麻豆社

1. He’s been giving online guitar classes in lockdown

Like most musicians, James has been missing live performance. To keep some connection to his fans, he’s been giving guitar tutorials online. “When I was 18, just after I finished school and before I did anything else, I taught guitar for a year,” he says. “I started with Let It Go and Hold Back The River. Now we’ve done 24, just teaching people a simpler version… of how I play.”

2. He once played Don’t Look Back In Anger to Noel Gallagher

James was a guest on Fearne Cotton’s show on Radio 2 last year and prepared a cover to play. “I’d chosen to do an Oasis cover,” he says. “I didn’t find out until I got there that the only other guest apart from me was Noel Gallagher.” Nervous, he suggested he do a different song, but Noel encouraged him. “So, I did Don’t Look Back In Anger in front of Noel, and Fearne. It was wicked.”

3. Joe met his wife at a James Bay gig

When Joe went to Coachella in 2016, he went to see James with Rosie, a friend of a friend who is now Joe’s wife. Joe says, “In Rosie’s mind, Let It Go and the album that it came from is the start of our relationship.” Although delighted by the story, James remembers that day rather less romantically. “Coachella is essentially in the desert,” he says. “My tent was like a wind tunnel… When you’re in a big sandy wind tunnel, trying to sing to 20,000 [is] a little difficult. So, I’m very glad you had a good experience because I was constantly choking.”

4. He’s a big football player

“I love to play football,” says James. “I play at least once a week when I’m at home.” He says he’s really missing his primary form of exercise at the moment, because it’s his way to relax. “It’s meaningless, in the best way. I want it to be a slightly empty activity where I can just enjoy it and don’t have to think about how any of it will apply to other areas of my life.” He sometimes plays with comedian Russell Howard and Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, who he describes as, “pretty handy”.

5. He’s a bit of a Monica

Asked about whether he’s competitive, James says, “I’m a bit like Monica in Friends. Any game, I want to really do it properly. Everyone’s saying, ‘Yeah, we’re just playing for fun.’ I find it fun to compete. It’s a fine line. I’ve learned over the years to remind myself it’s just a bit of fun.” He says he no longer gets stroppy if he loses, but he still likes to go out there and try, even if it’s just for fun. “I find it psychologically quite nourishing.”

6. His first song was about complaining neighbours

James has been musical all his life and remembers the first song he ever wrote, when he was still a kid and learning the guitar. It was about the little boy who lived next door, and how the boy’s parents would ask James to keep the noise down. “They were really cool, the neighbours,” he says, “But they would say at about 8pm, ‘Can you just turn it off now? Can you stop?’ So, I got the blues about that and wrote a song about it.”

7. He started out with illegal pub gigs

James always knew that he wanted to be a singer. “I loved football… and drawing and all sorts of stuff, but music I was so passionate about,” he says. He started a band with his older brother and quickly became addicted to the experience of playing to a live audience. So much so that they’d go and perform in pubs, despite being far too young. “We were 13 or 14 and starting our first bands… You’re not allowed in pubs until you’re 18, legally, but we would go to pubs in the middle of the afternoon and say, ‘Do you want a gig?’ Just to experience it. I don’t know why we were so confident. We just had blind faith.”

James backstage at the 麻豆社 Music Biggest Weekend festival in Swansea, 2018

8. At a party, he talked Ronnie Wood into performing with him

In 2015, James was just starting to become successful and had three nights headlining at Brixton Academy. A month before those gigs, he was at a GQ event and met his idols, The Rolling Stones. “There’s a point in the evening where everyone’s just bouncing around the room after everyone’s had a drink and some dinner and we’re talking and Ronnie Wood says, ‘Nice one. I see what you’re doing on the guitar there and I get it.’” James started telling Ronnie about his Brixton gigs. “Like a total goofball, just out of nowhere I said, ‘Come along, if you want. Jump up on stage and do a song with us.’ He said, ‘Yeah.’”

James’s dad had always been a huge fan of The Rolling Stones, so James encouraged him to come along on the first night, without telling him why. He brought on Wood for an encore. “He struts on stage with his guitar. The crowd went mental. I remember seeing my dad up on the balcony, arms in the air, like, ‘What is going on?’”

9. He then got to perform with all The Stones at Twickenham

James supported his heroes during their Twickenham Stadium shows in 2018 and was asked to join them for a song late in their set. “I can’t express to you the excitement I was feeling, being rushed to Mick Jagger’s dressing room to rehearse,” says James. He says he learned how to put on a great gig by watching Stones DVDs when he was growing up. “I’ve been taught that by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood over all these years. To be on the stage with them, I managed to feel all the same stuff, but in like a 4D way. It was like I was wearing virtual reality goggles. I look to the right, there’s Mick Jagger over my shoulder. There’s Charlie Watts. But it’s real.”