Time away from home often inspires a little reflection – not only on what’s important to you in the present day, but also the people and events that helped shape who you are now. Those thoughts inspired James McVey’s upcoming second EP ‘Letters Home’ and especially his brand new single ‘Thick and Thin’, which is out now.
‘Thick and Thin’ is a song celebrating the enduring power of brotherhood: friendships that were rooted in the innocence of childhood and that have continued to remain important through the transitionary teenage years and deep into adulthood. It salutes a time when your neighbourhood was your world, when the future was unwritten, and it was impossible to predict the direction that your life would take. The music captures the nostalgia of the time, an uplifting folk-rock stomper with raucous vocals that sound like a group of old friends sitting around the campfire.
James says, “‘Thick and Thin’ is a song about my childhood. I grew up in a small town in Dorset where I spent all my free time riding my BMX bike and kicking a ball on the sports field. The song centres around the friendships I had with the guys I grew up with and how we experienced new things together for the first time: our first cigarettes, first drinks of cider, first relationships, etc. The world felt small for us and we knew every road and house. For me, the song gives me real nostalgia and there’s an irony when listening to it: back then I was dying to leave that place, but I’d do anything now to go back to when life was much more simple.
I wrote and recorded the song on tour and feel that you can hear that in the song’s production. I wanted the pace and energy throughout the song to symbolise the feeling of being 16-years-old again in Dorset riding my bike.”
Fittingly, James wrote and produced ‘Thick and Thin’ with a friend of his: Alex Stacey, who plays in his live band and whose other writing credits include Declan J Donovan and OneRepublic.
Listen to ‘Thick and Thin’ – BELOW:
‘Thick and Thin’ joins the recent ‘All The Things’ in previewing the ‘Letters Home’ EP. The collection came together as he toured Europe earlier this year with Henry Moodie. James, Alex and whoever else happened to be free at the time would get together for impromptu writing and recording sessions on the bus, backstage or at the hotel after the show.
Having started his solo career with the release of the acclaimed ‘Manabi’ EP last year, James continues to work with his old friends, the chart-topping, arena-filling The Vamps. The band recently announced the ‘Meet The Vamps’ anniversary tour, which sold-out all twelve shows in a matter of minutes – leading to the addition of a second London show at the Eventim Apollo.
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