Lauren Foster recently met up with Jack Garratt to chat about his explosive start to 2016, the upcoming festival season and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest...

You released your debut album, Phase, earlier this year. What was the inspiration behind it and how long did it take you to complete?
It took about three-and-a-half years to put together, to collect, to think of all the different songs, made up of different moments and of different ideas that have either come to me or that I’ve come up with myself. I only ever tried to make the album exactly what it should be, which is a representation of that time. There’s no other concept behind it.

You’ve won both the BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice and the BBC Sound Of 2016 poll. What’s it been like to achieve so much in such a short space of time?
It’s an incredible feeling to have achieved those things. I’m still very overwhelmed by it. My mind hasn’t really processed it because I don’t know how you can really process something like that. I’m very aware that the awards were given to me when I’d finished my album but hadn’t yet released it, so they were given as a sign of good faith. It’s unbelievable to know you’ve been respected and acknowledged by a group of your peers in that way. The Critics’ Choice award, for example, isn’t voted for just by critics, it’s voted for by lots of people within the industry who’ve seen me grow from nothing to a little bit more than nothing. It’s the same with the Sound poll - that’s voted for by loads of people who’ve worked within the BBC; people either I know or don’t know or have spoken to or have never spoken to before in my life. For me, it’s strange because I very much don’t believe in the idea of awarding things like that, but I do believe in highlighting the importance of new music. The reason why I don’t believe in awarding is because there are hundreds of people who deserve those awards just as much as maybe I did. As overwhelming as it is and as grateful as I am for it, I don’t want to think of myself as being the cream of the crop, because I’m not. I like to say I’ve been given a flag to hold and there are hundreds of us on the front line this year and we’re all running, but they’re the ones with the guns and the swords and shit. I’m just holding a flag and marching everyone on or something. That’s how I like to think of it.

Your live set is something spectacular. Tell us a bit about how it all came together...
I like to make sure I’m aware of, or in control of, or just have a say about everything that happens musically. I want to make sure I know what I’m doing. I love music more than anything in the world, I love creating it and being a part of that world, so I therefore try not to leave anything in the hands of someone else - unless I really trust them enough to understand why I’m here and why we work together. So the live set was no different to that. I needed a way of honestly representing the songs that I’ve made so that the audience would enjoy them. I’ve produced them predominantly on my own, so it made sense for me to perform them on my own. I was very aware of what I didn’t want to do, but I wasn’t sure of what I did want to do. I knew I didn’t want to stand up on stage and press buttons. I also knew I didn’t want to be the loop station guy. I wanted to find a way that I could incorporate those sides of the music I make. I produce my music on laptops, so I push buttons. I also do loop stuff when I’m doing my live show. It’s finding a way of still having the music shine through, of still having the show be dictated by the fact I play these instruments and write these songs. I’m trying to do those things together. I had all these gigs lined up two-and-a-half years ago, and had written all these songs that were electronically produced and which I was playing on an acoustic guitar. I was like, ‘Okay, I need to change something, but I can’t afford a band so I’ll have to do it on my own’. It was out of wanting to challenge myself and test myself to see if I could really play all these instruments, but it was also because I couldn’t afford to do anything else. It’s a new set now, but it’s still just me up on stage. I just have more toys to play with.

And is the show likely to evolve in the future?
It’s currently evolving. It’s been about five months of planning and preparing and building with my crew, with the guys who I’ve designed the new set with. They’ve put everything together and put all these parts in and built it and we’ve spent the last month or so testing it and working it out. Taking me out of the equation completely, I don’t know of a single live show that exists that is like the one that has just been built for me. The guys have put this thing together and have asked around whenever they’ve had issues with technical things. Everyone seems to have then turned around and said, ‘Well, no one’s ever done anything like this before’. So that’s really good. We’ve always strived to do something fun and challenging and different, and it seems that that’s what we’re doing, which is great.

You’ve got a busy summer ahead of you, with Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Ibiza Rocks and many more festival appearances on the cards. Where are you most looking forward to performing?
I’m really excited to come back to some of these festivals. I’m doing my first ever headlines actually, which is crazy. I’m doing Barn On The Farm, which I’ve done two years in a row. Last year I was main support on the main stage at Barn On The Farm, before James Bay. It’s kind of been nice following his trail and seeing him grow massively.
Glastonbury I’m obviously really looking forward to. We’re doing a bigger stage and we’re doing it in the evening. The shows I did last year were all in the day, so I’m looking forward to coming back and doing an evening set there - it’s going to be incredible. I’m doing festivals in America for the first time this year too. I actually just moved to Chicago and I’m doing Lollapalooza in the city, so I’m really, really looking forward to that one. I’m doing Outlands in San Francisco and Fuji Rocks in Japan too. So yeah, big travelling things, which is terrifying because I don’t like planes, but I gotta do it!

Which is your favourite festival?
I didn’t really do festivals as a kid; I either couldn’t afford it or I just didn’t do them. Q Magazine did a piece on me recently and the writer described me as having the personality of a kids’ TV presenter, albeit a little bit of a sweary one, which I fucking love. I’m outgoing and I like to be energetic, but I have crippling social anxiety sometimes. It depends on the situation and it depends on my mood and what’s around me, but sometimes it can just ruin me.
As a kid, the thing that always set me off was something like festivals. Big crowds full of intimidating people, feeling like I had to prove something to them and all that kind of shit. I did go to Reading in 2009 and had an incredible time. I went with my mates and I chilled out for a few days.
Favourite festival? I dunno. There are definitely festivals I’ve played which have not been fun, and that’s usually down to it being organised in a bad way. As a musician you’re very aware that you’re getting paid to do a show, and with that comes an idea that you should be treated well, to ensure you’re relaxed and ready to perform. Ultimately, though, you’re there for the crowd, you’re there for the people who’ve paid for the ticket, who’ve come to see hundreds of bands in the space of a weekend in a field somewhere. So I’m fine with not having a dressing room, or with having to hang out in shitty spaces. I don’t give a shit about that because I’m there for the crowd, but if I get to the point where people working there are unhelpful or don’t really know what they’re doing, then it’s a little bit like ‘Arghhh!’ because now we’re ten minutes late for the show -  but that’s not my fault and it’s not my crew’s fault. It’s also not the festival’s fault, it’s the fault of this guy over here... But hey, you dance around these kinds of things and you make it work.

What’s the most memorable performance of your career to date?
That’s a big question! The first one that comes to mind is Village Underground, but that’s only because it was a big deal when it happened. All the London shows have been incredible. Shepherd’s Bush last year was unbelievable, but I stupidly wasted it by getting nervous. I got too nervous and I couldn’t enjoy the show. I’m doing Brixton Academy on this tour, which is twice the size of Shepherd’s Bush Empire, but I’m forcing myself to be happy about it and not be terrified because I won’t be able to enjoy the night with the crowd. I always try and make sure the only people who can tell if I’ve had a bad show are the people who’ve seen it a thousand times - that’s my family or my crew or my mates -  but to anyone else I have to make it look like I’m having a great time. And I usually am, but sometimes my nerves get the better of me. But Shepherd’s Bush Empire was incredible just as a moment, just as an occasion; it was really overwhelming.
Also, being able to go out to different countries and do shows has always been really cool. Before I did this tour in the UK, I did a US tour. About a week before we went out, the whole thing sold out, which was amazing. That was a real treat, to be able to go on my first ever sold-out US tour after having done maybe one tour out there before. And then, when we were out there, we got the call that the UK tour had also sold out. So at the moment, all the shows are memorable because people want to come to them. And even if people don’t want to come to them, a good show is a good show - but these are nice ones because there are people there, which usually helps!

Is it true you put in an entry to represent the UK in 2005’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest?
Yes! It’s the first foot I ever put in the door of the music industry. The door slammed shut on my foot, then broke it, then I fell over and it really hurt! It was a weird one, a weird moment. I was 14 and it was the first song I’d ever written. I just wanted to see if I could do something. Up until that point in my life, I’d never really done anything. I had a creative spark and wanted to see if it meant something. It’s impossible for me to say I’ve made mistakes because I’m here, I’m talking to you and things are great, but I have made bad choices. Junior Eurovision was definitely a bad choice, but a necessary one.

So performing has been a passion from a young age, then? Did you always want to pursue a career in music or was there another career path you wanted to take?
I did actually train to be a teacher for a very short time - a primary school teacher specialising in music. My mum is a music teacher and my dad also taught, so teaching is in the blood as much as music is. My family on both sides have teaching in them. It’s interesting - I always get shit for talking about how, when I was 14, I wanted to see if I could be a musician, but no one ever shits on me for talking about how teaching was going to be a safety net for me. I actually dropped out because of that. I was giving myself the option to fail at the one thing I love more than anything in the world, which is music, by not giving myself fully to something that deserves full attention, which is teaching. I feel so passionately and believe so much in teaching - specifically teaching of arts. I was also very aware that I was in a good position to get that degree and then very quickly get a job because I was three rare things in teaching - young, male and with music as my subject.

Who were your musical influences and inspirations growing up?
I had early exposure to all kinds of music. I’ve got two older siblings, and my mum and dad would share music with them when they were growing up. I would jump onto the music that they were listening to. Then, when my brother and sister started to find their own musical conversations and their own musical personalities, they would share that with me. My dad introduced me to Jackson Brown and David Bowie and my mum got me into Stevie Wonder. Through all those things I then found my own musical heroes. I’m a big Tom Waits fan. I found out about him through a group of friends down in London when I moved there to really try and challenge myself. Then there’s a band I’m really in love with at the moment called Vulfpeck. I dunno how to describe them, so I won’t - just listen to them. I absolutely love them, and being able to come home and share that with my mum and dad is great because it’s music that they’ll love. It’s kind of throwback, really analogue-sounding funk, but it’s crazy cool. Growing up in a really musical household has meant that I’m now encouraging myself to listen to as much music as I can, so that I can either share it back or share it forward.

If you could co-write a single with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
There are many people I’d choose. I don’t know. Just to be in a room and observe the way that David Bowie would write a song is something I’d have loved to experience - that would’ve been amazing. The same with someone like Kendrick Lamar as well - just to be able to sit in a room and experience a musical mind like that creating something... I want to know how Prince writes songs. I don’t want him to tell me, but I want to be silent in the background and watch him write something. If I happened to go, ‘Hey, maybe do this’, then great, cool, I’ll take the writing credit, but I’d rather just observe. That would be amazing; that would be really cool.

And finally, what does the future hold for Jack Garratt?
I can barely think about what I’m doing in two hours’ time! I hope I keep getting to do this for as long as I can. I write music so I can perform it, and I perform music to keep myself writing it. I love the routine of that; it’s a very spontaneous and not always obvious routine, and when it works, it really does work. Right now, it’s working - and I just hope I can keep this going for as long as possible, for all the people who want to come and experience it.

Jack Garratt will play O2 Academy on 15 November. Tickets available HERE