‘JAMES’ GUITARIST SAUL DAVIES SHARES WHY HE IS BRINGING FOOD POVERTY INITIATIVE ‘MUSIC FEEDS’ BACK TO THE SPOTLIGHT

*“It puts me in a difficult position. I don’t need to go use a food bank, what the f**k do I know about all of that”* | Saul Davies

This month will see Manchester O2 Apollo host the very first ever Music Feeds Live. The initiative of James guitarist Saul Davies and his partner Vanda Guerreiro in 2021, Music Feeds started as a 2-day online live music event during the Covid-19 Pandemic to raise funds for food poverty charities. In a time where we were all stuck at home in what was one of our many ‘lockdowns’, over 35 artists together raised over an incredible £1m for the food charity Fairshare and cultural charities Help the Musician and Stagehand. Showcasing live performances from the likes of Fontaines D.C, Liam Gallagher, Blossoms, Kyle Falconer (The View) and many, many more – the event also worked in conjunction with the Co-op to provide the over 2.4m school meals.

Now 3 years after the sensational online event, Music Feeds goes LIVE for the first time and on Tuesday 27th February, Manchester O2 Apollo will play host to the likes of Starsailor, The Farm, Slow Readers Club, Tom A Smith and of course, James who aim to raise £150,000 for the food poverty charity The Trussell Trust. With music from the above plus appearances from some of the country’s best new and emerging talent (Rosellas, Idol Giants, The Reads plus more), the evening will be hosted by football icons Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher alongside new music champion Chris Hawkins (BBC Radio 6) and feature Joe Duddell’s orchestra.

But why now? Three years after Music Feeds, why is it time to go LIVE? We had the chance to chat with Saul (Davies) and ask that question and more.

“So yeah, we did one event during the pandemic which was music feeds so we called this one music feeds live because it is live which will be at a venue in Manchester – The Apollo. The first music feeds we did was online in Jan 21 and we raised £1m. We had bands come and give us footage, which we put all together and put it all out online and let people see it. It was effectively an all day online festival really.” Saul recalls 2021’s online Music Feeds event. “We always wanted to do an actual physical event we decided so we are doing it now. Same format really, musicians come by together, giving their time for nothing in hope we sell some tickets and make some money. This time it’s for The Trussell Trust who look after a lot of food banks. There’s a limit to what we can do because obviously because we are doing it in a venue so there’s a limit of how many can attend.“

How did you end up involved then?

“It’s not just that we’re involved – I mean we filmed it (2021 online event) and we’re doing it (music feeds live) – so it’s not like we’re involved because somebody asked, we made it. Me and Vanda (Guerreiro) decided that we wanted to do something so we just went to people and kicked people and screamed at people to get involved and they have.”

You have an incredible line up already though, how did you manage that?

“Yeah, I mean at least the venue is fantastic and that’s helped people get involved. Of course it’s the cause which has got people on board though. That’s what’s driving us, we’re all musicians but we have a conscious regardless of where we are in our careers. The nice thing about this event is we get to put some really young talent like Tom A Smith and First Breath After Coma who are coming from Portugal. It’s a really nice thing that they want to come and play in Manchester as they are one of my new favourite bands actually – kind of post rock. For me it’s just really nice to showcase this band.

We recently had Starsailor announced to come and do the show which is amazing because they are one of my favourites. So for me it’s just really nice to work alongside these people who I just admire really. We have our orchestra as well which means we can do some really interesting arrangements. With Joe who works with us quite a lot with us, with my band James. He’s helping put the whole show together, so it will be an interesting creative evening. All we want is that everybody who has got involved walks away and thinks I want to more of those, that was fucking amazing.

Starsailor are the most recent act to be added to the line-up

Also appearing on the Music Feeds Live line-up is Saul’s own band – James, who will perform alongside Joe Duddell’s Orchestra. This live appearance comes ahead of the release of their recently announced 18th studio album Yummy which is set for release on April 12th.

“Yeah so we’re going to do five or six songs probably with the orchestra” Saul tells me. Having celebrated 40 years of James in 2023 with the release of Be Opened By The Wonderful – a double ‘Greatest Hits’ album rearranged and reimagined with Joe Duddell and his orchestra – the band took the songs (plus a full 22 piece orchestra and gospel choir) on a unique mammoth of a tour.

“It was wonderful. It was an amazing tour that we had. It was a challenge but Joe Duddell who does all the arrangements and all that side of it – he’s just brilliant. We worked with them in 2011, then last year on this tour and we’re going to do an extra couple of shows with them in the summer including headlining festivals with the orchestra. We did a global orchestral event last year and we played the main stage at Latitude with the orchestra which was amazing. Doing a big show at midday was the only way they could get us all on stage.“

As a multi-instrumentalist yourself, was working with an orchestra something you personally wanted for James?

“I mean, I’m not actually a big fan of bands doing orchestral stuff as I think it can cross the mark. But I genuinely think in our case that we’re lucky that we have Joe, an amazing orchestra and we have some good songs? Right? And it worked. Some of the best songs which worked with the orchestra wasn’t the most obvious songs that people know us for but I don’t think that’s a problem.“

Now in their 41st year, the band have seen quite a diverse line up across their nearly 18 studio albums which Saul admits “I can’t remember the names of all of them (albums) to be honest, there’s too many. It’s the same with the band, I can’t remember all their fucking names either.” Saul laughs, but we can’t really blame him.

Tell us a bit about the changing James band line up?

“So Jimmy’s (Glennie) been there since the beginning, Tim (Booth) pretty much. Me, Dave (Baynton-Power) and Mark (Hunter) then Andy (Diagram) joined in 89. Adrian (Oxaal) joined in 95 and Larry (Gott) left but still there’s a real core of people who have been there. Then there’s the two girls joined us more recently – Chloe (Alper) and Debbie (Knox-Hewson), they’re not going anywhere. We’re there now though, we just need 2 more and we can start a football team.”

James in their current incarnation (credit Paul Dixon)

James 18th studio album ‘Yummy’ will be released on April 12th via Virgin Music and will feature the bands latest single ‘Is This Love’. Produced by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, Jon Hopkins, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor) and mixed by Cenzo Townsend (Courteeners, The Specials, Everything Everything) you can pre-order Yummy now.

What can you share about the new album then? Can we expect to hear anything new at Music Feeds Live?

“I think in this event, we’re going to do one of the songs. We were talking last night actually about ‘Is This Love’ which has already come out as a single. But you know, singles just aren’t what they used to be in the industry now. I think we got Jo Whiley’s single of the week though. It’s a great song and Joe’s (Duddell) done an arrangement for us so I think we’ll play it at this event in February. Then we’ll probably do a couple of really old songs that we have never done before with the orchestra and then do 3 or 4 older tunes that everybody kind of knows, because there’s a big bag of those.”

There’s no doubt that James as a band are one of the longest standing bands that the UK have produced. and they don’t really need the publicity to sell albums anymore. So, the critics will ask, is what does Saul and the rest of the artists gain from such an event?

“There are people very close to me that have to use food banks and the numbers have increased. We can’t put our head in the sand. People will and that’s their choice but I’m choosing not to do that and say, at least try. We’re limited in what we can do and I’m not in denial that we’re a bunch of musicians who’s lives are very different day by day by day by day. But I do feel we should try and do something.”

I suppose it’s doing what you can with the resources and skill which you have?

” Yeah, I think musicians have a long history with it. Like people make protest songs but we’re not protesting against anything. Some of the best songs that have been written have been protest songs. Like Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and there’s a long tradition of that, especially amongst folk music. People you might be familiar with north of the border like Dick Gaughan who knows what it’s like to be on the edge. Billy Bragg I suppose is like the English version of that in ways. But we’re not doing that, we’re trying to show solidarity. They show solidarity by writing songs for those people and themselves which are a reflection of who they are and the world where they grew up in. A lot of hip hop and rap is a reality based reflection of the culture they come from.”

So why food poverty and why have you chosen The Trussell Trust?

“It’s (food banks) fucking scandalous in our kind of economy. We all know what’s happening to Britain and it’s scandalous that we even have to do this. There’s people across so many different industries and amazing people doing amazing work in the background. I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the position that we all put ourselves in by doing this event because we put ourselves above the pillar and we get attention for it. Like, you’re talking to me and I will talk to you because we want to sell the fucking tickets because we need to raise the money and do some good. But I can’t really be comfortable with it because we talk about my album and we talk about my band and it all starts looks like this is a PR thing. James are secure and have been for a while. We have amazing support from over 40 years of work. I mean, we’ve pissed a lot of people off along the way, but it puts me in a difficult position, you understand that – don’t you? I don’t need to go use a food bank, what the fuck do I know about all of that.

Do you worry about how people will perceive your efforts?

“Some people might not be very happy with it. Some people who run stuff wont be very happy with it because they don’t really like musicians getting involved, getting together and forming a voice. But, I just don’t want to get to the end of my career and think I wish I’d done something. We just see it around us all the time and you see the deep impact that poverty has around us. It becomes like one big unmovable block where people think ‘I can’t do anything about this’. It’s so deep rooted now that we can’t do anything about it. It’s normalised and it always has been like that but the numbers are bigger and it’s deeper because its been going on longer. People’s expectations are a lot different now. We grow up in a different world that we want more and we should have more and we should be able to provide. There really shouldn’t be people hungry in the UK.“

Saul may not be personally suffering the effects of food poverty, however, it’s difficult to ignore the reality of it all. Over 1.5million food parcels were delivered in the UK between April and September 2023. This is a rise of 16% from the same period in 2022. More than half a million emergency parcels were distributed for children – an 11% increase compared to last year (source The Trussell Trust). Families across the UK are having impossible decisions to make every day just to meet basic needs. Last week The Trussell Trust has launched an ‘Essentials Guaranteed Campaign’ which has been backed by many influential figures such as Liam Gallagher, Jodie Whittaker and Ed Sheeran. Even though Music Feeds Live is a food poverty incentive, it touches upon so many different aspects of peoples lives.

“Look at the people who have said ‘yes, we want to come and help you’. We have the likes of Gary Neville turning up, Jamie Carragher and Chris Hawkins as well all wanted to come along and get involved. But why? They say it’s because they want to do something. There’s other much more sophisticated and in better positions than ourselves who actually help people day by day. Like The Trussell Trust or the the 1000’s of food banks which are run by the Church of England for example. I’m not a religious person at all but thank goodness they are doing that for fucks sake, because if they weren’t they who would? There’s a little less hope and for these people who are then going into winter because the winter in the UK is difficult. You’ve got to have the heating on but then you’re faced with the decision of shit, I cant eat. This is insane and it needs to stop. I mean it’s a drop in the ocean really but we do what we can and that’s the long story short, isn’t it?”

Speaking to Saul it is evident that he is uncomfortable about his position in all of this. He recognises that as a successful career musician that he doesn’t have to endure the reality of our cost of living crisis, however he does not take that for granted. He doesn’t want the focus to be on him or his band but his band and his public profile is influential. Doing something, rather than nothing is always going to prevail. Whether you’re just looking for a good night of entertainment, want to discover some new music or just enjoy the nostalgia then Music Feeds Live ticks all those boxes whilst showing solidarity to a very worthwhile cause, The Trussell Trust.