Gerry Cinnamon

“The worst parts of playing a festival are walking. Not a fan of walking. The mud, I can handle. But the walking? No, ta.”

“See when the crowd's with you singing every word it's a mad feeling.”

“I've got anxiety and I don't sleep so I've been trying to balance this insomnia where I stay awake for three or four days and you don't want to really leave the house and stuff and you've got to go out and do a gig.”

“I know people talk about belief. I've never, still don't, have a lot of believe in myself. I know on the night I can do it but I've never had a strong belief.”

“And it's all just from word of mouth. No big marketing. That means the folk who come to the gigs are there 'cause they love their tunes. That means it's real.”

“If everybody leaves smiling and laughing and singing and dancing - and most of all, safe - I've done it.”

“I worked as a scaffolder, worked as a chef, tried my hand working in a coffee shop, tried my hand as a joiner.”

“I just put out some free content on Soundcloud and it just got bigger and bigger with no promotion whatsoever, no industry backing, no radio, not even really any social media presence.”

“Sometimes when you're playing certain festivals you're no' allowed to announce other dates, if you know what I mean?”

“But every job I've had I just end up writing tunes and skiving - so everything has been leading up to it, but I've never had any ambition of getting big.”

“I've been getting a bit of writing done, a bit of recording done and I just want to get out as much new music as I can before I end up spontaneously combusting.”

“I remember I played Birmingham and I'd been awake for about a week and I was walking about like a raving lunatic.”

“What I find in terms of the small success that I've had, with no backing, just doing it off my own back is the way I wanted to do it - I wanted to prove that you can do it on your own.”