Music Q&A: I Am Kloot

Frontman John Bramwell tells us why he’s taking time out from his solo tour for a one-off show headlining The Whiskey Sessions, a new music and whiskey festival at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse on 21-22 Nov.

You’ve been touring in a solo capacity earlier this year. Are you looking forward to getting on stage with the band?

I’m lucky enough to have contrast in my life. I love the intimate gigs on my own and the drama and power of I Am Kloot. Both are equally as exciting and refreshingly different.

When you’re writing how do you decide what’s a John Bramwell song and what’s an I Am Kloot song?

They’re all John Bramwell songs really – as in I write them – but they’ve all been recorded with I Am Kloot, so there isn’t really a difference between the two things. I love performing them with the band, and I love performing them on my own too–as I say,one of the things I love is the contrast of doing both.

With such a massive back catalogue, how do you write a set list for a gig like The Whiskey Sessions?

We talk about it in advance, and plan in more than we can play, but then decide on the final list quite close to going on stage. It keeps it fresh and we can take more influence from the mood of the day, and the audience.

You’ve expressed your preference for smaller gigs recently – why make an exception for this?
I absolutely adore playing with Kloot, which we haven’t done all year on home turf. I was also involved in the BBC 6 Music Festival, at the same venue, the impressive Victoria Warehouse, and thought it was great. As we haven’t played in Manchester this year, when we were asked to do something of this scale at such a fantastic venue, we were all in.

Plans for the future?
I Am Kloot have a live album out in spring and we’ll be announcing more at that time. I’m continuing with the solo tour, which I’m looking forward to. I’m excited about something I’m doing at Hebden Bridge Trades Club early next year – curating a week of gigs for Independent Music Week. I’ve got all sorts of people planning to come along and visit the Trades for that – from Edwyn Collins to The Blossoms.

ANTONIA CHARLESWORTH

See this week’s copy of The Big Issue in the North (10 Nov) to win tickets to The Whiskey Sessions