“You shouldn’t listen to a certain type of music in order to fit in, just listen to whatever makes you happy.”
Kelvin
Jones is a soulful-poppy artist, the new voice of a young generation. The
Bristol uni drop out don’t talk much about those days, as his attendance wasn’t
the best one due to his involvement in music. Jones found success when his song “
Call you Home” went viral. It find it’s way on Reddit, and Good Morning America,
since then he’s been touring in the UK and Europe, especially in Germany where
his success is undeniable.
I meet up with him in Rough Trade
East, and weirdly enough it didn't feel like an interview. It felt like I
was catching up with an old friend. Kelvin has this kindness and warmth that
makes you feel at ease within seconds. He fought to get his parent’s consent,
“it was rough”, he says with a smile. “It’s kind of an all in thing and they
wanted me to have an education as well. It was a rough few months but, once
they understood how much it meant to me, they were fully behind me and they
still are.” Jones didn’t have a musical childhood, as his parents weren’t into
music, “I don’t know where it came from,” confess the artist “my mom was into
gospel bands and my dad just listened to whatever was on the radio with a
distance ear.” Jones came across
music through a slight obsession for 'Moonwalker', the Michael Jackson movie,
which he saw more than ten times.
He picked up the guitar a few years
ago, after a John Mayer show, he persevered despite the pain, setting himself
small goals along the way. “Within the first week I wrote a song with only one
chord. I was genuinely proud of myself and I showed it to my brother, he wasn’t
impressed, but I didn’t care. I carried on.” He never stopped since. Founding
his sound in a mix between Michael Jackson, BB King, Liam Gallagher and John
Mayer. "It's a two part thing. The guitar part with BB King and Mayer.
They taught me how to express myself through the guitar not just lyrics. And
then, there's the catchy part, that’s where MJ and Liam Gallagher inspired me.”
Not only did they inspire him, but Jones is signed under Epic Records, which is
part of the Sony Music Group, which signed most of these artists. "I'm
part of the crew, in the same school really and there's nothing better than
that. I do believe there's a place for me in the Sony Label." The proud
smile on his face is well deserved, the young artist didn't even need to call
up labels and try to get in the industry. After his big hit with "Call You
Home", managers and labels came to him and all he had to do is choose. That is what happens when you have talent.
In spite of his newfound success,
Kelvin is down to earth. When asked how his relatives and friends reacted to
"all of it", he explains with a metaphor :"it's like I got this
really drastic haircut, really quickly and everybody starts noticing but
underneath it all; I'm still the same dude. I lost some friends, some
relationships change but my friends are still 80% of my crowd." According
to Jones, the most difficult relationships are the ones with other musicians,
"whenever you hang out with another friend who's a musician, you never
know if it's 'Hi you wanna hang out or work'. Those relationships can be
extremely tense and awkward sometimes." Although his success isn’t as massive
in the UK as in Germany, Kelvin explains it in an amusing way, “it’s like when
you have a fancy belt underneath a white plain shirt, and you’re walking around
thinking: ‘You guys have no idea I have this fancy belt underneath’. In Germany
I have this growing fan base and whenever I get back to the UK, I feel like I
go back to normality. It still feels surreal sometimes, but it feels good to be
back to being myself.”
The Vietnam War and political issues
in the US have inspired Bob Dylan for his songs, however as Jones said, “I’m
not Bob Dylan”. His songs may be considered as bubble-gum pop when it comes to
the lyrics, but there are all based on his experiences, “I’ve only written one
song that wasn’t from my experience. At the beginning I thought that maybe I
should do something different, but the only thing that is massively important
to me, as a 19 years old, is love.” However, the young artist does not take in
consideration anything else but his feelings when writing a song, as he deems
it manipulative to write a song to please others, “I write whatever is going in
my head and it is a great coincidence some people feel the same way.”
Kelvin went on tour with Izzi Bizu,
which is the follow up to a 24 University dates tour, a one date with James Bay
and Seafreat as well as a vast European tour with Mark Foster. Jones describes
his experience as support artist with a gigantic smile “It is so much fun to
win people over, and they are so welcoming as well. They all are so ready to
accept whatever you have to offer. It is incredible!” However, he still knows
there’s a long route to go, talking about a festival he was at a couple of
years ago, meeting Ed Sheeran, James Bay and performing on the same stage, you
can sense that he is swamped with this unexpected success, “you always feel
like there is a wall and you never assume you could be on the other side. I
don’t consider myself to be there yet but I don’t think there’s a moment where
you just sit and think yes I have done it. There’s always something to look
forward to as an artist.” The
dream he is pursuing is the ‘CrossRoads Guitar’ festival. Founded by Eric
Clapton in 1999 the festival is set every three years and Clapton chooses the
artists himself. Jones sees it as a ‘maybe dream’, the kind of dreams you wish
for silently.
To spice the tone of the interview a
bit, I asked him if he ever had a near death experience or a situation where he
thought he would not make it alive, he came up with a pretty interesting story
about this tiny plane travelling through so much turbulences it felt like a
rollercoaster, “the worst was all I could think about was that I did not finish
this song and this is the last song every one is going to hear from me.”
Before leaving Kelvin gave me some
words of advice, “you shouldn’t listen to a certain type of music in order to
fit in, just listen to whatever makes you happy.” On this wise words you can
catch Kelvin’s album on the 25th of
March through Epic Records , in a few festivals this year, and most likely a
headline tour at the end of the year. “2016 is the year to see me” he jokingly
finishes the interview.
Listen to Call You Home, Closer
