Native James - On Confessions of a Sinner

On his day off from The Confessions of a Sinner tour, NATIVE JAMES sat down to take stock of the rapid recognition of his sound, being a vehicle for making memories and using music as a mode of community. “We were able to do two stages in one day, got an encore the first time on the second stage”, he told OOR when the conversation turned to their double Glastonbury sets this year. “We weren't expecting the love we were gonna get.” 

Photo: Cameron Dickson

He continues, “That was a highlight, actually. I’m a big Queen of the Damned fan, I put the sound in the set as an intro, and there was a kid and his dad had them on his shoulders in the middle of this circle pit as we’re playing this song! It was so wholesome…it’s nice to be part of a core memory of like a father and daughter like “remember when…”   

The Confessions of a Sinner tour is the second time NATIVE JAMES has hit the road, taking a supporting spot for HYPHEN earlier this year. He muses about watching him perform, “as well as seeing what he does on stage - you get inspired and take little bits from their own set and fuse it into your own.”   

“It’s a big move”, Native James reflects when asked about moving from support to headliners, especially at this early stage…being able to be on tour now is crazy.” 

When the comparison to playing local shows came up, he adds, “When I did grime, I did [play local shows]. I’m more like out, like - I’m playing like Exeter and Cornwall…you don’t want it to be too common to play in your hometown.”

Thinking wider, he said, “I’m not doing this for my hometown to love me - I don’t expect anything, and we’ve been given love by other people…I love the shows because you get to see people how they really are: when you’re able to give people a room where they can take the barrier off and be themselves, and they don’t care”  

Native James supporting Pengshui in Exeter earlier this year - Photos: Ollie Hayman

The namesake of the tour is fresh EP, Confessions of a Sinner, the exposure of which being another point of pride for Native James during the project’s genesis.  “The hype’s been good! We’ve had people like ENTER SHIKARI like it, we’ve had messages from SOFT PLAY and stuff like that…it's crazy, even DON BROCO. It's been mad that people have just liked the way that we’ve done this, especially fly away. Alyx Holcombe (BBC introducing rock) shout out to her” 

“I think it’s one of those ones that are gonna take a while to sink in and then it will start to expand because I’m seeing it at the shows and it’s expanding now” he says, in conversation about the EP itself “it’s only been out a month and for the music we've dropped and what we’ve got for next year like..you’ll see. Big things coming. Thank you to everyone that's streamed”  

The favourite is DWYW: on its surface, a thrashy “fuck you” style track, but in its lyrics is where NATIVE JAMES finds joy from finding those who get it. “People are only now listening to what the lyrics are," He grins, "they're getting gas of the hype - the story is mad - obviously the quote is the famous quote off Alister Crowley, 'do what thou want, do what thou will.' He was an evil guy, an evil guy really, he was moving mad!” 

For the future, NATIVE JAMES is looking for collaboration “I’m open to collabs at the moment - I’ve been speaking to a couple people at the moment who do like certain types of music…in my brain I’m just like there’s like certain sounds that I can’t do but I know that that person can do it. If I can fuse certain bits here and there, I know that I can do it.” 

“I know that this next instalment will be…nuts, it’ll be rage, it’ll be emotional”, he finished, but had no clues as to what, when, and who, but he knows it will be chaos.

Sitting down with OOR just before the final two stops of the Confessions of a Sinner Tour - before two sold-out shows in London and Bristol - he gives us the final words and sums up where he is, “I feel great! I didn’t really go into it with expectations, but as soon as we started, the people have really shown out for us and have really come and just wanted to just have fun and have a good time. We’ve done that for them. I wasn’t prepared for people to go this crazy, and they have” 

NATIVE JAMES comes across as humble, almost starstruck by the speed of his own rise in the alternative scene. His gratitude for the strength of feeling around this project emanates, and even more so on stage. From the outside looking in, it feels like the beginning of something great. In short, we’re seeing the future of Nu-Metal, and it is bright.

Words: Julia Brunton

Press Photo: Cameron Dickson

Live Photos: Ollie Hayman