Alastair Griffin is a man with his fingers in a lot of pies.
Whilst the name might not spark instant recognition with as wide an audience as at the beginning of the millennium, he is the sort of veracious grafter most obviously likened, if not in musical style but scope, to Damien Albarn and Gary Barlow. A student of English Literature at York St. John University, Griffin’s voice answers the phone in a thick Middlesbrough accent reinforced in its melancholy air by a no nonsense manner. Ploughing swiftly through the niceties, I ask Alastair about his most recent project.
“In January I read an article in the Telegraph about the Grimethorpe Colliery band who, like a lot of brass bands at the moment, are struggling to keep going. I’ve worked with a brass band before in York, so I approached them to see if they fancied putting an album of contemporary songs and artists together; people like Elbow, Richard Hawley and Tony Christie. So far we’ve recorded a brass arrangement of my single The One, with an introduction and later in the year we’re going to carry on.”
Even for those who’s knowledge of the brass world encompasses little more than the William Tell Overture, Grimethorpe are likely to stir some recognition as not only the pinnacle of their genre, but as a pinnacle coated in a kind of Full Monty bleakness, largely thanks to the Pete Postlethwaite driven Brassed Off. At least a little aware of the size of this deal, I ask Alastair how a humanities trained singer-song writer approaches arranging a group of this magnitude.
“It was initially an acoustic song, which we turned into a brass arrangement. I had had a little experience before setting up the Olympic Games Maker Choir, but to be honest I just looked at it logically and worked out how it happens. Once you dig down into the component parts you can usually piece it together. I’ve always been quite ambitious. Particularly in music nowdays you need to think quite laterally, look a little left of centre.”
Although Griffin’s music is unlikely to be considered as occupying the left-field, his most recent foray into the mainstream coming through his soaring accompaniment of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon highlight reel, his self created platforms are consistently innovative.
“I was planning on touring and I was going to introduce a mechanism whereby it was free, to kind of reflect that a lot of people don’t have a lot of money at the moment. Then my friend’s mum told me about food banks and explained how it used to be for people who’ve just come out of prison or have fallen through the cracks in some way and how its now used by people who are working and can’t make ends meet. People have to pay an entry free and also bring an item of food with them. 100% of profits will go to the charity.”
For those who enjoy directing an accusatory cynicism at the rich, famous and altruistic, Alastair Griffin is a difficult subject. When I ask about the relative joys of playing for playing’s sake and airtime, Alastair is blunt in his honesty. “Its important to get exposure and its a tough, saturated market with a lot of people vying for a limited number of spots. Its a long time since I first started doing music, then I had a break. Well I call it a break. I actually did a talent show about ten years ago. The best thing was getting to work with Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees, had a bit of a hit and what followed was a steady road back to popularity.”
The hit in question is Bring It On which peaked at no.5 and the talent show, the second series of Fame Academy. Rocketed to nationwide recognition before dipping slightly below the sphere of public conscience, perhaps in part due to an ill thought out comment from Daniel Bedingfield, Griffin says he would not recommend the talent show machine for young musicians. “I would probably say no, but it is hard. People say the X-Factor is a quick fix, but they have their own pitfalls. Mass exposure, then it can die away. The next show is only twelve months away. You have to make the most of it, get out of it what you want. To a large extent you’re at the mercy of the television schedule.”
Although musical snobbery insists on dubbing the likes of Cher Lloyd as the musical equivalent of jetsam, Griffin’s prolific career behind the scenes and slightly to the side of the spotlight pays testament to his writing and ability to shake off the talent show shackles. As well as writing songs for Phixx and Cascada, Griffin’s songs ‘Angel By My Side’ and ‘Hungry For Love’ both reached the Dutch Top Ten when covered by Do and Di-rect respectively.
Amongst this long and intriguing list, Alastair’s unassuming and realistic outlook remains sturdy. Currently a resident of York, my closing question comes from closer to home than the peaks and troughs of a substantiated career. “I used to recommend The Willow. A song on my album is called ‘Willow Girl’, but since they’ve changed the policy to not letting in people like me I won’t recommend it anymore. I like the Black Swan.”
Alastair’s Food Bank Tour comes to the York Post Office Club on the 21st of August
http://www.alistairgriffin.com/gigs/ALISTAIR GRIFFIN – TOUR POSTER