Americana artist Jesse Roper plays Hove gig
British Columbia-based blues/Americana artist Jesse Roper is back in the UK for the second time this January for a tour which will take him to The Brunswick, 1 Holland Road, Hove, BN3 1JF (Jan 26, 7.30pm).
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MusicTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely
00:06 this afternoon to be speaking to Jesse Roper, millions of miles away on the western coast
00:11 of Canada and British Columbia. But you're not going to be there for long, you are heading
00:15 back to our very dark, wet, black January for dates including Brighton, where you've
00:20 been, the Brunswick, I think on the 26th of January. And this is coming back to Europe,
00:27 having recently been here very successfully. What's bringing you back?
00:32 I just couldn't get enough of the place. I think the pastries and the coffee.
00:37 Coffee is a big thing for you.
00:41 Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, I just, everybody told me when I went to, before I went to Europe,
00:46 actually just through the years of, you know, talking to my friends who have been over to
00:51 Europe and, well, I guess the UK, the coffee is very serious over that side of the water
00:55 and it's served better than over here. And I was always kind of like, is it really? Or
01:01 you just don't...
01:02 It was, was it?
01:04 But it is, it's better. I don't know, maybe pressure or something like that. But I found
01:08 even at the gas stations, the coffee was drinkable. Gas stations over here, you don't want none
01:14 of that stuff. An acquired taste.
01:17 It's good to hear we're getting some things right. But you were here in the autumn and
01:21 you had a fantastic time, your first time in Europe. And you took in loads of countries,
01:25 didn't you?
01:26 Yeah, yeah. I went all over the place. So I hit like seven or eight countries. And yeah,
01:32 I mean, I played every single night. I felt like just completely free and happy and stoked.
01:38 I was living in a camper van. I was always by myself on tour. And yeah, so I rented a
01:44 camper van in Sweden and I drove it straight to the UK. So my first day of driving, I was
01:50 terrified. I had to go through like, I don't know, what is that? Five or six countries?
01:54 I didn't know any of the road signs. I couldn't read them either. And the roads are skinnier.
01:59 And then all of a sudden you're on the autobahn and you're like coming out into the left lane
02:02 is like, holy moly, bank robbers. And everything was different.
02:07 How did you survive? How did you cope with all that?
02:11 I took a lot of deep breaths, drank a lot of coffee.
02:14 And what were the really outstanding gigs when you were in Europe late last year?
02:24 Manchester treated me really good. I love that one. The first one in England was really
02:31 fun too. I broke a string, but people didn't care. And I was kind of like, ah, what am
02:35 I doing up here? But I had some fans that came out and they were really excited to see
02:39 me. And then it was the only date I actually got drunk. I don't drink too often. I try
02:47 to keep the wheels on the road. But there was a bunch of people that were stoked that
02:51 I was there, they've been waiting for me to come. And so they helped me up with drinks
02:54 afterwards. And that was a lot of fun.
02:57 But are British audiences different to North American audiences? Do we behave in different
03:02 ways, do you think? Do we show appreciation in different ways?
03:05 No, I found it pretty similar. I think. Oh, geez. Okay, I'll say this. It was during the
03:16 playing of the songs. Everybody's quiet. And that was kind of interesting, because
03:21 especially as a solo guy, I expected to be talked all over. So that was awesome.
03:27 Ah, that's the difference. Because a number of North American artists have said to me
03:32 over the years that they think UK audiences are more respectful of the music, more attentive.
03:38 Yeah, all over Europe, actually. There was only a couple, there was one day in Sweden,
03:44 where there was these two girls who talked louder. I could hear them better than my guitar.
03:51 And then it's always kind of like, geez, that was tough. And I talked to Dylan, the
03:54 band after myself, and I was like, Hey, how'd it go for you guys? And they're like, man,
03:59 there was these two girls in the front row. I couldn't even hear myself singing. They
04:02 were chatting so loud.
04:03 So you're not tempted to do something, if that's the case, you just let it go, do you?
04:08 I don't know. I feel like in this industry, the trick to making people listen is to be
04:14 so good that they have to. And then, you know, I've seen artists be like, Hey, I'm playing
04:20 up here. And it never goes good. You just come up as what was only one time I asked
04:26 a guy not to stomp his foot and clap because both were out of time. And it was so, so bad.
04:33 And he was right in front of me. And I guess I was doing all I could. I was playing, and
04:38 I'm tapping my toe and I got bad timing anyway. Like I've worked on my time I play with a
04:42 metronome just so I can be like, Okay, I got this. I know I got this. Yeah, but this guy
04:49 was like, he was so enthusiastic. But I mean, at 40 minutes into this gig, it was killing
04:59 me. I thought he'd stop.
05:00 You sure he wasn't just listening to something else?
05:03 Yeah, well, I finally I stopped him like, Hey, man, and he knew I was talking to him.
05:10 And everybody did. Luckily, it was a small gig. I'm like, I don't mean to be a jerk.
05:15 I love your enthusiasm. But can you stop clapping and stomping and his buddies were like, Oh,
05:22 we told him that you were gonna tell him to do that. I was like, Well, I would never do
05:25 that normally. But I just I can't keep time like, and everybody else here's come to pay.
05:31 And they're hearing you and like, I don't want to be a jerk. But that's just how it
05:35 is. And he was just storm cloud afterwards.
05:38 Oh, no.
05:39 You wrecked his evening.
05:42 I did. I felt so bad. And I tried to make it cool at the very end of the show. I got
05:46 a song where like, I just can't screw it up. I've played it so many times. And so I was
05:55 like, Hey, bud, like stomp all you want. And this one and he kind of looked at me like,
06:00 we'll see. And then halfway through he's like,
06:05 brilliant.
06:06 It was great. And everybody clapped along with him and
06:10 fantastic. And you survived it all. And then you're back. Well, this month.
06:15 Pardon?
06:16 You survived it all. And now you're back again.
06:19 Yeah, you know what? Some of those drives. I wasn't sure if I was going to. Yeah, it
06:25 went good.
06:26 Fantastic. Good. Well, really nice to speak to you. Have a safe trip over and have a great
06:31 tour. Thank you for your time.
06:33 Hey, thank you. Have a great day.
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