Interview with Lewis Capaldi

After being involved in BBC Radio 1’s Brit List and Sound of 2018, Lewis Capaldi has gone from singing in pubs to now touring in-front of 35,000 fans.

Originally from Glasgow, Lewis Capaldi now prepares himself for the biggest tour he has done.

Luckily, I had the chance to ask him a couple of questions.

First of all, can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you broke into the music scene?

I started playing music when I was 9 and wrote songs with my brother whilst being part of a band. Then I started gigging at the age of 12 with my brother, so he got me in all the pubs as he knew all the promoters around the area. We never told the pub my age as I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I would hide in the bathrooms, play my songs, then get kicked out.

I carried on gigging but never released any official music. I recorded music on my phone and uploaded it on SoundCloud; nothing special. It got me noticed and I met my manager when I was 17.

By the age of 20 and on my birthday, I released Bruises. That was a life changer.

Who is your musical inspiration?

My all-time inspiration was Paolo Nutini, I was a huge fan of his music because I thought he was a cool Scottish guy who produced different music to everything else.

When I was young, I loved Kings of Leon and The View who are from Scotland. I also liked Artic Monkeys and basically every music with guitar and bass in it.

You released your First EP ‘Bloom’ last year on the 20th October. How would you describe the past year between now and then?

Incredible- no other way to describe it- it’s been a very fast and hectic year, but I would never go back to change it. I haven’t toured and getting ready for the show tonight has made everyone so buzzing, and I have forgot how that feels till now. But then when you start a tour, by the end I will feel awful and would want it to stop.

Then after a tour or a couple of shows, I’ll release more music and I will do that for a bit, but then I start missing doing shows.

It’s like a constant circle, re-discovering why I love this job.

What is your overall feeling that you will be now touring in-front of over 35,000 fans compared to last year?

It’s weird because I’m still not used to people buying tickets for my shows. For so long I was just playing in pubs and that.

I said this before when I was travelling with Sam Smith and everything I have done, I have felt more like at home because I’m so used to everyone not coming and seeing my shows. But when people come to my gigs and have come to watch me play, it’s a strange feeling and I’m still not used to it yet.

What was it like working with Jessie Reyez as your first collaboration?

Incredible, it was the first single after the EP and I knew it wasn’t going to be part of another EP, just a standard single. It had to be different to everything else I have released, and I wanted it with someone I love.

Her EP was incredible. She’s dead cool and her music is really good, so I didn’t see myself being part of it.

I played a show in LA one night and then straight after I went to the studio to record. I have never heard her sing in person and it just sounded exactly like her on the radio. It was just out of this world.

Finally, what can we expect from you next, a new EP or even a debut album?

A lot of new music is coming before next year, probably a lot more than what people expect. I would say that an album is schedule for March 2019, but I couldn’t say that’s definite. You never know with albums. You could say they are coming out at this point but being realistic it could be two months late or even a year.