How One Conversation Became a Song for Jay Saint James
Punk Head: You describe this as a portrait of a real person. What was the exact moment you knew she had a song in her?
Jay Saint James: Well, if you met her you'd get it. Some people have such character that they almost hand you the material. All you really have to do is pay attention and write honestly about what you see. The opening line of the song, "She said I need love to feed my ego," is something she actually said. The moment I heard it, I knew there was a song in there somewhere.
I've always thought art is just an expression of the human condition. Some people have such a beautiful spirit that they almost demand art to be created about them. She was one of those people.
Punk Head: The song has a real bite to it in the way it shuts down the "lecherous bar fly" character. Did you know from the start it needed that protective edge, or did it emerge as you wrote?
Jay Saint James: The bar fly character is really a composite of men she'd told me about and people I've encountered myself. We all know that guy; the fella past his prime festering at the end of the local bar. I needed a character for her story to push against.
I think I realised how much this person meant to me after I wrote the song and recognised what I'd actually written. There's a lot of love and admiration in there. I think I used the male antagonist as a bit of a punching bag because I wanted to defend her honour in the song when maybe no one had defended her when she needed it most in real life. The song isn't really about him. It's about her strength in spite of people like that.
Punk Head: Did Martha McBain's guitar part change the emotional temperature of the track, or did it confirm what was already there?
Jay Saint James: The guitar part definitely elevated what was already there. I write at the piano, but I always heard this as a guitar song. The piano can sometimes sound a little too grand - no pun intended. This song needed a few rough edges. It needed to feel lived in, and the guitar gave it that.
Martha really connected with the song, and I think that comes through in her performance. When someone genuinely believes in what they're playing, it raises everything. I think her playing brought a warmth and authenticity to the record that helped the song become what it was always meant to be.
Punk Head: You describe writing for people, not algorithms. What does that actually look like in the room when you are building a track from scratch?
Jay Saint James: My writing process and recording process are two completely different things. Before a record is ever considered, I have a song. I write because I have something I want to communicate with other people - something to celebrate, commemorate, understand or commiserate over.
Once I move into the recording process, I stop being an artist and become a fan. That's when I start thinking about how I'd want to experience the song as a listener. What would make me feel something? What serves the song best?
Nothing is planned or calculated. It's all instinct and feeling. People feel; algorithms don't.
Punk Head: You reference The Royston Club and that contemporary indie energy, but the record still feels very internal and observational. Where do you see yourself sitting between external scene influence and internal storytelling instinct?
Jay Saint James: I don't worry too much about what anyone else is doing, although I am probably a bit of a sponge creatively. I absorb influences into my work, but my influences are so varied that I don't think I end up sounding like anyone other than myself.
Everything I do is instinctive. The moment I start trying to calculate what type of song I should write, what scene I should fit into, or what style I should explore, I usually end up with nothing of any real value. It might sound clichéd, but songs just happen. Art comes through us from above. Artists just filter it.
