and BBC were in a ratings war, it was our fine city that was winning overall; BBC’s Te Voice had local lad Bill Downs and BGT presen ted Sam Kelly, also a Norfolk boy, to us and millions of people across the country took him all the way to the final. Tis month he returns to Norwich to play a show to his fans, new and old…
S
How have the energy levels been since finishing Britain’s Got Talent? Have they been on a constant high, or have you managed any down time? I’ve actually been quite ill; for the week after BGT, my body was left just sort of catching up with what was going on and I had a bit of a cold for a week, but I’m kind of cracking back on with it now and getting as many bookings as possible.
We already knew Norfolk was brimming over with talent, but the TV world is now getting to see too – there’s you on BGT and Bill Downs on Te Voice – - Yeah, I’m good mates with Bill; we both used to play at the local pub in my village and it’s just really funny that we both used to play there and now we’ve both been on two of the biggest talent shows in the world!
I was watching your first audition back and when they gave you a standing ovation, it must have been one of the most phenomenal feelings ever. You looked very humbled and kinda baffled when it happened… Oh my god, the thing was I’d been there all day, I’d gone with my sister and my mates and we were there for a good laugh. I never actually thought about whether I was going to go through or anything. I didn’t expect it at all, none of us did – they were as baffled as I was! I’d never had anything like that reaction before.
You put yourself into their world, but then I imagine one of the strangest things is when you were filmed at home because you live there everyday, then suddenly you’re inviting them into your world –
- Well they came back a few times to my Mum’s house in Hainford to do some filming and I think they were sort of expecting me to have this weird, quirky musician’s life, but I was just like, ‘I go down for a walk by this river with my Mum sometimes…’, and I think it was weird that there wasn’t much weirdness about me
One of the things I was impressed with is that you did a Rascal Flats song in the final that most people hadn’t heard of before… I’m really proud that I stuck really firmly to what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to have a big production behind me, just ‘cause that wasn’t me at all. I never expected to get through to the final, so I just wanted to play a song that I love to play, by a band that I love and just think they deserve more recognition over here and luckily it worked out. I think it got to number 20 in the charts or something!Tey should send me a cheque, haha!
I read that you’re not gonna rush a release, which is sensible, but are you going to be putting something formally together soon, do you think? Well I’m gonna wait until my contract with Britain’s Got Talent runs out, then maybe I’ll just release an EP of my songs, just to judge people’s reactions, because it’s not really that mainstream. It’s the stuff that I’ve always played with my band and it’s more kinda folk / blues inclined, I guess. Just from my point of view, I’d much rather make something I’m happy with than something that’d make a lot of money… I may say that and end up being homeless though!
Now Sam, I have to ask because I often wonder – what does Simon Cowell smell like? He smells of money, hahaha!
Emma Garwood
Sam Kelly plays at OPEN for TTSF on Sat 21st July in an all-day show withTe Kabeedies, We Can’t Dance, Tom Cox and Owl Museum. For tickets, go to
www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk. Read the uncut version of this interview at
Outlineonline.co.uk
38 /July 2012/
outlineonline.co.uk
aturday nights in May were a good time to be from Norfolk; while ITV
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