It’s been a wee while since we caught up with James Mackenzie, what better time to do it than prior to his main stage performances at Belladrum 2012 and BFest 2012.
It’s been a busy year for James so far, with a number of high profile support slots including Hue & Cry, Roddy Woomble and Gallagher & Lyle. James finds it difficult to identify a highlight “There’s not been a particular stand out but I think achievements like playing at King Tuts and supporting Hue & Cry in Glasgow have been great successes and shows that I’ve been working hard .” A point that there is no denying.
Outside of gigging, James continue to work behind the scenes “I’ve been working on some new material and collaborating with some fantastic people”. They include Edinburgh Dubstep and Electronic band DARC who have produced a remix of “Comfortable” which will appear on the B-side of the planned limited edition release of “Something I’m Not Telling You”.
James and his band are gracing the main stage of Belladrum but he warns “ it’s different from any other gig we’ve ever done before… be prepared for a few surprises” . When he is not gigging the list of bands that he is looking forward to includes Frightened Rabbit, Fink and This Silent Forest.But the list does not end, after Belladrum he is playing BFest where his must see list includes LaFontaines, Make Sparks and ROADWAY.
After the festival October sees James back on the road to promote the new, aforementioned, single. For the tour he will be taking along special guests Chris Gorman and Kevin Pearce “(they) both have fantastic voices” James adds “I can’t wait to let my fans hear these guys”. The tour kicks off in Glasgow at Bloc then hit Edinburgh, Inverness (Ironworks), Portree, Wick and Thurso.James enthusiasim is clear “I can’t wait to let my fans hear these guys. It’s great to be doing the circuit again but this time with some different musicians and new songs.”
You can keep track of what James is up to via www.jamesmackenziemusic.co.uk and via soundcloud and bandcamp pages – both jamesmackenziemusic.
