It’s funny, how paths cross sometimes. Whilst being in London with my girlfriend in 2023, we just got off the underground in Camden, when we recognised something going on. It was music outside, there was a crowd, but it wasn’t just someone busking, it was a whole band gig in the streets of Camden town. Looking back, it seemed like suns out, guns out – but in a musicians way. Because what we witnessed there, has been pure passion for rock ‘n’ roll. And that, my dear reader, is how we met Laurie Wright.
Source: YouTube, Laurie Wright
Nearly three years later, I’m sick at home, watching the tour trailer for Lauries upcoming tour in Germany and on the edge of just turning it off – because Hamburg’s not in the list. Already frustrated about that fact I’m watching it anyway and surprise: Hamburg’s now on the bill!
And that’s why we can meet up today at the Indra club, where The Beatles started their career on the Reeperbahn. The interview takes place in the basement of the club, where the green room is located and after introducing each other, I press record and we start tripping down memory lane. Now’s your turn. Get to know: Laurie Wright!
Past times
We saw you in 2023.
Laurie: Yeah, busking. In Camden. I’ve still got that Polaroid.
You still got it?
Laurie: Yeah, yeah, at home. Yeah, I just never got around to getting in touch with you.
I wrote something on the back of it, like, get in touch with me if you want to do an interview, because we were pretty impressed. We were just getting out from the underground station and there you were – just smashing it. It was great fun.
Laurie Wright caught busking in the streets of Camden.
Now you’re in Hamburg and you also mentioned it: Beatles, Indra Club. People are always talking about The Beatles – obviously. But why not? What do you think about this chance to play at such an historic place?
Laurie: It’s a real dream come true. It means so much to me. Especially because we were booked to play here with my old band in 2019. And it got moved to Cowboy and Indianer on the Reeperbahn, up the road. Which was really, really nice. We did that and that was fun. But we really wanted to do this. Because obviously, like The Beatles, best band of all time. And this is where they fucking started. Where they learnt, because they had to, fucking eight hours a night. And that’s how they became the best band in the world, by doing their 10.000 hours here. It’s fucking insane, man. So yeah, I’m really, really excited to be here in this particular club.
MORE BEATLES
And so we begin to rave about The Beatles. I’m starting with the story about John Lennon coming on stage with a toilet seat around his neck (think about this!), Laurie following with Paul McCartney and George Harrison getting deported (one of them for setting a fire). So all of a sudden, we’re lost in the 60s, speaking about the Bambi Kino, the heavy drug use of The Beatles and the violent atmosphere on the Reeperbahn back then. I’m sharing my bit of knowledge on this topic and so we’re changing seats for the next one…
Laurie: So where else did the Beatles play, when they were here? Do you know?
RR: So they played the Indra. Then they played… You saw the big guitar hanging outside with the 36.
Laurie: Yeah.
RR: Down there in the basement. They played at the Kaiserkeller.
Laurie: Oh, cool.
RR: Then on the opposite of it, there’s a memorial stone, because the old building has been demolished.
Laurie: Right.
RR: This was the Star-Club. This was where they got really famous. There are also bootlegs of it on the internet.
Laurie: Oh, really? I’ll have to listen to that.
RR: Guys like Chuck Berry, I think even Black Sabbath played at the Star-Club.
Laurie: Cool. Nice, man.
RR: The last thing they did here on the Reeperbahn was the Top Ten Club. Now the Molotow‘s in there. You heard about the Molotow, I guess.
Laurie: Oh, the club, the Molotow. I’ve just been told about it earlier. Is it a good club?
RR: Yeah, it is a good one. It needed to move a few times because we have the same problem as you in the UK. Venues are closing and stuff. So they moved several times and now they’re at the old Top Ten Club where the Beatles used to play.
Laurie: Wow, cool.
RR: So maybe one day you can be there. It looks fantastic.
Laurie: Hopefully. We’re gonna come back in September, because our new agent is putting something together. We’re gonna come and do the Reeperbahn Festival. Hopefully. We were talking about it this morning. So yeah, hopefully we’ll do the Reeperbahn Festival in September and then do some more German shows around that. But if we could get in the Molotow, then that’d be nice. What capacity is it, do you know?
RR: Right now, I guess it’s maybe like, I don’t know, maybe 300.
Laurie: Maybe supporting someone then (laughs).
Am I wrong when I call you one of the hardest working musicians right now in the world of music?
Laurie: Yeah, yeah.
Am I wrong?
Laurie: No, no (laughs).
I mean, it’s impressive. You’re doing all these street gigs… and I read your first German press, which you shared on Instagram and there you said: ‘Five years from now I’m doing Glastonbury.’
Do you still believe this, you think it’ll pay off?
Laurie: Definitely, yeah. If I look at how I’ve gone from the past five years to here and where we’re at a point in London where we can sell out a 2,500 cap this year, fingers crossed, which is Kentish Town Forum. And we started five years ago selling out 100 caps like the Dublin Castle, Camden, 150 cap. So now we’re at 2,500. If you get there in five years, by just doubling the venue size each year in London, eventually we’ll end up big. It’s: There’s no plan B. It’s just we do this and hopefully one day it will be the toppermost of the poppermost (laughs).
Okay, that sounds good, yeah.
Laurie: As John used to say, John Lennon used to say when they were here (laughs).
He used to?
Laurie: Yeah, he used to say, where are we going then, boys? And then they’d say, I don’t know, John, where are we going? And he’d go, the toppermost of the poppermost (laughs).
Yeah, great, man. That’s the spirit.
Do you know your support for tonight – Talkin’ Secret?
Laurie: Yeah.
They’re kind of doing the same around here. They’re just playing their arse off.
Laurie: Cool, man. I saw their adverts. As soon as I came into Germany, I was seeing their adverts pop up of them in the street, cigarettes, drinking, singing. And he was telling me it’s an old German song that they’re…
The Tüdelband thing, yeah.
Laurie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’ve seen that. It keeps popping up. They’re doing the right thing in terms of like getting people involved.
LAURIE WRIGHT Himself
For the people who doesn’t know you, who’s Laurie Wright?
Do you want to introduce yourself?
Laurie: Yeah! So I’m Laurie Wright, a singer-songwriter from London. And I’ve been on a bit of a journey the past five years or the past six years coming off drugs and alcohol. I was an alcoholic and a drug addict before that, which is where my… I think my work ethic comes from because the addictive nature of the always searching for the alcohol, the drugs, whatever, I always had that within me. So when I took those away, I could suddenly get addicted to what I really loved, which was the music and the playing to people and coming to as many countries as possible and playing to as many people as possible and writing as many songs, releasing as many albums and, you know, doing as much as I can. But I’m always running (laughs).
Yeah, you’re always on the run.
Laurie: Yeah, yeah. I’m always… I’m not sure what from, but I’m always going somewhere to do something. And then when I’ve done that, I’ll go and do something else. But it’s rare that I get to sit down and have a conversation, so it’s nice, actually (laughs).
Cheers, yeah. I also enjoy that. As you’re just saying this, I’m thinking about this line from Noel Gallagher: Everybody’s on the run.
Laurie: Yeah.
Maybe it’s something like that, you know?
Laurie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If it’s at least something that’s healthy, you know? Like not drugs, but if it’s music or taking care of somebody you love, whatever.
Laurie: Yeah.
When checking out your first German press I also read that you said something like: ‘I’m addicted to my work now, and I know it’s not healthy all the time, but I’m looking for ways to find the balance there.’ Did you already find something?
Laurie: Yeah. Actually, like this year, I started doing yoga and meditation every morning.
Does it help?
Laurie: Yeah, it really does. Yoga and meditation every morning. Also, because I’m addicted to scrolling on my phone, I’ve got a timed lockbox, so I put it in there at night, and I can’t get it out of there until whenever I set the timer. So if I say, right, no phone until 11am, put it in there, go to sleep, wake up, don’t go straight for the phone, and then yoga, meditation, go for a run, breakfast, and then I feel so much better. And then eventually, sometimes I don’t want to get the phone, because I know it’s distracting and all that. So yeah, I’m doing things like that. I’ve been going to, I went back to, and I’m at Narcotics Anonymous, like Alcoholics Anonymous, there’s Narcotics Anonymous as well for drugs and alcohol, but I’m working through the 12-step programme, which I never really did when I gave up drugs. I went to the meetings and listened to people talking and talked about my story, but I never really did the steps, the 12-step programme. So I’m doing that, and then when I finish that this year, I can then help other people through it. So be a sponsor to someone who is in my position, who’s addicted to drugs and alcohol. Once I’ve done the 12-steps, I can help take them through the 12-steps to help give back to the community that gave me my life back. Do you know what I mean? So doing that, and (laughs) I’ve got to be careful I don’t get addicted to that. There seems to be a pattern that I, but yeah, you know, it’s a lot better this year. I’ve really got systems in place, and I’m happier, and I’m eating better, eating healthier other than the pizza (laughs), which is lovely. It’s not pizza every day anymore (laughs).
Let’s get to the end of it. There’s two questions left.
What was the point when you said, damn, you just also mentioned it, you were on drugs, you were doing crack, if I recall this right?
Laurie: Yeah.
You were living on the streets, I saw pictures of you. Man, you looked really horrible.
But what was the point when you said, damn, now it’s enough?
Laurie: Yeah, it was when… there’d been quite a few moments. There was always a situation where I would lose everything at once. So I would lose the house I was in, so I’d have nowhere to live. The girlfriend that I was with, they would leave. And the job that I had would go all at the same time. It happened about three or four times. And that happened again on my 28th birthday. So I wasn’t even in the 27 Club anymore. It was there until I was 28. And that happened that I had nowhere to live. My girlfriend had just left me. I’d lost my band that time. So really important, you know. I didn’t have a band anymore. And we’d just been recording at Abbey Road. We’d just come here. We’d been in Germany, touring. We were going to sign a publishing deal. We were being managed by Tobias Künzel from Die Prinzen. So he was managing us, and we were staying at his house. And it was all going really well. And then that happened. And I didn’t have the band. I didn’t have my girlfriend. I didn’t have my house. It was too much. And I woke up on a park bench. Kieran woke me up. My best mate out there, Kieran.
He’s here with you.
Laurie: Yeah, yeah. He’s the harmonica player, my business partner, my best mate. And he picked me up. And he said, you know, what are we going to do with you? And then I remember I was just crying. And I kept repeating the same thing: ‘I can’t do this anymore, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this anymore, I can’t do this anymore.’ And then it was like a switch was flicking in my brain – I cannot live like this anymore. And I didn’t. I actually changed. And Kieran was such a huge inspiration because he had quit. He was the same as me. He quit a year earlier. So I watched him get better and better, better, better. And he was running our local pub as well. So I used to go in there every day. And Kieran wasn’t drinking anymore. And he was really like, you know: ‘Are you ok?” You know, that kind of thing. And he was… So, yeah, it was all huge. It was all because of Kieran, really. It kept me coming to that realisation that I couldn’t go on like that anymore. And then, yeah, here we are.
Horrible. But yeah, in the end, great. I mean, look at you – dapper!
Laurie: Cheers, man. Likewise. Love the shirt!
Thanks.
So let’s get positive for the end.
Three albums, Power Of 3 is the current one. What’s next? Power of 4? Obviously not. But is there something on the way?
Laurie: So we’re just getting some funding together to go and some investment. Hopefully, fingers crossed, to go in to record the fourth album called Cheers Drive. Where I’m from, you say when you get off the bus, you go: Cheers drive. And then you go off. So I want the album cover to be me in a suit getting off the bus. Like a really like, like grimy bus. You get off and I’m like: Cheers drive – like that (laughs). So it’s just a saying. And yeah, going in to record that, some singles. And then the album will be out on Friday, October the 2nd, which is when we’re playing Kentish Town Forum, 2,500 capacity in London, Camden. And hopefully it’ll be sold out. But yeah.
Fucking amazing. So I guess that’s it. We’ll take some Polaroid pictures.
Photosession! Captured by Joe, cheers mate!
