Now Things: An Interview with Liam Bailey

Words by Kieran K. Meadows, Photos by Kevin Ornelas—

One of our top artists to watch for 2014, Liam Bailey became a LargeUp favorite last year with his feature on drum-and-bass kingpin Shy FX’s lovers rock throwback “Soon Come.” The 31-year-old singer-songwriter out of the U.K. recently announced that he’s signed to Sony Music’s Flying Buddha imprint, headed up by brilliant producer Salaam Remi. With backing from the man behind classics by The Fugees, Nas, Amy Winehouse and a whole heap of others, Bailey has just finished recording his debut album for the label. Remi says Bailey has one of the best voices he’s heard in his lifetime, claiming “This album is only the beginning— he is one of the greats, as you will see.”

Bailey made his U.S. debut this past weekend in Austin, Texas, appearing at Remi’s South by Southwest showcase alongside labelmates Collie Buddz and Mack Wilds on Friday night, before hitting Saturday night’s official Okayplayer showcase with Erykah Badu and friends. Live, he donned an electric guitar and, along with his three-piece backing band, ran through a solid set of heavily blues-influenced and 70s-tinged rock n roll. A genuine soul and authenticity came through his songs the same way it had earlier in the week when LargeUp spoke to him in New York City while en route from London to Austin.

In conversation, Bailey projects a quiet confidence, very clear on what his vision is. Born to a Jamaican father and British mother, he’s aware that he’s got a bit of a few different cultures in him. And that’s what he says he wants to come out naturally on his debut album, which he says will be released in September.

Click here to begin the interview.

LargeUp: You came onto our radar on Shy FX’s “Soon Come.” Talk about how this came about and if you have more releases in the works with him. And what happened to that reggae LP project? It seems to have since disappeared.

Liam Bailey: Me and Shy are bredren. I met him when I was signed to Universal—he had remixed some of my tunes. [With “Soon Come’] I came into the studio and he had the riddim. I recognized it straight away from a compilation called Miss Ranking Thing, or something like that, so we did it in like 15 minutes. It was bless. I knew exactly what to put on there cause reggae, I approach it the same way I’d approach my mother over the dinner table. It just comes natural.

He’s working on an album called Cornerstone— I laid down some vocals for another track there, but that’s all in Shy’s hands at the minute. That’s all up in the air at the moment [but] he’s working on that still. I’ve done reggae before. I always have to do reggae or soul or blues—I’m always mixing it up—or acoustic. The last reggae release was the same year. It was a song called “When Will They Learn,” more of a soul, stripped-back, old-school reggae jam that I did in Brooklyn with Truth and Soul Records.

On the album I’ve just recorded [with Salaam Remi], there are tinges of reggae, but no reggae riddims on there. I think for artists with any [Jamaican] heritage whatsoever, or just any inclinations to absorb Caribbean culture, the best thing we can do is implement it into other forms of music the same way you do with food, you know what I mean? So that’s why I’m not afraid to be picking up the guitar and playing a blues rhythm or a soul rhythm because at the end of the day, imagine listening to Otis Redding on the beach, Hellshire Beach in Kingston, know what I mean? It still works.

It’s just natural for me to have something else come out of me than the last time. I’m very much a British man, you know—there are many different aspects of our culture. There’s Caribbean, good old Britannia, and then there’s the influence of America—all comes through me. I don’t want to limit myself and I’m glad I’ve never had to consciously do that. Or consciously force myself to mix it up.

LU: Let’s talk about your background some more. You’re the son of a British mother and a Jamaican father. By the way, have you been to Jamaica?

LB: Yeah, I’ve been to Jamaica and had the privilege of being there as an artist as well, a musician playing with the Marleys and Spragga Benz. But most of our immediate family that is Jamaican lives in Derby, in the Midlands in England. A lot of Jamaicans came and moved to the Midlands or South London. In true fashion, my granddad was a hard-working man. So when he got here, being given an opportunity to come to England, he came and he was a hard worker. And that carries on to my dad as well, cause he’s exactly the same.

LU: What Jamaican music did you listen to when you were growing up?

LB: Well, this is the joke thing. I used to think there was two types of what I understood to be reggae music [laughs]. My dad’s reggae music I didn’t like. He would be listening to it in the car. And now I know what I was listening to: very hard bashment, ’80s dancehall. It was a pirate radio station. They just play the tune, talk all the way through it, pull it back, talk all the way though it. I didn’t like it. But now and again, there’d be like a lovers rock tune that would come on and I liked that. And when I was at family barbeques or get togethers, the women would have the say-so. We’d be listening to Gregory Isaacs and John Holt and Dennis Brown. And that is the reggae that I liked. My dad was listening to… it wasn’t Eek A Mouse or anyone like that. It was too hard. Eek A Mouse has a melody for it. So my earliest enjoyment of reggae came from my mom’s side of things, with Gregory Isaacs, Aswad from South London.

LU: What about Jamaican food? Any particular favorite dishes?

LB: I love Jamaican cuisine. That’s a given. Jamaican cuisine, the way I was brought up on it, the spice wasn’t too much. The way my grandma did it, the gravy and everything was blessed. I moved to Nottingham and I’d meet people of other cultures eating Jamaican food sweating ’cause they’re pouring hot sauce on it to prove their blackness and how Jamaican they are. That was quite funny to me. At the same time, I joined in sometimes because I do love hot sauce. The best food I ever had was about four or five years ago at a beach in Jamaica—I can’t remember the name. I was there with Jazmine Sullivan. We had just played this benefit gig for Spragga Benz’s son, who had been shot by the police. The next day, we went to this beach and I had the true, fresh fish experience: straight from the sea and completely looked after. It was amazing. I find I never have any fish option when I go to Jamaican spots now cause it’s not as good. When you’ve had it that good, you can’t go back.

LU: Back to music: How did you link with Salaam Remi?

LB: He produced a track for me. I think it was through my management or the label at the time, I’m not sure. This was about 2007. He introduced Amy Winehouse to my music.

LU: So your debut album on Flying Buddha with Salaam Remi, tell us what we can expect. You’ve described it as going to have a “heavy Soul, duppy rock” sound.

LB: Well it has a reggae tinge to it through my blood and my energy. The “duppy rock” is like the ghost spirit of my heritage coming through this wave of blues and soul. As I was writing and producing some of the songs I was like, that’s the kind of vocal you’d hear on a reggae song. But I did it without implementing a reggae riddim in a rock sound, that would be silly. That’s when you start having this awkward fusion. It’s not right. Leave reggae alone, man. The soul will come through. The album, it’s like proper guitar music. It’s like warm bluesy music with a ’70s rock-ish element to it. And there’s like a couple of acoustic tracks too. There are soft blues elements and then really soulful elements.

LU: Give us some insight into how Salaam worked with you and helped you shape the album.

SR: Because Salaam’s produced a lot of music for me, this time he wanted me to do the music. So I co-produced or produced the music on this and he was just like, look, listen to yourself, follow where your instincts are. I’ve got full faith in you, full trust that you can deliver, and if you can’t decide which way to go then I’m here to bounce off of. That’s been really handy, him in that role. And he’s produced some songs on there as well. He let me really try and bring out my vision as an individual who comes from many cultures. I’m a mixed-base individual. I have the old-guard English in me and then I have the excitement and culture from the West Indies. And I’ve been kind of susceptible to many forms of Western music. It’s been nice to bring all of that out and not just be one-dimensional.

LU: Talk about your previous two EPs on Amy Winehouse’s label, Lioness: 2 AM Rough Tracks and So Down, Cold. How will your debut album differ or be similar?

LB: Both of those albums are acoustic, basically my voice and my guitar. We’ve used two songs off the second EP for this album—“So Down, Cold” and “Breaking Out”—but with a full band. “So Down, Cold” is one of the best pieces of music I’ve recorded in my life. When you hear that, you’re going to flip. I swear to God, it’s not even a joke. And this is the difference with these songs on this album. I’m telling people how dope it is, whereas before, I was never sure. And I like that feeling because I feel like I’ve covered each element of my personality on this record. And when I get bored with one track I can just put on another and I like the album again. I’m really happy with it.

LU: Talk a little more about the known influence of reggae on Amy Winehouse…

LB: She was more of a ska and rocksteady girl. As far as a reggae album though, I know she had a few different ideas of where to go. Amy, she’s a bit like me, she didn’t see any reason to just be stuck on one page. She was always looking—she had an attention span [laughs] that could be quite short. I know that she dipped into reggae quite a lot.

LU: There’s YouTube videos of you acoustic, singing while playing guitar. It seems central to your songwriting approach. Talk about your history with playing the guitar.

LB: I only started playing guitar because there’s a band from England called Oasis. When I was 14, in our popular culture, Britpop was just very consuming, and I was caught up in that, so I became an Oasis fan as well. And there’s one song in particular called “Don’t Look Back In Anger.” That made me want to play guitar because it sounded so easy. Somebody once asked me, why didn’t Jimi Hendrix inspire you to play guitar? Why didn’t the old soul records inspire you to play guitar? I know that it’s because it sounded so difficult [laughs]. So I got one and I got taught to play like three chords. And I just basically taught myself over the years by picking it up and putting it down. Eventually, in my early 20s, I was competent enough to play live with it. To be honest, I’m not a great guitarist, I’m just able to play what’s required. To write songs, I’ll play a rhythm or jam with people. I generally have got a guitar in my home.

LU: What are your other musical influences?

LB: My music taste obviously started at home, which was all the different reggae artists, and Otis Redding and the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder—all the pop, soul legends that were just standard that my mom would have bought. But as I’ve got older, I’ve loved English folk music, like Nick Drake and John Martyn. I really like Tim Buckley. And Jeff Buckley. I’m a big fan of the Black Keys. I love Prince. Obviously when I was at school, it was like Wu-Tang, B.I.G., Big Pun, stuff like that. I started liking Pusha T—you know there’s some yard in Pusha’s music. I think that’s why I like it, cause there’s yardman in there.

Joe Strummer really had a big influence on me with his view on the world. And I loved the way [The Clash] covered “Police In Thieves.” It just shows you how punk and reggae were coming from similar places. And I’m a big fan of Paul Weller. So it goes on, mate. I love good, honest music. Aretha Franklin. The Fugees. Wyclef. With melodies and good lyrics. I was even listening to Aerosmith the other day. What the? [laughs]. Don’t put down there that I’m an Aerosmith fan [laughs]. Another artist that influenced my songwriting is Sid Barrett because of how weird yet how gracefully it made sense, and how innocent his songwriting is. I’ve tried to use some of his influence on this album. In terms of artists right now, I like my label mates Hiatus Kaiyote. I really liked Fleet Foxes when they came out. And Bon Iver. I think my head’s been too far into my own art [laughs out loud]. Busta’s new tracks with Q-Tip was on constantly.

LU: Some folks have compared your vocals on “When Will They Learn” to Gregory Isaacs. What do you think about that?

LB: I don’t sound like him. Don’t get me wrong—I think that’s wicked. It’s great to be “like that guy” that people say that about. But my voice isn’t as sweet as his. Gregory. man, come on.