how do you know her and why did you suggest the collaboration?

I asked Kimberly Anne to support me on tour, it was March 2014, I instantly fell in love with her voice, it’s so infectious and she’s such a lovely person. We did the tour together and then I asked her if she would like to get together and collaborate on a track and how would she feel about covering the Everything Everything track with me (The Peaks), she was up for it and I was really glad that she did, she’s got such a great voice and it was an honour to have her on the track with me.

 

Thanks very much for your time Lewis, the only thing to do now is wish you every success for the remainder of the tour, enjoy it, I’m sure you’ll be selling out more venues very soon!

Thanks Steve, and thanks for buying the record! (I bought one of his clear vinyl LP’s from the ‘merch’ table earlier on in the evening)

To keep up to date with Lewis's tour schedule, please click HERE

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