Adam Isaac
Launches Debut Album

Adam Isaac orders a vanilla latte. I am sat just out of ear shot to hear his order at the counter, but out of curiosity I strain forward to hear his request to the obliging waitress.

Isaac, meet Francesca

I notice other customers, who prior to his entrance were engrossed in their papers, do precisely the same.

He is beautiful, and very tall, but the attention he garners is not merely lustful. Locals know about his music (he is a regular at Mamma Stones) and his appearance on BBC’s hugely successful ‘The Voice’ has catapulted him into the semi-famous stratosphere.

With his debut album ‘Train Tracks’ launching this Saturday at the Exeter Phoenix, The Tab chats to the quietly charismatic Adam Isaac about golf, his new album, and what he loves about Exeter.

What’s the strangest question you’ve been asked before?

Someone at a gig asked me the other day “Does Tom Jones like sheep?” – I didn’t answer. And people ask “How do you feel about losing on The Voice?” but the thing is I don’t really see it like that. They think you’ll be gutted but I wasn’t at all. They started with 25,000 people so I was happy. I do get some silly questions, but don’t worry!

Let’s talk about your debut album ‘Train Tracks’ – what can people expect?

It’s quite out there; it’s not safe at all! There’s a mix of rock, big festival, loud tracks that I wanted on there. That’s my inspiration – I listen to Nirvana, Muse and Radiohead and all those sorts of bands. I think people expect that when you’re an acoustic singer/song writer, [it’s] all very nice and fluffy around the edges, but that’s not what it is.

Why the title?

The studio we recorded at is in the middle of nowhere down a river estuary. So you had to either catch a boat down at high tide or walk down a train track to get there. Sometimes we would go home at midnight and walk straight down this railway line which isn’t ideal. Also, it represents moving forward.

Any surprises in store for your album launch gig this Saturday?

We want to make it special and get people involved – lighting makes people have a good time. Maybe we’ll give out glow sticks. We’re going to play all eleven tracks on the album. We’re going to include some remakes of three songs; ‘Sweet Dreams’ by Eurythmics versus Led Zepplin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, ‘Billie Jean’ mixed with ‘No Diggity’ by the Blackstreets and then a mash-up of ‘Come Together’ by the Beatles with ‘Killing in the Name of’ by Rage against the Machine. All the details of the gig are on my website.

Would you advise aspiring artists to apply for a reality TV programme like ‘The Voice’?

I would advise you to go and do real gigs for a while and really get to know what the music business is about. I don’t necessarily agree with overnight success and sometimes when people see you on a show, they think that’s all that you’ve done. For people like me who have played gigs for ten years, to have people come up to you now and say ‘are you going to keep singing?’ – I just don’t know how to answer that question. Although at the same time, it definitely has helped me because there are more people out there who want to see the gigs, so it can’t be a bad thing and I wouldn’t have met the people that I did.

How much creative control were you given?

In my case, I was quite frustrated. I wasn’t able to choose the songs I wanted. You know, it was good to do something different like the Foo Fighters. I initially argued against it – I love them but I wouldn’t choose their stuff to show off my voice.

As a local, how do you spend a normal Saturday night in Exeter?

I’m involved in Mamma Stone’s and play alot of music there and I really like it. Also, I always wanted to play the Phoenix and fortunately that’s where we’re doing the album launch! I’d really like to play the student union at some point as well. That’d be great. Also there’s this new place just on Gandy Street and it’s called ‘Hats Bar’ and which used to be called ‘Coolings’ and I really like it there. But yeah, I’m normally at Mamma Stone’s!

Yeah! You toured with Joss Stone [daughter of Mamma Stone] didn’t you?

Yes in 2009, it was really great. I got to meet her band who came over from America; so you learn alot from people like that. I was working with them [Mamma Stone’s] at their previous venue near Somerset and that’s how it came about through knowing Joss, who was kind enough to invite me on tour.

Have you always wanted to be a musician?

I wanted to be a pro-golfer originally; I went to a college in Cornwall and I was there for four years – I did a foundation degree in golf management. Yeah, I left there when I was twenty. That was where my music, gigging started off.

What were you involved in during your time at college? Any societies?

Other than golf, I was involved in the drinking society [laughs]. I used to play in the student bar as well, that’s how I started off gigging really.

There are still tickets available for the album launch at the Phoenix. Doors open 8pm. Click here for more info.