Craig David interview: ‘7 Days’ star talks garage, grime, Glastonbury… and cooking Christmas dinner with his mum

Craig sat down with YM ahead of his M&S Arena show next April.

You’re back in Liverpool next April as part of the ‘Hold That Thought’ tour. Most recently you played Aintree Racecourse last summer and the M&S Bank Arena in 2017. How do you find performing in our city?

Do you know what? I love it! I know its a very cliched thing to say that you love the crowd everywhere you go, but genuinely, every time I’ve come up [to Liverpool] the energy has been electric.

You feel it the further you go up north. Coming to Liverpool is great. The way your team [Liverpool FC] is playing as well, the city must be buzzing – it’s a good time up there.

The tour marks two decades since the release of your first album, ‘Born to Do It’. You were only 18 when that record came out and it’s still the fastest-selling debut ever by a British male solo act. Does that make you proud?

It does – I’m super grateful. You’ve got to imagine, I was 18 years old and all of a sudden my life changed in such an incredible way. But what makes it more special is even 20 years on, when I go out to perform there is a new generation of fans there, as well as people who were there the first time round.

That’s something I never expected, to have two generations coming to the shows and enjoying it together – it’s proper wicked.

The tour will feature a live band as well as TS5, your latest project which sees you DJ, MC, and sing. How did that element come about?

I started DJing before I made my first album. I was honing my craft on my 1210 record decks but all that got parked when everything went so fast and I was playing arena tours with my band.I always missed DJing, playing other people’s tunes and freestyling over an instrumental.

As soon as I started throwing these house parties at my apartment in Miami called TS5, the kid in me came out again. Next thing, I got a radio show and did a few gigs back in the UK. Then all of a sudden it ramped up to Glastonbury and a 12-week residency in Ibiza at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel.

When I introduced TS5, it meant I could be fully faceted – we can do the guitar thing if you want, we do the band or I can do the DJ set – I love them equally.

Speaking of Glastonbury, what are the chances you will be back at Worthy Farm for the 50th anniversary next summer?

I don’t know if I am yet but it would be wicked – Glastonbury is just amazing. Let’s see how it goes.

Do you think the recent popularity of grime music, which has its roots in UK garage, has been a boost for you given you were one of the first breakout stars of the genre?

It really is a cyclical thing. If you go back to jungle and drum and bass, that leads into early garage music and speed garage. You’ve got remember that with ‘So Solid Crew’ and ‘21 Seconds’ comes the early stages of grime.

If you look at where grime is now, it’s actually coming back to the more melodic side of things. It’s more hip hop if you look at the tracks which the grime acts are spitting their bars over. We’ve see AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith put out a garage tune as well. It’s come full circle.

You talk about 20 years? It’s landed right back at that time again. You’re hearing all the r&b samples from the 90s being used again and all the clothes from back in the day are being called ‘vintage’. I thinking ‘wow, let me come through on this!’.

I’m glad I started early on it because every artist from yonder years is going to be coming back and being like ‘yeah, we’re on it’. The fact that I was able to get songs away early on like ‘When the Bassline Drops’ and ‘Nothing Like This’, means it doesn’t feel like I’m just jumping on it.

“With the streaming world, it’s transparent. There is no chance for album fillers now – people have no time for them. I love that as a songwriter.”

Can we expect to hear a new album before the tour kicks off?

I’d love to [get an album out]. I’m working really hard to try and get it ready so it will fall in the same time period [as the tour]. But also I’m aware that I’ve got to make sure the music is right.

With the streaming world, it’s transparent. If you put out a dead tune, nobody is going to care for it. It’s got to be of a certain level and I think the whole album has got to step up its game. There is no chance for album fillers now – people have no time for them. I love that as a songwriter.

When I was a DJ, the jarring thing for me was I’d buy an album on the basis of one single and I’d be skipping through it on my decks and be like ‘Man! That was like £12.99 and it’s only got two tunes on it!’.

So I’m of an ilk that I’d rather put the right tunes out or have a longer gap between albums than just put tunes out for the sake of keeping up with everyone else.

Finally, Christmas is coming up fast. How will you be spending the festive period this year? I’ve heard you like to help out in the kitchen on the big day?

[Laughs] There’s a big difference between ‘helping out’ and just kind of hovering about and saying ‘do you want me to put those roast potatoes on the plate?’.

It’s funny because me and my mum are as bad as each other when it comes to cooking. We’re two amateurs trying to make it work but I think that’s actually what makes Christmas so fun for me.

Spending time with my mum will be great, and my dad will come over later in the afternoon and we’ll spend the rest of the day together.

Christmas is important for me. It’s a reflective time and a time when you remember where you started from. It’s that quality time as well. It’s not my mum coming to a show or some backstage thing. You’re home now. Take in how the year has gone.

Sometimes we worry about all the things we’ve got to do and all the things we’ve got to achieve, but you go home and your mum is there just wanting to give you a big hug like you’re 10 years old again.

Craig David’s ‘Hold That Thought’ arena tour comes to Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on 21 April 2020 – for tickets visit craigdavid.com