The Sit Down with Liam St John
At the crossroads of Americana and rock, Liam St. John commands his truest form by combining piercing and painfully true lyrics while delivering a captivating and electrifying performance with a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude. The Washington State native has just been here in Europe for a number of shows including a main stage performance at The Long Road festival, a trip to Cologne for the Sound of Nashville Open Air festival and a rocking show at The Camden Assembly in London where Liam spent some time with Jamie to look ahead to the release of his magical debut album “Man Of The North” which will be out this Friday (September 5th) through Big Loud Rock and is definitely going to feature in the upper echelons of our records of 2025.
Welcome to back to Camden.
“It's very good to be back.”
You were here, was it like December last year?
“Yeah, my girlfriend and I came for my birthday and we popped up, I did a show literally across the road at Spiritual Bar.”
Then now we’re here at Barfly or The Camden Assembly as they now like to call it, you know, like when venues change names, it's still the same place in your head and stuff. In Nashville, like Luke Combs has taken over Wildhorse but whatever it is actually called it will always be Wildhorse Saloon. This place here has so much history particularly with bands like The Libertines.
“Yeah, I heard Coldplay played here and some other legendary bands.”
But you've been busy on this trip.
“Yeah, it's been very busy, but, you know, it's just all I ever wanted, we started off strong in Dublin and we just haven't stopped since.”
I caught you the other Friday at The Long Road.
“Oh, right on.”
How did that festival feel compared to stuff you've done back at home?
“Honestly, the crowd was so, like, locked in and energetic. It was one of my favourite shows, and one of my favourite festivals. I haven't played many festivals, but that one was definitely like the biggest crowd and they were all just super attentive and very energetic, which I loved.”
Then you jetted off to one of the best cities in Europe the day later and played in Cologne.
“Yes, that was awesome, we lost some instruments though thanks to British Airways, but the festival guys at Sound of Nashville hooked us up and back lined it all for us. I had never been to Germany and I had a fantastic time, the crowd was intimate, but it was just really, really great and I got to meet everybody after. Plus, my favourite beer is Kölsch, so I finally got some real Kölsch.”
Oh yeah! Did you get much of a chance to walk around the city while you were there?
“Yeah, we finally had a day off after that. So, in the morning we went to the cathedral and that was fucking beautiful, then we just had Kölsch, bratwurst and lived it up.”
Beer and sausages, that is pretty much German life, isn't it? I love Germany, we started going over for C2C in Berlin a couple of years back and we've started building city breaks around gigs over there but we love Cologne so keep going back. It's just a fun city with those two big squares and everything going on.
“There was an awesome like vintage market going on, just on the river and there was this incredible jewellery tent that I was just infatuated with. It was awesome.”
Welcome to back to Camden.
“It's very good to be back.”
You were here, was it like December last year?
“Yeah, my girlfriend and I came for my birthday and we popped up, I did a show literally across the road at Spiritual Bar.”
Then now we’re here at Barfly or The Camden Assembly as they now like to call it, you know, like when venues change names, it's still the same place in your head and stuff. In Nashville, like Luke Combs has taken over Wildhorse but whatever it is actually called it will always be Wildhorse Saloon. This place here has so much history particularly with bands like The Libertines.
“Yeah, I heard Coldplay played here and some other legendary bands.”
But you've been busy on this trip.
“Yeah, it's been very busy, but, you know, it's just all I ever wanted, we started off strong in Dublin and we just haven't stopped since.”
I caught you the other Friday at The Long Road.
“Oh, right on.”
How did that festival feel compared to stuff you've done back at home?
“Honestly, the crowd was so, like, locked in and energetic. It was one of my favourite shows, and one of my favourite festivals. I haven't played many festivals, but that one was definitely like the biggest crowd and they were all just super attentive and very energetic, which I loved.”
Then you jetted off to one of the best cities in Europe the day later and played in Cologne.
“Yes, that was awesome, we lost some instruments though thanks to British Airways, but the festival guys at Sound of Nashville hooked us up and back lined it all for us. I had never been to Germany and I had a fantastic time, the crowd was intimate, but it was just really, really great and I got to meet everybody after. Plus, my favourite beer is Kölsch, so I finally got some real Kölsch.”
Oh yeah! Did you get much of a chance to walk around the city while you were there?
“Yeah, we finally had a day off after that. So, in the morning we went to the cathedral and that was fucking beautiful, then we just had Kölsch, bratwurst and lived it up.”
Beer and sausages, that is pretty much German life, isn't it? I love Germany, we started going over for C2C in Berlin a couple of years back and we've started building city breaks around gigs over there but we love Cologne so keep going back. It's just a fun city with those two big squares and everything going on.
“There was an awesome like vintage market going on, just on the river and there was this incredible jewellery tent that I was just infatuated with. It was awesome.”
A long way from Washington State though, isn't it?
“Yeah, it's a long way from home, but, you know, I feel right at home whenever I get to just sing these songs to people that have been listening to them for so long and probably get to sing them with me.”
I did the whole look on Google Maps thing and you're from the eastern border of the state towards Idaho and not too far from BC in Canada
“Yeah, it's kind of like right outside the high deserts, like really dry and green. I loved being in northern Scotland as that felt quite like home, you know?”
Music wise, you have developed this really cool, like rocky side of Americana type sound. When people think of music from Washington States which I suppose people place as Seattle particularly, grunge is the sound you associate, but what were all your musical influences that have shaped your own sound?
“I think the earlier influences were, like, straight blues and soul artists, like, my biggest vocal influence would probably be Ray Charles and Etta James. The blues captivated me at a really young age, I always say that the blues finds those who need it and I definitely did, so I've been listening to blues for a long time, you know, and naturally, the blues created rock and roll so it just lends itself to what I've been making.”
That’s cool because the record to me has almost like a Jack White type sound or almost if Arctic Monkeys did Americana which is wild, but it's been a long time coming to get this first project out there.
“Yes, it has been. It's been, you know, years in the making, not only just creating the actual record which took, you know, a year, but writing it started four years ago, probably when I wrote “Dipped In Bleach” and obviously a lifetime in the making to get to the life experiences for those songs. It’s dropping on September 5th and I can't believe it's here.”
What do you hope is the message that people take from the record?
“I mean, I just try to be as vulnerable and honest as I could throughout the process of this album from the songwriting to the sonic identity of it. We recorded it live, the songs are just so vulnerable, honest and I guess I spent a lot of my life not being able to speak my truth or live honestly and it caused a lot of heaviness and darkness in my life, which brought me to, you know, do a lot of the things I did, like drugs, alcohol and stuff. So, my hope is that by me being honest, somebody else could feel like they have the autonomy to do that as well and maybe you get out up some darkness through it.”
The record has got a cool title that I guess a lot of people will tie in to Game of Thrones, were you a big fan?
“I'm a huge fan of Game of Thrones fan. The song “Man Of The North” kind of just fell into my lap, it is one of those that wrote itself pretty much instantly but I'm not mad that people are calling it, you know, King In The North ha-ha, I'm a big Jon Snow fan.”
It's so funny how similar Westeros is to the UK where King's Landing is the southeast, which is London and is the centre of the world and where everyone thinks is the most important. Then Southerners look down on the north and we have a wall at the top of it to keep the savages out who historically was how the English saw the Scots, so it depicts the country pretty well.
What would your direwolf be called if you were a Stark? Do you have dogs?
“Yeah, I grew up with a dog, his name was Puppy because I was two and I named him Puppy. So in honour Puppy, I would probably call my direwolf puppy.”
“Yeah, it's a long way from home, but, you know, I feel right at home whenever I get to just sing these songs to people that have been listening to them for so long and probably get to sing them with me.”
I did the whole look on Google Maps thing and you're from the eastern border of the state towards Idaho and not too far from BC in Canada
“Yeah, it's kind of like right outside the high deserts, like really dry and green. I loved being in northern Scotland as that felt quite like home, you know?”
Music wise, you have developed this really cool, like rocky side of Americana type sound. When people think of music from Washington States which I suppose people place as Seattle particularly, grunge is the sound you associate, but what were all your musical influences that have shaped your own sound?
“I think the earlier influences were, like, straight blues and soul artists, like, my biggest vocal influence would probably be Ray Charles and Etta James. The blues captivated me at a really young age, I always say that the blues finds those who need it and I definitely did, so I've been listening to blues for a long time, you know, and naturally, the blues created rock and roll so it just lends itself to what I've been making.”
That’s cool because the record to me has almost like a Jack White type sound or almost if Arctic Monkeys did Americana which is wild, but it's been a long time coming to get this first project out there.
“Yes, it has been. It's been, you know, years in the making, not only just creating the actual record which took, you know, a year, but writing it started four years ago, probably when I wrote “Dipped In Bleach” and obviously a lifetime in the making to get to the life experiences for those songs. It’s dropping on September 5th and I can't believe it's here.”
What do you hope is the message that people take from the record?
“I mean, I just try to be as vulnerable and honest as I could throughout the process of this album from the songwriting to the sonic identity of it. We recorded it live, the songs are just so vulnerable, honest and I guess I spent a lot of my life not being able to speak my truth or live honestly and it caused a lot of heaviness and darkness in my life, which brought me to, you know, do a lot of the things I did, like drugs, alcohol and stuff. So, my hope is that by me being honest, somebody else could feel like they have the autonomy to do that as well and maybe you get out up some darkness through it.”
The record has got a cool title that I guess a lot of people will tie in to Game of Thrones, were you a big fan?
“I'm a huge fan of Game of Thrones fan. The song “Man Of The North” kind of just fell into my lap, it is one of those that wrote itself pretty much instantly but I'm not mad that people are calling it, you know, King In The North ha-ha, I'm a big Jon Snow fan.”
It's so funny how similar Westeros is to the UK where King's Landing is the southeast, which is London and is the centre of the world and where everyone thinks is the most important. Then Southerners look down on the north and we have a wall at the top of it to keep the savages out who historically was how the English saw the Scots, so it depicts the country pretty well.
What would your direwolf be called if you were a Stark? Do you have dogs?
“Yeah, I grew up with a dog, his name was Puppy because I was two and I named him Puppy. So in honour Puppy, I would probably call my direwolf puppy.”
Awh, cute. In terms of playing here and stuff, it's a real good chance for people to be able to hear this record before it comes out and you'd sort of said you recorded it live. I guess that's one of the big things because the live show from what I saw last week, is a really big and really fun event so was that one of the things you really wanted to ensure came across when you were cutting it?
“Yeah exactly. That was like my biggest rule, especially coming from all the stripped back stuff that I released where it was just a live take. It was just raw lyrics and raw sonics, like everything was just stripped and I didn't want to like abandon that, especially for all the people that found me through that type of sound. However, playing live with the band is what I love most, so I just wanted to take them to the next phase of my artistry but I thought the best way to do that would be playing with the band live in the studio then we rehearsed the songs for a couple of days, went into the studio and cut them all in a row.”
Obviously this trip's got pretty well and you've still a festival in Holland to come, so it's quite nice to be able to tie you things in together ahead of the album release but hopefully you’re going to look to keep the UK and Europe a big part of touring going forward as well.
“Oh, yes. I've been dreaming this for so long and it's fallen through a few times, just like not having an agent or just the timing not working out so last year was just like a little a sweet little treat to pop up over here and then I've just been dreaming of coming back ever since.”
Lastly with the record, you've got the partnership with Big Loud Rock, what made them the right fit to be the people you were wanting to work to release music?
“They're so song centric. The most important thing is the song and so with that comes artistry. It's very important that the song comes from the artist and I just really appreciate how open they are to my ideas and how they literally just let me be me. They do, you know, their job in trying to find my audience and they just let me be an artist, let me write my songs and that’s been the most fun part, putting together all these songs, finally packaging it and getting it out. They've been such a great partner and it was a slow relationship, so no rushing into anything, I met Ava Boney who’s my A&R, like a year and a half before I signed, so we just built a really good relationship and then, it just naturally progressed.”
Thank you very much for your time, go well tonight. I really enjoyed what I saw last weekend and I think people are really going to really dig this record as well when it drops, man.
“Thanks a lot, appreciate it.”
The brand new and debut album “Man Of The North” from Liam St. John is out this Friday (September 5th) via Big Loud rock and is available to pre-save HERE. You can learn more about Liam and find details of all of his upcoming North American dates on his WEBSITE whilst you can follow him socially to keep up with all that he is up to on INSTAGRAM X & FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2026 between Thursday 27th and Sunday 30th August, with tickets on sale now. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“Yeah exactly. That was like my biggest rule, especially coming from all the stripped back stuff that I released where it was just a live take. It was just raw lyrics and raw sonics, like everything was just stripped and I didn't want to like abandon that, especially for all the people that found me through that type of sound. However, playing live with the band is what I love most, so I just wanted to take them to the next phase of my artistry but I thought the best way to do that would be playing with the band live in the studio then we rehearsed the songs for a couple of days, went into the studio and cut them all in a row.”
Obviously this trip's got pretty well and you've still a festival in Holland to come, so it's quite nice to be able to tie you things in together ahead of the album release but hopefully you’re going to look to keep the UK and Europe a big part of touring going forward as well.
“Oh, yes. I've been dreaming this for so long and it's fallen through a few times, just like not having an agent or just the timing not working out so last year was just like a little a sweet little treat to pop up over here and then I've just been dreaming of coming back ever since.”
Lastly with the record, you've got the partnership with Big Loud Rock, what made them the right fit to be the people you were wanting to work to release music?
“They're so song centric. The most important thing is the song and so with that comes artistry. It's very important that the song comes from the artist and I just really appreciate how open they are to my ideas and how they literally just let me be me. They do, you know, their job in trying to find my audience and they just let me be an artist, let me write my songs and that’s been the most fun part, putting together all these songs, finally packaging it and getting it out. They've been such a great partner and it was a slow relationship, so no rushing into anything, I met Ava Boney who’s my A&R, like a year and a half before I signed, so we just built a really good relationship and then, it just naturally progressed.”
Thank you very much for your time, go well tonight. I really enjoyed what I saw last weekend and I think people are really going to really dig this record as well when it drops, man.
“Thanks a lot, appreciate it.”
The brand new and debut album “Man Of The North” from Liam St. John is out this Friday (September 5th) via Big Loud rock and is available to pre-save HERE. You can learn more about Liam and find details of all of his upcoming North American dates on his WEBSITE whilst you can follow him socially to keep up with all that he is up to on INSTAGRAM X & FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2026 between Thursday 27th and Sunday 30th August, with tickets on sale now. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
