Two members of James came for a ‘Sit Down’ with Helen and Max this weekend.
Tim Booth and Jim Glennie from the legendary indie act were on Soccer AM just hours after lighting up the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in their career – which has spanned an incredible four decades!
“We played the Royal Albert Hall last night and it was fantastic – we haven’t slept, it was that good,” laughed front man Tim. “We played there once before, supporting The Smiths in 1984 and it has taken us 26 years to get back there as headliners!
The ‘Sit Down’, ‘Laid’ and ‘She’s a Star’ singers are set to release a new mini album called ‘The Night Before’, which will be followed up later this year by another mini album entitled ‘The Morning After.’
Unusual
For the first of their releases the band adopted an unusual and unconventional recording technique.
“The mini album is about six or seven songs long, so it is a bit bigger than an EP, and a bit less than an album,” explained Tim.
“We did two different recording techniques, the first album which is coming out on 19 April we put up on the internet, jammed some songs on there and each band member downloaded them, smashed them up, put their thing on there and then put them back onto the internet.
“It went on like this, getting passed around and that’s how we made the first album.
“It was funny because our keyboard player who is normally the most shy person in a recording studio was the one who came to the front.”
Jim was also pleased with the outcome.
“It was a bit of an experiment but we are really pleased with the results,” said the bass player.
“But we are just about to do the second mini album and we are going back into the studio, where we will do it in the traditional way.”
Various fans
James have enjoyed some big success over their long career and have picked up fans all over the world. While many indie fans have grown up with the band in the UK, leading to slightly older faces at their shows, in other countries the make-up of their audience is quite different.
“It really varies in different countries,” explained Tim.
“In Greece we only took off in the last ten years so it is all 20-30 year olds, in America it is different again.
“So in each country it is different. In England we’re known for ‘Sit Down’, in Portugal it is ‘Getting Away With It’ and somewhere else it is ‘Sometimes.'”
The boys both love their football as well with Tim a Leeds supporter and Jim a Manchester City follower.
Being in such a popular band certainly has its perks – as Tim explains.
“Allan Leighton (the former Deputy Chairman of Leeds) was a big James fan and he appointed Peter Risdale.
“He had a private plane he used to fly up to games and I used to hitch a lift now and again. It probably sunk the club actually!”
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