The Sit Down with Gareth
Northern Ireland’s Gareth this week released his original song ‘Last Thing I Do’, which received its first radio play on BBC Radio 1, with Future Pop presenter Jodie Bryant saying of the track, “it’s fun, it’s country, it’s pop to the max.” The 24-year old from Castlederg, who Bob Harris said “is going to be a big star” on his show BBC Radio 2 show when also played an early preview, is gaining immense traction for blending his Irish roots with his love of country music and storytelling and was named one of Absolute Radio Country’s ‘Class of 2025’ artists-to-watch. The viral country sensation co-wrote his latest release with three-time Grammy Award nominee Zach Crowel and Ilsey Juber, whose credits include: Beyoncé’s ‘All Night’, Miley Cyrus’ ‘Midnight Sky’, Mark Ronson's ‘Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’ and Jelly Roll’s ‘When The Drugs Don’t Work’. His breakthrough came last year with his viral cover of “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, which amassed over 25 million views and 15 million streams. The buzz from that cover led to his projects Covers (From Across the Pond) and his debut original EP Changing Seasons, which together have garnered over 25 million streams and significant airplay on stations such as SiriusXM’s The Highway and Absolute Radio Country. We caught up with Gareth on release day to celebrate the new track and look ahead to a very exciting 2025.
Congratulations on the release of Last Thing I Do, but it must be a very strange day for you knowing the track's been played already on Radio 1 and Radio 2 over here in England.
We’ve actually just finished a writing session too, but yeah, it's been crazy! BBC Radio 1 played the track there on Wednesday on Future Pop, and then last night Bob Harris on his programme played it. I think Smooth Country and Absolute Country were playing it today too. I haven't heard it because I've been busy, but I think they were playing it today. So, a lot of UK radio support, which is, which is great.
Does it feel a bit surreal having only moved to Nashville a few weeks ago to suddenly be getting all this traction back home in the UK when you aren’t here to celebrate it and hear it?
It's been amazing. Last year I was in Nashville a lot, you know but I never made the move. I've always had an audience in the States as well from posting videos online. It's nice to have a UK audience from back home and then obviously coming to the States and getting recognised. It's crazy how you can post your videos online and then just across the world people, people know who you are.
These first few weeks living in Nashville must be a bit of a whirlwind for you?
It's been crazy. Funny enough, the first few days that I got here, I was sick! But we’ve made the most of it this week as it feels like my first proper week. We’ve started writing sessions and getting some songs finished off. But the first week we were here was obviously getting moved into my apartment and then we got a car and everything. We're finally settled and now we're just focused on the music, so we are.
What is the plan now that you are settled?
Yeah, well, I mean, we've been very busy. I'm back home in March because I'm back with C2C. This month was always going to be about moving and then some writing sessions. We're actually going to Canada in the first weeks of February too. I think we're leaving in less than two weeks now to support Chayce Beckham on his Canada run. It’s going to be seven shows all over the eastern side of Canada! Once we’ve done that, we are back home for ten days and then the family flies in. My whole family circle is coming in the last two weeks that I'm here in February before I fly back for the festivals. When I do go back home in March, I'm back home for two or three months because then in April, the Beyond The Backyard tour starts! Obviously, there’s not really much point in me back to Nashville for like three weeks and then flying back over again, so, I'm going to take that as a time to write more songs in London.
Congratulations on the release of Last Thing I Do, but it must be a very strange day for you knowing the track's been played already on Radio 1 and Radio 2 over here in England.
We’ve actually just finished a writing session too, but yeah, it's been crazy! BBC Radio 1 played the track there on Wednesday on Future Pop, and then last night Bob Harris on his programme played it. I think Smooth Country and Absolute Country were playing it today too. I haven't heard it because I've been busy, but I think they were playing it today. So, a lot of UK radio support, which is, which is great.
Does it feel a bit surreal having only moved to Nashville a few weeks ago to suddenly be getting all this traction back home in the UK when you aren’t here to celebrate it and hear it?
It's been amazing. Last year I was in Nashville a lot, you know but I never made the move. I've always had an audience in the States as well from posting videos online. It's nice to have a UK audience from back home and then obviously coming to the States and getting recognised. It's crazy how you can post your videos online and then just across the world people, people know who you are.
These first few weeks living in Nashville must be a bit of a whirlwind for you?
It's been crazy. Funny enough, the first few days that I got here, I was sick! But we’ve made the most of it this week as it feels like my first proper week. We’ve started writing sessions and getting some songs finished off. But the first week we were here was obviously getting moved into my apartment and then we got a car and everything. We're finally settled and now we're just focused on the music, so we are.
What is the plan now that you are settled?
Yeah, well, I mean, we've been very busy. I'm back home in March because I'm back with C2C. This month was always going to be about moving and then some writing sessions. We're actually going to Canada in the first weeks of February too. I think we're leaving in less than two weeks now to support Chayce Beckham on his Canada run. It’s going to be seven shows all over the eastern side of Canada! Once we’ve done that, we are back home for ten days and then the family flies in. My whole family circle is coming in the last two weeks that I'm here in February before I fly back for the festivals. When I do go back home in March, I'm back home for two or three months because then in April, the Beyond The Backyard tour starts! Obviously, there’s not really much point in me back to Nashville for like three weeks and then flying back over again, so, I'm going to take that as a time to write more songs in London.
We will be seeing you in Berlin for the C2C Festival which we are really excited about! You were in Germany last year, are you excited to get back over there and experience the festival in Berlin and Rotterdam?
I did a support act run with the 502s back in November. We went all over Europe to countries like Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. They were all my first time ever being in those countries! It was so fun. I had my tour manager and guitar player Jason Fletcher with me and he's also coming back over for the C2C dates, and he'll be there for the tour as well when we get a full band. I'm buzzing to get back to Germany. It was great. Berlin was actually one of our favourite cities when we were there. We never really got to see much around the city though, So, hopefully this time we can do a bit more exploring. After Berlin we're going to Rotterdam for the other C2C in Netherlands.
Have you been to one of the UK C2C Festivals as a fan?
Yeah, I've been to the O2 for it. I haven't been recently, but I was there when Luke Combs played and brought Ed Sheeran out. I think that was like three years ago. Getting to experience a festival like C2C as an artist will obviously be a whole different experience though! The Germany one and the Netherlands one are definitely a lot different. They're a lot smaller. But that's also a pretty cool thing about it. I’ll be in Berlin on the Friday with Dylan Gossett, who is a friend of mine , so hopefully we will catch up. There’s also Sam Barber and Wyatt Flores so, it's a pretty cool lineup. I'm doing obviously the second stage and Rotterdam as well and I think the Rotterdam one's even smaller as I don't think Rotterdam has like festival stages. They just have a main stage and the second stage, which are all in the same building.
And then it’s the Beyond The Backyard Tour, which will be your first headline tour after a few individual shows last year.
The tour back in June was done as things started popping off on socials and we just wanted to play shows, do a few shows to see how it went. We never went as far as the whole UK and Ireland - it was just me playing guitar. It was nothing, it was a very short 60-minute set. Nothing, you know, too full on. This time, we actually head in on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week and we're getting the band together. I have my guitar player in Jason, but we have a drummer coming in and also a utility player. We have two days of just real long rehearsal sessions coming up. We want to get as dialled in as we can so this tour can be the best one we can do. It's the first real proper one we're going to have with a full band. We're going to Germany as well with the tour. We're going to Netherlands and we're going to Sweden and Norway too, so that's going to be fun. I’ve never been to Sweden and Norway, so I'm definitely looking forward to those and as those are the last two shows of the tour I'm making a little bit of time to see those places!
I did a support act run with the 502s back in November. We went all over Europe to countries like Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. They were all my first time ever being in those countries! It was so fun. I had my tour manager and guitar player Jason Fletcher with me and he's also coming back over for the C2C dates, and he'll be there for the tour as well when we get a full band. I'm buzzing to get back to Germany. It was great. Berlin was actually one of our favourite cities when we were there. We never really got to see much around the city though, So, hopefully this time we can do a bit more exploring. After Berlin we're going to Rotterdam for the other C2C in Netherlands.
Have you been to one of the UK C2C Festivals as a fan?
Yeah, I've been to the O2 for it. I haven't been recently, but I was there when Luke Combs played and brought Ed Sheeran out. I think that was like three years ago. Getting to experience a festival like C2C as an artist will obviously be a whole different experience though! The Germany one and the Netherlands one are definitely a lot different. They're a lot smaller. But that's also a pretty cool thing about it. I’ll be in Berlin on the Friday with Dylan Gossett, who is a friend of mine , so hopefully we will catch up. There’s also Sam Barber and Wyatt Flores so, it's a pretty cool lineup. I'm doing obviously the second stage and Rotterdam as well and I think the Rotterdam one's even smaller as I don't think Rotterdam has like festival stages. They just have a main stage and the second stage, which are all in the same building.
And then it’s the Beyond The Backyard Tour, which will be your first headline tour after a few individual shows last year.
The tour back in June was done as things started popping off on socials and we just wanted to play shows, do a few shows to see how it went. We never went as far as the whole UK and Ireland - it was just me playing guitar. It was nothing, it was a very short 60-minute set. Nothing, you know, too full on. This time, we actually head in on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week and we're getting the band together. I have my guitar player in Jason, but we have a drummer coming in and also a utility player. We have two days of just real long rehearsal sessions coming up. We want to get as dialled in as we can so this tour can be the best one we can do. It's the first real proper one we're going to have with a full band. We're going to Germany as well with the tour. We're going to Netherlands and we're going to Sweden and Norway too, so that's going to be fun. I’ve never been to Sweden and Norway, so I'm definitely looking forward to those and as those are the last two shows of the tour I'm making a little bit of time to see those places!
You talk about things started popping off on socials in 2024, but your Spotify Wrapped comparison is just another level. You went from around 50,000 streams in 2023 to 1.4 million in 2024!
It's crazy how I had 50,000 streams on the whole of 2023 and now I get that in just one day. I think already this year by our stats, we're already at like four or five million streams this year! We're hoping this year's wrapped by the end of this year is going to be even crazier, which obviously with a lot more new music coming out as well, it's going to be great.
You also released your Covers From Across The Pond album in 2024, is it nice to be working on your own stuff?
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be known as a cover artist. I know obviously the covers have helped me get to a spot where I can release my own music now, but I'm trying to get everyone on board these originals because I think some of these originals, well, I think all of them that we're working on that are coming out are amazing. I'm my own worst enemy at most points, but I love these songs and I've written them with all really great talented songwriters here in Nashville and some of them in London. I can't wait for everyone to know what's coming. Like Last Thing I Do that just dropped today, we wrote that back in June with Ilsey Juber and Zach Crowell. Ilsey’s from LA, but she was in Nashville for the day, and she's done multiple really big pop hits and Zach Crowell is someone I'm sure a lot of people know. He's got 30 plus number ones around his belt. So, it's crazy how he reached out and wanted to work with me so I couldn't be more grateful. Me and Zach have a lot more songs to come out this year together, so I think the music is definitely a higher quality than it was even last year. I'm definitely going in the right direction for sure.
I know that you’ve spent a lot of the day in a writing session today, but have you had a chance to see what people's reactions have been like for the release?
Yeah, the song is doing great. It's exceeding our expectations. We've got a lot of playlist support too of Spotify, Apple and Amazon - all those different streaming outlets. We had CMT just repost us earlier. We're definitely getting a lot more support this year, it seems. We’ve just got to hope one of these songs catches fire and it all goes from there. I feel like the music definitely has that potential.
It always helps Nickelback sharing your cover on release week too!
I actually was writing with Zach Crowell when I found out. I was writing with him on, I think it was Monday or it might've been the Tuesday. I'm not too sure what day it was now, but my brother texts me and he said to me, do you know that Nickelback reposted your cover? I didn't know because I don't really check their stuff. I actually Googled their Instagram and I thought he meant they had just maybe posted a story. It turns out they actually made a whole post across TikTok, Facebook and Instagram and it was crazy. Literally, I think to this day, if my brother didn't tell me, I probably wouldn't actually know about it! It's really cool that they have acknowledged the cover as I had a lot of fun recording that. We actually recorded that cover back in November. It was my last trip before I came over here to live. We went to the studio and we recorded three or four covers to finish off the Covers From Across The Pond EP as the covers have always had a really good response and a lot of people have related to my renditions. We might have more room come the end of this year for more covers to drop as like a Christmas thing. I'm not too sure what we're planning, but I'm not going to roll out any more covers coming in the future. I think now most of this year is solely based on dropping these originals and trying to be seen as my own individual artist. The songs are brilliant and hopefully they can sway people from the covers to their originals.
It's crazy how I had 50,000 streams on the whole of 2023 and now I get that in just one day. I think already this year by our stats, we're already at like four or five million streams this year! We're hoping this year's wrapped by the end of this year is going to be even crazier, which obviously with a lot more new music coming out as well, it's going to be great.
You also released your Covers From Across The Pond album in 2024, is it nice to be working on your own stuff?
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be known as a cover artist. I know obviously the covers have helped me get to a spot where I can release my own music now, but I'm trying to get everyone on board these originals because I think some of these originals, well, I think all of them that we're working on that are coming out are amazing. I'm my own worst enemy at most points, but I love these songs and I've written them with all really great talented songwriters here in Nashville and some of them in London. I can't wait for everyone to know what's coming. Like Last Thing I Do that just dropped today, we wrote that back in June with Ilsey Juber and Zach Crowell. Ilsey’s from LA, but she was in Nashville for the day, and she's done multiple really big pop hits and Zach Crowell is someone I'm sure a lot of people know. He's got 30 plus number ones around his belt. So, it's crazy how he reached out and wanted to work with me so I couldn't be more grateful. Me and Zach have a lot more songs to come out this year together, so I think the music is definitely a higher quality than it was even last year. I'm definitely going in the right direction for sure.
I know that you’ve spent a lot of the day in a writing session today, but have you had a chance to see what people's reactions have been like for the release?
Yeah, the song is doing great. It's exceeding our expectations. We've got a lot of playlist support too of Spotify, Apple and Amazon - all those different streaming outlets. We had CMT just repost us earlier. We're definitely getting a lot more support this year, it seems. We’ve just got to hope one of these songs catches fire and it all goes from there. I feel like the music definitely has that potential.
It always helps Nickelback sharing your cover on release week too!
I actually was writing with Zach Crowell when I found out. I was writing with him on, I think it was Monday or it might've been the Tuesday. I'm not too sure what day it was now, but my brother texts me and he said to me, do you know that Nickelback reposted your cover? I didn't know because I don't really check their stuff. I actually Googled their Instagram and I thought he meant they had just maybe posted a story. It turns out they actually made a whole post across TikTok, Facebook and Instagram and it was crazy. Literally, I think to this day, if my brother didn't tell me, I probably wouldn't actually know about it! It's really cool that they have acknowledged the cover as I had a lot of fun recording that. We actually recorded that cover back in November. It was my last trip before I came over here to live. We went to the studio and we recorded three or four covers to finish off the Covers From Across The Pond EP as the covers have always had a really good response and a lot of people have related to my renditions. We might have more room come the end of this year for more covers to drop as like a Christmas thing. I'm not too sure what we're planning, but I'm not going to roll out any more covers coming in the future. I think now most of this year is solely based on dropping these originals and trying to be seen as my own individual artist. The songs are brilliant and hopefully they can sway people from the covers to their originals.
We can't forget you've also now got a BMG publishing deal just to top it off for January!
It's a great partnership. We’ve got support over in the UK and we also have Nashville support as well from their office here. They're a great team and me and my manager, Chris, couldn't be happier to have signed with them. A lot of the writing sessions we have coming up now in the future is real top tier writers, so I'm sure the songs we're going to get now in the future are going to be even better than some of the stuff we already do have. You always want to just aim for higher and I think we're heading that way, especially with this BMG partnership.
We are looking forward to meeting you in March at C2C in Berlin for a beer.
For sure, man. Yeah.
Gareth will be appearing at C2C: Country To Country Festival in Berlin (March 7) and Rotterdam (March 9) before embarking on his debut European headline tour in the spring. The Beyond The Backyard Tour will see Gareth performing in Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Amsterdam, Hamburg Stockholm and Oslo - limited tickets are available here.
Gareth’s Beyond The Backyard Tour Dates:
Thur., 24 April, 2025 - Cyprus Avenue - Cork, IE
Fri., 25 April, 2025 - The Academy - Dublin, IE
Sat., 26 April 2025 - The Limelight 1 - Belfast, UK
Mon., 28 April 2025 - Òran Mór - Glasgow, UK
Wed., 30 April 2025 - Gorilla - Manchester, UK
Thur., 1 May 2025 - The Garage - London, UK
Fri., 2 May 2025 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, NL - SOLD OUT
3 May 2025 - Uebel & Gefährlich / Turmzimmer - Hamburg, DE
Tue., 6 May 2025 - Nalen Klubb - Stockholm, SE
Wed., 7 May 2025 - Postkontoret - Oslo, NO
Official Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
It's a great partnership. We’ve got support over in the UK and we also have Nashville support as well from their office here. They're a great team and me and my manager, Chris, couldn't be happier to have signed with them. A lot of the writing sessions we have coming up now in the future is real top tier writers, so I'm sure the songs we're going to get now in the future are going to be even better than some of the stuff we already do have. You always want to just aim for higher and I think we're heading that way, especially with this BMG partnership.
We are looking forward to meeting you in March at C2C in Berlin for a beer.
For sure, man. Yeah.
Gareth will be appearing at C2C: Country To Country Festival in Berlin (March 7) and Rotterdam (March 9) before embarking on his debut European headline tour in the spring. The Beyond The Backyard Tour will see Gareth performing in Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Amsterdam, Hamburg Stockholm and Oslo - limited tickets are available here.
Gareth’s Beyond The Backyard Tour Dates:
Thur., 24 April, 2025 - Cyprus Avenue - Cork, IE
Fri., 25 April, 2025 - The Academy - Dublin, IE
Sat., 26 April 2025 - The Limelight 1 - Belfast, UK
Mon., 28 April 2025 - Òran Mór - Glasgow, UK
Wed., 30 April 2025 - Gorilla - Manchester, UK
Thur., 1 May 2025 - The Garage - London, UK
Fri., 2 May 2025 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, NL - SOLD OUT
3 May 2025 - Uebel & Gefährlich / Turmzimmer - Hamburg, DE
Tue., 6 May 2025 - Nalen Klubb - Stockholm, SE
Wed., 7 May 2025 - Postkontoret - Oslo, NO
Official Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
