Jack Savoretti

Mezzo londinese e mezzo genovese,
il suo folk rock fa battere il cuore. Ma perché non ci eravamo ancora accorte di lui?
Beh, il nuovo Ep e i concerti tutti italiani sono
SuonAlA AncorA, jAck Sotto, Savoretti (30 anni) con la moglie, l’attrice jemma Powell. Sopra, il suo ultimo Ep Sweet Hurt. In attesa del nuovo album (esce nel febbraio 2015), suona anche da noi, in luglio. Sarà il 22 a Venezia, il 24 a Firenze, il 25 a Bologna, il 27 a Fano (Pu), il 29 a Genova e il 31 a Palmanova (uD).
Sl’occasione per appiccicargli gli occhi (e le orecchie) addosso testo di Cristiana Gattoni
Spudoratamente bello. Inutile «Ma ora, finalmente, mi sto
negare l’evidenza: questa è facendo conoscere anche qui»,
la prima cosa che viene in mente, ci racconta in un perfetto italiano. pensando a Jack Savoretti. Per Tanto che, dopo i concerti dello
di più, di mestiere scrive (e canta) scorso marzo, tornerà di nuovo in quel genere di brani folk rock Italia a luglio per una serie di live. capaci di far innamorare una Sembra che l’Italia sia nel suo cuore... ragazza nel giro di tre accordi. «Non ci ho mai vissuto. Però
Se a questo si aggiunge che è pure ogni anno, durante l’estate, passavo mezzo italiano – è nato a Londra, un paio di mesi in Liguria, dove
ma il padre è genovese e la madre è nato mio padre. Per questo sono
un bel mix!
«Credo faccia bene crescere in famiglie e luoghi dove le culture
si mescolano: è una cosa che ti dà un “passo” diverso. Mi è servito anche per il mio mestiere: se nasci in Inghilterra, difficilmente prendi in considerazione la musica mediterranea. Io invece ho ascoltato i grandi cantautori americani e inglesi, ma anche Dalla, Battisti, De Gregori».
Però canta in inglese. Ha mai pensato
di passare all’italiano?
«A volte sì, ma non mi sento pronto. Devo ancora migliorare! L’italiano è una lingua sofisticata, le parole hanno tanti significati. Con l’inglese, invece,
è più facile. Non devi dominarlo
alla perfezione per cantare...».
È vero che ama molto scrivere?
«Sì, ma non avrei mai potuto essere uno scrittore a tempo pieno. La stessa cosa vale per la musica: non mi sono mai sentito così
bravo da fare solo il musicista. Però, unendo le due cose, musica
e scrittura, riesco a esprimermi
al meglio. Come dicevamo, mescolare le cose funziona sempre!». le piace il mix di stili anche nella moda? «Non saprei... A sentire i miei amici italiani mi vesto come
un inglese; per gli inglesi, invece,
il mio è uno stile italiano. La moda che sicuramente preferisco, però
è quella italiana classica, ispirata agli anni Sessanta».
Si definirebbe fashion-victim?
«Io? Non credo (ride).
Do quest’idea?».
Si nota una certa ricerca...
«Adoro la moda e gli abiti, ma odio i trend e le cose che vanno e vengono velocemente.
Anche nella musica».
l’altra sua passione è il calcio. Ai Mondiali la prima partita dell’Italia sarà contro l’Inghilterra (il 14 giugno). Per chi tiferà? «Italia assolutamente! E non lo dico perché questa intervista uscirà su un giornale italiano, giuro! Quando si parla di calcio, il dna paterno viene fuori al 100%». T - In Style

Hay artistas que se te meten den- tro y ahí se quedan. Por lo que dicen, por cómo lo dicen, por el poder de su presencia. Por quién sabe qué. Senci- llamente conectan contigo y te hacen arder. Jack Savoretti es uno de ellos. Después de cantar a dúo con la mis- mísima Sienna Miller e irse de gira con Corinne Bailey Rae, está enamorando a media Europa. Tiene 30 años llenos de sensibilidad, voz épica y alma ele- gante. Destila una música que es la her- mana con jeans rotos de la poesía.
Sus letras convocan lo bueno de la vida sin obviar las sombras, y el resultado es catártico. Habla mientras rasga las cuerdas de la guitarra a la altura, lite- ralmente, del corazón. Es el último trovador. Para muchos, el nuevo Si- mon sin Garfunkel. Lee a Neruda y es- cucha a Bruce Springsteen, con quien compartió escenario en el Hard Rock Calling de Hyde Park (2012); repetirá experiencia el próximo mes de agosto, esta vez con Neil Young. «No puedo separar el momento en el que aprendí a tocar del momento en el que me puse a escribir. Sencillamente me di cuenta de que no era tan buen músico como para ser guitarrista ni tan buen escritor
74 www.elle.es C2201_R132640_EL333AG[AGMUSICA_1]_074_1.BK.indd 74
como para dedicarme sólo a escribir; por eso pensé que si ponía las dos cosas juntas, podría hacer llegar mi mensa- je», dice con un español casi perfecto. Y es que, a pesar de haber nacido en Lon- dres y haberse criado en Génova, gasta sus veranos en Formentera, donde po- drás verlo el 2 de julio en ChezzGerdi, un garito idílico al borde del mar. El mismo que ha elegido para grabar el ví- deo de Sweet Hurt, un single para can- tar con la ventanilla bajada, número 1 en iTunes en Reino Unido y anticipo de un disco en el que trabaja con gente como Samuel Dixon, bajista de Adele.
«Mi música es melancólica, mediterránea, y siempre tiene una intención: llenar de romanticismo el día a día. Hacerlo mejor. Tocar me conecta con el universo
y conmigo mismo». Con esta máxima, sus canciones han llegado a la serie de televisión Anatomía de Grey; ade- más, Calvin Klein le pidió que fuese su embajador, y Paul McCartney, que participase en su vídeo para Queenie Eye, en el que aparece junto a Johnny Depp, Kate Moss y Sean Penn.
«No me gusta tomarme nada muy en serio, ni siquiera mi música. Me van las cosas simples. De otra manera, te distraes», alega como si el éxito no fuese con él. ¿Y cuál de esas pequeñas cosas le da una mayor satisfacción? «Viajar. A veces somos como terroris- tas, nos encerramos en nuestro mundo y sólo vemos lo que tenemos. Cuando viajas eres vulnerable a todo. Ves de golpe lo que es verdadero. El viaje nos vuelve honestos». Escuchar sus can- ciones también es una forma de viajar. - Elle Espana

Meet Jack Savoretti, this mighty fine specimen of a man is the lucky fella that we're swooning over this week. With his husky tones and his floppy hair, we could imagine him singing to us while looking deeply in to our eyes.
Well that's if he'd have the time, Jack is a busy busy man! After a successful UK tour, singing with Sienna Miller (a duet that featured in The Vampire Diaries), AND a festival appearance with the legend that is Bruce Springsteen, we're surprised he can get his bearings!
And that's not all, we can't wait for his new album Before the Storm, which is due for release 19th November. Hmm, we'll have to put that on our Christmas list, but we'd prefer it if Jack would deliver it personally - wearing only a Santa hat.


Read more: http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/love-sex/celebrity-man-watch-2011#ixzz38IxuFh1Z - Cosmopolitan

It is 11am and the Cambridge branch of Caffè Nero is about to witness an impromptu gig by Jack Savoretti. Unexpected and unannounced, the singer-songwriter walks in off the street, whips out his guitar and harmonica and starts playing a song called One Man Band. Were this a Hollywood movie, Savoretti's performance would slowly but inexorably grip the patrons, transforming the cafe into a sea of smiling faces and loud appreciation: at the end, they might rise as one in a damp-eyed standing ovation. But this isn't Hollywood - it's East Anglia on a cold Monday morning, and the reaction is somewhere between mild curiosity and mortification.

Indeed, the loudest response comes from a baby, who within seconds of Savoretti striking up, decides to add its own keening, Yoko Ono-esque guest vocal. At one point, an elderly lady who looks like she's been dreamt up by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and seems to have spent the morning putting on a variety of overcoats without taking any of them off, appears at the doorway. She fixes Savoretti with a lingering, unblinking stare, turns on her heel and leaves. Throughout it all, Savoretti keeps going: "I'm just a lonely singer on a lonely road," he cries, nothing if not apposite.

By the time I meet him, Savoretti has been doing this for a month. He is eschewing the music industry's usual promotional outlets in favour of touring Caffè Nero stores, in the hope it will give him an advantage over the massed ranks of good-looking, vaguely Nick Drake-ish Radio 2-friendly singer-songwriters. For their part, the coffee chain think the tour will give them a "critically important" link to "creativity and energy". "I hope that if Jack goes on to become a big star, there will be thousands and thousands of people who associate us with him," says Caffè Nero's Paul Ettinger, who's keen to stress that no money has changed hands. "It's a halo effect."

If Savoretti does become a big star, it would be a churlish voice indeed that suggests he hasn't worked hard enough. The tour involves travelling the country in a Vauxhall Astra, playing three or four coffee shops a day, while his tour manager hands out fliers. Perhaps predictably, reactions from customers have been mixed. It's not entirely clear what happened in the Wrexham branch, but Savoretti and his tour manager talk about the town in the same tone of voice you suspect the Rolling Stones use when discussing Altamont. Elsewhere, however, fans have turned up to cheer him on, "which does give you a boost if you're trying to sing over the 55th espresso of the day".

As the Astra speeds to Peterborough, he is unswervingly upbeat about it all, but it's not hard to detect a slight weariness. Something about him suggests a man who would happily never set eyes on a double macchiato or a mozerella and basil panini again. "There are times," he nods, "when you want to get to somewhere where there isn't a coffee machine."

Savoretti can at least console himself with the thought that he's part of a burgeoning movement of artists attempting to cut the established music industry out of the career. Scarcely a month goes by without news that another one has decided to abandon their record label and instead throw their lot in with a non-musical company. Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and legendary alt-rockers Sonic Youth have signed with Starbucks' Hear Music label, which is, according to Sonic Youth bass player Kim Gordon, "less evil" than the band's former label, Universal. Last month, dance duo Groove Armada signed a deal with Bacardi that sees the global spirits brand releasing a new EP and the duo performing at various Bacardi-branded events. Red Bull is rumoured to be launching its own record label later this year. Ettinger doesn't rule out the possibility of Caffè Nero following suit in the future. "Although," he adds, a little witheringly, "I'd hope we wouldn't go down the Starbucks route of signing dinosaurs."

Aside from the tour, Savoretti's album gets played for 15 minutes a day in 350 Caffe Nero shops, "so you can reckon that 15,000 people every day are hearing it", but Ettinger thinks that bands are not merely attracted to non-musical companies by the targeted exposure they can offer. They're so disillusioned with the established music industry that they genuinely feel that a coffee chain or a rum brand is likely to be more supportive of an artist than a record label: "I've worked with a couple of artists who've been dropped overnight because the record label lost interest. We're in it for the long term, we'll support them for 10 years if necessary."

He has a point. Joni Mitchell's comeback album was not the kind of radio-friendly, accessible product that a traditional record label looking to relaunch the career of a heritage rock star would hope for: presumably the "halo effect" of having such a revered artist attached to the Starbucks brand made up for the album's lack of commerciality. You could infer the same dissatisfaction with record labels from the number of artists attempting to fund albums without their aid. The undisputed pioneers are perennially unfashionable prog-rockers Marillion: since October, fan pre-orders of their as-yet-unnamed 15th studio album have secured the band a fairly mind-boggling £360,000 advance.

"A record label's running costs tend to be quite high, and for them to make their numbers work, they tend to offer bands quite low advances now - if you're looking at an artist that's going to sell 50,000 albums, they're not going to be writing a six-figure cheque. Are you not better getting the financing from somewhere else, paying back that financing? Then once you've recouped the costs, the money goes straight to the artist," says Sue Harris. She manages venerable art-rock duo Sparks, who are funding their 21-night June residency at London's Islington Academy by a similar method: fans have been encouraged to bid to sponsor each show in an online auction. "It would have been very hard to do without the fan sponsorship," she says. "We did initially think that we should go and talk to various corporate people, but then I thought, I could spend weeks trying to find people within those organsiations that are aware of Sparks. Gradually, the penny dropped. We already know Sparks fans, so why not talk to them? It's more achievable now. In the past you didn't have the internet, there wasn't that direct interaction with your fans. If it's a band that's already established, they know their fanbase, it's just a case of being able to talk to them."

Similar thinking clearly motivates the new artists currently attempting to fund albums via websites like slicethepie.com, a kind of fantasy football league for unsigned acts that encourages visitors to invest in bands. Given the current climate, its appeal is obvious. One music industry rumour claims that the largest advance a new artist can expect from a record company these days is £20,000: not much for a four-piece band to live on once they've paid for recording, tour support, manager and publisher. Why not take the pragmatic step to cut down on overheads, try to raise funding elsewhere and not have to battle with a major label suit over thorny issues like artistic control?

"The major labels have to downsize and they have to cut costs. They have to sign fewer bands, give out smaller advances. Things are quite bad now, but I think it's only going to get worse in the next five years," says Nicola Slade, editor of online music industry newsletter Record of the Day, and author of a book called How to Make Music in Your Bedroom. "If that happens, there is scope for bands to come up through different channels, build a fanbase through touring, and finance records themselves. Expectations have to change, they're going to have to be less idealistic about selling music to adverts in order to survive." She laughs. "It doesn't sound very glamorous, does it?"

There are other drawbacks to attempting to cut the music industry out of your career. Daniel Heptinstall is the frontman of the Alps, the first band to successfully finance an album via slicethepie.com, although, as he notes, the finer points of the website's financing system are lost on him: "I think we give them a pound from every album we sell," he offers. "Or is it two pounds?" It has, he says, been "a very positive experience", but he also freely admits the shortcomings: "PR is a big chunk of the music industry. We've not got the budget EMI have for that, to be honest. It's a case of spending what we can and being sensible."

Davey MacManus agrees. His band, the Crimea, garnered headlines "from the Hollywood Times to the fucking Hindu Times" by releasing their 2007 album, Secrets of the Witching Hour, for free after being dropped by their major label. So far, over 80,000 people have downloaded it: in keeping with their "completely viral" approach, the Crimea's last single was released as a series of 16 MP3-only remixes available from various music blogs. He's clearly proud, reeling off the band's achievements "right on the outside of the music industry": the four videos they made for free, the tours of China and America, the song of theirs that got on an advert. But MacManus isn't quite the unequivocal cheerleader that you might expect. "We can live off this, we can make a career out of it, but it hasn't gone absolutely sky-high, I can't sit here and pretend to you. It's definitely done something, but we're not playing 3,000-capacity venues."

He says the Crimea are uncertain whether they would release an album for free again. "Every sixth-form music course in the country is trying to get us to go and talk to them, but ... I just don't know what's going to happen to the next record. I want to see it go as far as it can, I want what's best for my music, and at the moment, I can't figure out what's best." Part of the problem, he says is that, despite talk of the music industry being on its last legs, there's still pejorative feeling towards anyone who tries to do without it: the artists who've signed with Starbucks are dinosaurs; if the bands funding their own releases were any good, a proper label would be interested.

"Regina Spektor was on our record, and as soon as the head of her label read it was being given away for free, they had this big American lawyer on the phone demanding she be taken off immediately, threatening all sorts. There's definitely the attitude of, if you're giving it away for free, it must be terrible. Radio stations want to see a plot, they want to know how many adverts you have, who's your PR team, who's doing your press, they want to know they're backing a winner." He sighs. "I'm a musician. I want to be all over the radio."

Quite aside from the prosaic frustration, there seems to something telling about that last remark, something that keys in with Slade's observation about life outside the music industry lacking glamour. For all it may be a workable and pragmatic model, a teenager miming with a tennis racket in front of the mirror is hardly dreaming about running a small business with low overheads and low expectations. Perhaps that will change in time.

Meanwhile, when Jack Savoretti arrives at the Peterborough Caffè Nero, he's greeted by a crowd of eager reporters and photographers: just local press, but it's a definite improvement on wailing babies and glowering pensioners. This time, he does the one about being a lonely singer on a lonely road to the accompaniment of popping flashbulbs. For a moment, life outside the music industry has at least a sheen of glamour. Then the song finishes, he packs up his guitar and heads back to his Vauxhall Astra. - The Guardian

Lots of love from us as ever for Jack Savoretti, whom we've followed since way back in 2006 and featured most recently here in 2013 with the track Not Worthy. For the uninitiated, he's released three albums to date and his most recent Before The Storm topped the Indie Album Chart. His duet with Sienna Miller called Hate & Love featured on the TV show The Vampire Diaries. As ever, this title song from his latest four-track EP is accomplished, melodic, soulful acoustic pop at its very best, from a chap who's well and truly paid his dues over the past few years, playing at the Glastonbury and Hard Rock Calling festivals, as well as supporting the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jake Bugg and Gabrielle Aplin. He's heading off on the road again in the coming weeks, starting in Manchester at the Academy on March 27, before taking in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Norwich and Bristol, with a London date at Islington's Assembly Hall on April 1. Perfect summertime driving music, windows down, tune cranked up. Just add warm weather. - Record Of The Day