Record deal offers rescue from mean streets
Up-and-coming Kiwi muso Mitch James knows what it means to put in the hard yards, writes Shaun Bamber.
CHRIS MCKEEN/FAIRFAX NZ UP-AND-COMING Kiwi singersongwriter Mitch James has found fame the hard way.
The 21-year-old ‘‘YouTubetaught’’ guitarist says school at St Kentigern College in the Auckland suburb of Pakuranga ‘‘wasn’t fun’’, and music became a refuge.
‘‘I didn’t really have too many mates at school, so I just went into the music centre at lunchtime and picked up the guitar – YouTube was my best friend there,’’ he says.
‘‘Every moment was spent in the music centre, just playing guitar. But it all paid off in the end I guess.’’
The pay-off is the contract James has signed with Sony Music NZ, which released his debut single Move On last month and is putting out an EP of original songs in February.
But even that hasn’t come easily – James’ hard slog started with a one-way trip to London at age 17 with nothing but a guitar, and £20 in his back pocket.
‘‘I walked out of Heathrow with a £20 note and multiple tears in the eye,’’ he says. ‘‘I had to jump the gate to get onto the Tube, because I didn’t know it was going to be more than £20 – and I needed that for a hostel.
‘‘So I went to the cheapest hostel and straight away the next morning I was on to busking. It was pretty much as close to square one as you can get.’’
Literally penniless, James often spent his nights sleeping rough and was robbed twice, beaten once and witnessed a stabbing while busking in Munich and Amsterdam.
‘‘I just kind of got myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The stabbing was actually two nights after I got robbed, so I was having a bit of a nightmare in Amsterdam. I was parked up under a shopfront and saw this confrontation going on. One dude kind of just fell, and then a whole lot of blood started coming out. Amsterdam was pretty loose, that’s for sure.’’
James’ ticket out of his rag-tag life came while he was working in a German hostel and received an email from Sony, who had seen some song covers he’d put up on YouTube and Facebook and wanted to know if he had any original material.
‘‘So I went into the basement of this hostel with my shitty little mic that I plug into my phone and played an original into it,’’ he said.
‘‘They enjoyed it, got me to play a few more originals when I came back to New Zealand, loved it, signed me up and here we are.
‘‘Without getting all religious, it’s a blessing – it’s just crazy to be where I amfrom where I was even six months ago, let alone a year or two. Just crazy.’’
‘ One dude kind of just fell, and then a whole lot of blood started coming out.’ MITCH JAMES