Payton James, more widely known as PJ, is a 17-year-old singer based in Colchester who I had the pleasure to interview recently. He’s currently studying hairdressing at college whilst busking and doing gigs in his spare time. His sound can be described as indie/rock, and he has recently opened for local artists Greebo and Katy for Kings.
“I’m openly bisexual, I’ve been out for many years and i just want to do something with music and perform because that’s what I enjoy.” His passion for music began when he was young, and he grew up listening to music icons such as Elvis Presley. “It made me want to create music further, delve into it and it sort of went from there with me wanting to learn” he tells me. At gigs, you’ll see him strumming his acoustic guitar covered in an array of stickers; however, it isn’t the only instrument he plays. “I first started learning drums when I was 11 or 12. I started playing them around 6 months before I started to learn guitar.” Now back to the question I was most interested in asking: what’s the story with the stickers on your guitar? He laughs and confesses that “they’re just random stickers I found online. There was a Greebo sticker on there, which I got from here.” ‘Here’ being Best Days Vintage in Colchester. “I saw there were a few Greebo stickers, so I got one and slapped it onto my guitar. And then when I first met them [Greebo], I was like ‘Yo! I got this on my guitar’”, he smiles “it was kind of funny.” “Music helped me drift away and sink back into my own world.” This Colchester singer first started performing when he was 14 and has done his fair share of busking as well. When asking him about whether he gets nervous before singing, he tells me “I feel like there’s a lot of pressure giving a performance and getting it right, I always forget lyrics or my hand slips whilst I’m playing a guitar chord. There’s always nerves, but I try to change it into energy to hype myself up. It turns into adrenaline, and I just go for it because I know that as soon as I get into it, I’m going to feel comfortable and happy.” Social media has become a huge part of the music industry and is essential part of the business, when asking PJ his opinion on it, he pauses for a second and says “it helps with pushing someone forwards into the industry, but it can also become a hindrance as well because the social media presence becomes the artist, rather than the person themselves. Sometimes their whole career may depend on their social media presence rather than the actual music that they produce.” PJ is definitely a singer to keep your eye out for and if you hear about any upcoming gigs of his, be sure to buy a ticket – I know I will.
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