Rag ‘N’ Bone Man to share new songs at Inverness gig
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It’s not that hard to imagine. All 6ft 6ins of Rory Graham, the man they call Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, in the seconds looking out from the Northern Meeting Park stage, as he breathes in, and watches another audience listening for that voice taking off.
Five days earlier he is sitting relaxed at home in Sussex talking to the press in bite-size pieces and explaining something he has talked about before, how a whole gig can almost disappear in the moment.
“Sometimes on the day there is a madness about a show – a frenzy. The 10 minutes before it, it’s so hectic that by the time you manage to come down to a certain level, it’s finished. And I come off, like ‘I don’t remember what happened there!’”
But it makes sense hearing the singer describe that sense of being lost in the intensity of the moment.
It’s something that can also happen to anyone hearing him tap into the emotion that is built into so many of his songs. First single Human, was the one that for many people was the first time they heard Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s huge voice.
And in Anywhere Away From Here, the single from second album Life By Misadventure, where he duets with Pink, the pain of a whole lost relationship is played out in the space of that song.
“As soon as I’ve finished working on an album, I usually know that I want to do something with someone – I hear someone’s voice and – that’s how the Pink thing came about.
“You get that voice in your head and I was like ‘Well if Pink can’t do it, we won’t do it!’,” he laughs.
Luckily, Pink could do it and the interplay of their voices just adds to the depth, pain and drama.
Rory is already thinking about who he might work with on his new album…
“There has been talk about some collaborative stuff on this record, but we’re not quite there yet…” he reveals.
When he talks about his next album, you can hear in his voice how excited he is.
“I’ve been working for the last year-and-a-half on it and I’m coming to the end – I’m going to try and write a few more songs – but I’m at a stage where I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. So you can expect to hear some new music very soon.”
For Inverness, it’s Sunday’s gig.
The singer says: “I’m always cautious about playing new music out, but I’ve actually put two new songs in the set. I think it’s good for the album to see the reaction and how people take the new songs in. So I’ll play a couple!”
One of the two new songs in the set is called Chokehold.
“I’ll write different stuff and get to the point where I go ‘This is the song that is going to start it’ and that sets the feeling for the rest of it.
“I feel like the live audience would get it as well and that is always at the forefront of my mind – will it translate live?”
The last album opened with the sound of birdsong and an intimate sound in the studio near Nashville. “The way I do things is I really want it to be a new chapter,” he said.
Rory’s songs can seem to show no fear in expressing difficult feelings – Time Will Only Tell and Talking To Myself talk about fear, loneliness, vulnerability – “just teetering on self-destruct”.
“In my 30s I’ve started to realise things about myself and my friends and getting to this age and growing up in the era that we did, it was that whole ‘Don’t talk about your feelings!’ where everything is seen as a weakness.
“But I think people are starting to realise that it’s alright to talk about stuff like that, then you face a lot less heartbreak.”
The fame that comes with the singer’s profile has reportedly been a struggle in the past, from someone who might prefer a pint with a pal over an after-party. But he “doesn’t want to moan”, he once said, “it’s so amazing!”.
“I’ve got a family and I feel like I’m much less rock n roll these days!” he laughs. “Going out after a show is a nice idea but it’s also quite daunting because generally it’s going to be somewhere near, with folk who’ve been watching the show and I have to prepare myself to take 300 selfies! So more often than not it’s just a quiet pint or a cup of tea!”
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