Artist Spotlight: Piers James

Shot by @calmcintyrestudio

Piers James is seamlessly cool. Lounging in his garden on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, he greets our zoom call with a swig of Desperados and the air of a good days work, explaining that he has been busy in the studio, helping an artist put the final touches to a new release. Piers’ diverse talent is impressive, as confident in his production as he is on the mic, and he seems like a man who relishes every challenge; who sees each problem he encounters simply as part of life’s indelicacy. 

The globetrotting rapper has just released his eclectic new EP, A Dying Breed, Pt II’, that looks certain to cement himself as one of alternative raps frontrunners. The Ipswich born London based artist shows equal adeptness in each area of his craft. His production spans genre like few others, drawing on elements of hip hop, indie, jazz, R&B, reggae and more, whilst lyrically Piers is focused, lively and poignant, using a variety of themes to characterise himself culturally and emotionally as well as touching on deeper, complex motifs like government oppression and racism. 

I sat down with Piers to discuss the new EP, the concept of genre in modern music, his influences and inspiration, and the psyche of being an artist.  

Yes bro what’s good! How has the last year been for you mentally and musically? 

That’s a roller coaster of emotions right there! You know what, it’s been good. I think when 2020 hit - lockdown, black lives matter etc, it definitely put me in an introspective place. Live shows have been such a good thing for me and something that I’ve always really enjoyed, so to have that taken away, as well as not being able to go out the house and live the life you write about and be inspired by; losing that was annoying. It also made me press the pause button and realise that, yes you can have a goal, you can do music but ultimately you have to take some time. You can’t just be focused every single day, banging out music and not giving yourself some self care time. Then obviously this year, bringing forth some ideas and strategising and honing my craft in the sense of bringing it to a new level was important. Mainly I’m just happy to be here!

Yeah, there is positives and negatives really. Did you struggle for inspiration at the beginning?

For me, before lockdown started… I was in lockdown! I was working from Greenwich in a nice space and was always producing and having people come to the yard. I’d go out here and there for a drink or a vibe but more time I was just making music and producing. So when lockdown happened initially, I thought it was sweet, but as it went on I woke up and wondered what to be inspired about. It became very samey. 

How did you get out of that frame of mind then? 

Regardless of being stagnant in some way, I always find that I try to push and find how I’m feeling introspectively, to then write something after that. For example, the government and their stance on supporting artists and musicians, saying that you need to pay to go out to the EU, all the Brexit stuff, it really got my angst up. So I made a tune called ‘Dreams of a Dreamer’ which is on the EP. It just basically entails being stuck inside the walls and the only way to get out of it is to dream and keep pushing yourself and doing what you know best to be the best. If you fall short, so be it but at least you are trying. 

So, you used that stagnancy as the inspiration in a sense?

Yeah, that frustration. Turning the pain of being stuck inside your walls as a means to make stuff, but also trying not to do too much. Not saying ‘okay I’m stuck indoors I need to make something everyday’. I might make a couple of tunes every 2/3 weeks. That way I was giving myself to really feel how I was feeling. Because I’m a producer and an artist, however I’m feeling comes out in the beat and whatever lyrics are on the song are based on the mood I was feeling. If it’s a darker beat there may be more emotion, whereas if it’s a sunny beat, I might make it about sunshine or being out with my boys, fun times, memories. 

What are you listening to at the moment? What’s inspiring you musically?

I go back and forth. I go from old skool, to new skool. I listen to a lot of UK like Pa Salieu, Backroad Gee - I really like how they’re coming through right now. Really saucy. I’ve also been listening to a lot of indie stuff recently, like Remi Wolf. I have a really eclectic taste. Also just vibes from people around me, people sharing music with me. If one of my friends has made a killer track, I need to go make a killer track. Healthy competition. 

I know you’ve had a multicultural, diverse upbringing. How has it affected your musical approach?

When I was younger, my parents used to play reggae in the house so that was my first entity of music. I went through places like the barber shop with the culture of black music, but I’d also be listening to people like The Black Eyed Peas, The Streets, Channel AK. Then as I went to uni, I met a lot more eclectic people who listened to indie or rock, people from Germany, Portugal, Ireland. That is where I really found a new path of different things. Having all those pockets of people saying ‘have you heard this, have you heard this’ kinda just fed to my taste. You hear the music I grew up on in my music, the Kayne’s, the Tribal Quest etc, but you won’t just hear that from me, you’ll hear other influences. 

You can definitely hear that in your tunes as well. The way you use genre, for me, is one of the most interesting things about you as an artist. Now, this is probably quite a difficult question, but what genre would you consider yourself?

You can’t box me that’s the thing! I just call it new wave nostalgia. It’s got old skool feel with new skool vibes. At the same time there is essences of everything; R&B, hip hop, UK rap, neo-soul, jazz, reggae. You listen to ‘Pondem’ that has reggae, poppy vibes then you listen to ‘Best Out Here’ which has an indie feel, or ‘Mass Appeal’ which has a UK rap appeal. 

Leading on from that then - the concept of genre in modern music - do you think it is still something that’s relevant or do you see it as outdated?

I think that it’s up to the artist and what they want to do. I think that fans feel like they need to make the same songs over and over again because that’s why we liked them to begin with. But as we grow as artists, we change, we evolve, so I think that the artist should be allowed to do whatever they want to do in some respect, whilst knowing what their core identity is. You need to still know that it is the artist you listen to. Sometimes if an artist doesn’t know their identity, the fans get confused about who they are. For me, if you hear my voice on a song, you are going to hear the Piers James voice regardless of the vibe, whereas if I’m just jumping from track to track without an identity, it can be confusing. Fans should let artists evolve, but as artists you should try and keep your integrity whilst you grow. 

For you then it’s about maintaining identity and individualism rather than sticking to generic boundaries?

Yeah exactly. If that is your comfort zone and makes you popular then do that. But for me a couple years down the line - let’s say I’m a drill artist with millions of streams - I’m not going to keep making drill just for the sake of it, I’d want to change to something that I was passionate about.

Yeah, especially a genre such as drill, fans tend to be fickle. I remember when Headie One released the ‘GANG’ mixtape with Fred Again, and all of his fans hated on it. 

Yeah, of course. You might not like it and it’s different for you but you have to grow with the artist. I guess it’s the life of artistry, as long as you’re doing it for the right reasons and not just trying to please the masses. 

Definitely. We’ve touched on indie a little bit but I wanted to go into ‘Best Out Here’. Straight up indie rager. What’s your relationship with indie music - obviously it’s become this idea of 4 white lads with guitars - how do you see it within the general scope of popular music?

I guess if you look at it, 80/90/95/98% [Laughs] I don’t know the fucking stats ennit, but indie you think white, male band, touring all over the world, you think The Kooks etc. But it isn’t mutually exclusive to white people, nor is it to black people or anybody else. I grew up on Blink 182 etc, I saw the crossover with JayZ and Linkin Park so from young I knew that there is synergy there and no one can tell you what you can and can’t do. I just like doing music, and if anything touches my soul then that’s the way to go. 

Yeah, rate the open mindedness. I think sometimes people are too rigid in what they listen to and make. 

Yeah, you have to taste other stuff. Say you only listen to drill and you never go carnival, you gotta experience to culture of carnival and understand it. 

In terms of being a rapper, there’s the idea of having to have a boisterous, braggadocious persona. Do you think that is something that’s needed? How far do you consider yourself in that respect? Do you think you have to put on a front to be a rapper? 

You don’t have to put on a front. I think rap culture has always been about confidence - know when you’ve got it. Skipping with the flow; confidence, arrogance, swag - that is rap. But Odd Future, Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, they just rap how they rap. When you look back and listen to Tupac or Biggie, they were just talking about their life experience most of the time, In the UK it’s very much ‘I’m the best’, this is how much money I’ve got and flexing, and I know half of them aren’t living that life s I can’t fully respect it. If someone is honest about how they are feeling I respect it more because you have to mentally probe and try to be the best you can be. 

Interesting. Are you an instrumentalist? 

I do play the piano a bit yeah. I think that’s where a lot of it comes from as well, I love instruments and always grew up in jazz settings where I had live bass, keys, saxophone. So when it comes to making tunes I try to incorporate as much musicality as possible whilst keeping it hip hop/grimey in the drum side of things. When you see the live shows, there is a mix of the tech side and the live instrumentation on top, it just sounds something else man, it’s gonna fly. I don’t need it to just be a DJ with me on the mic cos everyone does that. I’m going to show some life in the track and you’ll see how it’s supposed to sound. 

In terms of going about the writing and structuring of a track then, do you have a certain writing process or does it differ with the song? 

Depends with the song. If I’m producing it I’ll try get a nice loop first. I know when I’ve made a nice song when I can loop the first 8 bars over and over again, like a Dilla loop. After that, I can build it out into the structure. I genuinely believe every tune has written itself, you just have to figure out the words that are written for that song. I think practise makes perfect because if I like a vibe I’ll get it done in a day or two. 

Is that mixed and mastered as well? 

I tend to mix as I go along. Luckily enough I had a guy back in Colchester who taught me how to mix and master properly. As I’ve been going through and trying to build myself in music, I’ve learnt how to give the beat space, the vocal enough room etc. It’s exciting to learn as you go along, and even still you go back to your master and think these are the bits I want to tweak because you don’t want your ear on it all the time. But I know if I sent you a draft of what I’ve done today and you’d be like rah that sounds clean, as apposed to the drums are too heavy etc. 

I know lots of artists who struggle with that side of things so much and it’s expensive as well. 

It is expensive but you know what it is… just fucking YouTube. I YouTube’d for like 6 months or something like 6 years ago. As soon as you start using these things and stop getting someone else to do it, everything starts to become a lot easier.

Mind over matter. 

Mind over matter every day man. 

Good attitude to have! I want to touch on the EP a little now. For me, it’s slyly positive, uplifting in a way but with some darker undertones there. I want to get your ideas in terms of themes and concepts? 

I wanted to give it a cohesive, mini album feel. If I go from the title of the project; ‘A Dying Breed’, we go from ’No More Idols’, which is kind of like an ode to the old but also that you can’t just sit in the old and expect to make a name from yourself - you have to be your own idol and become the torch runner for other people to be inspired by. They are influenced by you but amalgamate their own sound. I think that’s how music has always been made. You get inspired by Prince, Michael Jackson but there becomes a time when you move past that. For example, I love Pharrell, I love The Neptunes Sounds, but with ‘Best Out Here’ it’s still definitely got the chords in it but with my essence of indie on it and it’s got some J Dilla hip hop vibe. With the EP I’d say eclectic sounds that all works together sonically. 

Yeah I’d back that. You can hear the different influences that have inputed on the tape. It’s a nice rounded project. 

No song feels out of place - it all feels like one thing, but that’s just a lot of Tetris playing. It’s working out what tunes go with what.

Obviously this is Part 2 of ‘A Dying Breed’, so how does it relate to the first part both sonically and thematically? 

I think, for me, the two parts were supposed to be one album. If you listen through Pt 1 and 2, there is almost an intro and outro and it really does personify everything that I’m trying to say in terms of pushing creatively and not making a type of music because that is what’s popular. At the same time, just doing what you want and being inspired by the old skool greats and pushing yourself past it and doing more for the scene, making people happy because there’s been so much shit in the world recently. In lockdown we didn’t want to hear music for clubs etc - you want to hear stuff that you can consciously listen to. 

I think with the EP that’s the inspiration behind it on that level. ‘Another Episode’ is more gritty hip hop, ‘Mass Appeal’ is more new skool with Quentin Miller, he’s obviously been about and done his thing so I had to come correct on that one with more energy and hype. 

How did the collaboration with Quentin come about?

He was in London one time and a friend I was working in the studio with knew him and he came down to the studio. He played a few tracks and that one just stuck out to me. We just vibe and before you know it it was done. Literally wrote the first half there, wrote the second half like the next day, sent it over to him. That was in like 2018, then a couple years down the line I went to Barbados between the lockdowns and shot a video with the Go Pro, the iPhone, handy cam. I just went out and shot bare content and cut it all together. 

Yeah the video is a vibe!

Yeah I’m so glad how it came out and people really responded to that.

What is your favourite track on the EP?

Ooohhh… I mean they’re all my babies. I like them for different reasons. ‘No More Idols’ is vibes and I like where I was at making it. For me, the one that means most to me is ‘A Dying Breed’ with Sully because of what he says and how he’s saying it. We wrote that 2/3 years ago and the fact that it means more now, means something. ‘Dreams of a Dreamer’ I’m really proud of as well because that was lockdown for me. In terms of a vibe, ‘Best Out Here’. ‘Mass Appeal’ is my rap vibe, ‘A Dying Breed’ is my conscious vibe. Basically I’m a mood man - if it’s summer I’m putting on ‘Best Out Here’, if I’m chilling I’m probably putting on ‘A Dying Breed’ or ‘What Roses Smell Like’. 

If you are introducing someone to your music, what track are you putting on?

I’d probably start them with ‘Best Out Here’ as a vibe. Actually I’d ask them their preference. If it’s rap, I hit them with ‘Mass Appeal’ etc. All types of vibes man. 

You’ve got the vibe for everything haven’t you!

Literally man, I just try to make moods and capture moments in life and that’s it. 

What do you think the future holds? You looking to get a tour going? 

Definitely. Live shows for me have been such a prevalent thing and a catalyst for relaying my inspiration, whether it’s 20 people in the crowd, 100 people or 40,000 - I love it, it’s my thing. Going around the world, exploring, seeing different things is always what I’ve wanted to do with music. Also, going through lockdown I realised it’s bringing your people through and making sure you’re providing for your family and making sure that they’re good. There are artists in Ipswich thinking how the hell do I get out of here and they can be like Piers did it, Ed Sheeran did it, why can’t I do it? I’m just a mortal man who worked hard, no one can say anything if you don’t give up, thats it. Luckily for me, everything seems to have worked out okay for now. 

Listen to Piers’ game changing new project below!