‘Everybody’s just itching to get on that tour bus again’: Life according to… Rag ‘n’ Bone Man

You recorded your new album a year ago, so are you excited to finally release it?

Yeah, it almost feels like I’m starting afresh. The worry was it’ll just get put off and put off until “everything’s back to normal”.

But, you know, I think I really needed this.

You recorded the majority of the album in Nashville. What attracted you there?

It was the people. Nashville itself is like country music Disneyland. Then when you step outside of that part, it’s really beautiful and it’s not just country music either, there’s so much more than that. I went over in the first place just to see what the songwriting was like. So we wrote most of the record in Nashville and decided we’d record it out there as well.

How was the recording process?

We went over just as the pandemic hit, then they said: “You’ve got to quarantine for two weeks.” But we weren’t allowed in the studio, so we started rehearsing the songs, and then realised we only had a week to record the album. It forced us to record as if it were live. We just played it until we got it right and it was the best decision, because when I listen to it now, it feels like I’m standing there again, and that’s what I wanted in the first place, so it worked out perfectly.

You have a duet with P!nk, called Anywhere Away From Here?

The song is an honest reflection of wanting to disappear from uncomfortable situations, about the vulnerabilities we all face. It’s an honour to have P!nk on this record.

Have you missed playing live?

Everybody’s just itching to get on that tour bus again. I’m so bad at being at home for long periods of time. It has been cool, because I’ve got to spend time with my family, but at the same time it feels like a limb has been cut off because that life has been taken away.

Any memorable moments or favourite shows from Scotland?

We played King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in 2016 and it was a proper rowdy, sweaty show with lots of whisky!

You’ve become a dad. Has that changed your outlook?

You become less selfish, but it also makes me more worried about the future, so I’ve talked a lot about that on the album. It’s made me a lot more open and honest. I don’t feel I should keep that to myself. I don’t really care now, because what I want for my son is freedom – freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom to love whoever they want. So, it’s made me more open as a person, 100%.