Looking out over the gorgeous harbour on a perfect Sydney day, UK singer James Blunt can’t help but confess his love for Australia.
“I love it here. I think it’s the most amazing place,” he says. “You can tell anyone who lives here is a lucky person.”
The singer, who calls the sun-kissed island of Ibiza home, stopped off in Australia recently on a whirlwind promotional tour for his new album Some Kind of Trouble.
The 36-year-old, who says he was never trying to be a famous musician, but “was just trying to make albums that he loved” will be back on Aussie shores in May 2011 as part of his third world tour.
Known for his hits ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Goodbye My Lover’, Blunt says his new album was put together differently to the first two chart-topping albums.
“Previously I have written the album first and then gone in and recorded it, which is easy to do if you just have an acoustic guitar and you go in and record it. Both of my first albums have been more melancholic,” he says.
This album however, saw Blunt work more spontaneously with the producer to come up with most of the songs.
“We didn’t realise we were making an album. At the time I just met him, it was supposed to be for a beer, he was playing his piano and I walked in and picked up an electric guitar and wrote a song called ‘Dangerous’,” Blunt says.
“It was really upbeat and energetic. I loved it and I said, ‘You know what, if I can I am going to come back tomorrow and record this demo.’ And I did and it sounded great and I said, ‘What if I come in a third day and record another?’ And I did and days turned into weeks which turned into months and we made more demos and we produced those tracks and got the finished product.”
A final product which Blunt is really proud of.
“I love it, that’s why I am putting it out. I am really excited about it and I had a lot of fun making it and now is that really exciting time where you see whether other people like it too,” he says.
Fortunately for Blunt it seems he will have similar success with his third album as he did with his first two. Stay the Night has jumped up the ARIA singles chart from spot 42 to 14 in a week, while his album Some Kind of Trouble is at the number eight spot on the ARIA album chart.
So why does he like this album so much?
“I have different highlights. I love ‘Turn Me On’, which is the final track on the album. The record label didn’t want it on the album. They battled that but it’s my album,” he says.
“I think they thought it wasn’t in the same theme as the music I have done before, but I wrote it and recorded it in seven hours and its really spontaneous and gritty and it sounds great.”
Tour details:
James Blunt’s May 2011 tour will visit the following national venues.
Brisbane Convention Centre, Saturday, May 14. For tickets, visit www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849.
State Theatre Sydney, Monday, May 16. For tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.com.au or call 136 100.
Royal Theatre Canberra, Wednesday, May 18. For tickets, visit www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849.
Thebarton Theatre Adelaide, Friday, May 20. For tickets, visit www.venuetix.com.au or call (08) 8225 8888.
Plenary Hall, Melbourne, Saturday, May 21. For tickets, visit www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849.
Riverside Theatre, Perth, Monday, May 23. For tickets, visit www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849.
Presale tickets are available for Frontier Members through www.frontiertouring.com on Tuesday, November, 30 from 3pm AEDT until Wednesday, December 1 at 3pm AEDT (or until pre-sale allocation is exhausted).
General public on sale from 9am local time, Friday, December 3, through the following outlets. All shows are all ages.
Watch: James Blunt’s new single Stay the Night
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