Meet Jimmy Herrity, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Brighton who’s been capturing hearts with his heartfelt music. With his new single “Lost Boys”, the singer continues to showcase his knack for raw and emotionally charged storytelling
His sound is characterized by delicate fingerpicked electric guitar and subtle acoustic strumming, combined with a fragile and intimate vocal delivery that draws listeners into his reflective world. Thematically rich, “Lost Boys” explores profound topics of loss, grief, and the passage of time, crafted from Herrity’s personal experiences, including the heartbreaking loss of his brother and a close friend.
This interview will delve into his creative journey, the inspirations behind “Lost Boys” and his artistry.
– Can you tell us a bit about your early life and how you first became interested in music? Was there a specific moment when you knew this was the path you wanted to take?
We had a little blue stereo and I remember my brother bringing it into the kitchen of one of the houses we live fin when I was around 10. He would play Eminem and my sister would play blink 182 and Linkin Park because those were the CD’s we had. I have a tendency to overanalyse retrospectively but I would say it definitely excited me. It felt very different to the world I actually lived in. More colourful and less afraid. Then it’s just the classic really, I linked up with the other weirdos at school and we all got guitars. But it was always on for me, I never considered anything else, even when the guys at school kind of phased out. At 15 I got really into Radiohead and my dad introduced me to Damien Rice & Leonard Cohen, things started opening up a little. I kind of settled into myself in my early 20’s figured out what I liked playing and what I was good at playing, using space and dynamics, making a room go pin drop quiet and then managing to do it again and again and thinking oh.. okay there’s something there. It took a long time to get even close to relocating that in the studio, no matter how good the performance was, there’s something about doing it live.. it’s still where I think my songs make the most sense.
– Who were some of your earliest musical influences and how did they shape the way you write and perform today?
I’ve had my troubles with them but Radiohead taught me earlier on how much territory you can explore in new and interesting ways but I would say I stuck with them because their music tends to be quite emotional and visceral. I think it’s important to say that because people get caught up with the former point of all the different territorial exploration being what sets them apart but I don’t think it’s a true as people like to believe, the emotive sensibility is what drew me in and what kept me listening. It’s an important distinction. Most of my friends for example love foals and make the same points about creativity and exploration, I agree and think they’re very talented but it’s never really been for me, because I don’t relate to the feeling/sentiment or whatever you want to call it. It’s probably why I was never much on an Oasis or artic monkeys fans, they write incredible songs but it’s all very confident and cool, which isn’t something I really relate to haha. Leave me with the sad dads. Speaking of which The National are my favourite band but all my friends think they’re boring as hell. Also I do really like Artic Monkeys now, I loved the last two records and it made me appreciate the earlier work, I love the solo EP Alex Turner did for Submarine too.
– Your new single “Lost Boys” deals with deeply personal themes of loss, grief, and time slipping away. How do you approach translating such intimate feelings into music?
That part comes quite naturally to me, it’s sort of my thing/what I do. I always write from a feeling or because I have something to say. Some people work on music first then apply meaning/lyrics later, and that enables them to explore lots of musical territory etc. But for me, the thing I need to say comes first and I write vey traditionally, when that feeling strikes I pick up a guitar and let it out. It sounds awfully pretentious but I think thats why I would say I’m an artist first, musician second. I’ve always seen it as a vehicle to express something.. For me it was never playing music because I loved the instrument and wanted to be the best and learn every genre, it was always a tool to to transcend and say what I couldn’t with words alone.
– You mentioned that “Lost Boys” has evolved over time and taken on new meaning with personal losses. Can you describe how these experiences have changed your relationship with the song?
It was a moment of realisation that the song had become something bigger than myself, which is every artists dream. When I first wrote it it was about personal struggle. As the years have gone on and we’ve lost people along the way, some of their struggle seeped into it. There’s a lot of songs to come that are more explicitly or directly for and about my brother, but his loss definitely changed this song. There’s a feeling in the song of, there’s only so much you can give, only so many times you can say I’ll be better this time, I’ll be what you want.. you forget who you even are, and in that storm you see that so much life has passed you by.
– How does your creative process change when you’re writing for yourself versus when you’re collaborating with your band?
I mostly write on my own but I take the songs to the band to form the live versions. It’s usually then about finding a way that’s satisfying and expressive for the band to play and serving the emotional narrative in the most effective way. It’s easy to get carried away with writing or enhancing sections that sound and feel cool, sometimes that really works but sometimes it dilutes the meaning and delivery so we try to be aware of that.
– Your lyrics often reflect on themes of self-doubt and uncertainty. How do you find catharsis through your music, and what do you hope your listeners take away from these themes?
I get catharsis from it because it’s the side of myself that I find difficult to express in ordinary life. It’s quite a big stress reliever for me, I think I really struggle with being misunderstood, like as a kid I kind of felt like I would say things but it didn’t land, because maybe the words I was using weren’t enough to actually translate the feeling. So I felt very frustrated, I was a very stressed child.
I’d love people to find Solace. There’s a meme that floats around that’s like ‘when you rewind the song back to the bit that hurt’ or something like that. Really I just love music that say’s something in a way that hits or lands. The stuff that really personifies emotions.
– You have some big headline shows coming up in December. What can fans expect from these performances?
A little taste of LP1. A lot of laughter and talk between songs as always, which is surprising for new attendees given that the music is generally pretty emotional. They will be big nights for storytelling.
– As you prepare for future releases, are there any new themes or experiences that you’re excited to explore in your music?
I think for the future, what I’m just starting to see and hear in my mind, is the idea of peace vs happiness. But really what I mean by that is peace vs excitement. The idea of frantically chasing something on the horizon, stopping to rest and looking around and being like ‘oh this place is nice. There will be lots of soft drum grooves and I’ll be writing a lot of the songs on bass.
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