Paolo Nutini was initially lumped in with the bland-as-Blunts and greyer-than-Grays, but with his second album he found the right songs to go with his raw, powerful voice and the music he loves. The songwriter, just 23, is in it for the long haul, he tells JIM CARROLLahead of his Arthur's Day show
ON THOSE rare mornings when he gets to wake up in his own bed in his own house in Paisley, Paolo Nutini has a very simple routine. "I walk over to the record player," the Scotsman says, "I stick on Fats Domino doing My Girl Josephine, and I dance my way to the kitchen."
Nutini sings a few lines to emphasise the beauty of that tune. " Hello Josephine, how do you do? Do you remember me baby, like I remember you?"
This Fats Domino freak is the same Paolo Nutini who has become one of the most bankable pop stars of recent times. He’s a twentysomething with a rocketing profile, blockbuster albums, fast-selling shows and tunes you’ll hear across the radio dial. He makes teenage fans scream with delight.
And those are just the pop add-ons. When you talk to Nutini about music, he goes far, far deeper than his hits might suggest.
Here's someone who remembers clearly how he fell for Dr John's gumbo via The Muppet Show("you have to remember that they based Dr Teeth on him"). Or the time he heard Fats Domino for the first time in the back of his grandfather's car. "He was really into Fats and Puccini and mad tango, and that caught my ear. Anything that was different caught my ear."
Granted, not all the musical memories are top-drawer ("I had a real soft spot for I Like to Move It, you know"), but Nutini had a broad musical palette when he was a lad – due in part to the stuff he was seeing on TV.
“I was spoiled growing up at that age, because you had a wealth of these cartoons, which had these great songs and performers like Louis Prima or Smokey Robinson. You had all that shit coming through, which gave you this link to a great store of music. You don’t get that any more with kids’ TV.”
That "great store of music" has served him well. True, Nutini may have found himself lumped in with bland, yellow-pack singer-songwriters – the Blunts, Rices, Grays and Morrisons – with his first record ( These Streets), but his second ( Sunny Side Up) has brought some of that voodoo soul, funk and blues he talks about so fondly into the mix.
Sunny Side Upis a better record – not just because Nutini has become a better performer, but because he finally has the right songs to go with his raw, powerful voice and the music he really loves.
Since its release, Nutini has toured constantly, with a few nights off here and there. He’s doing this interview from Leeds. Last month he was to be found on the main stage at Oxegen and other festivals. In the coming week there’s another trio of Irish shows. For Nutini, everything happens on the road, which is how he likes it.
“That’s how I got started, man, just gigging, and that’s the way it always went,” he says. “That was always the plan, to be on the move and to play music to people who want to hear it. Without that, without that connection, you don’t have much in the way of anything to build longevity on. Even if you don’t have record sales, if you have people willing to give up their evening and come along to see you play, you’re doing well. And it’s the only way to show people where you’re going from album to album.”
In the beginning, it must be said, Nutini didn't have much to offer. When he wandered to the Paisley Town Hall in 2003 to join the crowd welcoming home Fame Academywinner and local boy David Sneddon, he was just 15-year-old Paolo from Castlevecchi, the best chipper in town. But Sneddon was late, and Nutini found himself singing onstage. "At the time, I'd written one song and had another one half finished."
However, there were some people in the audience, such as future manager Brendan Moon, who liked what they heard. Nutini found himself on the first rung of the ladder. He’s been climbing ever since.
He talks again and again about the long run and the importance of putting a string of albums together. That’s what his heroes did.
“There was a lot John Martyn did which inspired me, and a lot which didn’t. Everything makes a man. People like that, people like Dr John and John Martyn, you can’t emulate them. You can respect them and they can inspire you, but they were their own men. They developed over time and led their own scenes. Over time, their records got better and deeper, and I really can relate to that.”
They also had an audience who were prepared to go along with them as they developed their sound. “I’d like that,” says Nutini. “I’d like to have an audience who are prepared to go with me for the whole show and are not sitting there waiting for track A or B or C.
“Like, that’s fine, I’m not attacking people who want to hear certain songs from me, but I want to build that bridge between what I want to do and the audience. I want people to come along who are curious about what I’m going to do next, and want to go on a wee trip with me.”
Along the way, many people have endorsed the Scottish youngster with a voice that rivals Rod Stewart (back when Rod the Mod was rocking the blue-eyed soul). One of these was legendary talent-spotter Ahmet Ertegun from Atlantic Records. “He’s the most promising young artist we’ve had in the past few years,” enthused a pro who had worked with Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.
“I was lucky enough to be in his company a few times,” says Nutini of Ertegun, who died in 2006. “I knew all about him and what he, his brother Nesuhi and Jerry Wexler did at Atlantic. It’s amazing to think how involved they were in working with the act and on a record. It’s a label with an amazing history.”
Of course, those days of music men at the helm of a record label are long gone. “I think that’s what’s missing today,” says Nutini. “You don’t get that sort of involvement at a big label, because the business has gone in such a different way. Even in more recent times, with Chiswick Records or Island Records with Chris Blackwell or Elektra, you had music men. They had business heads on them, but they were music men first and foremost. They had an understanding about music and musicians which you don’t get anymore.
“Today you have people who listen to a record and just think about if it’s a hit or not. They don’t appreciate how the musician works or understand where the musician is coming from. Music just doesn’t seem important to them, but it was the most important thing of all to Ahmet.”
Don’t take this spiel about the old days to mean that Nutini is some wide-eyed purist who doesn’t want anything to do with the business end of the music business. His eyes were opened to the ins and outs of the industry during his teenage years, while selling T-shirts for and working as a roadie with Paisley indie rock band Speedway.
“You have to keep a close eye on things. If I’m not doing it, who is? But it’s not like I crunch books every afternoon. It’s common sense; you need to know what’s coming in and going out. And if there’s nothing coming in and lots going out, then we have a problem.”
The next task on Nutini’s to-do list is a new album and, right now, it’s still a bit of a work in progress.
“A lot of the new songs are still in need of a polish and there are also a lot of half-finished ideas in there. Some of them have been a bit half-finished for too long, so that’s why I’m trying to take the time to finish them. Some of them are sounding a bit Squeeze-ish, you know.”
When Nutini started out, he had just a song and a half. These days he’s far better stocked, as he continues to learn the craft.
“Whenever I write a song, I have a landscape in my head and you try to get that onto tape. Day to day, I’m just trying to catch those landscapes and note them down. And yeah, I’m getting better at it.”
Guinness and guitars; Arthur's Day picks
Paolo Nutini is one of a galaxy of stars who will be in Ireland next week for the second Arthur’s Day bash. There’s a festival line-up of bands and peformers set to play venues in Dublin, Cork and Galway on Thursday as part of the Guinness-sponsored hop.
The main attraction is probably Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, who has just released his debut solo album, Flamingo, and will be playing his own show at Dublin's Academy the night before Arthur's Day.
Other overseas acts include Plan B, Kelis, KT Tunstall, José González, The Magic Numbers, Tinie Tempah, The Hoosiers, The View and We Have Band.
There is, as you’d expect, a fair number of Irish acts on the list. These include Snow Patrol, O Emperor, Sharon Shannon, The High Kings, Director, Duke Special, Royseven, Heathers, The Rags and Dirty Epics.
As with last year’s event, you buy the ticket for the venue of your choice and cross your fingers in the hope you get to see the act you want to. All proceeds go to the Arthur Guinness Fund for social entrepreneurs.
guinness.com
Paolo Nutini plays the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, Co Mayo, on Monday; INEC, Killarney, Co Kerry, on Tuesday; and Arthur’s Day on Thursday
