Josh Kumra burst onto the music scene last year with track Don’t Go and now he is back with his new single Helicopters & Planes with an album to follow later in the year.
I caught up with him to talk about the new track, the debut album and what he has lined up for the rest of the year.
- You are about to release you debut single Helicopters & Planes so what can we expect from the new track?
It was actually an Emilie Sande track, she wrote it, and I went down to the studio to work with Naughty Boy and he had it playing and I was like ‘why is that not on the album?’ And he was like ‘because we only wrote it only the other day’ and so I said ‘can I have a go at it?’
And that is how it came about and I just fell in love with the track. I put my voice on it and everyone on Sony really liked it and it was a natural song to follow up from Don’t Go.
- How would you describe the sound of the track for anyone who hasn't heard it yet?
I was reading that someone called it a beat peppered Ray Lamontagne song and that is exactly the sound that I am after as I am a traditional singer-songwriter but I also wanted it to sound like it was made in 2012. So it’s a mixture of old and new as it’s a traditional song with beats on it.
- The video is quite an interesting one so whose idea was it to shoot it in that way?
Yeah I shot the video with a director called Vaughan Arnell, who is a big director, and we just wanted to try something different and he had this idea of putting a camera on a helmet.
So that way when you turn the camera stays on your face but the background changes, you could literally change where you are in a split second.
It’s not one of those things where you go ‘yeah you look really good in that’ it’s just an interesting video because it is different and it stays in your head because of that.
- K. Koke features on the track so how did that collaboration come about?
I was put on to K. Koke by my management and they were like ‘you should check this guy out you might like him’.
I don’t know everything that he said in his rap really resonated with me and we got him on the track and what he said really made the song fit together and it just gelled really well.
We didn’t go out looking for a rapper to be on the track it just happened by chance but the thing is I really enjoyed it and fell in love with it.
- You have mentioned Naughty Boy and he has also produced the track so what were you looking for in a producer and what does he bring to this track?
To be honest I went down to feature on one of his tracks for his album. I heard the beat, the first thing that he played was the beat, and I was like ’wow that is a really good beat’ and if just sounded really interesting.
It was weird because it suited my voice because it is a nice beat but it is distorted and I have been told I have a huskiness to the voice and it seemed to fit really well.
I don’t really look for producers and certain sounds if they sound good and it is a natural thing then I am up for it.
- Well he is the man to work with at the moment so how did you find working with him?
I thought he was great as he has this little studio. But it is just a great vibe and a great guy as well as being a really great talent.
- And how does this track introduce us the album that is on it's way later this year?
If definitely touches on aspects of the album and it hit’s the nail the head with that kind of modern twist on traditional song-writing.
And there will be a lot of similar stuff but every song is an original and has it’s own little sound and brings something different.
So I just think it is a great way to introduce the album but you can expect a lot of different sound as well as a different genre along with that.
- Well you have touched on my next question really what can fans expect from the album - are there any other collaborations on it that you can tell us about?
There are a couple of collaborations but not with really high profile people to be honest because I just wanted the album to reflect what I have been doing for the last three years.
And I have been working with people like Mayday, who co-wrote Don’t Go, and did all that so it is nice to keep it really friendly and really personal and get a couple of friends on the album.
Other than that there are still a couple of tracks left open so if Jay Z want to make an appearance he is more than welcome.
- You are a singer and a song-writer and you have penned the tracks on the album so what is your major influence when it comes to song-writing?
Again I like to put myself in other people’s shoes and look into other people’s stories, I am only twenty one and I haven’t experienced an awful lot yet.
So I do try to write about my own experiences but when that doesn’t come I tend to look outside the box and look at what is happening around.
It just explains my journey from sitting in my bedroom with a little guitar and writing some songs to now being in London playing big shows with Wretch 32 to having singles out it just explains the story a little bit.
- Last summer you co-wrote the huge hit Don't Go, by Wretch 32, after that success you went on to sign a solo deal so how did that come about?
It’s a weird one as I am from Swindon, which is a little town in the South West, and for five years I was just writing music in my bedroom and playing small pub gigs.
Then I met my mangers in my first gig in London and for two years I was coming back and forth so I was working in the studio then going back to Swindon.
A year ago I moved up to London because I thought that it my help and within two weeks I received a call from Wretch saying that they wanted to do a track together.
And so we did that and the rest is history as I have been in a whirlwind playing big festivals and arenas like the O2 and places like Later With Jools Holland. So it has been really crazy journey but I am loving every minute of it.
- You signed with RCA so what was it about this label that really interested you?
I just think that RCA have a really good history as the likes of Elvis Presley were signed to RCA so you can’t really get better than that for me.
Some of my idols of nowadays like Ray Lamontagne are also signed to RCA in America and so I really liked the history.
And when I found out that Colin Barlow was taking over that was a turning point for me as I really rate him as an ANR and I really respect his views and he was really enthusiastic about my stuff so it was just the natural thing to do.
- You played a live residency at the Social in London earlier this summer so how did those shows go?
They were really good you know, they were my first set of shows in London, it was a year on from the release of Don’t Go.
The crowd was different every gig and it was weird because some of them were harder than the others while some of them were easier but overall it was just a really good response.
We got a good crowd in every night and I just had a really good time showcasing all of my new music.
- And are we going to be seeing you play other shows/festivals this summer?
Yeah I have played two festivals already as I have played Ocean Fest and Guernsey Live and I will be playing T4 On The Beach and V Festival later on in the year.
I am really looking forward to them as I played them all last year with Wretch and I got a really nice taste for it and I want to taste it a bit more and do it on my own.
- Have you any plans to do some writing for other artists?
I have wrote hundreds of songs and only thirteen have made it on to the album so I am going to dish out a couple of songs and get a reaction from people and hopefully and write with other artists because I have always wanted to do that.
- Finally what's coming up for you?
For the rest of the year my main focus is the album and obviously I have got Helicopters and Planes released on 15th July.
Other than that I am just going to be playing as many live shows as possible and I am going to try and get on a little tour support and maybe a little headline tour as well. So yeah it should be a good summer.
Josh Kumra’s new single Helicopter & Planes is released 15th July
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw