A Chat with James Vincent McMorrow

James Vincent McMorrow is a singer/songwriter from Dublin, Ireland. His first (and currently only) album Early in the Morning released early last year to critical acclaim. Since then he seems to have caught the touring bug and is out on the road for most of the year. We caught up with him on the last stop of his ten-show tour with The Civil Wars.

What's the most difficult thing about being a musician for you, and what's the easiest thing?

The schedule can be quite grueling. When I say stuff like that people say 'Oh come on, you get to do what you love.' That's very very true, but that doesn't change the fact that the schedule can be ridiculous. Every now and then you look at your schedule and you see that you have thirty days of shows with maybe one day off including traveling and press and radio stuff. It's less glamorous than people think but having said that it's still great and I don't resent it or anything like that. That stuff is just part and parcel of it, but that's the only bad thing about it. Let's put it this way, if I'm home for four or five days then I'm probably dying to get out again, but once i'm out I begin to think it would be nice to be home and see people.

The best thing is playing. I love it. The thing about me is I was always a studio musician. I love the process of making music, or I thought I loved it. Even though it can be quite a frustrating thing I love seeing it come together. I never really thought about playing live until I had the record out in the world but that's all I think about now. Trying to get a song across in a way that works and trying to connect with an audience, I love it it's brilliant. Getting to play shows night after night whether it's as an opener or headlining or playing in front of three hundred people who have no idea who you are and screaming over you, it's a challenge.

I think every musician feels this way if they're honest, but I see music as a competitive sport. I'm a pretty competitive guy so I like that aspect of it. The idea of trying to get up on stage and get a crowd on board, a crowd who doesn't know you. I love that notion of singing your songs and just trying to connect with people. I think there's always opportunities with an audience, even if you feel you're not playing your best show, where you can try harder and step your game up. With music you should make an effort every night. If I ever felt like I was just going through the motions I'd give up. Trying to make a connection with people through my songs is the reason why I do it.

You were a drummer in a hardcore band before you moved into this sort of troubadour singer/songwriter style. What's the difference between that kind of music and what you're doing now?

My experiences playing the drums and being in a band are pretty limited since most of the bands I played in during school never really made it past the garage. I'm not a big talker. I chose the drums because you can be in the back and go about your business. I like that. Everybody I met and everyone I ended up playing with just talked about how amazing they were and then we would rehearse. It would just be... not even bad, just comically bad in places. I remember thinking 'If you people talk about how amazing you are and you're this bad then maybe I should do it'. That was genuinely where the initial spark came to me. I got sick of hauling drums to people's houses where they'd sit around and drink and then play for ten minutes. The singing and playing was initially a necessity because I had written songs and I wanted to play them. My experiences with each are sort of apples and oranges.

Did you feel those musicians just weren't taking music as seriously?

Perhaps. I was talking about being a musician for life when I was a kid. You know "wouldn't it be great if we did this". All that fanciful dreaming that kids do. The difference, I guess, was that I actually wanted to pursue it. Maybe they just didn't. I'm not criticizing anybody at all, to each his own. It just got to a point where if I was tying myself to other people, they were going to have to be on the same page. That's nearly impossible to predict. The Civil Wars are a perfect example of two musicians that have been existing independently for a long time and then find each other. Joy had a lot of success early on then she kind of changed her mind about where she wanted to go. John Paul's story is similar. He was trying to make music and writing for people. Then they found each other and formed this band, this sort of "genetically engineered to sing together" band. The odds of that happening are staggeringly rare. I realized the chances of that taking place in my life were pretty rare so it was either do it myself or wait for it to happen. I'm not a big waiter.

You said in your NPR interview that Donnie Hathaway was a big catalyst for you to start singing this style of music. What are some of your other influences?

My love of music came from bands like At the Drive-in, Refused and Glassjaw, heavier stuff. When I wanted to learn songs I started listening to people like Roy Orbison; everything I could get my hands on really. The people that are cliches are cliches for a reason like Neil Young, Bob Dylan and even early Elton John. Honkey Château was one of my favorite records. I always wrote songs but I never really felt compelled to sing until I heard Donnie Hathaway in particular. I remember hearing Jeff Buckley for the first time and thinking it was this other worldly thing. Then hearing soul singers like Sam Cooke and "Call Me" by Al Green, it made me want to sing. Then it was a process of sitting at home for three years learning how to sing. It wasn't like I heard Donnie Hathaway, I opened my mouth and started singing. It was a slow thing.

I was reading the Quincy Jones biography around the same time and remember him talking about Michael Jackson when he was producing Thriller. He had to get Michael Jackson in with a vocal coach because he didn't have the range to hit some of the notes in the songs. Michael Jackson had to get a vocal coach and that notion was really startling to me. I was singing but my range was pretty limited. I remember reading that and realizing you can learn new notes. It's not like what you have is what you will always have. Those kinds of things stuck with me and those were things that pushed me along. I would sit down at the piano and try add to add new notes every day or every week.

You're pretty deliberate and solitary while creating songs (James hid himself away in Ireland for several months with no outside influences to develop the songs for his first album). Are you starting to play new songs for friends and family or at shows, or are you still holding them close to the vest?

There's a couple songs I've put into the set mainly because I've just been playing them on the guitar. Though the finished product will be much more elaborate. I have musicians playing with me that I want to continue playing with for a long time. Though, I will continue to write and create the songs in relative isolation. I'll bounce ideas off myself and work through it then maybe towards the latter half bring some people on to help. Song writing is still very much something I do by myself and for myself. I can't imagine that'll ever change really. I like the feeling I had when I handed off the eleven songs that are on the record to my closest friends and family who had never heard a note.

Do you still write the music first and add in the lyrics later?

Yea, I tried changing it up a bit while I was on the road but it doesn't really click, it's not something I'm built for. I like having a melody then expand upon it as I record, then I listen back. It'll change and change and I can't really separate those two things, song writing and recording. I like linear song writing but I also like lush arrangements. i was limited in the quality of equipment I had to record, so I couldn't create as dynamic an album as I wanted for lack of a better term. I made certain decisions about the album because of that. It would be nearly impossible to write a song if I didn't have recording equipment of my own. I have my laptop with me everywhere I go.

Are there plans for a second album?

There are always plans. I think by the end of the year I'll have played something like one-hundred and fifty shows. It's unrealistic to think about making another record. You've got maybe 50 free days in the year. I need a little bit of time. I think maybe in December I'll have some free time to start working on stuff. I've got maybe three that are pretty much there. I want other musicians to come in and add something to them. That's one thing I really missed on the first record was the notion of having horns. That's why I used so much vocal harmony because I couldn't afford to bring in other musicians. Harmony is still my fascination and obsession so I'll still do that but I'd like to bring in some people to kind of add things that are beyond me as a musician.

Dublin is home to you, how would you describe the music community there?

At the moment there's a lot of really vibrant, interesting stuff being made. Even if it's beyond my world, I'm still aware of it. There's great blogs, great musicians, great visual artists. There's a guy named Miles O'Reilly who's a videographer who's capturing and incredible amount of music in Ireland right now. He made a video of the last full-band headlining show I did in Ireland and it looked incredible. He's done stuff with Lisa Hanegan and The Villagers as well. There's just a really great group of musicians that are existing there. What I like about it the most in Ireland is that everybody sounds really different. In my travels the people I come across like Lisa, The Villagers and a band called Bell X1. Each of those sound really different from each other. They're all out there doing stuff and they're all Irish. I see their names on posters then hear them come up on radio shows. I think that's something to be really proud of.