November 27, 2024 • 11 mins
Mitch James’ eleven year career is set to come to an end.
His beginnings were humble, busking on the streets of London and performances at open mic nights that lead to world tours and over a decade of music.
James’ final single ‘Beautiful Stranger’ came out last month and his final album is imminent, with only a few remaining bits of admin to complete before the album’s release.
He told Mike Hosking that it’s been a crazy journey but he’s come to the end of his tether with the entertainment industry.
“It’s a very messed up, and at times evil, industry, that yeah, I think I’ve got nothing more to prove.”
“You’re looking at the guitar in the morning and it’s not looking as, as beautiful as it used to,” James said.
“I felt like I needed to step away to sort of preserve that core love for the music.”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mitch James story is one of music's better ones.
I think open mic knights and busking on the streets
of London, where if the public weren't generous with the
tips then he'd be sleeping on the street that particular night.
Eleven years later, we think we've got his final single,
Beautiful Strange of the final single is from the album
which is due shortly. So is it really over? Mitch
(00:20):
James as well? It's good to see you again always mate.
Now is it over?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It is, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's it's been a crazy journey, like you alluded to.
I remember coming in here about eight years ago, scruffy
little warriors had on and everything. But yeah, it's been
a crazy journey. But I think personally, I've just come
to the end of my teather with with the industry.
It's a very messed up and at times evil industry.
That yeah, I think I've got nothing more to prove.
(00:49):
And when you're sort of stuck in that, in that
washing machine of an industry with you evil people and
thieves and snakes, you know, when you don't have much
more to prove and you're looking at the guitar in
the morning and it's not looking as beautiful as it
used to. I felt like I just needed to step
away to sort of preserve that care love for the music.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Wow, So what's gone wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I think?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Firstly, I think, you know, I'm grateful that a lot
went right. You know, I think ninety nine point nine
percent of musicians aren't lucky enough to be in the
position that I've been able to, you know, tour the
world and play with my heroes and get hundreds of
millions of plays. But I think to keep it succinct,
because I could. I could be here for hours explaining
(01:36):
the ins and outs of it. But I think, you know,
I fell out of favor with a record label and
trying to basically climb up the ladder. And then once
I got onto this newer, bigger record label, the executive
who was in charge of sort of championing championing me,
he got into a very big scandal over in Australia
(01:57):
which was national news over there, and got fired and
all his team got fired, and then I was sort
of the casualty. Yeah, I was a casualty and very
much the little cousin from New Zealand. As we see
with Australia, in all sorts of areas, and I came
back with my tail in between my legs, and I
(02:18):
was no longer viewed in a positive light by people
in the industry here.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And is that on you.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Or was that just a set of circumstances beyond dual control.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I think it's, you know, in retrospect, it's probably a
bit of both. You know, I always had the idea
and mindset of I'm going to put New Zealand on
my back and take it to the world. And I
was never never ashamed of that, and I definitely wasn't
afraid to step on some throats but to do that,
(02:49):
And I think I had the right sort of mindset.
But you know, when you try and apply that in
a very radical way, sometimes it comes back to.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So you're a bit competitive for their liking.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think that's a great way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, Okay, So what they would like is for you
to come along, be grateful that you're a talent being
picked up by a record label. They'll manage you, you
do as you say, and that'll all work out well.
Is that's sort of the way it's supposed to work.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, And to be fair, you know, all of my
initial success was with this record label. But yeah, it's
a petty game and a lot of people are very yeah,
very petty, and so you know, once I came back
with my tail between my legs, I think, you know,
they wanted to prove a point and sort of bury
my stuff and it never sort of reached the same
(03:33):
heights as it did. But you know, I have a
great core group of fans who you know, I still
got to tour the world after on my own world tour,
and that was amazing. But you know, to reach those heights,
you definitely need a machine behind me.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I was going to ask that. So you're still telling
me in twenty twenty four, because there's so much of this.
I did it in my bedroom, and I've got my
own recorder, and i put it on TikTok, and I've
gone to the world and beaten success. You're arguing that
there's still a structure in the music industry that requires
an established record label or a group of people to
get you out to the world successfully.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I would definitely say so. And I could sit here
and debate that point for a very long time. You know,
I think people like to have the idea that you
can do it from your bedroom, and that it seems
like a very attractive idea and theory. But the way
that the Internet works and the current industry works, I
would argue you need a structure more than ever, just
(04:28):
with the way it sort of goes at the moment.
And yeah, I wouldn't know where to start off if
I were if I were starting off now, And like
I was saying to you off air, I'm very grateful for,
you know, the journey that I had, even in retrospect
with all the ups and downs, I'm grateful that I
did have that machine to take me to places because
I wouldn't know where to begin now. But yeah, I
would say that you definitely need those people more than ever.
(04:52):
But they're just sort of disguised in different ways, I guess.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So what's your state of mind where as this realization
came to you? You bit or angry, grateful?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think, yeah, probably all of the above.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I think it's Yeah, I think once you you know,
once you've tasted these heights, it's it's hard to let
go of. You know, everyone has an ego. But yeah,
I'm very very grateful. I think grateful would be a
good sixty five percent chunk of that pipe. But yeah,
there's it's it's an ongoing sort of I wouldn't call
(05:23):
it a bat or, it's sort of call it a
journey that I'm sort of on at the moment. You know,
some days I wake up and I sort.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Of clinched my first at the air.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And think, you know, I still I still have it
in the tank, you know, like I can still play
for thousands of people, and I feel like I'm better
than ever, and I feel like my songs and songwriting
is getting better than ever. So that in a sense,
you know, it's it's very bittersweet, but you know, I'd
be silly to not be grateful for the amazing experiences
(05:53):
I've had, you know, like I came into music with
the goal of playing R and V and having one
hundred thousand and streams on my song, and you know,
I got to open for each year and have my
own world tour, and I got three hundred million streams.
So it's you know, I really blew it out out
their part compared to my initial expectations.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But you know it's like once you taste that, you
want more.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, I think everyone sort of can allude to that
in their own way in their life. But you know,
looking back and looking forward, I've got some really exciting
doors that are opening and other fields. And you know,
if it was never going to happen in the future,
I can definitely look back and be incredibly grateful. It's
a zero point zero zero zero one thing that I've
(06:39):
got to do. And you know, the people are the
are the ones that come to the shows and listen
to the music. So I'm forever grateful for anyone who's
listened or got more tender.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So you've got an album still to come as a
story behind that we don't have time to tell, but
it will be out hopefully by the end of the year.
If you're doing a little bit over the summer, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, confess and there yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And you're going to sing us a song that has
never been released till Mitch James for the final time,
until he announces has come back and out of retirement
con sort of stuff. What's the song called?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
The song is called my Favorite Color and fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's never been hood, it's not really, it's not out
there only for you by.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Trying to meeting someone know too.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
He always feels kind of good too, until that one
part of the night when they ask my favorite color,
and I have to lay because how could I ever telling?
It's not blue like the Arsan, it's not quite like
(07:52):
the skies. It's deeper than the stormy seas.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Even when they cry, it's not like me to start
off telling lies.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
But how could I ever describe the color of your uses?
The color of your use? A Hi, It's in my
head and in warm move coming in like a tide too.
(08:34):
I thought it faded with the time, but when I'm
out with another it goes all right. So they ask
my favorite color. It's not green like the forest. It's
not green like the high.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That we had at my flat that day. We laughed
and said we cried high. It's not like me to
start I'm telling lies, But.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
How could I ever describe the color of your art,
the color of your It's not that I've been trying
(09:24):
to keep you in my mind. It don't matter.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The person to ask me.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Every time when you'd ask me, I've never had to lie.
I couldn't wait to say your favorite line, it's the
color of your eyes.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Say in sessional, Well done, I it's been a pleasure.
We'll meet again and talking all that sort of stuff.
Give us thirty seconds on your new job. Can you
tell us thirty seconds on your new job?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Absolutely, I can reveal a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I'm trying to get into the well, I am getting
into the sports media space. I'm doing my own thing
with someone who's actually in this building, and that'll be
called I'll give it Away. I'll give it away for you, Mike.
You've been nice to me over the years. It's a
sports culture and sports bidding podcast called Our Year, which
is sort of an alluding to the Warriors. It's our
(10:23):
Year every year. And I've got a few really exciting
things in the space that I can't reveal too much
about because there was some other and bigger entities. But yeah,
I'm looking to get knees deep into the sports media space.
And that's been a passion of mine much longer than
music had been. So I'm very excited and I'm looking
(10:46):
forward to chasing another passion.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Good on you, mate, Well go well with it, and
you're welcome back here anytime. And I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting
and chatting with you and listening to your music over
the years.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And stuff Always Myke.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thanks Mitch James. For more from the Mic Hosking Breakfast,
listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
The Mitch James story is one of music's better ones.
I think open mic knights and busking on the streets
of London, where if the public weren't generous with the
tips then he'd be sleeping on the street that particular night.
Eleven years later, we think we've got his final single,
Beautiful Strange of the final single is from the album
which is due shortly. So is it really over? Mitch
(00:20):
James as well? It's good to see you again always mate.
Now is it over?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It is, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's it's been a crazy journey, like you alluded to.
I remember coming in here about eight years ago, scruffy
little warriors had on and everything. But yeah, it's been
a crazy journey. But I think personally, I've just come
to the end of my teather with with the industry.
It's a very messed up and at times evil industry.
That yeah, I think I've got nothing more to prove.
(00:49):
And when you're sort of stuck in that, in that
washing machine of an industry with you evil people and
thieves and snakes, you know, when you don't have much
more to prove and you're looking at the guitar in
the morning and it's not looking as beautiful as it
used to. I felt like I just needed to step
away to sort of preserve that care love for the music.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Wow, So what's gone wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I think?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Firstly, I think, you know, I'm grateful that a lot
went right. You know, I think ninety nine point nine
percent of musicians aren't lucky enough to be in the
position that I've been able to, you know, tour the
world and play with my heroes and get hundreds of
millions of plays. But I think to keep it succinct,
because I could. I could be here for hours explaining
(01:36):
the ins and outs of it. But I think, you know,
I fell out of favor with a record label and
trying to basically climb up the ladder. And then once
I got onto this newer, bigger record label, the executive
who was in charge of sort of championing championing me,
he got into a very big scandal over in Australia
(01:57):
which was national news over there, and got fired and
all his team got fired, and then I was sort
of the casualty. Yeah, I was a casualty and very
much the little cousin from New Zealand. As we see
with Australia, in all sorts of areas, and I came
back with my tail in between my legs, and I
(02:18):
was no longer viewed in a positive light by people
in the industry here.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And is that on you.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Or was that just a set of circumstances beyond dual control.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I think it's, you know, in retrospect, it's probably a
bit of both. You know, I always had the idea
and mindset of I'm going to put New Zealand on
my back and take it to the world. And I
was never never ashamed of that, and I definitely wasn't
afraid to step on some throats but to do that,
(02:49):
And I think I had the right sort of mindset.
But you know, when you try and apply that in
a very radical way, sometimes it comes back to.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So you're a bit competitive for their liking.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think that's a great way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, Okay, So what they would like is for you
to come along, be grateful that you're a talent being
picked up by a record label. They'll manage you, you
do as you say, and that'll all work out well.
Is that's sort of the way it's supposed to work.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, And to be fair, you know, all of my
initial success was with this record label. But yeah, it's
a petty game and a lot of people are very yeah,
very petty, and so you know, once I came back
with my tail between my legs, I think, you know,
they wanted to prove a point and sort of bury
my stuff and it never sort of reached the same
(03:33):
heights as it did. But you know, I have a
great core group of fans who you know, I still
got to tour the world after on my own world tour,
and that was amazing. But you know, to reach those heights,
you definitely need a machine behind me.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I was going to ask that. So you're still telling
me in twenty twenty four, because there's so much of this.
I did it in my bedroom, and I've got my
own recorder, and i put it on TikTok, and I've
gone to the world and beaten success. You're arguing that
there's still a structure in the music industry that requires
an established record label or a group of people to
get you out to the world successfully.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I would definitely say so. And I could sit here
and debate that point for a very long time. You know,
I think people like to have the idea that you
can do it from your bedroom, and that it seems
like a very attractive idea and theory. But the way
that the Internet works and the current industry works, I
would argue you need a structure more than ever, just
(04:28):
with the way it sort of goes at the moment.
And yeah, I wouldn't know where to start off if
I were if I were starting off now, And like
I was saying to you off air, I'm very grateful for,
you know, the journey that I had, even in retrospect
with all the ups and downs, I'm grateful that I
did have that machine to take me to places because
I wouldn't know where to begin now. But yeah, I
would say that you definitely need those people more than ever.
(04:52):
But they're just sort of disguised in different ways, I guess.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So what's your state of mind where as this realization
came to you? You bit or angry, grateful?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think, yeah, probably all of the above.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I think it's Yeah, I think once you you know,
once you've tasted these heights, it's it's hard to let
go of. You know, everyone has an ego. But yeah,
I'm very very grateful. I think grateful would be a
good sixty five percent chunk of that pipe. But yeah,
there's it's it's an ongoing sort of I wouldn't call
(05:23):
it a bat or, it's sort of call it a
journey that I'm sort of on at the moment. You know,
some days I wake up and I sort.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Of clinched my first at the air.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And think, you know, I still I still have it
in the tank, you know, like I can still play
for thousands of people, and I feel like I'm better
than ever, and I feel like my songs and songwriting
is getting better than ever. So that in a sense,
you know, it's it's very bittersweet, but you know, I'd
be silly to not be grateful for the amazing experiences
(05:53):
I've had, you know, like I came into music with
the goal of playing R and V and having one
hundred thousand and streams on my song, and you know,
I got to open for each year and have my
own world tour, and I got three hundred million streams.
So it's you know, I really blew it out out
their part compared to my initial expectations.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But you know it's like once you taste that, you
want more.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, I think everyone sort of can allude to that
in their own way in their life. But you know,
looking back and looking forward, I've got some really exciting
doors that are opening and other fields. And you know,
if it was never going to happen in the future,
I can definitely look back and be incredibly grateful. It's
a zero point zero zero zero one thing that I've
(06:39):
got to do. And you know, the people are the
are the ones that come to the shows and listen
to the music. So I'm forever grateful for anyone who's
listened or got more tender.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So you've got an album still to come as a
story behind that we don't have time to tell, but
it will be out hopefully by the end of the year.
If you're doing a little bit over the summer, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, confess and there yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And you're going to sing us a song that has
never been released till Mitch James for the final time,
until he announces has come back and out of retirement
con sort of stuff. What's the song called?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
The song is called my Favorite Color and fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's never been hood, it's not really, it's not out
there only for you by.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Trying to meeting someone know too.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
He always feels kind of good too, until that one
part of the night when they ask my favorite color,
and I have to lay because how could I ever telling?
It's not blue like the Arsan, it's not quite like
(07:52):
the skies. It's deeper than the stormy seas.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Even when they cry, it's not like me to start
off telling lies.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
But how could I ever describe the color of your uses?
The color of your use? A Hi, It's in my
head and in warm move coming in like a tide too.
(08:34):
I thought it faded with the time, but when I'm
out with another it goes all right. So they ask
my favorite color. It's not green like the forest. It's
not green like the high.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That we had at my flat that day. We laughed
and said we cried high. It's not like me to
start I'm telling lies, But.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
How could I ever describe the color of your art,
the color of your It's not that I've been trying
(09:24):
to keep you in my mind. It don't matter.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The person to ask me.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Every time when you'd ask me, I've never had to lie.
I couldn't wait to say your favorite line, it's the
color of your eyes.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Say in sessional, Well done, I it's been a pleasure.
We'll meet again and talking all that sort of stuff.
Give us thirty seconds on your new job. Can you
tell us thirty seconds on your new job?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Absolutely, I can reveal a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I'm trying to get into the well, I am getting
into the sports media space. I'm doing my own thing
with someone who's actually in this building, and that'll be
called I'll give it Away. I'll give it away for you, Mike.
You've been nice to me over the years. It's a
sports culture and sports bidding podcast called Our Year, which
is sort of an alluding to the Warriors. It's our
(10:23):
Year every year. And I've got a few really exciting
things in the space that I can't reveal too much
about because there was some other and bigger entities. But yeah,
I'm looking to get knees deep into the sports media space.
And that's been a passion of mine much longer than
music had been. So I'm very excited and I'm looking
(10:46):
forward to chasing another passion.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Good on you, mate, Well go well with it, and
you're welcome back here anytime. And I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting
and chatting with you and listening to your music over
the years.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And stuff Always Myke.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thanks Mitch James. For more from the Mic Hosking Breakfast,
listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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