CMI - It's Ray Rooney here from Country Music Ireland, and we're here with Shawn James.  Shawn is playing the Academy on the 12th of February Dublin is returning to Dublin, and we're just going to ask you a few questions. How are you getting on today, Shawn?

 

SJ - Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me on.  I appreciate it. We're excited to be heading back to Ireland soon. You know, on the Dublin show, we also have Cork at Cypress Avenue and Limerick at Dolan's, just in case.

 

CMI - I forgot, yeah, but that's right!  You guys have like a wide range of kind of songs and sounds. You know, it's kind of hard to define you a lot of times, but in terms of a song, for somebody that hasn't heard of you before, what kind of song do you think captures you guys the best?

 

SJ - Yeah, you know, like you said, it is kind of a difficult question at times to kind of put it that way, because we span from folk to soul to blues to rock to everything in between. We kind of fuse everything, but you know, I would say I'd give a couple answers there.  My most well-known song is a song called Through the Valley, which is kind of a darker folk ballad. It doesn't cover the grounds of like the more rock stuff, but that one has that dark edged storytelling and soul that I'm known for. And then, you know, the other one that I would suggest people listen to if they're not familiar is a new single that's actually coming out this Friday, January 16th. It's called Icarus, and I feel like that song blends that darker folk with the more rock and roll thing we do perfectly. So, if you listen to that new song, Icarus, I feel like you will get a good sense of what to expect and what we're about. Icarus and Through the Valley.

 

CMI – Perfect.  Yeah, I thought Through the Valley might make a mention. I think it's 12 million on YouTube views so far!

 

SJ - Yeah, I never thought in a million years that song would reach the way it's done. You know, I think being affiliated with the video game The Last of Us and the show The Last of Us really helped push it, and it's just a wild thing to think about a song like that being my most popular one.

 

CMI - It's fantastic, well, the next question I was going to ask was, who were some of the bands and singers that made you want to start to get into a band and get involved with music? I know in the past you've mentioned like Blaze Foley and stuff like that, and some of the blues artists as well. But like, was there any kind of one you listened to and thought like, that's what I want to do?

 

SJ - You know, there wasn't any one in particular.  There's a bunch of influences, to be honest. I grew up in a gospel church in Chicago, and then on the other side, flip side of that, when I went to school, I was in choir, and the choir director put me in opera. So, I have this weird dynamic of stuff I used to listen to. So, from vocal ability, Pavarotti was a powerhouse with what he was able to do. But then when I got to high school, I got way more into blues, like Sun House, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf. And, you know, aside from that, a lot of soul singers like Bill Withers, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke& Otis Redding.  Like, I love the power in the soul they were able to inject and make you feel from their voice.  They were like bleeding and draining through the wall. So, that was a huge, huge influence on me.  And then, you know, some other songwriters like Ray LaMontagne was a pretty big influence on me growing up. I just loved his storytelling and his, yeah, emotiveness, I guess, in the songs.  And then I also got into metal when I was in high school as well.  I'm all over the place. I'm all over the place, man.

 

CMI - That's a good way to be.  Anybody in the metal end that you listen to or you still listen to today?

 

SJ - Oh, yeah. I mean, these days, well, in the beginning, it was more like a band called At the Gates, kind of a death metal band that I got into. And these days, it's like Gojira, you know, the French band.  They were played at the Olympics, which was insane. They did a live performance at the Olympics. Yeah, those two are pretty big influences.  Other than that, I'm going to be digging through a huge list. So, I don't want to go too far into!

 

CMI - I guess you kind of mentioned it in the first question, but something I was going to ask was there any moment that kind of  credited you to kind of where you are now? You know, whether it was like a radio show playing your song, you mentioned The Last of Us, and, you know, was there anything like that that has kind of got you touring across the world, selling out shows, being so well-reviewed, that kind of stuff?

 

SJ - Yeah, so, I mean, in the beginning, see, I've been touring since 2012, and The Last of Us thing didn't happen until 2017.  So, the first five years, I'll attribute it to, yes, The Last of Us absolutely helped, but I think without laying the foundation and the groundwork that I did in those first five years, you know, we were touring in Europe in 2014. Before we had any notoriety, we had a couple like viral videos. There's one of me singing at a sanctuary that went viral, and then there's another song of me covering Who Did That to You by John Legend, which was in Django Unchained, the movie.  So, there's these moments that I've had in the past, and then I couple that with, like, the intense touring and just making it happen. You know, in the beginning, there'd be 20 people on shows, but we would still do it. I would still keep going because I believed in it. And then the beautiful moment happened in 2017, where my song Through the Valley got featured in a video game trailer for The Last of Us 2. And I kid you not, overnight, that song, it was like the least popular song, truly. And then overnight, it became the most popular song.  Got a million streams overnight because of this trailer release. And ever since then, it's just been this perpetual growth thing because it's been featured not only in the trailer, it was in The Last of Us 2 game. She's listening to it in one of the cut scenes. And then it was also recently in the second season of the HBO series, The Last of Us.  So, it is a song that keeps on giving.

 

CMI - Yeah, yeah. Thankful for The Last of Us.

 

SJ - 100%. And the beautiful thing was, you know, let's say one of our biggest shows back in the day would have been 100 people. After The Last of Us came out, that doubled or tripled.  So, I would say that was a huge moment that gave us notoriety and put our name on the map in terms of reach and reaching a lot more people than we would be able to on our own.

 

CMI - Yeah, well, you know, you put in the foundations, like you say, with the touring and doing the gigs for the first couple of years. So, you know, it's kind of a bit of everything, right?

 

SJ - That's right.  That's exactly right.  But I don't want to... A lot of people discredit the luck aspect, and I think it is as much hard work and consistency as it is the luck as well. I think, yeah, I think, you know, you might get away with one or two of those things, but if you get all three, you know, that's brilliant. But yeah, sometimes one or two, a bit of luck or hard work can help, you know?

 

CMI - Well, then I was going to ask, would be any advice that you'd give to people starting out as a musician or anything, you know, looking back, you think you'd do differently when you started touring and making music?

 

SJ - Yeah, that's a great question and I get asked it all the time. You know, when I was asked it in the beginning, my answers were different than they are now after having a good, you know, oh, man, thinking about it almost 15 years now doing this. You know, in the beginning, I would say my biggest piece of advice is to not be afraid to fail and look like an idiot at first, because you have to go through that awkward phase to get to the point where you can be smooth and collected and able to execute in a much more easier way and put together.  I remember when I first started, I would just my stage banter wasn't great. I didn't know how to talk well. I was nervous.  I would mess up songs on stage and I would get so embarrassed. And you know, I think now looking back, those experiences are exactly what made me able to be what I am now, because without that, I wouldn't have learned. So I learned through a lot of failure and a lot of mistakes, but I kept going.  So if you really want to do this and this is like what you're after, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to look like an idiot and keep going. You will get better over time.

 

CMI - My next question would be, is there any songs or bands you have on repeat at the moment? Anything you've got lined up for the tour? Anybody you're listening to or about to listen to in the next few weeks?

 

SJ - Yeah, you know, there's a few bands. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of like what's happening and what's newer artists and all this. And there was one band and the beautiful thing about that is the end of the year lists that people make.  They're like most listened to albums and I'll comb through that and get a lot of good artists. But one of them that's standing out right now is this band called Wisp, W-I-S-P. It's this female songwriter who kind of she is with the band and they kind of do shoegaze kind of rock, shoegaze rock, but really simple, but very beautiful atmospheric stuff.  So I've been into that right now. And then another one, you know, last year that had a huge year, Lola Young from the UK. I've been really liking a lot of her stuff.  Her attitude is reminiscent of Amy Winehouse, but in a different way. So I really enjoy what she's doing. Let's see who else? Man, I almost need to go look at my playlist. 

 

CMI - I know, I know. I'm the same as when they ask you a song title or an album and you freeze like you forget.

 

SJ - Yeah, but those two have been standing out to me for sure.  Yola Young & Wisp.  Wisp is very atmospheric, very moody, but very delicate while also being strong.  There's this let me see. There's this one song in particular that I have been addicted to because  there's a guitar part in it that is just it's so cool. It's called Guide Light.  So if you're going to check out Wisp, check out the song Guide Light. That one is something

 

CMI - The final question. So have you guys got any good memories of your various tours in Ireland? And is there or is there anything you want to do or have on your to do list for when you're here in February?

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SJ - Yeah, I mean, honestly, I remember when we first started touring and over the years, Ireland and the Irish shows in Dublin in particular has been some of the most emotional, intense, active audiences we have, meaning like they are singing back the words to you.  They are actively giving you energy. And it's like this give and take, you know, this kind of circle thing that happens. And when that happens, it just makes us perform so much more and do more because we can tell everyone's into it.  So the number one thing that stands out is just how special the shows in Dublin and the people and how passionate they are about music. It's huge. Some of my favorite memories in Ireland are, you know, after the show, going out for some pints, Guinness with the boys, old pubs.  And then you go into some pubs. It was I can't remember the name of it. But there was a couple times after shows we went out and there would be a session going on and they would do a lock in.  And man, those were some of those first experiences of seeing that and what that actually is.  You hear about it, right? In movies and then stories. But until you experience it at the right place, it's really special and it's very unique to Ireland, I think, in the atmosphere that you guys have with it.  So those were some of my favorite memories. And I hope that we can maybe catch one or two while we're there. That's always a goal of mine. But, you know, the beauty of it is you don't always find it. And I think that's a beautiful thing. Or if you do find it easily, they might be kind of touristy, you know, but the special ones that are like a hole in the wall, that have that beautiful energy.  I like that it's kind of not always, you're not always going to get it. And so it makes it even more special. So that's what I'm looking forward to. Hopefully finding some of them, a few pints of Guinness. Yeah, that's and, you know, on tour, it can be a little difficult sometimes to find time to see the sites or to have a spare time to explore.  So any kind of, you know, walking through nature, seeing some beautiful landscapes is a goal that we always have. It's up in the air. But yeah, that would be my answer.

 

CMI - Well, look, thanks again for your time. I do really appreciate it. And as I mentioned, Shawn will be playing the Dublin Academy on February 12th.  He'll also be in Limerick City in Dolan's Warehouse, February 13th. And he finishes up in Cork on February 14th in Cypress Avenue. Sean, thanks again for everything.

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SJ - I really appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you for having me on here. And I hope to see you at the gig.  And hopefully some of your listeners make it out as well.