Interview: James Walsh on honouring Liverpool fans on new solo LP It’s All Happening, the future of Starsailor and why Phil Spector's wigs weirded him out...
Starsailor frontman James Walsh sat down with Contact Music to talk about his new solo album It’s All Happening, Starsailor's 25th anniversary, what it's really like to work with Phil Spector and if he has ever made friends with Noel Gallagher.
As the hedonism, bluster and big riffs of Britpop faded away as the 1990s drew to a close, a new wave of British bands were waiting to emerge and take the place at the top of the charts of Oasis, Blur, Suede and Pulp.
One of those bands was Starsailor. Frontman James Walsh, drummer Ben Byrne, bassist James Stelfox and keyboard player Barry Westhead released their debut LP Love Is Here in 2001, which enter the UK Official Albums Chart at number two and Walsh’s introspective indie ballads were lauded by critics.
An eight-year hiatus came between 2008 and 2017, but a reunion brought the album count up to six – most recently 2024’s Where the Wild Things Grow.
During Starsailor’s hiatus, Walsh launched his solo career, releasing multiple EPs and albums.
He’s back with his latest solo LP It’s All Happening, which features Walsh’s trademark vulnerable songwriting whilst also seeing him find inspiration from the world around him. Coney Island uses a strikingly romantic photograph from Bruce Davidson as the roots for a story of both hope and nostalgia, while The Great Northwest which sees the lifelong Liverpool FC fan document how the community came together to support each other after Paul Doyle drove a car into the crowd during the club’s 2025 title celebrations.
Contact Music’s Philip Hamilton spoke with James about It’s All Happening, the 25th anniversary of Starsailor’s debut LP, why he hasn’t had the opportunity to make peace with Noel Gallagher and what Phil Spector did in the recording studio which freaked out Starsailor.
Contact Music: You must be very excited to be bringing out this solo record… what’s the inspiration behind it?
James Walsh: I guess the main difference between this album and previous solo albums is it’s a little bit less personal and more outward looking. One of the songs was inspired by a photograph by Bruce Davidson, taken of Coney Island in New York.
There’s another song that was inspired by Abby Morgan’s This Is Not A Pity Memoir, which is about those kind of magic, lucid moments that someone who is living with dementia might have. That’s a hard thing for family to have to deal with.
The Great Northwest was written in the aftermath of the Liverpool parade, when Liverpool won the league and there was those terrible events when that guy drove into a crowd of people. But what came from that was the way the city [pulled together]. I saw so many messages on social media of people saying, ‘If you need stay anywhere you can stay at our house, if you just need to come and use a phone, or come and get something to eat…’, it happens a lot of times when awful things happen it highlights the best and worst of society and community, really.
It’s terrible that someone would do something like that but the response of the city was amazing.
And that city of Liverpool has always pulled together and supported one another, like after Hillsborough…
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to call the song The Great Northwest because that’s where I grew up and what I know. There’s equal examples of Manchester dealing with the Arena bombing and the IRA bombing before that and rebuilding. There’s examples, I guess, across the country of how people have come together and helped each other out through hard times.
Was there ever a slight bit of hesitancy about writing a song about something so tragic that happened and also so close to the Liverpool fandom?
I was maybe a bit more comfortable writing primarily about people’s reaction to it rather than about the events themselves and all the details.
What do you think has inspired this change in your songwriting? To write about people and events that are external to your own life?
I guess having a more and more settled home life has necessitated it, really. I find heartbreak and anguish is a lot easier to mine for personal songs. I still enjoy writing straight up love songs, but I think it’s quite difficult to write a whole album about how content you are in your relationship. It then becomes useful to just consume and be aware as much of what is happening in the world. And then reading and watching films and finding inspiration elsewhere.
That angst you had on your debut album isn’t there, your life changes and you’re not that person anymore…
Absolutely. I think there’s a fearlessness, as well, to writing when you’re younger and you’re really the centre of your own world and your own existence. I think you feel things in a totally different way. You’re less worried about other perspectives to something that you’re facing. You’re just more angsty, really, to put it simply.
And that’s why those songs find that audience of teenage boys and young men, because they’re feeling those same feelings…
Yes. In think it’s nice we’ve got an audience that has grown up with Starsailor. The songs we’ve written as a band, and more recently as a solo artist, have reflected what the audience is interested in and what they’re going through. It’s good that people have stuck with us.
It’s 25 years since the release of your debut album this year, you’re doing a series of special concerts later this year playing that record in full. Do you have any plans to turn those shows into a live album?
We recorded the concert we did in Liverpool with a strings section that we put out last autumn. I guess because that went down really well and had a good response it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility to think of doing it. Particularly because these concerts are centred around the Love Is Here album, which is celebrating 25 years this year.
But we’re also starting to think of new Starsailor material as well, so there’s plenty to think about. Mainly I’m just really excited to get back on the road and tour with an orchestra. It was great to do that one-off in Liverpool but it is going to be great to do that for six nights in a row.
James Walsh at the 2002 NME Awards / Credit: AVALON
How far along are you with new Starsailor material?
It’s pretty early days to be honest. It’ll be early 2027, it’s just at the writing and demo stage at the moment. I’m promoting this new solo album and am very proud of it, but I’ve picked up the Starsailor hat again when I’m writing songs. It’s an interesting transition to go from something more isolating and introspective to having to have the rest of the members of the band in mind again.
Was there anything on this solo record that you thought was better suited to Starsailor?
I hadn’t thought about that, but the song Tea and Sympathy sounds like the fullest arrangement of the songs on the album, that you can imagine Starsailor doing. With that song it’s one of the rare occasions where I started up with a drum beat and built the song up from there, so I guess that made it more full and band like.
There’s always going to be elements of the band’s sound slipping into what I do solo wise because it’s been such a big part of my life for such a long time.
Do you ever think when writing a song that this would work better for another artist? Do you get approached often?
I did a quite a bit a few years ago. But to be honest I’ve had very little success pitching songs to people. I tend to have more success sitting in a room with someone. I’ve worked with Professor Green and Eliza Doolittle and Mel C back in the day, I find it works better to just sit down with them and get a nice collaboration between our two different perspectives.
I did do a track with a guy called Eddie Thoneick, and Steve Angelo from Swedish House Mafia put it out on his label.
There’s been a few things that have happened outside of the band and my solo career.
Are there any collaborations planned for the future?
I’m doing a tour with Ben Ottewell from Gomez. It’s quite difficult for us to pin each other down to get the time in the studio in between my band and his solo and duo gigs he does with Ian. I think eventually it would be good to write some new material with him. We could go out and do solo, and Starsailor and Gomez stuff and have something that is unique to both of us. I think that could be really interesting.
The gigs we’ve done together have been really good and enjoyable. He’s a great person to be on the road with. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t write some good new material as well.
Last year we had the Oasis reunion tour. Following that tour the feeling is the Gallaghers have put the focus back on rock and indie music again in the UK. Do you feel that? With all the young people and original fans at those gigs will that be helpful to the indie scene?
Absolutely. I think it’s great that there’s this slight resurgence in guitar music and indie music. It just remains to be seen how long that wave can last. You just hope that some of those people who, I guess, came out of the woodwork. Some of those people who went to those Oasis gigs had not been to a gig for, like, 20 years. So I hope they got the bug and they feel like going to a great local band at a smaller venue and that there’s a snowball effect. There’s loads of bands from that era that tour quite frequently. Like Cast, who were supporting, or The Charlatans, they are on the road quite a lot.
Those fans that were inspired to get out of the house because Oasis were playing, might get out of their house more often now they’ve got the buzz back again.
Have you had a chance to make friends with Noel after your T In The Park spat?
[Noel branded Walsh a c**k backstage at the Scottish festival in 2002 after James tried to speak to him about his insults in an NME interview, leading to Liam getting involved and having to be restrained by security]
I get on really well with Liam, he’s mellowed. I haven’t had any chance to speak to Noel, I know a few people who know him and get on with him. I’m sure if our paths did cross we would get on alright.
Liam Gallagher on stage at 2002's T in the Park festival / Credit: AVALON
The era when Starsailor broke through that was the norm in the music business, spats and rows, but artists are much more supportive of each other now…
Absolutely. I think it’s great to see. It’s one kind of regret I have from the early days of Starsailor, when we were flying high there would have been so many opportunities to work with a whole array of different artists and collaborate and maybe do some off the wall stuff like dance music. But we didn’t push for or take on because the band was doing so well in its own right.
You were lucky enough to support The Rolling Stones on their A Bigger Bang Tour in 2006 and 2007, what are your memories of that?
If you play with a band in a theatre your dressing rooms are quite often next to each other, but when you play with The Stones your dressing rooms are miles away from where their compound is. But it was nice, they arranged an official photo with us. That was not long before they were due on stage. About 20 minutes before they were due on stage we got waltzed over by their security to their dressing room area and they came out and did a picture with us. I really liked that. Half the battle when you play with a band or act you admire is that half of you wants that picture or that memento but the other half is, like, when do I ask for it? I don’t want to bother them. You become quite self-conscious about it. To have this set time and almost official thing made life a bit easier. We get to play with this band, we’ve got this permanent reminder of it and we get to go watch them do their thing. It’s incredible how good The Stones still are, especially the last few times I’ve seen them.
We’ve done some amazing gigs with artists like that, but they can occasionally be quite difficult because they attract such a hardcore crowd, that sometimes is not the most responsive audience to play with. You have to work harder to get the audience onside. I saw Phoebe Bridges on the bill of The Stones show at Hyde Park and I think she is incredible and I was really excited to see her but it was a Stones crowd so it wasn’t the most enthusiastic response.
As an occasion it’s a huge honour, it’s something I would advise any band to take up that opportunity because there will be crowds that are responsive and brilliant. But also be prepared for the odd night where they are waiting for their heroes to come on stage and do their thing, which is totally understandable. You might just be a pleasant distraction as they’re queuing up for merchandise and getting a beer.
Starsailor worked with Phil Spector back in 2002, what was that experience like?
Mixed, really, to be honest. Initially we did a trial week with him because the label we’re a bit cautious because he hadn’t worked with anybody for so long. They obviously saw it as a big opportunity but they were like, ‘We need to see if he’s still got it.’ That initial week was really productive, we got Silence Is Easy and White Dove that both ended up on the album, from that week. Then we agreed to reconvene to finish the album but something wasn’t right when we got back together, Phil was quite hard to communicate with and he was on a lot of medication. It got to a point where it was unworkable. And then the tragic events that followed were just something no one could anticipate. That someone would go up to his house and lose their life and be killed. There’s no point pussy-footing around it. It was horrific.
Phil Spector in 2000
Do you think Spector’s songs should still be played on radio following his murder conviction?
[In March 2009, Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for shooting and killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Pyrenees Castle mansion in California on February 3, 2003]
It's mad to me how many his songs are still played. Like, over Christmas I just heard them all the time. I guess people are still able to separate the art from the person producing it and making it. In a way it would be shame to bury those songs because of what Spector did when those vocal performances are so amazing, artists like Darlene Love and The Crystals, why penalise them because of his association with those songs. It’s a difficult one where you don’t want to celebrate someone who has got that darkness to them, but at the same time there a lot of over people involved and there a lot of different angles to songs.
Do you think the songs are still played because he is the producer of those songs rather than the artist? For instance R. Kelly is never going to be played on the radio again, is he?
It’s interesting because Spector was a super-producer he’s more famous than some of the artists he produced. Like that album [A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector] is called Phil Spector’s Christmas Album.
I think it is good to celebrate the artists that helped make those songs.
Was Spector erratic in the studio with you guys? Were you ever subjected to any violent or odd antics?
It was more so that he was distant and uncommunicative. The only eccentric thing we saw him do was wear a different wig every day, which could be quite distracting and strange! But we didn’t see any kind of anger or anything like that from him. We recorded in London so there weren’t any firearms around.
You have your solo shows coming up and the Starsailor Love Is Here anniversary concerts coming up as well as the Isle of Wight Festival. What’s life on the road like for you now? What’s changed?
We definitely have to look after ourselves a bit better than we used to. Once you get past 40 everything falls apart a little bit and you start groaning when you get out of your chair.
You become more disciplined as well. I want to give the best possible performance every night and that means laying off the drink until I’ve got a day off the next day. Even a couple of beers I can kind of feel it the next day so I just try and stay disciplined, drink lots of water and do my exercises. I suppose it’s easy to get taken in with the rock ‘n’ roll myth that you’re going to give your best performance if you’ve had half-a-bottle of Jack Daniels and you’re a bit off your head. You can still be rock ‘n’ roll and give a visceral performance sober. It isn’t the lifestyle that makes it like that. Although I still admire those artists where it is part and parcel of their performances. Ultimately it’s whatever gets you up for it, whatever works for you. It’s not that’s the right way, that’s the wrong way. As long as it doesn’t go too far, you see some people get completely destroyed by going too far down that path.
It's All Happening is available to order in CD and vinyl formats HERE. There is also an illustrated songbook with lyrics and the stories behind the songs which includes an album download.
Click HERE to listen to It's All Happening and for more information and tickets for James Walsh's solo shows.
For details and tickets for Starsailor's Love Is Here 25th Anniversary Tour click HERE.
It's All Happening vinyl album cover
