On October 5th, British singer songwriter J R Harbidge releases his debut solo album, First Ray Of Light, via Absolute Label Services.
Inspired by the likes of Jackson Browne, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills & Nash and Neil Young, First Ray Of Light is an accomplished 10-track collection of soulful, country-tinged and often-contemplative songs. is both personal and political, but rooted in the everyday experience of coping with life’s ups and downs.
A rocker from the Black Country with strong roots in the Birmingham music scene, James Harbidge has been playing, writing and producing for over twenty years with over 1 million streams/views of his music. As a teenager he played in his first band, Powderfinger before forming cult grunge band Third Bullet in the mid-noughties, whose song Resistance Is Futile was picked up and used in a Harley Davidson advertising campaign. There’s also always been a love of production. Finding a home in fellow Birmingham band The Twang’s studio space enabled James to hone his craft, often working with and learning from producer Gavin Monaghan (The Editors, Ocean Colour Scene) which eventually led to him engineering JAWS’ debut album in 2014.
Both Third Bullet and his involvement with The Twang’s studio were winding down as the initial recordings for ‘First Ray Of Light’ were being made. Both James’ personal circumstances and the music scene Third Bullet had thrived in, were altering, which led to a degree of introspection encouraging a change of direction in his sound, further influenced by a move to Derbyshire where he finally finished recording the album.
While First Ray Of Light may chronicle a process of growth, both personally and musically, viewed in its diverse whole, it arrives a fully-formed entity, and heralds a new and compelling voice on the UK Americana scene. Check out latest single Turn the Screw below!
We caught up with J R Hardbidge as he talked about his latest single and more!
So how has the release of Turn the Screw gone down with fans so far?
The response has been great. It’s really strange, in a good way, having people you don’t know take a real interest in the music and sharing it and sending emails and messages telling me how much they love the music. It’s a strange feeling but a great feeling.
How pumped are you for the release of First Ray of Light?
Ultra pumped to the max!! The album has been a few years in the making. I wanted to get everything right, the right collection of songs, the right arrangements the best musicians I could find to play on it. It has been a real labor of love and it’s now time to release it on to the world.
Can you tell us something about the album no one else knows?
This is difficult because I have been telling everyone everything about the album. I used to record in the studio owned by The Twang, they shared the studio with JAWS and I have never told anybody this, mainly because its not the done thing but I used the Twangs bass amp, JAWS Fender Jazz and the Twangs ride cymbal on a lot of the album. You shouldn’t really use anybody elses gear if you share a space with them, it’s an unwritten rule. So there you go, a scoop!! I will have to avoid the The Twang and JAWS from now on.
How has Absolute Label Services helped you with this release?
It’s great having a label to manage the release. I have never had any involvement with a label before and have always tried to do everything myself but this time, with this album and this collection of songs I wanted to give it the best chance I could of being heard and I couldn’t do that on my own. They make sure everything runs smoothly and that there is a plan and that the plan is stuck to, they have great distribution set up with Universal/Sony which means you can buy the album from record shops, Amazon and all of the regular online outlets. They have put me in touch with a great PR firm, EMMS Publicity, who are doing a great job of getting the word out. You need to go in to these things with your eyes wide open and Absolute have done a good job of opening my eyes.
What’s your favorite track from the album?
This is difficult, I think every track has been my favorite at some point but I do keep going back to the second track on the album “A Side Of You That Cares” Its a bitter sweet love song about being in love and in a relationship but feeling like you are on the outside of the relationship looking in. Musically it has an Eagles type vibe but with an anti middle 8, instead of taking the song up a notch in the middle 8 it takes it right down to almost a whisper and builds with two great guitar solos, one on acoustic and one on electric, I think the electric solo is a bit George Harrison, which is always a good thing. There is a fantastic piano and organ part all the way through the track which really makes the song into something else.
If you could work with any band or artist on a new song, who would it be and why?
I would absolutely love to write a song with Ryan Adams and Paul McCartney, together, why not? I LOVE melody and Paul McCartney is the master of melody and he’s also my favourite bass player. Ryan Adams is my favourite songwriter full stop. I love almost everything he releases. He writes in a way I never could but aspire to.
More than working with other artists I would love to work with Dave Cobb, he produces the Rival Sons records and I absolutely love everything about the production on every one of those albums. I love my recordings to sound old like they came from somewhere between 68-75 and he achieves that, I have read that he records everything live in the studio and thats exactly how I used to record bands when I was at the studio. I think we would have a lot in common and I would find the whole process fascinating, I would be watching him like a hawk, I am a massive recording geek so to work with Dave Cobb would be a dream come true for me.
What do you get up to in your spare time?
I don’t have any spare time, my life is full to the max and I find it hard to fit anything else in. I would love to learn how to paint, maybe one day I will have the time to do that. I have also started to try and write a book but that too will have to take a back seat for the time being.
What was the first ever gig you went to as a kid?
It was Iron Maiden supported by Wolfsbane at Victoria Hall in Stoke On Trent. It was one of the best gigs i have ever been to, I have seen maiden on almost every tour since then, I have my tickets for this years tour, really looking forward to that. I have got to say though Wolfsbane really gave Maiden a run for their money on that tour, Blaze Bayley was a maniac on stage and had the crowed from the get go. I remember the Wolfsbane performance more than the Maiden performance. I followed Wolfsbane to the ends of the earth after that and I still go to there end of year gigs. If you have not heard any Wolfsbane then I suggest you start with the “All hell is breaking loose down at little cathy wilsons place” EP. Its a blinder!!!