American Splendor

The story of Jem Griffiths may only be a few chapters old but if it were a work of fiction the chances are that no-one would believe it – the tale of how an unknown musician from Wales packed up and shipped out to America and came back with one of last year’s biggest selling US albums. Oh and along the way, she just happened to have one of her songs covered by Madonna…

There’s a lot to talk to Jem about, yet this would seem as good a place as any to start. Her song ‘Nothing Fails’ went from a session with producer Guy Sigsworth to becoming perhaps the finest moment on Madge’s American Life album. You certainly think it would have established its author beyond question in the eyes of the music industry, but for Jem it was a small – if significant – step.
“That was more a stamp of approval from someone who is amazing and obviously well known,” she explains. “It meant that when my album came out in America people probably gave it a listen as opposed to ignoring it.”
It certainly didn’t lead to instant fame or fortune, or even a record contract for the aspiring Griffiths.
“I was trying to get a record deal in London for two years and was sick of it. Nobody rejected me but they just kept wanting to hear more music and eventually I’d had enough. I’d been to America a few times and eventually I ended up in LA. I heard this radio station and got my mate to drive me over there and drop off my CD and they started playing it.”
That station happened to be KCRW, one of the most influential in the US, and it started a ball rolling that shows no sign of stopping just yet.
“I suppose there was a bit of fate involved,” Jem admits. “I do like America and I’d always wanted to live there so I wasn’t really daunted by the experience. If you don’t think ‘How I am going to do this?’ but just that you’re going to do it, then you forget about the little details that are actually huge, like how I could possibly break America?”
Yet break it she has undoubtedly begun to do with her album Finally Woken, a record that carries more weight than the ‘new Dido’ tag might suggest. Whether she can repeat that success at home is a question that will be answered soon enough, although the early signs are positive.
“I don’t really expect anything. People are saying that I’m being really hyped over here and the response has been lovely but I don’t feel under pressure because everything is just a bonus. You make your music and hope that people will like it. If they don’t I’m still going to write songs.
“I used to think, why can’t they see that I have a vision, isn’t that what they’re supposed to be looking for? The reality is that everyone gets a bit scared and so they sign boy and girl bands. When I met my A&R he just jumped around the room and didn’t want me to leave, I’d dreamt of that. You’d have thought that the Americans would have been more wary of me because my music’s a little bit quirky.”
Jem’s fortunes do seem to be decidedly on the up, although she’s not letting it sweep her along too much as of yet.
“My foot is in the door in America but I haven’t broken it as far as I’m concerned. It’s nice that people are saying that but I’ve still got a lot of work to do. Sometimes I think that they’re weirdly fascinated by me. Some of the places I go on tour they just stare at me.”

Finally Woken is out now on Ato Records.