Jeremy Redmore, former frontman of Kiwi band Midnight Youth, is releasing his debut solo album this Friday.
Clouds are Alive comes nearly two years after Redmore made his departure from the award-winning band in September 2012 for personal reasons.
Now 31-years-old, Redmore has ditched his curly mane and switched from arena-rock to a soulful tone.
He’s grown up, had time to reflect on himself and wants others to gain insight into that process.
“The title is a play on the idea that clouds are things people look at and everyone sees something different in them. If you use your imagination it’s sort of like they are alive.
“My songs are like that, everyone interprets them differently.”
Some of the tracks were written as far back as six years ago, when Redmore was with Midnight Youth but they didn’t quite mesh with the sound of a five-piece rock-pop band.
Redmore wanted a challenge, personally and musically. So he let go of all those he worked with in the past to start anew – no musicians, producers, engineers or studios that had any connection with his former life were allowed. He negotiated his own record deal (with Warner) as he couldn’t afford a lawyer.
He is nervous about reviews for the album since it was such a personal process.
“If I get horrible reviews on my record now when I’m starting from scratch that would be hard to take. When you’ve got four other people in a band to rally around you and bring you up when you have those down moods it’s easier. Now there’s no escape.”
His reason for leaving a band predicted for international stardom was that his heart was no longer in it.
“It got to a point where there wasn’t a unified feel to it anymore – musically and the way we related to each other. It wasn’t the gang we’d started out as. I wanted to do something positive and I wasn’t really feeling it in that situation.”
Midnight Youth released their debut album The Brave Don’t Runs in April 2009 which hit number two on the New Zealand album charts and went platinum.
It won the Best Rock Album, Best Group and Best Engineer (Andrew Buckton) at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards.
The group were together for seven years and while Redmore wants to eventually make a name for himself he doesn’t want to forget his time with the band.
“The music speaks for itself. Midnight Youth are a part of my past and it’s a past I am proud of. I love what I did and I achieved so much with that band, this is just the next step.”
Redmore will be hosting an album release party next Thursday at The Tuning Fork in Auckland at 7pm.
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– Stuff
