Small Talk: James Blunt

Small Talk: James Blunt
Harp Magazine - Silver Spring,MD,USA
Last year, James Blunt’s debut album, Back to Bedlam, sold more copies than Coldplay’s X&Y in the UK This year, the former British Army captain and “You ...
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Last year, James Blunt’s debut album, Back to Bedlam, sold more copies than Coldplay’s X&Y in the U.K. This year, the former British Army captain and “You’re Beautiful” songwriter attempts to have similar success in America.

Harp: Did you really sell more albums than Coldplay?

Blunt: For this particular album, for that particular year, yeah. Bear in mind they have sold millions across the world for three albums, so if you add up how much I’ve sold compared to them, it’s no.

Harp: Nor have you married Gwyneth Paltrow.

Blunt: No, and I don’t think I probably will.

Harp: But you totally could if you wanted to.

Blunt: No. I think the charts imply some kind of competition but music isn’t about competing, is it? It’s about making a connection.

Harp: You were in the British Army?

Blunt: Right.

Harp: That’s the question.

Blunt: It was just a day job. When I go out with my friends and stuff they don’t ask me about my time in the army because it’s just not that interesting.

Harp: How about the way people criticize you by saying you play with military precision?

Blunt: There are lots of examples of really sloppy journalism.

Harp: But you also get some good headlines out of it like “James Blunt Is the Bomb.”

Blunt: Exactly.

Harp: Do you really feel like going through the hassle of breaking this album all over again?

Blunt: It’s really great to play it for people who haven’t heard it before. For me, it’s also a new country. I haven’t traveled around, and that’s a new experience in itself.

Harp: What will you do after you conquer America?

Blunt: I have yet to do that. It sounds a little mean.

Harp: I need to keep the military references in there.

Blunt: It’s an invasion. I’d much rather come over and connect with people on a musical level. I think the notion of musical success, I would use the example of Cat Power. She has inspired me. She may not have raced up any charts but she’s a huge success in my mind.

Harp: The part where you say you want to “connect with people,” would you mind if I changed it to, “I want to land like a grenade and shoot people in the face”?

Blunt: Yeah, that’s a good definition.