“COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY” JAMES WALSH ON 25 YEARS OF STARSAILOR
INTERVIEW | JAMES WALSH – STARSAILOR by Tom Jenkinson
Since their emergence in 2000, Starsailor have cemented themselves as one of the most enduring UK indie bands of the 21st Century. Achieving two No.2 albums with ‘Love Is Here’ [2001] and ‘Silence Is Easy’, alongside a string of hit singles like ‘Alcoholic’ ‘Four To The Floor’ and ‘Good Souls’. Their latest album ‘Where The Wild Things Grow’ [2004] was met with critical acclaim and reached No.2 on the Official Independent Albums Chart.
Starsailor move into 2025 ready to celebrate their 25th anniversary with plans already underway. On February 15th, they band have two exclusive, sold out performances at Liverpool’s Tung Auditorium and this week have shared the news of a 9 date UK Tour to take place in November.
The Liverpool shows will feature both a matinee and an evening performance in the venue’s state-of-the-art concert hall and will be accompanied by a string ensemble led by renowned composer Joe Duddell, known for his collaborations with artists like New Order, Elbow, James and Richard Hawley.
We caught up with band front man Walsh to discuss Starsailor’s longevity, how they continue to evolve and of course, their celebratory year ahead.
This year marks 25 years for Starsailor, which is a massive achievement. I understand you are marking the occasion with some gigs, could you maybe tell us a bit more about those?
Yeah, we’ll be at the Tung Auditorium on the 15th of February, which is part of the Yoko Ono Centre in Liverpool, which we’re really excited about. We approached the promoters about doing this project with [music conductor] Joe Duddell and this was the venue that seemed to fit the bill the best. This little auditorium really works for us because although it’s fairly small, it’s got everything we need, and it is purpose built for those kinds of performances so it’s going to be an amazing night.
Are the early Starsailor albums the focus for the gigs?
With it being our 25th anniversary, we wanted to make sure that we covered all the songs with all the albums through the entire history of the band. Obviously in small bite size chunks, because if we covered everything, I think we’d be there all night.
You mentioned that you’re working with Joe Duddell on the string arrangements for the shows. Has working with him changed the way that they’re performed? Has it changed the way that they feel when you’re playing?
I think it was a conscious decision really to give him free reign to work; obviously, the vocal melody underpins the whole thing, so there’s not too much movement with that. As for the rest of the arrangements, I think it’s going to be more of us fitting in with what he’s done rather than him trying to work around us because I think that would have been the easy option. The songs wouldn’t have changed so much, or it wouldn’t have breathed so much new life into the songs if it’s just some long notes and violins occasionally coming in and out. This is definitely Joe’s project as much as ours, so we’re coming back with something really fresh and interesting.
Listening back to your early albums [Love Is Here/ Silence Is Easy] I am struck by how relevant those songs still sound all this time later. Why do you think they have stood the test of time?
Well, I guess because we were inspired by classic artists like Neil Young, Van Morrison, James Taylor, those kinds of people. We didn’t try too hard to make very contemporary and modern sounding recordings in the production. So, I think that probably helps give them that longevity because we’ve always concentrated on the songwriting first and foremost.
Most of our songs start off on acoustic guitar anyway so we tried to make sure that the songs stood up on their own, whether they’re played on an acoustic guitar or played as a full band. I think that helps give songs a longer shelf life than maybe songs that are constructed in a more sporadic fashion or based on more modern production techniques or an amalgamation of ideas, although I think there are some amazing songs that have that have been made like that as well.
Do you still enjoy playing these songs all this time later? Do you feel differently about some of those songs now?
We still really enjoy playing them, I think. That said, it’s more a case that certain lyrics still resonate and I’m still kind of connected to them. Songs like ‘Good Souls’ and ‘Four to the Floor’ and ‘Silence is Easy’, I still connect to those lyrics and they still mean a lot to me, whereas songs like ‘Alcoholic’ and ‘Tie Up My Hands’ are still really special songs and I still really enjoy performing them live, but they’re more a set of lyrics that could only have been written by a 20 year old in their naivety, and the youthful angst attached to them. That’s what makes them enjoyable, and good, but maybe we’ll perform those songs for the audience rather than to connect with them myself.
I think there’s still a value to that, and people still come up to me and say what a song like ‘Alcoholic’ means to them because they’ve been through situations where that song has helped them, so it still means a lot to perform those songs, but I think inevitably you just grow up as a person.
Do you prefer performing live, or are you more in your comfort zone writing at home?
They both feed into each other. Performing for me is a joy. I think it’s the icing on the cake, it’s the reward for the hard work that’s gone into the writing, getting to perform it for people.
Do you still have the drive to be constantly putting pen to paper and to write new songs all the time?
Yeah, absolutely. It’s just about managing your time and if anything, I’m probably writing more songs than I was back in the day because I’m a bit less precious about it. I’m not thinking, “Is this the greatest song I’ve ever written?” There’s still a value in seeing ideas to their completion and honing them into something that you’re proud of, I think that’s the key to it.
What’s that saying? “Comparison is the thief of joy”, so if you’re constantly going “Oh, that’s not as good as ‘Silence Is Easy’” or “that’s not as good as ‘Four to the Floor’ so there’s no point putting it out” you’d never get anything done. It might just be a song that suits a totally different mood, or sound, or time and place. I still have moments where writing is difficult and like most artists, I can be quite hard on myself a lot of the time but I just manage to see a lot of ideas to completion and sometimes it helps have a bit less time on your hands so you can focus. I have a young daughter, and I know which days she will be at nursery, so I know those are the days that I can sit down and write.
Are there any stones still left unturned in your career?
It would be great to take this string project to an even grander location like the Barbican or the Royal Albert Hall, that would be the pinnacle. I’d also love to play at Glastonbury again, I think would be a dream as well. We played it a couple of times in 2002 and 2004, and I haven’t played there since, so I think it’s high time that we went back and completed the circle.
Starsailor play two sold out shows with strings arranged by Joe Duddell on Saturday 15th February at the Tung Auditorium, Liverpool.
They embark on a 15-date 25th anniversary tour across the UK & Europe in 2025. More info: https://www.starsailor.band/tour
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