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 Sam Duckworth, or Get Cape Wear Cape Fly as he’s better
known to his fans, will soon release his debut single I Spy. He will already be familiar to most thanks to
support slots with the likes of The Magic Numbers and Funeral For A Friend, and
appearances at high profile events such as Love Music Hate Racism and Wireless
Festival. Not just another run of the mill singer-songwriter, the politically
aware 20 year-old from Southend splices acoustic guitar strummings with electro beats
straight from his lap top. Uk Music caught up with Mr Duckworth backstage at a recent gig for a quick chat.
So how are things going for you?
Really, good, I’m really excited. Things are moving in the
right direction, lots of exciting stuff coming up, lots of festivals, and we’re
getting good radio play.
When did you start getting into music?
I’ve always been into music, more so now than ever because
it’s kind of consumed my life. It’s just a massive hobby of mine. I guess from
about the age of 10 or 11 is when the passion really started to take place.
Why at that age?
I just started listening to proper music and stopped
listening to East 17 and the Spice Girls!
What were you listening to?
Just music that was not pop, just getting into stuff like Green Day
and Alkaline Trio.
Why the stage name?
I just didn’t want to be going out as Sam Duckworth because
I didn’t want this attitude of achy breaky heart singer-songwriter going out
and pouring his heart out. People like Bob Mould, Liam Frost, David Gray, I
think they’re great, I’m not saying they’re not, thing is I think my music is
quite different to what they do and I didn’t want the preconception that I was
a solo artist. At the time I chose the name I wasn’t sure how it was going to
grow.
Would you say this was a good time for music?
I think it’s a great time for music. You hear all this pop’s
coming back, r ‘n’ b is coming back and it’s basically major corporate figures
thinking we can’t do any more, we can’t manipulate our audiences, these people
have wised up and thought, you know what? I’m going to buy a CD that’s good.
When you have bands like the Automatic coming at number three in the album
charts and Bloc Party with top twenty singles, and bands like Forward Russia
who you would never expect to be in the charts, it is an exciting time for
music. You look at the charts and like
25 out of the top 40 would be bands, and they’d be bands that formed out of
their own choice. It’s nice to be in an
environment where people are writing great pop music and pop music that comes
from a passion from being musicians and being playing in bands as opposed to I
want to be famous, have loads of money and I want to shag a footballer.
But at the same time, there’s this culture of celebrity
where everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame..
That’s always going to be the way, it’s always going to be
fickle. They’ll always latch on to watching other people. It’s almost like
they’re displacing things from their own lives onto other people, like
celebrities thinking, you know what, my insecurities are becoming their
insecurities because I want to get rid of them. So, there’s always going to be
that culture, but it’s great when people like Chris Martin, who’s a celebrity,
but uses that platform to do good stuff.
What inspires your lyrics?
Personal stuff that goes on really. People say it’s
political, but I think it’s very personal in terms of things like racism affect
me, so therefore I write about them.
Why is that issue in particular so important to you?
It’s injustice and it’s not something that belongs in our
society. It’s something I’ve experienced
a couple of times and it really shook me up.
Thing is, when Barking has 9 out of its 12 Parliamentary candidates being
from the British National Party, you just think this is not right, this needs
to be sorted out.
Would you say that people are disillusioned at mainstream
politics?
The youth are always going to be disillusioned with
politics, the simple reason is they don’t think they can connect with
politicians and it’s because they expect politicians to be a mirror of
themselves. I don’t necessarily connect with politicians, but I know that if
I’m not going out there and voting or thinking politically I’m going to be in a
situation where we have BNP candidates. Or David Cameron going out and being
like 'I listen to Radiohead and I’m into new music', then going round saying that
music being played on Radio 1 on a Saturday and Sunday night influences gun and
knife crime. In other words, black music, urban music, r ‘n’ b is the cause of
crime in country. The disillusionment
simply comes from the fact that Tony Blair went to private school, David
Cameron went to private school and 90% of our country didn’t go to private
school. Although their views may be 95%
correct, people don’t feel like they can connect with them personally.
But the point is that people no longer care….
That’s one of the great things about having a platform,
doing interviews and playing live, is that you can make people realise how dire
we are in this situation.
Do you think music is the right platform then to raise such
important issues?
I think every platform is the right platform, whether that
be having a conversation in the street, a conversation in the pub, or the
seeing Football Against Racism banner in the centre because of the World
Cup.
Can you see youself still doing this in 10 years time?
I’ll be doing this ‘til I die, whether I’m getting paid to
do it or not. It’s what I want to do and it feels like it’s the right thing for
me to be doing and I love it.
I Spy is out on 10 July.
For more info: www.getcapewearcapefly.com
Words: Helen Duong
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I can't go a day now without listening to one of there song.
My fave so far is i spy and The lighthousekeeper