When Jack Savoretti reveals that his Dublin gig coincide with his birthday, Hot Press doesn't even ask for an invite - we basically invite ourselves.
Under normal circumstances that might seem a bit out of order, but with Jack it makes a certain amount of sense. The Anglo-Italian’s last record, Written In Scars, is an aptly titled collection. He’s not the sort who shies away from opening up, even to strangers.
“When an audience reacts to your stories, it’s medication for both you and the listener,” he says. “There’s a high that you get, to know that you’re not alone in these struggles.”
And, in any case, investing in your writing is a pre-requisite, as far as Jack’s concerned. “Every record is a personal record if you’re the guy writing the songs!” he laughs. “The music takes it to somewhere else anyway, so that it doesn’t really belong to me anymore. It’s nice to venture around, and see where other people are claiming it.”
Touring is also a huge inspiration and, it turns out, an indirect catalyst.
“Travel is the fuel for creativity – for me, at least. There’s a stress about writing on the road though, which I really hate. I bottle things up, and wait until I get home to London. There were three producers working on this album, and any day where I was off the road I’d call all three. Whoever was available, I went into the studio with.”
And time was most definitely of the essence. “A lot of the time, you go into studio and make a demo which everyone falls in love with, but then you spend six months trying to recreate it. You spend too much money, and too much time, have too many opinions, and you lose the magic. A song will never be as pure as the day it’s written – I wanted to capture the core and the heartbeat.”
Because of that, tracks were all but finished on the very day they began, resulting in an energy tangible throughout the record. A troubled relationship with the industry had seen the singer-songwriter disillusioned, leading to a certain tension materialising in his work.
“I don’t know if anger is the right word,” he reflects. “There’s definitely some stubbornness behind the record, and defiance. The last two albums were difficult to make, nobody was rooting for us at the time.”
Was there any consideration given to a punk-rock album, railing against the powers that be?
“I think this is my punk-rock record!” he laughs. “I didn’t want it to be just another guy with a guitar, singing about his woes. I wanted to experiment, and I love pushing the boat out to see how far I can take that. Maybe the next one will come out as a punk album – I certainly won’t put a boundary on it when we make it.”
Though with that said, Jack doesn’t have too much of an idea exactly what path the album might take.
“It’s already a little different, because things have changed,” he says. “My songs are like photo albums, in how they reflect going to different places, meeting different people, and experiencing different things.”
And if there’s a song about a raucous birthday bash in there, well, you can thank us later.