The Leithfield Boy Making Music

Teenager James Constable writes his own lyrics, releases music online and performs live. We caught up with him to find out what inspires this young musician.

Words: Pattie Pegler

Images: Supplied

As a toddler with parents who met in the Air Force Band, James was surrounded by music and liked playing around with music software on the computer. Even at a young age he says he became quite competent at writing “little ditties” on the computer but it was about five years ago that he really embraced music. A classmate asked him to write a song for a teacher that was leaving. He did. And he couldn’t stop.

“I got the song writing bug,” explains James. “And I recorded a few songs on my mum’s iPad, burned them to CD and sold about 20 of them. Everything I have done since has been built off that.”

He describes his music as a cross between 60’s pop and 80’s and 90’s alt-rock and says influences include bands like the Smiths, R.E.M. and The Sundays along with kiwi bands like the Mutton Birds. And, of course, The Beatles figure “they’re my musical DNA,” says James. “And they were definitely a big factor in me beginning to write songs as well.”

And James is a good songwriter. Good enough to scoop some prizes including in 2018 the Hookline and Singalong competition. Part of his prize was to go and record his winning song, The Smell of Sunscreen, at Roundhead Studios in Auckland with “all the bells and whistles” of a professional recording studio it was an amazing experience he says. There was also a performance at the New Zealand Ukulele Festival where he performed in front of 2000 – the largest audience he has ever played for. Not bad for a self-confessed “introvert”.

James has spoken on social media about living with Aspergers and it has some plus sides for creativity he believes. “It has been beneficial to my musicianship in a number of ways. The two main ones are drive and learning new skills. For me - it’s different for everyone - my Aspergers means that I only really am majorly interested in one thing at a time… and I only focus on that one thing until I’ve found all the information I can about it. Therefore, I am able to push really hard to make my interest a career if I want to.”

But, as for many striving to make a career in creative arts, one of the biggest challenges is getting his material out there James says. He appears on Spotify, Facebook and YouTube under James Constable Music but playing live also helps him promote his work and he’s hoping to start doing a few more gigs around the South Island. “I’ve always viewed myself as a recording artist that does live gigs as promotion, rather than the other way around” he says.