As the start of the summer sun melts everything around us, Devlin perches on a wall outside his management’s offices and smiles, and with good reason. 2010 began with an appearance on the BBC’s yearly hit music-maker longlist (“Sound of…”) and by March he was signed to a major label (Island).
’It’s weird,’ he says. ”Cos it’s every musicians dream (to sign). It still hasn’t really sunk in. It’s everything I’ve wanted and now I’ve got it.’
As always, the internet was there from the start. Kanye West blogged about him. 27,000 “liked” him on Facebook. His 3 videos combined received 2 million views on Youtube. But like most good stories, fame didn’t knock overnight.
Born and raised in Dagenham, Essex, James Devlin joined the grime crew, Outakers, at 15. Pirate radio, solo mixtapes and heavy radio play followed. The single, “London City”, stayed at the top of the Channel AKA (formally Channel U) for 10 weeks.
November 1st sees the release of his debut album, “Bud, Sweat & Beers”.
’I’ve been recording for the past year. I tried making this album before but I didn’t think it was strong enough so we drew a mixtape from what songs were there. We really hit the studio hard to give ourselves the most choice of music.’
Is he worried he’ll ever lose his edge? ‘A lot of musicians are different. I just want to make music that’s true to me.’ He smiles. ‘I just wanna come do my bit now.’
Photo - Katie Coleslaw
(Source: nothingbadmag.com)
