JP Cooper Tour!

Well hello there Lovebugs!

If you remember earlier this year I posted a blog or two about the magnificent Mr JP Cooper? If not click here or simply watch this…

JP Cooper is a Manchester based singer/songwriter/ musician with the voice of a soulful angel. If you have never seen the man in action then here is your chance. This December Soul Features alongside Vocals & Verses and Grey Cotton will be hosting the Birmingham and London leg of JP (the magnificent) Cooper’s tour.

If you don’t live in Birmingham or London then not to worry because the amazing artist that is Mr Cooper also has tour dates in Nottingham, Manchester, Totnes and Bath!
For dates , tickets and to find out more click here or visit Mr Coopers Facebook.

 

Birmingham crew, I’ll see you on December 6^th at the HMV Institute.  

 

Alicia Keys & Maxwell heating things up - Lusty Love

 will keep this short and sweet… I love this song right now!

 

If you had told me as a kid that when I grew up I would have naughty thoughts about Maxwell I would’ve told you’re joking arse to piss right off! Yet here I am having impolite thoughts about this this man! Can someone please tell me where I can find a GROWN man like this for please?

Enjoy ladies, oh and Fellas, Alicia’s in there too somewhere.

Mwah xxx

Arima Ederra - Lusty Love

For the past couple of years I feel like great music has been missing in action. But since last summer things have started to pick up a little and music and I have rekindled our flame. As a result I now spent a lot of time online searching a listening to new and great music that I have stumbled across by chance or that more than likely have been recommended to me by my homegirl who is my go to person for music as her recommendations never disappoint.

So the latest recommendation has been on repeat and then on repeat again because she is soooooo good. Arima Ederra is her name and if you don’t know about her already then you seriously need to get to know.

Image sourced from Google

This girl is BAD ASS! If you like Solange and Jhene Aiko then there is no way that you won’t like Arima, check out her video below for her track ‘Flow Chart’.

 

If you like what you hear then it just got better! If you click here you can download her top quality 10 track album ‘Earth to Arima’ …. For free!! Or you can check her out on SoundCloud or keep up with this talented missy on twitter @ArimaEderra.

Enjoy Lovebugs. xxxx

 

Interview with JP Cooper

The first time I heard JP Cooper I was immediately blown away by his talent , but when I had the opportunity to meet him at the last Soul Live Birmingham I was in no way at all prepared for the pure level of humility of Mr Copper or his enthusiasm, love, understanding and passion for honest music. He is hands down the most intriguingly humblest man I think that I have ever met.

For a man with a rare yet powerful Soul, it’s hard to believe that his musical beginnings started in Rock bands which he said helped to mould his sound and voice that has taken him 10 years to find.

Emerging from a “very white working class” background in Manchester it was through Coopers exploration of Gospel music and being a fan of Soul that he was able to find this voice that I just can’t get enough of.

With Musical Influences like Donnie Hathaway, Bill Rivers and the legendary Stevie Wonder, Cooper is definitely a man who is serious about real music. So to find out why Mr Copper is officially my first music obsession of 2013 keep reading and I’m sure by the end of the interview you'll be obsessed too.

For those that aren’t familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound.

Wow, you know what I really don’t know. In what I do I try to be honest, try to keep things simple, I try to reveal as much as I can and I try and strip it down to the bones and as far as the sound goes… I don’t know, because it isn’t soul, it isn’t folk, it’s number of things.

What sets you apart from the other soul artist out there today?
It’s probably is because I came from such a different background, and I mean here tonight I feel blessed to have been invited into this kind of event, to be accepted. I mean its Soulive, so for someone to say I feel your soul when you sing, that’s what it’s all about.

So how would you explain your background?
I grew up in a very white working class area, so I was more exposed to indie music. I live in Manchester, so the whole Manchester thing was going on and everybody was in Indi Bands, that’s maybe why it took me so long to get into soul music because there weren’t many people sharing that. Luckily over the years I’ve found Gospel Choir, I’ve found other musicians and I’ve learnt a lot, whereas I used to hide behind my long hair and loud guitars.

Considering you started out in Rock, is this something that you still delve into or are you solely Soul Music?
I don’t know if I would go back into that, I probably wouldn’t because I’ve always wanted to do something acoustic, something soulful, I think it was just finding the confidence to bare that and it took me ten years to focus on what I had that was special and individual, so I feel like I’m just scratching the surface now.

 

Who or what inspires you lyrically?
I don’t really know if there’s been any people that have influenced me to write. Most of the things are just everyday emotions, things that I’ve been nostalgic about, things that have moved me in a good way, things that have moved me in a confused way. A lot of the time when I’m writing I’m figuring things out, so half the time I don’t know what the songs about when I’m writing it and then when I finish sometimes it’s a year later that it says something to me and that’s what’s beautiful about it. I do really try and keep it simple and I do want to be able to speak to everybody, I don’t just want to just be able to speak to intellectual people, I want to keep it simple because I’m a simple guy.

 

Keeping with the theme of inspiration and lyrics, ‘Oh the Water’ is one of my favourite songs. What inspired such a powerful song?
I think that when I wrote that song I was trying to speak to a part of myself that tells me that I can’t do something. I have massive doubt issues with myself, I’m kind of working them out. It’s about dealing with self-doubt and not sweeping it under the rug, it’s about facing it and dealing with it and helping a part of yourself that is being beat on. So that’s what that songs about, and it’s another one that spoke to me.

If there is anyone that you could work with dead or alive, who would it be?
There are people that I would love to meet, but I would love to meet and learn from. I’m a huge Donnie Hathaway fan and I got to support his daughter Lalah Hathaway.
Stevie wonder, what a man, what a legacy. It would be great to sit down with Bill Rivers just because he seems like such a great down to earth kind of guy and I don’t know how he’s managed to keep that, that’s a really big aspiration to have.

So there you have it ladies and gents, a little insight in to who this magnificent artist is and where he came from! I definitely recommend you keep a close eye on him and if JP is coming to a town near you, not going to see him live is not an option! But for the time being check out the video below of JP performing ‘Oh the Water’ Live at Soulive back in February, and if you look closely enough you’ll see a little shortie in the front row who looks like she’s in pure heaven … yep that little shortie is moi and if heaven feels anything like I felt during that moment then boy, I better be on my best behaviour!

 

To see more quality Artist’s like JP get yourself down to the Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth Birmingham on May 11th for round 3 of Soulive! I for one canny wait!!

See you there music lovers. xx

*Images sourced from Google

An Interview with Mr. Banks

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the man of the moment who is currently making us Brummies glow with pride, Mr Jacob Banks. I say I had the pleasure of meeting him but in actual fact I have met Mr Banks numerous times before, but on our previous encounters I knew him as Jacob the street dancer not as Jacob the musician with a whole lot of soul and then some.

It had been a few years since I had seen Jacob around so when my friend told me that he had moved to London and was pursuing a career in music whilst studying a degree in Engineering and had been taken under the wings of Wretch 32’s camp, I was left asking “is there anything that that this multi-talented young man cannot do?” He has written for the likes of One Direction, Alexandra Burke and Wretch 32, released a top quality EP ‘The Monologue’ and has even been featured on BBC 1Xtra’s Live Lounge and he has made it very clear that he is just getting started.

So when I found out that he was going to be performing at Soulive Birmingham I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to find out about the musical journey that took me and so many others by surprise, and how the cute boy who I remembered as a talented street dancer had morphed into a handsome and talented singer/songwriter/musician, as well as his take on the industry, growing up in Birmingham and what he has in store for 2013 and beyond.

For the Love of Moi: You are doing really well right now, how did this music journey begin for you?

Jacob Banks: I’ve always loved music and I think it’s just fate really, everything I did resulted back to music. I had no specific moment where I could say it started here; it just went on and on and then I just fell in love with it and I’ve never stopped.

FTLOM: You’ve come up in the industry really fast, for some it takes years. And you’ve worked with some of the UK favourite talent, which would say has been your best experience so far?

JB: Not too long ago actually I had a show, this was before everything started happening. So many people came out and they knew my songs, they knew my words and it was amazing to me. I’m so humbled by these little things, there was like 200 people and it was amazing. I’ve performed to thousands of people before, but to know that they came out just for me, it was wonderful, I couldn’t have asked for more.

FTLOM: When writing your own music where do you draw inspiration from?

JB: Naturally the first form of music was used to tell stories and to pass messages through villages, so I feel that music should still hold some of that essence. When I write my music and when I write for other artist as well, it’s always from a selfish place where things that I might not want to talk about to a person I put in in my music. I think I’m also inspired by the things I see, so generally life. I’m inspired by other artists and situations that I’ve been through and my friends have been through and just wanting to relay a message and I think that the best way to relay the message was through soul music.

FTLOM: Are there any artist that you are inspired by?

JB: Everyone from Fela Kuti to Al Green to Aretha Franklin to Shakka to anyone that makes music. I’m a fan of music first and I started singing because I loved it so much. I love everyone, it doesn’t matter what kind of genre music, as long as there is something there for me, I’ll take it.

FTLOM: There’s a lot of talk about the Music industry these days of how hard and pretentious it can be. What has your experience in the industry been like so far?

JB: I never say I’m in the industry, I know I am but, I don’t go to the industry stuff, I just make the music pass it on to my manager and he handles the rest. But what I’ve learnt about the industry is that it’s no different from anything else you do in your life. If you work in Tesco’s for example you have bad customers you have bad days, it’s the same thing, it’s just people get emotional about their music because their passion’s involved and it’s hard to separate your passion from the fact that it’s your job. So yeah, the industry’s hard but it’s just as hard as anything else you’ll ever do. I think if you have a good team around you and you respect your team members and you try to find a medium you’ll be fine.

FTLOM:The Video for your current single ‘Kids
on the Corner’ was shot in your hometown, Birmingham, you now Live in London and could’ve shot the video there, why was it important to shoot the video in Birmingham and to also make a statement out of it?

I grew up on Birmingham at a time where was a lot stabbings and a lot of crime, but what I realised the most is that when I saw people committing crimes, they didn’t see any guilt in what they did, they was cool, they didn’t see why it was wrong, like my boys from Birmingham would do dumb shit because of people would say they can’t do it. Like if I was with one of my boys and I said, I bet you can’t slap that guy, he’d go and do it just to prove to you that he can and he’d feel no guilt about it. But now Birmingham is a lot better man. A lot of people have grown up and some people haven’t. My younger brother’s 18 and he doesn’t have to see all of that going on, it’s all Snapbacks and Jordan’s, they’re living the good life. 
So yeah, I’m from Birmingham and I had to represent because you always back track to the first things you do and I wanted to do this for myself as well as Birmingham.

To the Future and beyond

FTLOM: What does 2013 have to look forward to from Mr Jacob Banks?

I want to remain happy for one because happiness is important. I want to keep putting out music. I have a lot of material that I’ve never put out because the time was never right, so now I feel that it’s time and hopefully by the end of this year I should have my album finished and ready to release.

FTLOM: 5 years time, What’s the plan?

JB: In five years’ time I would like to be at the forefront of Soul music. Right now when people think of Soul music and the UK they probably think about Plan B, or people like Yolanda Brown but when people think of Soul music I’d like to someone that pops in your head.
I don’t know where I’ll be in five years, I could turn around tomorrow and say that I want to start writing books, I’d do anything if it makes me happy and I do music because it makes me happy. I love performing, I love singing, I love writing, so as long as I’m happy, I’m cool, I’m alright.

To keep up with Jacob and his music you can follow that man with the timeless Soul on Twitter @MrJacobBanks, Facebook, Instagram @MrJacobBanks and Sound Cloud.

* All images sourced from Google