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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Joe Worriker
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 16 June 2010
At just 21, Essex-born singer-songwriter Joe Worricker’s soulful vocals have already been compared to Arthur Russell, Antony Hegarty and even Amy Winehouse. Signed to Rough Trade last year, Joe is currently working on his debut album, which sees collaborations with Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside and producer Jaz Rogers. Joe is set to perform at several festivals this summer, including Glastonbury, Big Chill and Latitude, as well as performing with a full band for the first time on 22 Jun at Hoxton Hall. With an eponymous EP released this week, we caught up with Joe to find out more.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I sang my first song to the sky in my garden when I was six. From then on it was a series of embarrassing songs til I was about sixteen, and somewhere along the way they started to get good with proper lyrics that meant something to me.
Q2 What inspired your latest EP?
Each song is different. ‘We Hug In Bed’ is about my best friend who I fell in love with, and he just wanted to be friends, yet kept on hugging me in bed. ‘Wrap Me Up’ is about wanting to hide away from everyone and ‘Littleman’ is about wondering about EVERYTHING cos I find life pretty confusing.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Well all the songs excluding one from the album were written when I was extremely hungover and high on coffee. I kind of found that the more affected I was the more emotional I became and it helped me write random stuff. Sometimes it’s chords, melody, words, or an emotion first, it differs every time.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Jazz has always been in my ears through my dad and my grandpa, which has had a massive effect on me and my style. It will always be a huge part of my life. When writing the album, though, I was listening to a lot of Beatles, Kate Bush, Marvelettes, Claude Debussy, Nancy Sinatra and reading Oscar Wilde for the first time. Hopefully that has all rubbed off.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I don’t normally say anything. If I’m singing new songs to my friends I normally big them up as the best thing ever then sing it to them with loads of mistakes and apologise after.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest EP, and for the future?
The EP is a taster of what’s coming. ‘Hug’ is the most accurate preview of the future songs as they are all very colorful, uplifting and fun. I just want people to enjoy the music whether they cry, sing along, drown in emotion or dance to it. So if you’re reading this, tell all your friends and get them to buy it.
MORE>> www.myspace.com/joeworricker
