With a second solo album on the way next year, rock band frontman and singer/songwriter, Charlie Simpson is about to embark on a nationwide tour supporting Deaf Havana throughout October…
Ahead of the gig at Southampton Guildhall, Charlie sat down and had a little chat with us.
Hey Charlie, how’s it going?
Yeah, all good man.
So, this is your first day of the tour, of all the dates which are you most looking forward to?
Well, the first one is always good kind of trial by fire. We’re going to play a couple of new tracks from the new record so that’s going to be pretty nerve-racking because we’ve never played them before. I’m really looking forward to playing Cambridge Corn Exchange because that’s the venue I used to go and see gigs at when I was about 14-years-old. It’s got a real nostalgia element, so I’m really looking forward to playing there.
Before this tour had you met Deaf Havana?
Yes, I had. Fightstar actually took Deaf Havana out a few years ago and they were really nice lads. We actually planned to do some shows together last year, after Young Pilgrim came out because they were doing that kind of acoustic tour and we thought it would be cool to do something together but it didn’t work out due to timing, as I had to go into the studio to record my new album. When they asked me to come out on the road it was a no-brainer, those guys are awesome.
On your Twitter it says you have a new album on the way, when will that be out?
It should be mastered by the end of November and the first single will probably be out in the first week of February. We’re looking at around 12th May, I spoke to my management a couple of days ago and that’s where we’re looking at, sometime early May.
Does this album follow on from the sound of Young Pilgrim?
Yeah, I did this album with a guy called Steve Osbourne, who opened my eyes a bit to recording. I’m used to recording in layers, where you record all the drums, bass and everything separately, whereas he was really keen to do everything in the same room at the same time. That was a real new take on recording for me and I think it comes out in the sound and I think the sound of the record is a bit raw-er (new word?) and you’ll hear it, especially on a couple of tracks. Especially on one track called ‘Winter Hymns’ where you get the sense that we’re just sat there playing it together.
So, yeah, production wise it’s slightly different and with the songs there’s some progression but they’ve still very much got an acoustic feel, with lots of harmonies and stuff going on.
‘Young Pilgrim’ was a very different sound to what we had heard from you in the past, where did the influence for that sound come from?
It came from my dad really. When I was growing up he used to listen to stuff like Jackson Brown and the Beatles and my brothers were listening to stuff like Jeff Buckley. Throughout my childhood I was always into the heavy music but I also loved acoustic music, and I think it was just drummed into me from a very young age because of the stuff my Dad listened to.
What was the reaction like to ‘Young Pilgrim’ and your new sound from your fans?
It was good, I was really worried because it was such a different sound to Fightstar. I remember putting a track up online called ‘Thorns’ and it was the first thing anyone had heard and I genuinely didn’t know what people would think. It was really nice though, because the reaction was really great, and I think it is a big leap in sound but a lot of people do it and a lot of people have different projects that sound different. If my solo stuff sounded the same as stuff I’d done before it would have been a bit pointless, do you know what I mean?
You took part in the Vans Warped Tour this year, is that something you’d always wanted to do as a musician?
I can’t tell you, I had the most fun this summer that I’ve probably ever had! It was just absolutely amazing. I’ve been a big fan of Warped tour for a long time, a lot of bands I listened to when I was younger broke off the Warped tour, bands like Thrice and Taking Back Sunday and Blink 182, all of those bands were doing Warped when I was at school. I knew about it for a long time and when I heard that Kevin Lyman was setting up an acoustic stage my management told me that Kevin was really interested in having me on.
This year was the second year that they’d had an acoustic stage, and there was a cool vibe because you’ve got all the rock stuff going on and then there’s this little eco-system of acoustic stuff going on around it. Now it’s expanding even more because there’s a rap stage this year and it’s getting bigger and bigger.
The people on the tour are so amazing, you spend five weeks, day in day out, hanging out with and seeing loads of different bands, there’s a real family vibe. A lot of great British bands were on this year, so I feel like it was perfect for me, because I did it the year that there were so many great people.
It was great to play for an American audience, it was the first time I’d been out there to play as a solo artist. Young Pilgrim comes out in America in a few weeks so I’m going to be going back there in the New Year.
Last year you set a Guinness World Record for playing the worlds coldest gig in Siberia, with temperatures as low as -30 degrees, where did the idea come from?
Yeah it was in a place called ‘Oymyakon’ and the coldest it got was actually -45 degrees! Basically, I do a lot of work with Jagermeister and they rang me and said they wanted to something that was a little bit different and a little bit crazy. They told me the idea, and I thought it sounded mental but I couldn’t turn it down, when else would I go to Siberia and visit the coldest place on earth?
It was tough, a lot tougher than I thought it would be. In those kinds of temperatures you wake up in the morning, step outside and your lungs hurt because when you breathe it is so cold. There’s no hot water, there’s no toilet, just a hole in the round outside, which is pretty disgusting.
It was amazing to see that there are these people living in these conditions and they all seemed so happy. It’s such a world away from what we experience.
Before you launched your solo career you spent a long time as the front man of Fightstar. The band are still together is that right?
Yes, we’re kind of on a hiatus. Those guys are doing other projects at the moment. Dan (Haigh) and Alex (Westaway) are doing another musical project which will be coming out next year called ‘Gunship’ and I see those guys all the time. I think we’re all just happy in our own little worlds at the moment.
So what made your decision to go solo?
It wasn’t really a decision to go solo, Fightstar had decided that we’d have a hiatus before I started my solo career. I had always had it in the back of my mind that I would make a solo record at some point. Fightstar came to a natural point where we hadn’t had a break for about five or six years, we would record an album then get out on the road for six months to a year, then come back and make another record. By the end of ‘Being Human’ we were just burnt out by it all, so we agreed we would take a break and I thought that would be the perfect time for me to write my own stuff.
Is there any reunion planned for Fightstar?
Yeah, I’m not sure when yet but there will definitely be a time where we pick up our guitars and start writing stuff together again.
It’s that time, I need to ask you about Busted. What ever happened to Busted, what caused the break-up?
Well, I joined Fightstar and that’s what I wanted to do.
Do you still speak to Matt or James?
Sometimes, I didn’t speak to them for a long time and now I’ve started to more, so it’s all good between us. I got to the point where I met the Fightstar boys and that was what I had always been drawn to, so it wasn’t really a question.
You were very young when Busted kicked off, it must have been a lot to take in at such a young age?
Yeah, the music industry is a funny place and it was a lot to take in at the time. It’s weird that I’m now 28-years-old and I’ve been in the music industry for over 10 years. You learn a lot and I think the industry has changed a lot since I’ve been in it. I’m in a place now where I’m really happy with what I’m doing so it’s good.