Graffiti6 on "Colours" and Conquering America
NEW YORK (CBS) British singer-songwriter Jamie Scott is looking to make waves across the pond with his newest project, Graffiti6.
The band recently released its first full-length album, "Colours," which showcases the group's unique blend of pop, folk, dance and soul.
Video: Graffiti6 "Colours" the U.S.
Before Graffiti6, Scott was no stranger to the music business. He was already signed to a record label, had released multiple albums and been on tour. Someone at that company suggested he meet up with Tommy "TommyD" Danvers, an established writer, producer and DJ who's worked with artists including Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z and Kylie Minogue.
The two got together in 2008, hit it off and wrote their first track, "Stare into the Sun."
"It was a little folk riff that I had on the guitar," Scott told CBSNews.com of how the song came to be. "I went to Tommy and, the first day we met, we just started jamming around on it."
When TommyD sent him the finished product, Scott says, "It was the first time I heard this sort of mad sound that Tommy was getting. And it took me a couple of times to get used to it, and then, you know what, I loved it. And that's really where that whole project was born."
Picking out a name for the group wasn't as easy. The members couldn't think of one, so they made up a game where they would open books and point to random words. Scott came to the word "Graffiti," he recalls, and someone else had "6."
"We had loads of them," he says. "There was a page full of them. We had 'Suitcase Announced,' we had 'Phoenix Beast' - these are all different names we had."
Scott describes Graffiti6's sound as "psychedelic, Northern soul, straight folk," a mix of his and TommyD's influences.
"I grew up with folk music, so Bob Dylan, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, I listened to a lot of those people when I was growing up," he said. "And also, my dad was a big soul fan, so Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, and that's kind of where I'm at.
"Tommy was a big DJ back in the day, so he listens to a lot of dance music, and I think, in the middle, we meet - we both have this mutual love for rock, and Jimi Hendrix...and that's kind of where the eclectic mad sound comes from."
That sound is getting noticed on both sides of the Atlantic. Back in England, "Stare into the Sun" was used as part of an ad campaign for Britian's Sun newspaper. And in the States, it was recently featured in an episode of "Grey's Anatomy."
Scott said he had no reservations about using the song commercially: "We just wanted people to hear our music, and that's the best way for people to do it."
He also talked about the decision the group made to release their music independently, instead of through a major record label.
"That was a decision made about making the record," he said. We were having so much fun when we started making this record, and we were enjoying it so much, that we didn't want to be tied down to people telling us what to do."
He added: "It meant that we could have a product that we were proud of, and that we could finish and just hand over and say, 'All right, this is done. This album, "Colours," is finished and, you know, take it or leave it' kind of thing, rather than having someone get involved at the very beginning."
And now that the album is out, along with the music videos for "Stare into the Sun" and the band's other single, "Annie You Save Me," Scott has big plans for what happens next.
"We've come here for three or four days to do press, and then we're going back to the UK because we've got a tour in Europe," he said. "And then we're going to have Christmas and then hopefully, we're gonna come back and conquer America. At least that's the plan, anyway."
Watch the interview and a performance of "Annie You Save Me":