Ahead of his upcoming “Feels Like Home 2” Tour, which heads to Stockton this May, Andi Talbot caught up with legendary singer-songwriter (and producer), Newton Faulker.
You’re getting back out on the road soon for the second leg of the “Feels Like Home” tour. Tell us a little bit about what we can expect from it…
It’s more like a kind of sequel to the tour as opposed to a second leg. So in terms of the tour, we’ll be tipping the cap towards the acoustic stuff but also making a space for me to do other things. Going forward, we’re going to be doing a “Feels Like Home” tour every year, which will really focus on the guitar work.
You’re currently in the middle of writing and recording a new album. How is that sounding so far? And when can we expect to hear it?
We’ve got a lot of stuff in the bag and there is over an album’s worth of material already – and we’re picking from that what we want to do. The order in terms of releases is still completely up for grabs. It’s kind of all over the place really in terms of genre, as it dips into so many different things, which I think has been happening naturally now with me for a number of years. I think it’s going to be a very interesting year and we’re just going to see where it takes us.
Take us back to 2013 and the recording of ‘Studio Zoo’, which you live-streamed. How did that all come about?
Around that time, other artists were creating all of these kind of mysterious recording techniques, so ‘Studio Zoo’ was a way to sort of dispel that and to just open it up to people could see how it works and what it actually entails, especially when you’re doing it by yourself. When you’re recording on your own there’s so much that can go wrong every single take: it’s not only what you’re playing – sometimes the computer just stops, or the mic stand falls over. It’s such a kind of chaotic thing. That album is probably the most stripped-back and guitar-based album that I’ve done. The thinking was, let’s see what happens if we take all of that production away – let’s see what we’re left with. It’s a bit of a marmite album for people. For guitar people, it’s their favourite album, and for those who like the really polished stuff, they’re a bit like: “Is this even finished?”
That was the most hands-on you’d been with an album at that point. Is that something you’ve stuck with since then?
From a production angle, I’ve kind of taken more of it on myself as time has gone on. With (2021 lockdown release) ‘Interference of Light’, that was just me on my own – and that was really interesting. Everyone I told I was making an album on my own were just like: “Oh, so it’ll be a nice acoustic thing”, and then when I started playing them tracks from it, that changed to “This…this is NOT what I expected!”
It drove me absolutely nuts making that album. I was going to bed with Pro Tools manuals. I basically had to re-learn how to play the drums, then I realised I had no idea how to record drums, so I watched endless YouTube tutorials on that. I learned more making that album than everything else I’ve done combined. With the new album, again, it’s very much hands-on, but more collaborative, because I’m allowed to see people again.
Newton Faulkner heads to ARC, Stockton on Thursday 2nd May. Tickets, priced from £28.50 in advance, are available from arconline.co.uk.
