Page 36 - NLP244603 "NE Volume" Magazine (56pp 240 x 170 self cover)

JAMES LEONARD HEWITSON
NEXT NE GIG
Saturday 20th August
VENUE
The Link, Stockton
Lee Allcock caught up with Hartlepool’s James Leonard Hewitson as he prepares to play The Link in Stockton.
You're one of the first artists to be playing on the stage at The Link in Stockton. How does that feel?
It feels good. It's obviously amazing to see the return of The Globe to the North East, but it is also great that the venue recognises the importance of giving a leg up to artists who want to be involved with it but can't pack out that massive room (yet?). The Link is there for the smaller, more intimate performances, so I'm happy to be on the bill. I love all the history surrounding the place, namely The Beatles
gig, but it's also amazing that people like Nick Cave and Fontaines D.C. are turning up to play now as well. I hope to play on the theatre stage sometime, but doing this
will be just as fun.
How are you preparing for the gig?
And do you have anything special/
different planned?
I'm just doing my thing really, only the venueproposed2x45-minutesetsfrom
me and I've agreed. Therefore, I'll have to
prepare a lot more material than usual. It's
a bit of a challenge but I'm looking forward to
playing lots of songs and fleshing out the more jam-based passages with the band. It's fantastic when a booker gives you a chance to play for a long time: I sometimes feel that gig sets are a bit short and you don't always experience everything good that the artist has to offer. Also, for artists who are not established, one of the goals is to design entertaining sets that last 90-minutes or so, so I'm grateful that The Link have given me the opportunity.
What can gig-goers expect?
It’ll be just me, playing songs on my guitar. I'm doing a mix of solo and band for this one as I've got all of my music that's online to play, as well as some fresh material that I haven't recorded yet. If someone is reading this who hasn't
seen me before, I play a mix of indie music that goes from soft to loud, slacker-rock to post-punk, new-wave to folk. I'm joined by my band. They are Daniel D'Arcy (guitar), Michael Kitching (drums) and Will Rayment (bass). You may have seen them before in bands like Lost State of Dance, Onlooker and Future Horizons on the local scene. They help me recreate my recordings live with a whole load of panache and finesse, but we deviate from the recordings a little bit too since there's just the four of us, and my recording technique is not particularly minimalist - it's a really unique interpretation of all the music and it's
amazing to play live with them. I also look forward to doing a few solo ones where it's just me, the chords and the melody: it's just really raw and intimate - I can't wait for the contrast
of the two styles in one show.
Your latest release, 'Ever Since We Met', harks back to that traditional off- kilter indie style that you've become known for. What made you return to
your roots?
In all honesty, it’s an old song that should've been recorded a while ago but I chose others instead of it. Lately, I've been writing a few more tunes that are lyrically themed around love, and it felt a bit more coherent with this newer batch of material, so I decided to get it down as, even though it is sonically different to my newer stuff, I feel like it fits in a lot better. I also wanted to bash out a scratchy guitar solo in one take as well, and my newer stuff doesn't
necessarily permit that, but this song does.
And finally, do you have any new releases in the pipeline?
I hopefully have a new single out in September ahead of a tour I'm doing, but I'm currently preoccupied with making more recordings as I've got my heart set on album #2.
James Leonard Hewitson heads to The Link in Stockton on Saturday 20th August for what is a free-entry gig.
“I love all the history surrounding the place”
36 \\ NE VOLUME MAGAZINE \\ IFNETAETRUVRIEW