New Music Alert! Nottinghams Liam Bailey has dropped his new debut solo album by the name of “Definitely NOW” which came out on July 10th via Flying Buddha /Columbia Records.  Liam is also set to support friend and fellow musician Paloma Faith on her upcoming tour including dates in June & July across Gloucestershire, Kent, Yorkshire, Nottingham, Cheshire, Suffolk, Kew and Stafford.

The album takes you on a ride through everything Liam has been through on a personal level, and at times, still struggles with; Depression, loss of love and lack of self control. But there is optimism in his writing and his music is always positive and looking up whilst echoing the blues and soul.

The album features lead single, ‘Villain’ featuring A$AP Ferg. The record received support from the likes of Zane Lowe, Fearne Cotton, Mistajam and Lauren Laverne. You can watch the video here - https://youtu.be/-EUYA1pVgIc Previous single ‘On My Mind’ lifted from the album was featured as BBC Radio 1’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’.

The album is also executively produced by Flying Buddha CEO Salaam Remi, who has worked with the likes of Alicia Keys, Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, Miguel, Ne-Yo, with the pair striking up a kinship whilst first working together back 2011. 

It was soul legend Amy Winehouse who first took notice of Bailey’s talent, releasing his first two solo EP’s on her label, Lioness Records, back in 2010 before Bailey rocketed into the wider consciousness and became a household name after co-writing and providing vocals for Chase & Status’s 2011 hit-record ‘Blind Faith.’

Having toured the world with Chase & Status for two years, and crafting this new album, I had the pleasure of meeting Liam at this Nottingham Gig at Rough Trade on 13^th July.

We are at here at Rough Trade in Nottingham to meet a man who’s voice has appeared on some of the best tracks which has come out over the last couple of years and we play quite a lot of his music! Liam Bailey how are you sir?

Not Bad Sir im Good...

Now lets just say your style is broad and you have many different influences and you’ve been described a bit of Dennis Brown and Sam Cooke and you are the creator of 'Mardy Soul'

I penned that! Mardy Soul, it sounds good though don’t it!

It does! its very blues!

Mardy Soul... and Duppy Rock...

haha Duppy Rock! Either way.. How do you get the balance, because on the new album, when you listen to your previous work there’s an air to it, like it feels like a live gig, how do you get that sound.

You'll be surprised, a lot of my records, well, a lot of them are live records like When Will They Learn was a live recording with the vocal on top done in one take and Soon Come is a first take vocal and a lot of recordings on the album are band playing together and then do overdubs on that, but essentially primitive playing together energy which is hopefully captured. 

Keyword there, playing together, not many people will know was in 1st Blood...

Im still part of the collective!

its Hip Hop isn't it?

Yeah... Pub Hop i call it...

you've got a name for everything!

Lots of people ask me cos im from just outside Nottingham, what’s the scene like? Sheffield is very Indie, Leeds is very House, how would you describe the music scene around Nottingham?

Its very eclectic, there’s pockets of different sounds everywhere and its always nice when it comes together, there’s thriving indie scene, thriving hip hop scene thriving heavy rock scene and there has been for a minute actually. Then there’s the alternative kinda stuff that’s bubbling around so its good! over the last 6/7 years people are starting to get noticed from Nottingham which is a good thing!

Which is good for the scene?

Yeah, i remember A&R's didn't come to Nottingham, it wasn't somewhere you considered there to be talent so that’s why people like myself moved to London to get the attention of people who wouldn't come here and since that has happened they see the talent, so they come here now and there’s a Rough Trade here and a live circuit so its blessed!

I have to talk about Blind Faith, and a lot of interviewers have said the same thing which is did you expect it to be as big as it was...

Yeah standard

But i want to go at it another angle, how was you introduced to Will and Saul and the process?

i was asked if i wanted to do features and i was in a psychological and spiritually precarious space at that time and not fully of one and i remember well im not up for features but my manager asked me about them and said Chase and status wanna do a song with you and i hadn't heard of them, and they had to send me videos and stuff and the video they sent was at Warlock or something and i saw a massive mosh pit and i was like, i wouldn't mind a bit of that! they sent me the beat and at that time i listened to it and then went out and did my weekend and my mates were like you got sent a chase and status beat! and then i pulled it up and freestyled it on my laptop and left it. Monday i was due to go to the studio to do some acoustic stuff so i put it on the track and sent it, Saul rang me back within half a hour and loved it and asked if i wanted to go to the studio, so i met them and i was surprised... im not used to that world but we got on well and i was a bit mad then and we got on! it gets to the point where im at souls wedding and im singing the song for his first dance and im going to wills... next month. Im proud of the lyrics and i got the nation to dance to lyrics that are quite dark but ive had so many people tell me how they have benefited from identifying with the song i feel proud of it.

You did a dub for the culture clash, did you watch it, was you there?

Nah i had to watch it from New York, i was gutted! i was supposed to do it and im watching it in New York full blast on the speakers, i was acting up! if there was videos of me in that living room, i was so hype, jumping up, kicking things! that is so sick!, it was mad! it was a hype hype hype hype.

You follow Dub Cutting and Dubplates scene then?

Yeah its my culture dub plates and stuff, so i got it instantly, shame no one else did at Red Bull!

Culture wise, what was it like to go from two guys who did DnB to work with Shy FX? to channel that Dennis Brown!

I love working with Shy because of that... i do tend to bring the more reggae inflections into my voice when i write music with Chase & Status and Shy, the reggae stuff with Shy i love. I know we are going to do more, there’s a side project i started with him called Maldonado. I love working with those guys and Shy especially. 

Soon Come was an anthem and nice to hear Reggae on mainstream stations!

yeah yeah! im proud of that! i didn’t think of that you know, but after its been a minute since ive heard authentic reggae on the radio.

You were closed to Amy Winehouse and Paloma Faith, two massive personalities and  two incredible voices so what i want to gage is, what is it about  those two big personalities that you fuse with where you can go Yo! i can fuse and work with that?

Actually Amy and Paloma are different species but they do share different senses of Humour and ways of looking at life but essentially Amy was Wit, Humour and Life and she was phenomenal and Paloma has Wit, Humour and Wit and such a love energy and both of them are honest and real about their intentions, so they were different beasts, Paloma 

is very different. I think i get on with honest people and larger than life people, im not scared them and they aren’t scared around me, essentially though once someone has admiration for each others talent that kinda binds you so we could be here all day picking similarities but i think its the talent we all respect for each other.

The Album! Which is your favourite tune to perform..

Ohh... that’s difficult... * Long Pause*... its hard... On my mind at the minute

Whats the influence behind Black Moon?

Depression... if i could show you my divide and all the mercury in my eye there would be a war there would be a dance.... i remember writing it, i was looking at my ex and how do i explain this, acting up and being weird, i cant commute this properly im just being ratty or a bit moody and its because ive got this and i don’t want to because my divide is like my way of saying the pieces yano, Black Moon is my spin on Black Dog. The mercy i beg from you is cursed... i love that line.

Where did the Collab with ASAP Ferg come from because id put you here.. and them the other side as being different!

i was thinking who could i have who is relevant and could do some bars on this and help promote it. i heard ASAP Ferg drop something on a HAIM song but i don’t like HAIM but i was surprised by his flow on that kind of music cos i wasn't an ASAP fan but i am now and  got into them. I told Saalam Remi that i wanted to see if Ferg wanted to do it and he said that crazy i was playing Ferg the track the other day and he wants to jump on it! So yeah pulled it off! Some people don’t like it but i just tell them to chill out the original is on the album. We're doing a country version of it tonight so it will be funny.

ill let you get set up! Cheers Liam!

Cheers Liam!

You can pre-order the album right now http://smarturl.it/definitelynow