#stray light

Clarissa Bonet’s series ‘Stray Light’ – “Building facades melt into darkness, their architectural details vanish, leaving only glowing windows in a sea of pitch black, like stars in the night sky.”

“Stray Light is an ongoing photographic project aimed at imaging the nocturnal urban landscape. We have all but lost the night for our progress. In its place we have formed a new cosmos, one of vanished surfaces and flecks of light.

Straylight: LOOKING BACK WITH HOZIER

March, 2015

Over the years, The Great Escape has seen countless artists progress their careers dramatically; beginning on the smaller stages at TGE, and moving to some of the biggest stages in the world. The incredible journey that Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier) has made over the past two years has particularly impressed us. Hozier performed at the the Great Escape, in front of 200 people in 2014, the beginning of his career. A year later, he found himself performing in front of nearly 15,000 fans. An absolutely phenomenal achievement.

He is one of the biggest artists in the world at present and was nominated for his first Grammy award in 2015. As his worldwide tour recently came to an end, we wanted to catch up with Hozier and ask him a few burning questions. We were intrigued to find out what Hozier’s favourite part of his tour was, and what it was like for him as an artist, making such a massive transition and skyrocketing his career. Whist reflecting on his journey, we were also eager to discover which artists he is tipping for big things from this year’s TGE line up, and who could be following in his footsteps.

Q. Who or what inspired you to start making music?

There was a good few artists growing up, lyricists like Tom Waits, Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen had a big effect on me as did the works of artists like Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding. As a teenager I got into playing slide guitar listening to people like Skip James, Bukka White and Robert Johnson – I started writing around this time.

Q. You recently finished your world tour, what do you enjoy most about being on tour?

It’s an amazing feeling performing music to an audience on the other side of the world, in a different place every day. Hearing your lyrics sang back to you in a place you never imagined you would be is incredibly rewarding. You also meet some amazing people, form some great relationships and have shed-loads of craic.

Q. Do you have a favourite city to perform in?

Few shows are as fulfilling and exciting as homecoming shows, that said, New York and San Francisco have always been incredible good to me – my first shows there were unforgettable.

Q. In 2014 you performed at The Great Escape in the Spiegeltent. How was this experience for you?

That was the first performance I played with my then band lineup, having just finished the tracking on the album. Time was not on our side before hitting the road. The crowd were great but in all honesty I remember being really unhappy with our performance and coming off-stage completely rattled, we were to perform on the Letterman show in a matter of days. Terrifying as it was at the time, everything that goes wrong is something that drives you towards improving and is a good learning experience in the end.

Q. What has the transition been like going from playing in front of small crowds to 15,000+ fans in such a short space of time?

It’s a learning curve that I’ve only recently come to grips with I think. It’s the gap between being a songwriter and a performer. I’m still learning but 200+ shows in you start to get very comfortable with large audiences, and enjoy the challenge of new crowds and new places.

Q. Which artists are you tipping to go on to big things from this year’s TGE line up?

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