The Sit Down with Gareth
After his own US tour along with performances at C2C: Country to Country in both London and Berlin, a set at this summer’s Th Long Road Festival and joining Kip Moore on his European tour, rising artist Gareth has been surprised with an official invitation to make his debut at the world-famous Grand Ole Opry on November 4, delivered personally by country star Brett Young. The emotional moment marks a milestone in Gareth’s journey from his roots in Castlederg, Northern Ireland, to the heart of country music in Nashville.
Prior to his debut at the Opry, Gareth has been back in the UK ahead of the release of his new EP “Bluebird” on Friday and whilst he was in town we caught up with him to talk about the new project and what has surely been a whirlwind of a year.
I appreciate you taking the time to hang out, you’re back over here at the minute aren’t you?
“Aye, I’m just in London for the week and then I’m back to Nashville on Saturday.”
It’s a busy time for you with the EP about to drop and then you have your Opry debut on the horizon which must be a really cool thing to have coming your way.
“Yeah, it's crazy, when I get back on Saturday that's going to be me until Christmas.”
I guess the thing with the Opry, as much as you see growth in terms of analytics and the size of venues, playing there is something that you can physically see for yourself, feel it and is one of those things that really does show how everything that you've put in has been worthwhile.
“Yeah, I mean, of course, it's been incredible. I just can't believe that I've been given the honour to perform there and I still feel like it doesn't feel real. November 4th can't come quick enough.”
I imagine that was up there in terms of goals when you first moved over. What are the other sort of things in terms of a vision board? What are the other things you'd really like to tick off that career bucket list?
“I've always wanted to play my first ever stadium. That may be opening for an artist, obviously but that's always been a goal of mine. I want to play an arena in America and I want to just keep putting out my music. I wanted to play the Grand Ole Opry, I wanted to play my first arena, which I did play in Belfast this summer with Kip Moore and then I want to play my first stadium. So, after the Opry, my next goal is to play a stadium or headline a show in an arena.”
Prior to his debut at the Opry, Gareth has been back in the UK ahead of the release of his new EP “Bluebird” on Friday and whilst he was in town we caught up with him to talk about the new project and what has surely been a whirlwind of a year.
I appreciate you taking the time to hang out, you’re back over here at the minute aren’t you?
“Aye, I’m just in London for the week and then I’m back to Nashville on Saturday.”
It’s a busy time for you with the EP about to drop and then you have your Opry debut on the horizon which must be a really cool thing to have coming your way.
“Yeah, it's crazy, when I get back on Saturday that's going to be me until Christmas.”
I guess the thing with the Opry, as much as you see growth in terms of analytics and the size of venues, playing there is something that you can physically see for yourself, feel it and is one of those things that really does show how everything that you've put in has been worthwhile.
“Yeah, I mean, of course, it's been incredible. I just can't believe that I've been given the honour to perform there and I still feel like it doesn't feel real. November 4th can't come quick enough.”
I imagine that was up there in terms of goals when you first moved over. What are the other sort of things in terms of a vision board? What are the other things you'd really like to tick off that career bucket list?
“I've always wanted to play my first ever stadium. That may be opening for an artist, obviously but that's always been a goal of mine. I want to play an arena in America and I want to just keep putting out my music. I wanted to play the Grand Ole Opry, I wanted to play my first arena, which I did play in Belfast this summer with Kip Moore and then I want to play my first stadium. So, after the Opry, my next goal is to play a stadium or headline a show in an arena.”
You talked about being on tour with Kip and playing the arena in Belfast, but you got to do the full run of that tour. I know you'd been to Germany before that because you did C2C over there at the start of the year then you've started to play more shows in the UK and been doing shows in the States. How do you find the crowds differ between mainland Europe to in the UK and the US?
“I actually don't notice a big difference. I feel like the rowdier crowds are more in the UK, they’re definitely a lot louder, which I love. I think that the crowds in Europe are a lot more respectful and a lot more of a listening crowd, which is also very cool. You can tell they're really engaging in your performances there and in the States, we just finished a tour in America and they were also very respectful crowds but knew every word to all the songs. I feel like every continent that we've played in so far has been all the amazing and people keep knowing my words on my songs, so that's kind of special feeling.”
Well, you’re headed to another continent for the first time pretty soon as well. I see you've got some shows booked in down under and it’s a long flight to Australia but that's another cool market which is really growing. You’re starting to build a platform in Europe and in America so, it must be quite exciting that you're kind of almost starting again for like a third time in quick succession and have a new place to crack.
“Yeah, I mean, Australia's always been a goal to go there as well. I've always said that once I check off Australia, I've nearly checked off most of the continents that I want to be playing shows in. I feel like country music is still yet to reach certain continents but I feel like right now, the genre is biggest in Europe, the UK, America, obviously, then Australia and New Zealand. So, we're definitely buzzing to get over there, we're not obviously buzzing for the twenty plus hour flight. We're still mentally and physically preparing ourselves for that but we know the flight will definitely be worth it. We have four shows over there, so we're definitely buzzing to get a little bit of sightseeing in and trying to play some of the best shows we ever have.”
You’ll be heading over there with some more new music, which is coming out on Friday. Talking about “Bluebird” and how you're putting it out, you put another EP out earlier this year, so why did you decide to badge the six original songs together as part of this EP rather than holding them back for what's potentially going to be your debut album?
“Well, the original plan this year was have an album coming out, but we have a lot of songs that we feel we wanted to push until next year and that we didn't want to obviously not drop a project this year. We thought, you know, October, it’s near the end of the year, we'll get one more project before we move on to next year. I feel like next year will be the year that we drop a bigger project and we're now currently working towards that project. So far, I've got a few songs ready for it, but I'm still writing about towards that project and I'm over here in London right now writing towards it. There is definitely a full-length project is in the works for next year.”
“I actually don't notice a big difference. I feel like the rowdier crowds are more in the UK, they’re definitely a lot louder, which I love. I think that the crowds in Europe are a lot more respectful and a lot more of a listening crowd, which is also very cool. You can tell they're really engaging in your performances there and in the States, we just finished a tour in America and they were also very respectful crowds but knew every word to all the songs. I feel like every continent that we've played in so far has been all the amazing and people keep knowing my words on my songs, so that's kind of special feeling.”
Well, you’re headed to another continent for the first time pretty soon as well. I see you've got some shows booked in down under and it’s a long flight to Australia but that's another cool market which is really growing. You’re starting to build a platform in Europe and in America so, it must be quite exciting that you're kind of almost starting again for like a third time in quick succession and have a new place to crack.
“Yeah, I mean, Australia's always been a goal to go there as well. I've always said that once I check off Australia, I've nearly checked off most of the continents that I want to be playing shows in. I feel like country music is still yet to reach certain continents but I feel like right now, the genre is biggest in Europe, the UK, America, obviously, then Australia and New Zealand. So, we're definitely buzzing to get over there, we're not obviously buzzing for the twenty plus hour flight. We're still mentally and physically preparing ourselves for that but we know the flight will definitely be worth it. We have four shows over there, so we're definitely buzzing to get a little bit of sightseeing in and trying to play some of the best shows we ever have.”
You’ll be heading over there with some more new music, which is coming out on Friday. Talking about “Bluebird” and how you're putting it out, you put another EP out earlier this year, so why did you decide to badge the six original songs together as part of this EP rather than holding them back for what's potentially going to be your debut album?
“Well, the original plan this year was have an album coming out, but we have a lot of songs that we feel we wanted to push until next year and that we didn't want to obviously not drop a project this year. We thought, you know, October, it’s near the end of the year, we'll get one more project before we move on to next year. I feel like next year will be the year that we drop a bigger project and we're now currently working towards that project. So far, I've got a few songs ready for it, but I'm still writing about towards that project and I'm over here in London right now writing towards it. There is definitely a full-length project is in the works for next year.”
I guess that's kind of the big difference, once you move to Nashville, there's so many opportunities to write and you're writing on a continual basis. Were all of these songs ones that you had written since the last EP? Were they all from this years’ worth of writing?
“Yeah, so all the songs on this new EP apart from “Look What Your Love Has Done To Me” with Joss Stone were finished before “Steal Your Thunder” came out. That was the only one which wasn’t finished. It only got wrapped up in the summertime but every other song had been written and recorded before “Steal Your Thunder” dropped.”
You mentioned the song with Joss, which I guess is the song that everyone's asking you about but how did you first get her involved, was she in the writing room from the start and you thought this is going to be a duet or did she come in a bit later on and you realised it was a really good fit?
“That song was written in London but it wasn’t originally wrote as a duet. We loved the song but we didn't think it would ever be a song that we were putting out and it was sitting in our files for probably six to nine months at least until one day we just revisited some older songs that we had written but maybe didn’t give a good enough chance to. We listened to the song and thought maybe this should be a duet song, then my manager came in with a load of different ideas and different people he thought could be on it and Joss Stone’s name got mentioned. We wanted someone that had a big voice and that’s something obviously she's got, she used the power in her voice to make this song sound good. So, we brought her on, but the second verse that we originally had recorded and had written wasn't really suitable for a female. Joss came to the studio in Nashville a few months ago and she had wrote a second verse herself then she laid her vocal down. She’s probably one of the nicest girls that I’ve ever worked with and she crushed her vocals so I’m buzzing for everyone to hear this one because it’s he first duet song that I’ve ever released as well. I hope it’s the first duet of many but this one is definitely one of my favourites on there.”
The other track on the EP which I guess people will be drawn to is “Iris” and the only random Goo Goo Dolls trivia I can throw out for you is that John Rzeknik and I have the same birthday although I think he is a little bit older than me. You gained attention with the Noah Kahan cover a while back so in terms of when you're putting cover on socials now, we know how important TikTok and Instagram are in shaping the world now, are you looking at things that are trending or is it as simple as I like this song and what I have done with it?
“To be fair, like I never go off trends for these covers that I ever put out. You know, I just felt like this was a song was that I really loved and I feel like I did a good job as a stripped back version of it. “Iris” has been a popular cover since it first came out but I wasn't influenced by anyone else’s cover, I just thought I would sing it and I thought it would be a good idea because we wanted to record more covers. We sat in the studio and we just thought what ones should we do? We just turned ideas and “Iris” is a song that I've always loved where I thought I could do a good version and loved it. The cover turned amazing and the response that it got online like on TikTok, Instagram and all those things was something that we didn't really expect until it happened. It was incredible, we had never seen videos go that viral since “Stick Season”. All the covers that I've dropped over the past two years have just literally been my own idea and I'm a big fan of the 2000’s era of music, a lot of those covers are not even country songs. They're songs that I grew up as a child loving and just started recording.”
“Yeah, so all the songs on this new EP apart from “Look What Your Love Has Done To Me” with Joss Stone were finished before “Steal Your Thunder” came out. That was the only one which wasn’t finished. It only got wrapped up in the summertime but every other song had been written and recorded before “Steal Your Thunder” dropped.”
You mentioned the song with Joss, which I guess is the song that everyone's asking you about but how did you first get her involved, was she in the writing room from the start and you thought this is going to be a duet or did she come in a bit later on and you realised it was a really good fit?
“That song was written in London but it wasn’t originally wrote as a duet. We loved the song but we didn't think it would ever be a song that we were putting out and it was sitting in our files for probably six to nine months at least until one day we just revisited some older songs that we had written but maybe didn’t give a good enough chance to. We listened to the song and thought maybe this should be a duet song, then my manager came in with a load of different ideas and different people he thought could be on it and Joss Stone’s name got mentioned. We wanted someone that had a big voice and that’s something obviously she's got, she used the power in her voice to make this song sound good. So, we brought her on, but the second verse that we originally had recorded and had written wasn't really suitable for a female. Joss came to the studio in Nashville a few months ago and she had wrote a second verse herself then she laid her vocal down. She’s probably one of the nicest girls that I’ve ever worked with and she crushed her vocals so I’m buzzing for everyone to hear this one because it’s he first duet song that I’ve ever released as well. I hope it’s the first duet of many but this one is definitely one of my favourites on there.”
The other track on the EP which I guess people will be drawn to is “Iris” and the only random Goo Goo Dolls trivia I can throw out for you is that John Rzeknik and I have the same birthday although I think he is a little bit older than me. You gained attention with the Noah Kahan cover a while back so in terms of when you're putting cover on socials now, we know how important TikTok and Instagram are in shaping the world now, are you looking at things that are trending or is it as simple as I like this song and what I have done with it?
“To be fair, like I never go off trends for these covers that I ever put out. You know, I just felt like this was a song was that I really loved and I feel like I did a good job as a stripped back version of it. “Iris” has been a popular cover since it first came out but I wasn't influenced by anyone else’s cover, I just thought I would sing it and I thought it would be a good idea because we wanted to record more covers. We sat in the studio and we just thought what ones should we do? We just turned ideas and “Iris” is a song that I've always loved where I thought I could do a good version and loved it. The cover turned amazing and the response that it got online like on TikTok, Instagram and all those things was something that we didn't really expect until it happened. It was incredible, we had never seen videos go that viral since “Stick Season”. All the covers that I've dropped over the past two years have just literally been my own idea and I'm a big fan of the 2000’s era of music, a lot of those covers are not even country songs. They're songs that I grew up as a child loving and just started recording.”
We’ve touched on that you have got some shows in Northern Ireland in December including a hometown show, which must be really cool to be doing, then looking ahead into 2026, you are obviously off to Australia at the start of the year but are we going to be seeing you more back over here as the year rolls on?
“Yeah, we're planning on coming back to the UK and Europe as well next year, were hoping for some time in the middle or towards the end of the year. The first half of the year we’re in Australia and in America doing some on-off shows with Clint Black then I think we think we’re doing something of February as well, that hasn’t been announced yet. As well as that it’s going to be writing songs towards a new project and playing some shows outside of the UK and Europe, but definitely we'll be back right soon and bringing a whole new show on the road.”
Appreciate you taking the time today, best of luck with the EP and I’m Looking forward hear what keeps coming. It’s really great to see how people are connecting with what you're doing and the way that you're able to be a real visible and prominent voice for people on this side of the other Atlantic to be doing stuff over in Nashville.
“Yeah, I appreciate that. It’s really nice to have the audience over here support me as well as in America.”
“Bluebird” Track List:
1. Born Yesterday (Gareth Hamilton, Jerry Flowers, Josh Osborne & Zach Crowell)
2. Stampede (Hamilton, Tommy Baxter, Gerard O'Connell, Katie Cecil & Chris Ganoudis)
3. Shoulders I Stand On (Hamilton, O'Connell, Baxter & Amy Wadge)
4. Look What Your Love Has Done To Me Feat. Joss Stone (Hamilton, Baxter, O'Connell & Joss Stone)
5. Long Story Short (Hamilton, Cecil, Chris Ganoudis & Shawn Chambliss)
6. Bluebird (Hamilton, Baxter, O'Connell, Cecil & Ganoudis)
7. Iris (John Rzeznik)
Gareth will release his new EP “Bluebird” on Friday 24 October which is available to pre-save HERE. You can find details of all of his upcoming dates on his WEBSITE and you can find out all that Gareth is up to by following along socially on INSTAGRAM or TIKTOK.
“Yeah, we're planning on coming back to the UK and Europe as well next year, were hoping for some time in the middle or towards the end of the year. The first half of the year we’re in Australia and in America doing some on-off shows with Clint Black then I think we think we’re doing something of February as well, that hasn’t been announced yet. As well as that it’s going to be writing songs towards a new project and playing some shows outside of the UK and Europe, but definitely we'll be back right soon and bringing a whole new show on the road.”
Appreciate you taking the time today, best of luck with the EP and I’m Looking forward hear what keeps coming. It’s really great to see how people are connecting with what you're doing and the way that you're able to be a real visible and prominent voice for people on this side of the other Atlantic to be doing stuff over in Nashville.
“Yeah, I appreciate that. It’s really nice to have the audience over here support me as well as in America.”
“Bluebird” Track List:
1. Born Yesterday (Gareth Hamilton, Jerry Flowers, Josh Osborne & Zach Crowell)
2. Stampede (Hamilton, Tommy Baxter, Gerard O'Connell, Katie Cecil & Chris Ganoudis)
3. Shoulders I Stand On (Hamilton, O'Connell, Baxter & Amy Wadge)
4. Look What Your Love Has Done To Me Feat. Joss Stone (Hamilton, Baxter, O'Connell & Joss Stone)
5. Long Story Short (Hamilton, Cecil, Chris Ganoudis & Shawn Chambliss)
6. Bluebird (Hamilton, Baxter, O'Connell, Cecil & Ganoudis)
7. Iris (John Rzeznik)
Gareth will release his new EP “Bluebird” on Friday 24 October which is available to pre-save HERE. You can find details of all of his upcoming dates on his WEBSITE and you can find out all that Gareth is up to by following along socially on INSTAGRAM or TIKTOK.
