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Kevin
Mark Trail has been making all the right moves since hooking up
with The Streets' Mike Skinner on Original Pirate Material.
Support
slots with N*E*R*D and Massive Attack were followed by a collaboration
with Nitin Sawhney, who invited him to co-write a track on his Human
album.
Now
signed to a major label, the 24-year-old has just released his debut
collection Just Living, which he wrote and demo-ed in his
Wembley bedroom.
How are you?
I'm
good, just getting over the flu, playing Halo on the X-Box, doing
interviews, making music, causing mischief in general...
The new album
is deservedly getting a lot of attention. Are you pleased with the
way it turned out?
Thank
you. I'm happy with the album. It represents my thoughts and feelings
at the time of producing it, just like a picture.
"I
was about 14, I wrote it in Jamaica and it still haunts me to
this day. My mum's got it on video tape somewhere..."
- on writing his first song |
To judge by
their messages, some of the 'Kevfans' on your website have hardly
been able to wait for its release...
I
feel blessed that people actually want to hear what I am about and
where I'm from. I'd like to thank them for listening.
You namecheck
London and the Thames on the new single. What's your earliest London
memory?
Oxford Street, Christmas lights, when I was a wee thing. I was
a lot cuter back then.
You went to
college to study music and composition. When did you write your
first song?
I was
about fourteen, I wrote it in Jamaica. It was called 'Should I Say
Yes' and still haunts me to this day. My mum's got it on video tape
somewhere.
What's your
favourite line from one of your songs?
'I am a lion by trade - don't get too close 'cause I bite!'
(from 'Lion By Trade' on Just Living).
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Kevin
is already being talked about in some quarters as a 2005
Mercury nominee
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Which song do
you wish you had written?
'Message in a Bottle' by the Police. Sting took a message of
being alone in the world and gave it a unique angle. He put across
the point that in life we are all trying to find ourselves and at
some point we all feel lost and alone. Also
musically it mixes reggae and rock!
What's the
most surprising thing about being involved in the music business?
How much
emphasis is placed on money, fame, speculation, the myth?
What do you
say to people who reckon by this time next year you'll be on the
2005 Mercury shortlist?
Well, getting some mainstream radio play would help firstly
(hint, hint), but I am humbled by the thought.
Kevin Mark Trail will be supporting
Beverly Knight on tour in April and will play the Hammersmith Apollo
on 14 April. The album Just Living is out now on EMI records
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