How long have you been living in London?
Almost three years, I moved straight from university to do an internship year in Parliament. I went thinking that I was going to put music to bed. I thought music was finished and I was going to start living a grown-up life; settle down, get married, have kids. Stuff like that. But I met lots of music producers who became my best friends, so I ended up hanging around with musicians all the time. I just love their vision about what they wanted to achieve. It was all in-house with this community feel and I got drawn into it.
How did you feel when you left your job in Parliament to pursue a career in music?
I’d already very nearly left, but this time it felt right, there was a buzz behind everything and I knew I could do it.
Did you ever think that you couldn’t do it?
All through summer I’d been talking to labels about getting signed and they were all in my pants. Then I did a show supporting Saint Raymond and my managers were telling me that this was the pinnacle of everything. I did the show and I forgot a lyric from one of the songs. It was one of the most horrible moments of my life, I’m not going to lie. Of all the moments, that’s the one I wish I could take back. My managers were blaming me, saying nobody would want to sign me. Basically after that we were going into meetings now and they were just like, “Keep doing what you’re doing, come back in six months and we’ll see how it’s going.”
Did your work in politics influence your music?
My job was communicating in the written word, so I could be at the side of my MP and making sure that everything was good for her. Everyday I was writing work that was going to be on record in the Hansard. There are records of Hansards for the past 500 years so in the next 500 years my work was still going to be there. It really emphasised to me the importance of writing and song writing. I don’t write about political issues because sometimes it can sound a bit preachy and I haven’t figured out how to do it yet. I don’t want it to be all Where Is The Love? Black Eyed Peas kinda thing.
We know you write love songs, but do you think you’d class yourself as a romantic?
100% and it’s a flaw in my human body. It gets me heartbroken, it gets me into trouble, it’s not good.
It’s interesting that you see it as a flaw, I thought you’d probably see it as a strength?
I think you have to be a romantic to be a songwriter to some degree. You have to be a little bit gushy, even for the guys who’re lads-lads. I want to be like one of those cold-hearted players, the ones who just don’t care about anybody, but I’m not one of those people.
Do you think that romance has gone out of fashion in song-writing?
I think that love is at the centre of all song-writing, It’s just a thing that humans search for, something that we crave after in some form; it’s this illusive thing. A lot of my songs are written about love, they’re written about girls and they illustrate that love is a big deal. I don’t believe that it’s physical. For me it’s spiritual. I really don’t think that it comes and goes, I believe that it’s a spiritual force. We’re getting quite deep…
Tell me about your inspiration for your single Every Vessel, Every Vein?
I’m going to let you into a secret here, there’s a line in a Lupe Fiasco song where he’s talking about the game, money and street credibility, and he says, “every vein, every vessel, every bullet lodged” and ever since I heard that I loved it for its desperation.
You released your EP Every Vessel in May, how do you feel you’ve improved?
I feel like we’ve got a lot of elements on this record, that as a music fan I’ve always wanted to do. It’s about putting things that we really appreciate from other people’s records. In terms of the sound it’s a lot more mature, in terms of the song writing it’s a lot more rounded and has come on a lot with the lyrics, my voice and concepts.
Which song should we look out for on the EP?
My favourite song on it is Dawns - I just want everybody to hear that, it’s a great song and I hope it does great things because I’m so proud of it.
Joel Baker will be headlining the 2014 Nottingham Rocks on Saturday 6 September at the Theatre Royal. Every Vessel EP is out now.
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