Music: Jack McManus

May 12 2008 by Mike OConnell, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

JACK McManus is a 23-year-old singer songwriter from Bromley in Kent, whose piano-led pop songs have picked up comparisons to Billy Joel and Elton John.

After playing trumpet in youth orchestras, Jack attended the BRIT performing art school in Croydon. He graduated with Amy Winehouse, and was in the year above Luke Pritchard of The Kooks.

His debut single Bang On The Piano is out now, as his is first album Either Side Of Midnight.

Jack’s girlfriend is former EastEnder Martine McCutcheon, although he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about that.

He’s touring throughout May, and playing various festivals over the summer.

We caught up with Jack on a rare day off...

Your album came out last week. Were you excited beforehand? Yes, I couldn’t sleep! I was a bit nervous, but I just realised I’ve done all I can, and it’s just up to people to buy it now. The album was written over the last three years or so, but it’s been recorded since last summer. It was done by June, then it needed mixing.

How does it feel sitting on it for so long? I kind of forgot about it really. I just moved on and concentrated on different areas. I worked on the live show mainly, which was something I’d not done a lot of. There are so many areas in this business to work on, so I just tried to forget about the album to work on them.

Are you thinking about the next album then? Yes. Well, fingers crossed I get to make another one. I’ve got some ideas, and about 10 new songs that I’ve been fiddling with. I don’t want to finish them off too much, so I’ve just worked on the music, and I’ll do the lyrics in six months or so. I’ll have to have a think about what I want to talk about, otherwise it’ll get a bit samey. I’ve definitely got some good musical ideas though.

You toured with Scouting for Girls. How was that? That was my first proper tour when I was supporting them. It was great, and just to play in front of that many people was amazing. I’ve played to 10 people in the pub, and that’s awful, especially when you’re singing a love song and you can hear them talking! With Scouting I played in the Barrowlands in Glasgow, which was a beautiful venue, and I really liked the Sheffield Leadmill. We’re touring with Sam Sparro soon, and we’re doing some more dates with Amy Macdonald as well.