With his fantastic new single ‘Human’ flying high, Rang’N’Bone Man is gearing up to take on this years Reading & Leeds Festival! We caught up with Rory to talk all things Reading & Leeds!Your sound, style, genre is hard to pin down. Would it be fair to call you urban soul? How do you find your way from MCing over drum n bass and jungle to your current sound?
I’ve always tried to stay away from labels – I like the fact that people can’t put their finger on it/pick a genre!
Having said that, Hip hop & soul runs through everything I do.
As far as the MC thing goes, I’ve always written rap lyrics & I still do, it helps me to write songs.
Your music videos have always been like an aperitif to your music, complimenting them and accentuating your artistic profile. Where does the inspiration come for that? Are you into the short film scene?
Not sure about the scene as such, but I’m into films in a big way. I love early cinema like Davidlean films.
And gritty uk stuff like Shane meadows, Danny Boyle.
I also grew up in an era when music videos where ground breaking like Hype Williams, Missy Elliot videos.
It’ll always be a big part of my artistry.
You’ve said previously that you want your music to influence people. What matters to you most at the moment that you would like to influence people in?
Basically I’ve gone through times when I wanted to give up music totally.
Maybe because it’s so hard to juggle a job & be creative or just cos I felt like it wasn’t going anywhere.
But it only took hearing other people’s music to give me motivation.
So I hope I can do that for someone.
Your new single is ‘Human’ – what is the tune about and what was the writing process like for it? And can we expect to see it live at Leeds and Reading?
The song is kind of an admitting to not having the answers.
Like I’m not qualified to give advice.
Hence the line ‘I’m no profit or messiah, you should go looking somewhere higher’!
I wrote this song with my pal Jamie, it was a relatively quick process cos he already had the melody & we knew what we wanted to say.
You’re playing the Radio 1 Dance Stage at R&L, what can people who haven’t seen you expect from a live show?
Some old, some brand new.
As a band we are well into the festival season, we’re tight now.
We all love to play so expect smiles!!
The R&L line-up is absolutely stacked. Who are you looking to catch that people may not know about?
Go and see Raleigh Ritchie, you won’t regret it!
Full of energy & his songs are great!
Finally, If you could pick three headliners for the ultimate Reading & Leeds Festival line up (Excluding yourself!) who would they be and why?
I’d love to see a “grime all stars” show
Something like
Wiley,Ghetts,Stormzy,Boybetterknow.
That would be amazing
I’ll count that as one headliner.
Joey Badass – He’s one of my favourite artist at the moment.
It’s like everything I love about hip hop.
Flow,lyrics,beats!
Pharaoh Monch – One of the best live acts I’ve ever seen.You can catch Rag’N’Bone Man at Reading Festival on Saturday 27th August, and at Leeds Festival on Sunday 28th August.
Tickets are on Sale now.
