Jamie Woon at Audio. Photo by Anna Evans

Jamie Woon has got a new sound: he carries intimate emotions of his early sound into a whole new sublime dimension if you wish: a bigger, badder and heavier room.

You might not be familiar with him yet, but be sure that you will be this year. In the past he has supported Amy Winehouse, played in a full band with dubstep DJ and producer Reso on drums and taken stage at Sonar.

Woon is ‘one of the BBC Sound of 2011 acts’, with the anticipated album Mirrorwriting available from 4th April. You have been able to see Jamie perform at One Taste, an acoustic night that took over festival stages at Secret Garden and Glastonbury in the late 2000s.

The guitar wielding, singer/songwriter and self-taught producer Jamie’s aim is to make good songs, even if that takes a long time, effort and perseverance. He performs with a tranquillity that moves you and leaves you with that somewhat mysterious velvet feeling, especially the track ‘Night Air’. Jamie Woon is currently touring the UK and supported Ghostpoet at Audio, Brighton in February where The Badger met him after the sound check.

How was it supporting Amy Winehouse? That was cool, just one show, yeah. I did that in 2007, in New York. It was one of the writers for British Music that needed one man to open up the show. So, I think they’ve heard of me: I was quite cheap…hahaha.

What do you prefer, intimate gigs or bigger stages? I can see elements of both that I really like, you know. I feel more comfortable in intimate stages because you can get something going with the crowd, get some interaction which is really nice. And usually, I like the sound. The bigger the venue, the more challenging the sound would be. But it’s also an area to move around in.

Would you like to comment on ‘the real hybrid’: blues and bass? You know – the blues is the root of pop music and I’m quite interested in the bass at the moment. I’ve played some bass lines, programmed on the record.

Is music in your blood? Certainly, in my family: I was exposed to it at a young age. On my mum’s (Mae McKenna’s) side, she’s a singer and both her parents sang to the truce in the war and her brothers were in quite a big rock band in the 70’s. I’ve definitely been around it: encouraged to do music, since I was a kid.

How do you always manage to do things your way? I just don’t want to do anything that could be crap, you know. So I don’t put pressure on myself to do things that I feel that I don’t like. The aim is to make good songs. I have had offers in the past which would have meant a lot of money and fame, when I didn’t have enough good songs or didn’t have my sound locked down. So I have just kind of, sat my time. There’s nothing worse than to probably end up hate your records.

Categories: Music

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