And then after you’ve got someone that comes
up and says: ‘Oh man!
I love that you did that moment where you
did the acapella thing.
Why are you sweating so much from that?
It’s not that hot!’
I am Craig David.
I am Dan from a band called Bastille and we
are gonna do a really hard-hitting interview
with each other.
I’m seeing things happening in the world
that are ruffling a lot of feathers, but the
beauty in anything where there’s madness
going on is when people see the madness.
When you can’t really see what’s going
on, it’s under the radar – but now people
are going: ‘This is madness that’s going
on here.’
Watching the news and seeing what’s happening
with world events, it can be so easy to be
incredibly brought down by and be defeatist
about it.
But look at the positives and look around,
when terrible things happen, at the people
who react in an amazing, positive way and
try and effect positive change and increase
awareness.
With the election in the UK, it was amazing
to see the voice of the youth and that tension
between the youth and the old people.
As Brits who’ve spent time in America, it’s
a horrifying and fascinating time to see the
‘Leader of the Free World’ endorse unspeakably
awful and untrue images and opinions.
It’s confusing, but hopefully it will draw
out people who don’t believe those things
and can see that they’re not right.
Rather than just being horrified by it, it’s
important to kind of hope it will effect a
positive change in reaction to it.
100% with that man.
Moving back from Miami was the best decision
ever.
I went out to live the dream – sports car
and the pad…
It must have been really fun.
Oh, it was so hard, man.
It was so hard driving that car, you know.
Yeah, getting there early because of how fast
it was.
The curveball is that I think it was gonna
complete me.
I thought: ‘I’m out here and I’ve got
all these material things.
On paper, it seemed correct.
But I still felt a bit empty.
I went there with the dream.
I found that something beautiful came out
of that time of being in Miami.
I needed to come back.
When I came back, I met Big Narstie for the
first time.
Kurrupt FM, the MistaJam show, the ’16’
tune, the freestyle over ‘Where Are You
Now’.
Justin Bieber happened and that went viral.
Met Big Narstie and ‘When The Bassline Drops’
happened.
Having gone to Miami, I can speak from a much
more comfortable, balanced place.
Have you spent time away?
Other than going up north to university, I’ve
never lived out of London.
But we’re lucky enough to tour a lot and
it’s one of those things I never expected
to take over my life like it did.
We spent the best part of a whole year in
America.
I really love coming home and seeing people
and catching up.
For me and my band, it’s like: let’s enjoy
while we’re away, but knowing that we’ll
go home and we’ll go back to normal.
‘Born to Do It’: the title came from that
movie.
When the kid runs into the candy shop, he
says to the candyman: ‘How does he do it!?’
The candyman says: “My dear boy, do you
ask a fish how he swims?
No!
Do you ask a bird how he flies?
No!
No siree, you don’t, because they were born
to do it.’
I was like: ‘Ooh!
I’m ‘aving some of that.
When I was about to release ‘Follow My Intuition’,
I watched the movie and there was a point
where Charlie gets the golden ticket, he runs
in to see his Grandpa Joe and they’re getting
a bit hyped.
The mum comes in and she’s like: ‘Okay
guys, it’s nice that you’re getting a
little hyped for a moment, but you know tomorrow
is the day that you’re actually going to
the chocolate factory.’
I stopped for a minute.
Of all the days for me to put that album out
– it was September 30th that he found the
golden ticket.
And then to have another number one album
out…
Humblebrag…
Well, you know, gotta let people know.
Otherwise it doesn’t link too well.
But – amazing.
If you had to pick three movies…?
I love David Lynch, I love surreal stuff.
I could pick the three tour bus classics.
Classic it out.
Jurassic Park…
Jheeze!
Aesthetically there’s a film called Mulholland
Drive, by David Lynch, that as a teenage just
blew my mind.
His use of music in the film is amazing.
There’s this really beautiful Spanish acapella
female-sung version of ‘Crying’ by Roy
Orbison.
I didn’t know Roy Orbison until then so
it introduced me to a lot of music and different
film styles.
That led me down a path of love for David
Lynch and all of his work.
That inspired a bunch of songs that we did.
But it’s not a film that you’d necessarily
recommend to everybody ‘cause it’s really
bizarre.
It feels like it did in 2000 when I released
Born To Do It.
The songs now that are blowing up – if you
heard TLC ‘No Scrubs’ or Mario ‘Let
Me Love You’, or even Usher, you’d be
like: ‘This fits perfectly in the time and
space we’re in’.
The production has leant into a slightly different
place.
America, musically, is ripe for the UK acts
going there.
I remember when it all eyes were on the UK.
Now you can see Drake’s eyes are very much
on what’s happening here.
Musically, America at the moment is amazing.
And I wish that the diversity in music was
reflected in politics.
But it’s such an amazing… looking at the
Grammy nominations, looking at the charts,
hip-hop is king at the moment.
It’s huge and insanely popular.
It’s fucking awesome.
It’s so good to see so many interesting
new artists and heritage artists.
Jay-Z came back with an incredible record
that people absolutely adore.
Kendrick’s three albums in.
To look back at the history of hip-hop and
see it go from its inception right through
to from being an underground thing to the
most mainstream music…
Hip-hop is starting to lean into that world
where hip-hop and R&B joins.
Puffy did a lot with Notorious B.I.G. and
on those records he made it have a bit more
of a pop melody, but Biggie could still do
his thing.
With Tupac, you can pull out the Kendrick
Lamars and the J. Coles, and Chance the Rapper’s
coming through.
So I can see it already.
It’s like, if you’ve been there the first
time around, you can see it playing out again.
I really hope that the grime scene – which
is fantastic and took the baton from garage…
It really hope it jumps across…
…It holds, because grime isn’t really
grime now.
It’s trap.
If you listen to what grime artists are actually
rapping over, it’s trap records.
That’s why there’s the great link between
the American hip-hop scene and here.
It’s that beautiful moment where it’s
so ripe for us to do what we’re doing together.
And then it’ll have another phase, it’ll
go back to guitar music and then EDM will
happen again.
It has these phases.
But right now, it’s a good time for both
of our styles of music.
The people who seem to have long careers I
think there’s a sort of humility to them.
I think there’s also that drive to not repeat
yourself.
What has been impressive is watching you work
with different producers, different artists.
Even working with someone like me –pushing
your sound into different places.
I think it’s important to always imagine
that you’re new act with something to prove,
rather than resting on your laurels.
When you’re happy that someone could hear
‘I Know You’, and that could be there
first song they’ve heard from me and you.
More so for me, having a career that has spanned
that long.
A lot of 
people hold on to that baggage, like: ‘I
want you know how much I’ve done and how
I used to play here.’
That’s fine, and that’s all gonna be with
you, but how are you relevant to this moment?’
It puts you in that place of: if you want
it, you can have it.
It’s a beautiful journey.
Are you a poster, or are you a lurker?
I’m more of a poster.
I recently got into the Insta Stories vibe.
I think you’re really natural with it.
I always feel a bit reserved.
I always have to think twice before posting
something.
But it must be interesting for you.
When you first released music, there wasn’t…
None!
It wasn’t a thing.
I wasn’t a thing!?
There was no Instagram, no Facebook.
I mean, I don’t wanna sound like it was
some sort of dark ages.
No Twitter.
You had to get up and go out.
I guess what’s nice about social media is
that you curate the version of yourself that
you want people to see.
You’re an honest person, so it’s just
you.
It must be nice to be able to take the control
back and have your own voice direct from you,
unfiltered.
100%, man.
Twitter is the perfect opportunity that I
never had the first time around to actually
thank someone directly.
People say: ’Oh, is it someone doing it
for you?’
You’ve got to understand: I genuinely love
it.
Someone can be at home up in Norfolk, having
their tea, and put out a little tweet saying
‘Yeah I really enjoyed the show’.
And you get a direct message.
I just think that is a mind-blowing thing
to have that ability and use that platform
in that way.
Instagram – if you can use it without it
taking anything away from you enjoying and
living in the moment, which I’m all about,
if it fits into your world, people will feel
it’s authentic and real.
When you think about it too much, that’s
when it becomes a bit of a façade.
Having made music in my bedroom and then started
playing shows in little bars and pubs and
stuff, it’s hard to get used to the perception
of separation.
It’s always nice to meet people who like
your music and it’s fucking mind-blowing
that some complete stranger – particularly
internationally – has heard your stuff.
I remember meeting some girl in Russia who
learnt English because she wanted to know
exactly what all our lyrics are about, I was
like: ‘That’s insane.
I’m glad that our music is somehow giving
you a useful life tool.’You’re really
good at appreciating people when they say
nice things.
I think that’s a really nice take-home message.
