I caught up with Georgie James on a chilly September evening in Berlin. We had a few minutes to talk just before they went on stage to do their thang.

Georgie James are John Davis, drummer of the now disbanded “Q and not U”, and Singer/Songwriter Laura Burhenn.

The band’s new album, “Places”, was just released on Saddle Creek Records. The release is followed by a tour in Europe and the States, so chances are they’ll be coming to a venue near you very soon.

Georgie James - Cake Parade

Q: How did Georgie James come about, what made you decide to join forces?

A: “Laura and I met in 2004 through a friend of hers. He had recommended I check out her music, which I did. I liked it and thought that maybe we should work on music at some point ’cause my old band, Q And Not U, was coming to an end around that time.
In the spring of 2005, we met up at Laura’s place and ran through some of the new music we’d been working on. We agreed that we should get together again. We met up at the Q And Not U practice space (which is now the Georgie James practice space) and played music for a few hours. We had 2-3 songs fairly close to completion at that point, so we knew that there was a lot of potential.”

Q: How does it feel to be a part of label like Saddle Creek Records?

A: “It’s great. Saddle Creek is a really nice mix of a label that stays down-to-earth and is run by real people, but also has a very wide reach and can get music into places that a lot of smaller labels can’t. We really like the way they do things and feel fortunate that we get to work with them.”
Q: How does touring Europe differ from touring the states?

A: It’s pretty much easier, except for the first few days of jetlag. In the U.S we still take care of everything ourselves, with the help of a tour manager. So, when we go over to Europe, we really just get to sit back and focus on playing music. Europe really stands out when it comes to treating bands well. What can I say? I’m looking forward to coming back in late November.

Q: Any good tour stories you can share with us?

A: Well, we’re still fairly new to touring, but I expect this fall we’ll amass a good amount of tour stories. So far, one of the more bizarre experiences involved us being taken to a lake by a friend of ours to hang out after a show in Seattle. Some members of the party were pushing to skinny dip, which launched endless debate over who was actually going to go in and such.Finally, just as some people started to strip, the cops showed up and started shining their flashlights on some of the naked folks. This is all fairly pedestrian, but things took a bizarre turn when the cop noticed that a member of our party had a large, bleeding head wound. “Sir, did you know your head was bleeding?” Apparently, our friend didn’t know he’d hit his head on a rock underwater and was bleeding fairly profusely. Laura snapped into her mom/nurse mode, but the guy was ok. He was a little groggy and our bass player wound up taking him to the hospital. And, in fact, I think the guy with the head wound actually made out with one of the girls from the lake later that night … WITH stitches in his head. Very smooth.

On stage, John and Laura are accompanied by a full band with Laura on keys and John on guitar. It’s a great show with a lot of energy and really cool songs.
Highly recommended!

Georgie James: Need Your Needs

[Georgie James - Official Site]

[Georgie James on MySpace]

[Georgie James Tour Dates]