STUART CLARK: James, there aren’t many people who start the year playing to 40 people in Doyle’s of College Green, and finish it with nearly 1.5 million album sales.
JAMES BLUNT: Yeah, and I had to pay them to turn up! It’s been an amazing turn around, but you know, those small shows were what I appreciated at the start. It’s that connection with people and being able to see the whites of their eyes that’s valuable.
Was there a particular point when you thought, ‘Oh my God, this is really taking off!’
Em, no. It’s been a gradual progression. We did these shows, and one week there were 40 and the next a couple of hundred. People who’d seen me before would come back and bring their mates, and there was my mother buying a heap load of albums, which really helped.
I imagine that any concerns your parents had about you wasting your time went out the window when Back To Bedlam got to number one.
My father was nervous to begin with when I left my job, but that’s a parent’s role in life, isn’t it? But he was happy when he heard it on the radio, and now I’ve employed him to sell my t-shirts for me!
The album was recorded in LA under the watchful eye of Linda Perry, the former 4 Non Blondes woman who can dash a hit record out in five minutes. Was that in any way intimidating?
I signed to the independent label she has called Custard Records. It was a weird connection because she works with Christina Aguilera, Pink, Gwen Stefani and me. She just tapped into my feminine side along the way. Linda’s a lesbian and my first weekend in Los Angeles I found myself in a swimming pool with nine naked women making-out with each other.
Ms. Perry aside, who are the songwriters you admire?
The early ‘70s were a special time for songwriters, people like Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and Elton John. Nowadays I think Damien Rice is really magical.
You toured with Elton John, didn’t you?
I didn’t have to sleep with him, but Paul (Beard, James’ keyboard-player) was giving him blowjobs! No, Elton was great. He’s one of those guys who’s got his ear to the ground musically and champions people like Rufus Wainwright and Ryan Adams. As somebody who’s new in to it, it’s really special to have someone that high up saying, “I’ll give you my backing and support you.”
Were you offended that Elton asked Pete Doherty to do Live 8 with him and not you?
No, I think Pete did a really good job. Elton John played Live 8 and then came over to the RDS in Dublin where I did the soundcheck for him. To suddenly go out and play in front of 28,000 people is an amazing opportunity.
It’s fair to say that you’ve not had the most traditional of rock ‘n’ roll upbringings. At what point did you decide you’d had enough of the army and wanted to go into music full-time?
I learned music from a really early age. My mother forced me to take up violin and the piano, which I hated. My only memories of the violin were dancing anti-clockwise around a table aged five. I was with some other kids playing ‘Hot-Cross Buns’ and I’m pretty sure we were involved in something satanic! Having managed to escape that, I started playing the guitar aged 14 or 15 and writing songs. I had to join the army because they paid for my university fees. Elvis Presley did it, and so did Jimi Hendrix.
Is it a story concocted for the press, or did you really trundle round Kosovo with a guitar strapped to your tank?
If you go to war, you’ve got to take something to keep your mind busy in the downtime. Some people take a pack of cards, and some people take a football and for me it was obvious to take a guitar. The reason it was strapped to the outside, is that there wasn’t enough room on the inside.
You were in the Household Cavalry, which meant you wore the funny hat.
Yeah, I had a metal helmet and a white plume and armour and boots up to my thigh. I still wear that on the weekends.
Did you meet the Queen Mum?
I didn’t meet the Queen Mum, no. I guarded her when she lay in state for a week. I was one of the guys on the corner of the coffin, and we used to stand there with our heads bowed leaning on a sword. She wasn’t very talkative at that time.
Having served with them, are you pro- or anti-the Royal Family?
For me, I was protecting the Queen for a year. She was a really witty, funny and charming person. The thing you never see on TV is her smiling. On TV she’s doing ceremonial stuff and it’s official and she takes that frightfully seriously. I enjoy the Royal Family because it makes Britain different, much as you enjoy the things that are traditional to Ireland and make it such a special country.
As somebody who was in a warzone and doesn’t bang on about it, what do you make of 50 Cent using being shot at as a marketing tool?
50 Cent advertises that he got shot nine times, which to me just sounds remarkably stupid. I’ve been shot at plenty of times and managed to dodge it. So, yeah, well done him!
When you’re writing songs, are you happy, sad, pissed or sober? Or all four?
It’s just trying to focus on something that’s going on in the mind, a memory or an experience. There’s no rule. Some songs come really quickly. ‘You’re Beautiful’ came into my mind faster than I could write it down and I was almost panicking! The same with ‘No Bravery’ – it took about 10 minutes to write because the reasons behind it were just there. And then other songs take a bit of work. With ‘Wise Men’, I wrote the initial idea in 1995.
Is it true that you’ve asked the record company to delete ‘You’re Beautiful’ so that people don’t get sick of it?
We have, because there are ten songs on Back To Bedlam. That’s ten chapters, and you wouldn’t pick up a book and read chapter four and nothing else.
Finally, I must ask you about the allegations that appeared recently on Popbitch.
There was an appalling story on Popbitch saying that I know the best drug dealers in London and I would like to categorically say that is absolutely untrue. My drug dealer is crap!