Jamie T Introduces Himself To North America

Talking to U.K. singer/songwriter Jamie T backstage at Toronto's Virgin Festival on the weekend, you sense that he's a lad who's glad to be closing down his festival commitments for the rest of 2007. The man born Jamie Treays spent much of his summer on the European festival circuit and ended off trans-Atlantic-style, playing both the Virgin Fest and Montreal's Osheaga Music And Arts Festival. Luckily, he managed to upsize his snappy folk/reggae tunes to the big stage without so much as a blip.

"A lot of people performing at my level will always say they prefer the smaller clubs, but I can definitely appreciate the advantages of both," he says, mere minutes after wrapping up his mid-afternoon performance. "At least on a festival stage, you have a bit more room to set up your gear and run around if you feel like it.

"As long as you're smart about it and plan your set list accordingly, you can make either scenario work to your advantage."

The twin Canadian festival dates begat a North American tour in support of Jamie T's debut full-length, Panic Prevention. The disc was released here in late August, but has been kicking around in the U.K. for close to a year. Jamie T's only previous American appearances came in the early months of this year, and he says that playing the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas was probably the low point thus far of his stateside adventures.

"Actually, I found South By Southwest to be a bunch of corporate cock. The only people I met were all these twits wearing name-tags who told me how important they were and why I should care about them. It was a bit like being in the red light district except you were surrounded by a bunch of bands instead of naked people. There's a festival in the U.K. that is somewhat similar called Camden Crawl, but I've never played it. Maybe now I know why."

Luckily, Jamie T's American exposure has otherwise been noticeably less grimy and his Cockney cries have started to make waves amongst new world hipsters and music geeks alike. Supported in style by his backing band The Pacemakers (no relation to '60s Merseybeat outfit Gerry And The Pacemakers, and no lawsuits over the naming rights either -- thus far), Jamie T's music recalls The Clash, The Libertines and Billy Bragg, and is equally as eclectic as any of the aforementioned. Even though he's been performing the album's songs in public for close to two years in some cases, he welcomes the late exposure to the North American market as a vehicle for keeping his delivery current, if nothing else.

"It's a bit strange to be starting fresh and touring these songs over again for the first time. Most of the U.K. has already seen me perform these tunes a number of times, so it's nice in a way to bring new life to a lot of this material and see how different audiences will react to it."

Reactions have been righteous and U.K. critics and fans alike are positioning Jamie T as a big breakout act. Panic Prevention was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize back home and, although the album ultimately lost in the voting to The Klaxons' Myths Of The Near Future, Jamie T says he appreciated the exposure, regardless of the motives behind the award.

"I was very blurred by the whole thing and I'd be lying to you if I told you it wasn't a trip. The only thing I didn't like about the whole experience is that when you're going up against other bands for an award, it sets up music as a type of competition, which is an idea that is pretty uncomfortable for me. Luckily, I quite like a lot of the other bands that were involved, so that made things quite a bit easier to swallow."