26MusicWeek 13.07.12 FEATURE AIDENGRIMSHAW
“I’ve been growing up and getting something together that is actuallyworthwriting about – rather than doing versions of MadWorld over and over again” AIDEN GRIMSHAW
www.musicweek.com
‘ WARNING:
TALENT BY TIM INGHAM AND RHIAN JONES
T
hings you do not expect an X Factor graduate to be doing No.341: standing in the pissing Heaton Park rain,mud up to his
knees, openly beaming at the truculent performance of Liam Gallagher,who “still doesn’t give a shit about what people think of him”. Things you do not expect an X Factor graduate
to be doing No.342: recalling when his dad would get back from the pub and blare The Stone Roses from his stereo loud enough to wake his teenage son who “liked it so much I didn’t complain”. Things you do not expect an X Factor graduate to
be doing No.343: explaining that his indie-crazed father has heard his new album, likes it, and therefore “if I achieve nothing else, it doesn’tmatter”. AidenGrimshaw, if you haven’t absorbed the subtle
point, is not your typical realityTV entrant. For starters,he’s a plain-spokenmusic fanatic from Blackpool with a deep appreciation ofTheClash,
ABOVE Intense: RCA boss Colin Barlow says Aiden Grimshaw’s look and style have both come from the artist
MassiveAttack,Moby and – judging by his rampant guzzling at lastmonth’s Ian‘n’John‘n’Mani‘n’Reni Manchester love-in – orange Bacardi Breezers. Yeah, yeah.A boozing rock star wannabe off X
Factor... so far, so Frankie Coke-whassisname. But get this:Grimshaw has already recorded
some ‘credible’ – nay exceptional – pop material. And don’t take our word for it: famously fussy, occasionally venomous site Popjustice called his debut dubstep-flecked single, Is This Love, “amazing” and “extraordinary” – whilst noting that recent coverage on the singer/songwriter from super-trendy publications Nylon and BEAT is not part of your usual Syco-related pop PR plan. Wrote Popjustice: “He is sort of credible but not
in a boring way, he is a little bit hipster-friendly, he is stylish, he is ‘not your average popstar’.” “I brought my dad up to London with my uncle
NOTYOURAVERAGE POP STAR’
RCA believes Aiden Grimshaw’s appeal is unlike that of any other X Factor act – and he’s starting to prove his label right
- who are both 45 - got them pissed and put the album on,”Grimshaw tellsMusicWeek. “I was jamming, off my tree. I turned around
and my uncle was doing a one-legged dance and my dad was buzzing his tits
off.My grandma likes the album as well – so, yeah,maybe it does have real crossover potential.” See? Not exactly Alexandra Burke, right? However,Grimshaw’s still got that Simon
Cowell-shaped albatross around his neck: the dreaded ‘fame-hungry’ association with X Factor, which he entered in 2010 – memorably covering MadWorld with a seriously sculpted quiff. It’s a tough black mark to erase; something
Grimshaw’s determined to achieve with the help of Jarrad ‘Jazz’Rogers (Lana Del Rey,Tinchy Stryder),who has produced/engineered new album Misty Eye, out August 20 on RCA.
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