Sam's Town

“Sorry!” Sam Sparro says through a mouthful of cheese toastie. “We just arrived and haven’t had time for lunch. You want some?”

Kind offers of grub notwithstanding, there’s something instantly endearing about the Sydney-born, Los Angeles-bred, London-dwelling popstar. Peeping out from behind the oversized specs that liken him to a Gok Wan/Alexis Taylor-from-Hot Chip-hybrid, the man born Sam Falson speaks with a scrambled accent that perfectly illustrates his travel-heavy childhood.
“I do consider myself Australian,” he smiles, “although I’m not really patriotic towards any country. I consider myself kind of international. But yeah, I’ll always be an Aussie.”
Sparro – in Dublin to perform on the Late Late Show – is currently the Black & Golden Boy of European pop, thanks to that ubiquitous single. I ask him if he’s been surprised by the success of ‘Black And Gold’.
“When I wrote it, I felt pretty good about it,” he says. “It started off kind of underground and low-key, and we put it out on (co-songwriter/producer) Jesse Rogg’s label. The fact that it’s so big now is crazy. I don’t even have to sing it anymore! We usually play it at the end of a show, and I’m a bit worn out by then, so I just hold the microphone up and the crowd sings along!”
Sparro’s long list of influences (“Everyone from D’Angelo to Daft Punk”) are certainly audible on his diverse eponymous debut, but I ask whether his gospel singer/minister father’s chosen career path was an inspiration for the young Sparro’s own musical vocation.
“Well, my Dad was more influenced by bluesy, folky artists,” he reveals. “He was a big James Taylor and Bob Dylan fan, stuff like that. I knew I wanted to do music, but I knew I didn’t want to be a guitar player because my Dad was. But there’s five generations of musicians in my family – so it’s like the family business, really.”
When pressed to unearth a source for that deep, textured, soulful voice of his, however, he does admit that a childhood spent amongst a “mostly black” church congregation certainly influenced his technique.
“I’m sure I didn’t come out of the womb singing like that,” he grins, “but I think being influenced by so much black music helped. I became really obsessed with late ‘70s and ‘80s funk as a teenager. I got really into Rick James and The Gap Band and Chaka Khan, stuff like that.”
I ask him what it’s like to be standing on the precipice of a summer spent touring the world as an international popstar.
“It’s weird!” he chuckles. “Most of the time you’re so busy that you don’t think about it. You’re in this bubble, and you’ve got your manager, and your tour manager and your band with you… my boyfriend is travelling with me at the moment, too. It’s easy to forget about all the other stuff that goes on around you. I guess you just hold on tightly, and hope that you don’t become a train wreck, and that you’ll stay grounded and be happy, most of all. I think that’s really important.”
And are you happy?
“Yeah, most of the time I am,” he nods emphatically. “As long as I get to eat and sleep, I’m happy. But hey, about this Late Late Show thing? It’s actually live on TV? Wow… Can you say anything you want? Am I gonna get fined if I swear? No? Hmm...”
He chuckles devilishly as he adjusts those specs.
“Maybe I’ll wear something funny, at least...”

Sam Sparro’s self-titled debut album is out now on Universal