Getting By

From playing cover gigs in pubs to meeting Jürgen Klopp for drinks in New York, the last couple of years have been somewhat of a whirlwind for young singer-songwriter Jamie Webster.

Interview by Tom Beattie

How did you first get into playing music?

My mum got me guitar lessons from the age of 6 or 7 but I always hated it. I preferred playing football but around the age of 14 I fell in love with The Beatles and Oasis. I thankfully remembered a couple of chords here and there and essentially taught myself.

I started playing in bands around 15 or 16. Loads of the lads who I made mates with at the football then started coming down to support me at cover gigs I was playing. About 10 years ago, I was told about ‘Boss Nights’ which had started as a place for Liverpool fans to go to listen to live music.

As Liverpool started to become more successful again, that served as the inspiration for more and more songs. It was ‘Allez Allez Allez’ which really put me on the map, though.

‘Allez Allez Allez’ spurred the players on to reach the final in Kiev in 2018. Where did the inspiration for that first come from?

I remember hearing the song for the first time in Porto. At the time, the song was a little slower, the rhythm was a bit different and the hook wasn’t as catchy but the lyrics were already there. A mate turned to me and said ‘you need to turn that into the ‘Ring of Fire’ of this era. That can be the song to spur the players on to go all the way.’

That’s what I wanted to do with it and thankfully since then, that song’s taken me around the world playing music. It’s something that I would never have even dreamt of but it’s amazing that it’s happened.

How did it come about that you ended up on tour with LFC in America two years running?

I was on holiday in Spain and I got a phone call from the club asking if I’d like to come on the pre-season tour in America in three weeks time! It was not a question that even needed an answer. It was an amazing feeling. I’ve been on two pre-season tours in America now. Both times, I was like a kid on Christmas morning, waking up every day.

Jamie at Parr Street Studios in March 2020

All of the staff at Liverpool, I can’t thank them enough. They really embraced what I’m about and let me explain to the American fans what it is to be a Liverpool fan, in my own way through the music.

The only thing that could be better, for me, would be to pull on the number 8 jersey and play for them in centre midfield!

Your meeting with Jürgen Klopp when playing while on tour with Liverpool is such a memorable moment. What are your recollections of that?

That was the first time Jürgen had acknowledged me, and it says an awful lot about him as a person; that in his busy schedule, he took the time to come and see me play to a group of fans.

It was just an unbelievable moment. The year later I was speaking to him in the airport going out to America about his summer holiday in Las Vegas!

At the end of the second tour, he invited me out for a pint with him and his staff on our final night in New York. You can’t really top things like that. I just tried my best to live in the moment and take it all in.

Jürgen is even better in person than you would expect him to be. He knows how much of an impact having a couple of minutes even in conversation can have on people. He puts a smile on people’s faces just by being himself.

Playing in front of 60,000 people ahead of the Champions League final in Madrid must have been the stuff of dreams for you. Can you describe what that moment felt like?

I remember thinking ‘there’s 60,000 people in front of you here, just go and give it to them and enjoy it’ because you never know if something like that will ever come around again. It went by really quickly – it felt like a boxing match, with all the adrenaline. Every emotion in me came out on that stage. It was the best day of my life.

I can only describe it as the best feeling of euphoria that I’ve ever felt. I cried my eyes out as soon as I came off the stage. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. I think I had the best view in the world that day.

Another thing is that my solo career basically started on the day we flew out to Madrid. I met the CEO of my record label on the flight. He took a liking to me and was in the fan park that day. He took my number and pretty much as soon as I walked off stage I got a text from him to say he’d like to make an album with me. So basically my full time music career started that day as well.

Your upcoming album ‘We Get By’ seems to be a love letter to Liverpool and working class life — is that something that you made a conscious effort to reflect?

The album documents the struggles, escapes and joys of working class life. Anything that I’ve been through growing up in Liverpool, working class lads in Manchester and Glasgow will have felt that too. If it takes people to a nicer place and helps them escape their troubles for an hour or two then my job’s been done.

It’s massively important that working class people have a voice in the industry. I’m not saying every song has to be about the things I sing about but to me music resonates with people when the lyrics are real. People want to feel part of a movement, like we are together and music should do that.

The newest single, ‘This Place’ is about how no matter where you go in the world, you never forget where you come from, as it’s made you who you are. In my case that’s Liverpool.

And finally, if you could choose between your new album going to number one or scoring for Liverpool in a cup final, which one would you go for?

Seen as there’s no chance of me playing for Liverpool, let alone a cup final, a number one album would be unbelievable! It’s been my dream to make an album, so to push for the top 10 places is the aim now. So to anyone reading this, help make my dream come true and buy the album!

Jamie’s debut album ‘We Get By’ is released on 21 August and is available to pre-order here

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