CALEB HARRIS is one of the musucians playing the hottest venues. After teaming up with a band, he is now rising in popularity. MELINA MOREN sat down with him to talk about playing the banjo, releasing new material and what to do to deal with pre-gig nerves. Performing or creating - what do you prefer? As much as I enjoy all the performing that comes with this career, the creative process will usually always come first for me - and for me there’s almost nothing sweeter than to sit down in a studio or a bedroom and start layering up all these new sounds for an upcoming project, which then of course performing these ideas to people is also very enjoyable. Ahat made you start playing banjo? So the banjo actually got introduced to me when I was performing with a theatre company at some art festival; we were setting up our tents and I heard a lady quietly playing an open-back banjo just sat down a few campfires down from us, she just seemed really content with it and the sounds coming from it I have never really heard before, so when we were done with playing at that festival I went back home to Cornwall and bought the first banjo I could find, learning it was tricky but very inspiring nonetheless and I couldn’t wait to see what different sounds and techniques I could get out of that instrument. You only have a few songs released on social media - can we expect an EP in the near future? reckon things will most likely lead up to a larger body of work such as an EP, within the past year my music has certainly been through twists and turns, and for the best (in my opinion) and I’ve definitely grown with it, so I’d say it’s a matter of time before a collection of songs are released, which I am very excited for and can’t wait for people to listen, but no definitive date yet. What made you choose BIMM? Back in Cornwall there’s a lovely little scene of music going on and it’s an amazing place for inspiration, but there’s no to little movement going on in terms of the music industry. Which is why when I found BIMM through college it looked very appealing and it looked like somewhere where I can work with a whole new range of very talented people, and when I moved there I immediately knew it was that kind of collaborative environment, plus BIMM Brighton is by the sea so I was pretty much sold already. Did you have a certain moment that made you realize that you wanted to be a musician? I was doing a lot of performing on stage at a theatre already, but there came a moment when I knew there was a piece missing where I felt I needed to play the music with what I was performing with, in a sense the theatrical background helped a little bit in terms of confidence, but when you’re on stage playing your own music that basically comes from your soul, it feels a little more daunting, but exciting at the same time. What song of yours are you the most proud of and why? In terms of songs I’ve released, it’s got to be the track ‘Banshee’. The writing process for that song came very naturally for me and it was a stage of my life where there was a lot of change going on - with moving to a big city full of a lot of new people, so it was nice to write and think back to how I felt back home, just to ward off the homesickness. You used to play solo a lot, but now you've got a full band behind you! how did you guys get together? Yeah I did play solo quite a bit but I felt that my music needed to be on a bigger scale in terms of performing and recording just to fully grasp the ideas that were flowing out, but I’m very glad I met my band, they’re all very lovely and helpful people, it all came about from one or two jamming sessions with them and things just seemed to glue together very well. Do your and your band have a pre show routine, or something you like to do to warm up? Usually it’s something stupid like taking a goofy photo of ourselves just to feel less tense about performing, and just to remind ourselves that apart from how passionate we are about music, it’s still a bit of fun. But of course there’s the classic vocal warm up’s just so we feel a but more prepared anyway! What's a song that gives you goosebumps every single time? Now that would have to be ‘Postcards From Italy’ by a band called Beirut, it gives out such a lovely sense of warmth and nostalgia, and was actually the song that made me start to learn my first instrument and to start the whole songwriting process. Do you have an ultimate career goal? I’d say my ultimate career goal is not the most concrete of ideas, but I would want it to be at a happy level of performing around the world and to be stable enough to support myself and the family, and maybe to have a studio room filled with synths and all sorts of weird instruments – definitely a dream of mine. Last year you played the 2000 trees festival - do you have a dream festival you'd like to play next year? Definitely a bigger slot at the Boardmasters festival back home, there’s such a great vibe there that’s mostly contained by the coast, so either there or a nice cozy slot at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Published in THE ARGUS November, 2018
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