IN TALKS

Here at In Talks we love to head to check out new bands and live mu-sic whenever we can so we thought we’d get a few of our reporters to travel up and down the country, finding the newest and best talent.

In this issue; Anastasia Nesfield will be interviewing singer/songwriter Pete Lawrie as he embarks upon his very first UK tour.

Pete LawrieUp and coming singer/songwriter Pete Lawrie kicked off his UK tour last week, playing in major cities such as Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds where I was able to photograph the band during set up. Having been recently signed to Island Records, it is the start of a new beginning for the 28 year old Welshman.

I turned up to Leeds Cockpit expecting them to be setting up kit in the main room, yet after finding a

roadie who was sent

out to meet me, I was led upstairs to the smallest room in the venue. Although the band are just starting out they have been played on a variety of radio stations and have even been on TV with companies such as BBC and Channel 4 so I was really quite shocked to find they were playing the smallest room in the house with a capacity of just 100 people. Now, to a lot of people 100 might sound like a large number, but when it comes to gigs there are a lot more people in

attendance than you may have thought, so as a result 100 people boils down to quite a small crowd.

Regardless of this the boys seem in good spirits, I take a few minutes to speak to Pete himself aswell as his bandmates and best mates, Elliot and Mike. “I didn’t think we’d be playing a big gig, to be honest,” Pete opens, “I mean, we’re just starting out and trying to spread the word so we don’t really expect to play a huge venue at this stage – I mean, obviously,

we’d love to, it’d be amazing, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves by thinking we should be playing to the masses.”

Pete’s personality is nothing you would expect from a performer trying to make it big – he is softly spoken and introverted which is a stark contrast to both his band mates and the presence he has on stage. As soon as he gets up on that stage, it doesn’t matter how many people are in the room along side you – there is something about Pete Lawrie

which makes it seem like you’re the only one in the room and he’s performing for you, and only you. His relaxed vocals fluctuate between soft yet deep to gravelly tones that send shivers down spines – this guy is something special.

When asked if he’s always been interested in music his answer is simple; “Well, to be honest, I think coming from an entirely musical family, I think my folks would’ve been abit disappointed if I hadn’t.” He cracks up laughing as he

says this, the same deep, throaty roar that people will learn to recognize from his songs. Lawrie’s family is indeed, very musical, his mother is a key member of the Welsh National Orchestra, his father makes woodwind instruments and his grandfather played on The Beatles’ classic ‘Strawberry Fields Forever”. Despite his his parents having such a classic background in music, it’s easy to see that Pete Lawrie has developed his own style both in dress sense and music! Lawrie

dresses very casually, jeans, vests, shirts but with the touch of someone who has seen different parts of the world and wishes to take that forever with them. When I ask Pete about this, he breaks into a broad grin and tells me that he has traveled and one place he loved in particular was Thailand, “I just loved the culture and how different it was from things we’re used to. It’s such a chilled out place that when I was there, I did play my guitar a lot and try to work off those vibes.”

After finishing his tour, Pete Lawrie will head be looking forward to the upcoming release of his debut album “A Little Brighter” on May 2nd 2011.