MANCHESTER marked the finale of Raleigh Ritchie’s UK tour recently. Quays News reporter Nathan Salt was lucky enough to sit down with the vocalist and Game of Thrones actor to see how the tour went…
25-year-old Jacob Anderson is a man of many talents. Dazzling crowds under his stage name Raleigh Ritchie whilst also showing his capabilities on screen in Game of Thrones playing Grey Worm.
On stage Ritchie is electric; sweat beading down his parrot tee as he puts in scintillating, high-energy performances which sends crowds into uncontrollable hysteria.
Backstage, however, Anderson is distinctly more relaxed and withdrawn – a level of awkwardness that recently emerged after a trip to HMV when he went to buy his debut album ‘You’re a man now, boy‘.
“It was stupid I shouldn’t have done it,” he admitted.
I bought a deluxe one and a normal one and I turned it over so you didn’t see my face on the front but the barcode wouldn’t scan so he had to use the sticker on the front. There was a Grey Worm toy on the till as well and it was the universe telling me I shouldn’t have done it.”
It would be safe to assume that given Ritchie acts and sings, surely his favourite part of the job is creating the music videos?
He joked: “I hate being in my own videos. It’s weird.
“I don’t have an answer as to why that is because I like acting but it’s just weird to me. I’m a bit of a control freak and one of the best things about acting is that I’m facilitating someone else’s work.
“When it’s my work I want to tell other people what to do.”
Choosing a favourite song is like choosing a favourite child for some musicians.
They just can’t seem to choose one. So when Ritchie faced the ‘dreaded’ question he had to give it some thought.
“My favourite song changes all the time,” he said as he continued to mull his selection over.
“‘The Last Romance‘ is it at the moment because I’m really proud of the lyrics on that one.”
As the interview went on, a piece of news began to emerge that is enough to excite any Ritchie fan for months to come with a collaboration in his thoughts.
But would he break the news here at Quays?
“I haven’t asked them yet but I want to start a three person band – but I can’t tell you who!
“I’d like to write a few songs with two artists in particular and maybe put an EP together because I think it would sound cool.
“I want to finish this next album first and that’s unofficially in process – stuff is already being put down on paper so I’m not hanging about.”
As Anderson squirmed at the thought of being viewed as a ‘celebrity’ – to put it into context he really hates that term – the interview concluded with one final question: how do you find northern crowds?
“I played in London recently and the crowd jumped around and were awesome – but everyone says people up here are crazy!”
“Last year I played here and it was great.”
And with that came the end to an interview that teased fans with a collaboration with two artists – one of which Quays now knows off the record – and if that actually comes to fruition it could be very, very special indeed.
By Nathan Salt
@NathSalt1
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