BBC Radio 2 A-listed singer songwriter Kerri Watt has announced her first ever headline tour, with 14-dates across the UK this November including The Moon, Cardiff on November 27.
This news comes off the back of Kerri’s recent single, ‘Old School Love’, her first for her new label East West Records (Warners).
Over the past year, the Scottish born singer-songwriter has been travelling across the world, performing and writing new material. This includes a track written and recorded with Embrace which she recently performed with them at their two night opening slot for Coldplay at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium – in front of 74,000 – her biggest audience yet.
Andy Howells recently put questions to Kerri.
How did you get into music?
I was working as an actress touring the UK and would find myself with free time back stage and between shows while on the road. Someone on the tour had a guitar with them, so i would mess around on it and try learn a few chords when i wasn’t on stage.
By the end of the 10 month tour, I’d learnt to play alright and written 2 or 3 songs. I went back to Glasgow and started going out in the city to open mics to try out my new stuff. It always went down really well so those open mics led to small gigs which led to bigger gigs and everything kind of snowballed from there.
How would you describe your sound?
I’m a lover of music so I’m influenced by so many different styles. There’s influences of country, folk, pop, blues and rock in there – I looked it up recently and the name for combining all those genres seems to be Americana!
What inspires your music?
I was fortunate to spend some time living in California as a teenager and have spent much time going back there since moving home to the UK. California has a magic to it that is hard to describe, but you hear it in music by acts like The Eagles, Jackson Browne and Tom Petty. A lot of my music is inspired by time spent there – time spent hiking the national parks, contemplating life under the stars and falling in love at the beach.
Can you give us some background about your latest release?
My most recent single ‘Old School Love’ was my first release through a major record label – East West at Warner. It’s a song about finding that person that you want to talk to on the phone for hours, go on picnic dates with and do all the kind of ‘old school’ stuff that doesn’t happen as much in the dating world these days.
I wanted the instrumentation and production to stay true to the song title so i recorded it with all live instruments and the music video was inspired by old vintage live recording sessions in a studio.
What do you like most about touring?
There’s nothing quite like being on the road for weeks or even months at a time. It’s exhausting, it’s hard to exercise and to eat well and things always go wrong. But i think that’s kind of the magic of it all. Every night is different, every crowd is different and there’s no way of knowing how it’s going to go down on the night. Sometimes I’ll play a song I’ve been playing for years and for whatever reason, the audience really connects with it that night and then that song has a whole new life again.
Sometimes if there’s problems with the sound, I’ll unplug everything and play a really intimate acoustic set which people really love. Every day is an adventure and i love meeting new people and hearing how one of my songs has inspired them or helped them get through a hard time.
What can people expect from your forthcoming shows?
A night of fun, friends and great music. I’ll be playing a collection of previously released material plus some brand new stuff I’ve just recorded in Nashville this past month. I’ll be switching between my guitar and piano and hopefully there will be songs that everyone can connect with. I’ve also got a new live cd which will only be available to buy on this tour!
What are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
I recently saw Hall & Oates perform at The Staples Centre in L.A and they blew my socks off! So I’m really enjoying going through their back catalogue and listening to all their old albums I’ve never heard before.
What’s been your best live gig appearance as a performer?
In July of this year, I had the opportunity to open for Coldplay at The Cardiff Millennium Stadium alongside my friends Embrace. Opening for one of the biggest pop acts in the world in a venue of that size was a dream come true!
Vinyl or digital?
I like to listen to music in whichever way the producer intended. So vinyl for the old stuff and digital for anything current.
Kerri’s tour kicks off on November 2nd – Tickets available now! http://www.kerriwatt.com/tour
KERRI WATT – 2017 UK Tour Dates
- Nov 2nd, Derby – The Venue
- Nov 4th, Maguires – Liverpool
- Nov 7th, Lincoln – Student Union
- Nov 8th, Leeds – Hyde Park Book Club
- Nov 11th, Birmingham – ORT
- Nov 18th, Exeter – Voodoo Lounge
- Nov 19th, Plymouth – Barbican Theatre
- Nov 21st, Brighton – The Komedia
- Nov 23rd, London – Thousand Island
- Nov 27th, Cardiff – The Moon
- Nov 28th, Manchester – Night & Day
- Nov 29th, Newcastle – Cluny 2
- Nov 30th, Glasgow – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
- Dec 5th, Dundee – Clarks
- Dec 6th, Aberdeen Tunnels
- For further details visit facebook.com/KerriWattMusic