James’ lead singer Tim Booth recently opened up in an interview with NME about his experiences with singing The Doors on a karaoke machine, expressing that he could do a pretty convincing Jim Morrison impression while performing a Doors song.
In the same conversation, Tim Booth discussed the evolution of his band, James. He mentioned that while many bands typically grow by covering songs from artists who came before them, James didn’t follow this trend until much later in their career when they were invited to participate in tribute albums for Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen.
Tim Booth elaborated on the challenges they faced while covering songs, as it was something they had never done before. This led him to admit that he doesn’t know the lyrics to many songs, with the exception of ‘Paddy McGinty’s Goat.’But he said that he could do a great Jim Morrison impression by singing The Doors’ song like ‘People Are Strange.’
Booth explained:
“I don’t do karaoke. I’d probably do ‘Paddy McGinty’s Goat’ – it’s probably the only song I’ve ever learned the whole lyrics to. James are one of the weirdest bands in that we never covered other bands. Bands [usually] learn by covering other bands, but James had to learn how to do covers when we were asked to do the Velvet Underground tribute album and the Leonard Cohen one, and it was so difficult for us because we’d never done that.
Something like ‘People Are Strange,’ if you could find it on a karaoke machine. I can do a good Jim Morrison. He had a voice to die for.”
James’ frontman offered insights into his band’s journey and approach to covering other artists’ work in this interview. Booth shared his own personal connection with The Doors, stating that he could do a good Jim Morrison impression. The candid discussion provides fans with an insight into the creative process of James.
