The Busking Project has just finished an online interview with the increasingly famous, ex-street performer James Cottriall. Like 99% of the successful ex-buskers out there, you won’t find any mention of street performance on his website. However, if you look, the information is out there. Check out the video of his hit single “Unbreakable” played on the streets of Vienna above, for example, and from his wiki page: “He was also a regular and notorious busker on the Kärntnerstraße, in Vienna’s town centre.”
His single, “Unbreakable”, released in April 2010, reached number 1 in the Ö3 Hörercharts (Most Requested Charts for Austria), and remained in the Top 40 charts for 20 weeks. His new album, “Love is Louder”, will be released on 24th Feb. For updates and more go to his Facebook page, or:
www.jamescottriall.com
Twitter: @JamesCottriall
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The Busking Project: Why did you first busk?
James Cottriall: To be honest, I needed money to pay for food and books as I was studying at the same time. I was terrified, the first time I went there it took me nearly an hour to get the guitar out of its case because I didn’t think people wanted to be annoyed by me. I soon realised that MOST people were lovely and I was able to eat for a whole week!
TBP: And since then? What have you got out of it?
JC: It made me much more confident and also improved my voice, because I had to support it correctly to make sure I was loud enough to be heard without screaming. It was my first experience really intergrating an audience with my songs.
TBP: Do you miss it now?
JC: I don’t do it as much as I want to, because I am not in Vienna as much as I used to be. I don’t miss the winter at all, it used to hurt playing frozen strings and breathing in cold air, but in the summer it was lovely.
The COLD in the winter is definitely the worst thing. My favourite memory was when I had my first big audience of over 200 people, it was hard work keeping them entertained but they all clapped along with my songs!
TBP: That sounds like you were pretty popular. Still, would you like to change anything about how street performance is viewed, or how it is handled by the authorities?
JC: I think the Viennese system is very good because anyone can play their music, the system just regulates when and where. It is a random and fair system so everybody gets a turn at Kärntnerstrasse 2! I think people still look at Street Artists individually, if they like what they see or hear then they will stay, if they don’t they will quickly leave.
Busking is the best way to reach lots of people who might not otherwise get to know the music. So, DEFINITELY DO IT!
