“I got a bit of CD in my eye once and I have the worst eye-sight because of it; I was breaking a CD because I didn’t want my Mum to hear some of the lyrics I wrote ’cause they were dirty so I broke it and it pinged in my eye.” many artists say that music runs through their veins, but only Vince Kidd could say that music has literally embedded itself within his body. With two days to go before his performance at UD Live on 18th April, I caught up with the fella behind ‘The Voice’ and ended up falling in love with everything he stands for. What we all saw on the telly talent show is half of what Vince Kidd is capable of. With a mind a merge of creativity and business, it’s only going to be a matter of time before Vince, his army of fans and his music have taken over the world. Move over Flo Rida, Vince Kidd is in town.
“You have a massive problem with Flo Rida, don’t you? I love his song about blowjobs…” the precedent is set for my little chat with Vince and I’m well aware that I’m going to be in stitches for every second of it. It’s clear from the outset that he knows his stuff. He’s battled his way to where he is now, won over Tom Jones, Jessie J, Danny O’Donaghue and Will.I.Am on ‘The Voice’ and with plenty of touring experience behind him, his performance at UD Live is going to be a walk in the park. “I love being rebellious, I piss a lot of people of but fuck it, because I didn’t get this far by compromising. I never compromised when I was a little boy so I’m not fucking compromising now it’s my music.” it’s this attitude that has seen him attract a massive following, with a huge number of people admiring his honesty and feistiness when it comes down to his music. In this day and age, with so much music being created, you need to stand out. And if you don’t notice Vince when he walks through the door, you sure as will notice him when he opens his mouth.
It’s refreshing to come across an artist so certain of his purpose, so fixated on a goal but yet so clued up on the obstacles he’s inevitably going to face along the way. “When it came to my first E.P ‘Sick Love’, I listened to people because I was still learning the ropes with how to be business and be creative at the same time.” With ‘Sick Love’ marking Vince’s place in the music industry, it must be quite hard to shake off any stereotype/rumours started after his performance on ‘The Voice’. “I was interviewed by somebody the other day who was like “you came from The Voice?” and I was like “yeah but I didn’t come from The Voice, I was involved in music beforehand” but if that’s all people have seen of me, I think they would assume that I’m a puppet, not that musical and just a singer as opposed to being 100% involved in my music. Which I am. I love the creative side of this business, it’s what fucking turns me on.”
I’ve always questioned television talent shows, purely because I used to think it was the easy way into a really hard industry to break. But witnessing how difficult it is to be heard in a business where all everybody wants to do is sing, I completely understand the justification of why shows like ‘The Voice’ and ‘The X Factor’ are seen as an entry point. And chatting with Vince, I realised that it’s not just about a starting position, it’s the exposure to potential fans as well. “It didn’t bring me connections ’cause I already had those but I learnt a lot. I didn’t need to go on there to beg for a music producer but it gave me amazing fans. My fans are so selfless. They remind me why I’m doing this. ” and for anyone who Tweets Vince, be warned. “In this day and age, Twitter means you can’t be mysterious but you can use it wisely and it is a chance to get to know your fans. Sometimes if I’m bored, I stalk their pages. I read their tweets and see their mannerisms. We all talk the same way now, it’s weird.” He claims to be “a bit of a lone ranger”, but given that a new ‘Vince Kidd’ language seems to have been discovered, I’m not quite sure how much of that I believe.
“The only thing I didn’t like about going to stage school was that they’re trying to make you like somebody else and I was never like that, I’ve never fitted in. I’ve always had friends but I mean in the sense like the performance side of things, I’ve always been different to everyone else. I didn’t fit in with the theatrical side of things, I’ve always been a bit weird.” wearing a string vest, sporting iced blonde hair and numerous piercings, I can understand why. But the beauty of Vince Kidd is that he’s confident within himself and he’s an ambassador of being comfortable within your own skin – a lesson many young people today need an education in.
Part of a the next generation of musicians to be combating such a tough industry, Vince grew up surrounded by artists such as Etta Bond, Delilah and Vanessa from the Saturdays. “It’s wicked, it’s not competitive because we’re all mad different. One of our guys in our friendship group plays Michael Jackson in Thriller, so we’re all in different lanes. Vanessa’s in a girl band and Etta is doing something on a completely different spectrum, so it’s not competitive at all.”
So it must help being surrounded by people who understand the pressures of the music industry and the lifestyle it brings with it? “My family sort of do, but it’s a lost for them to get their head around. Sometimes I’m waking up as they’re coming in from work and my Dad’s a bit like “what the fuck?” – he always says to me “you haven’t worked a day’s hard work since you were 16″ but they’re quite supportive though. My Mum’s really supportive cause she’s a typical caring Mum but my Dad’s like “yeah, I’ll give you some credit when you bring home some money”, that kind of thing.”
So it must help being surrounded by people who understand the pressures of the music industry and the lifestyle it brings with it? “My family sort of do, but it’s a lost for them to get their head around. Sometimes I’m waking up as they’re coming in from work and my Dad’s a bit like “what the fuck?” – he always says to me “you haven’t worked a day’s hard work since you were 16″ but they’re quite supportive though. My Mum’s really supportive cause she’s a typical caring Mum but my Dad’s like “yeah, I’ll give you some credit when you bring home some money”, that kind of thing.”
It’s not just making music that Vince loves, but listening to it as well. “I’m really dramatic when it comes to music, my Dad used to call me Dramatic Harry because I love people like Michael Jackson and the great rockstars. But growing up, I listened to a lot of Amy Winehouse, I love her and she was just completely herself. She just made the music she wanted to make and you’d hear her on the radio and it would seem a million miles away from all this Flo Rida bullshit.”
By the end of the interview, not only have I managed to get Vince to admit his true feelings about Flo Rida, but I’ve also received an invite to UD Live (“come and find me at the bar, we’ll drink tequila!”) and discovered his latest project with Vanessa, from The Saturdays, could cause a little controversy. “May 25th sees the release of my 2nd E.P that I’m dropping which isn’t going to be a commercial release because I just wanted to release something for my fans prior to putting the lead singles out, like a pre-release. It’s got some cool collaborations it though, we shot a video last week with Vanessa which was great. It’s a very different side to her, which I love but it could cause a little controversy. I can’t say anymore then that as I can’t give too much away but the video will be out soon.”
With UD Live in two days time, I wondered Vince if was nervous about performing – wait, this is the guy who thrives off of touring, worships his fans and loves the drama of performing. Of course he isn’t “I’m excited. I love performing and it looks like it’s going to be a really good night.” — and a good night it will be, especially when I get Vince drunk enough for him to admit to the controversial aspects of his upcoming video…
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