Becoming a dad has led singer-songwriter Rory ‘Rag’n’Bone Man’ Graham in a different direction for his new album. “It’s about me just growing up,” he tells Emma Higginbotham
With his raw, soulful voice and punch-packing songs, Rory Graham – better known as Rag’n’Bone Man – has won himself an army of fans. His three-year-old son Reuben, however, is still on the fence.
“He’ll say ‘Alexa, play Rag’n’Bone Man’, but then he’ll be like ‘Alexa, STOP IT’,” says Rory. “So I don’t know if he really actually enjoys it, or just likes asking Alexa to play Daddy’s music.”
Daddy’s long-awaited second album, Life by Misadventure, should clinch it for the young critic. Melodic, meditative and warm, it’s a change of pace from his multi award-winning 2017 debut, Human, which became the decade’s fastest-selling album by a male artist.
“I think it’s just a bit better, to be honest,” says Rory with a throaty laugh. “It makes the last album seem a little bit Mickey Mouse, almost. Not in a bad way,” he adds quickly. “It’s just with time you get better as a songwriter, and I’ve had the time and space to make this album a bit more interesting.”
That thoughtful, more emotional feel could have something to do with some major life changes. As well as becoming a dad, Rory and his long-term girlfriend, Beth Rouy, got married in 2019, then split up six months later. But don’t expect any gut-wrenching power ballads.
“I consciously didn’t write any songs around the period where I was not feeling that great,” he says. “I feel strongly that the world doesn’t need another heartbreak record – it’s something that’s been done so much, and so heavily. There isn’t much negativity in this record. It’s more about me just growing up, because you don’t realise how much it changes you, becoming a father.”
Bulky, bearded and tattooed, Rory looks like he’d be more comfortable sitting astride a Harley-Davidson than standing on stage, but music has always been in his bones. Born in 1985, he grew up in Uckfield in East Sussex where, obsessed with the family record player, he spent his early years singing (loudly) to BB King and Muddy Waters. His dad ran a music shop and repaired instruments, his mum stayed home with his older sister, who has Down’s syndrome, and their lives revolved around music.
“At our house it was always people sitting around with guitars,” he says. “My mum can sing – she’s got some lungs on her – and she used to take us to folk clubs and music festivals, and my dad was a guitarist in a few bands, so I’d go to gigs and help with the gear. Even at 10, I was carrying around mic stands.”
He knew “really early” that music was his future, and didn’t much bother with school, even getting expelled aged 12. “To this day I can’t recall exactly why,” he grins. “I didn’t turn up to school most days, to be honest. I’d do that classic thing where you go into registration and then go off again. I just wasn’t interested.”
He left with no GCSEs, and eventually moved to Brighton. By day he worked as a carer for people with Down’s syndrome and autism, which he loved: “If I wasn’t properly successful as a musician, I would have gone back to it,” he says. “Doing that job is either in you or it isn’t. I grew up around people with learning difficulties, because of my sister, and it was the most natural job I could do.”
By night he immersed himself in Brighton’s hip-hop scene, singing over rap beats as Rag’n’Bonez, a name inspired by watching Steptoe & Son repeats with his granddad. In his mid-20s he recorded a couple of songs in his bathroom; when BBC Radio 2 were looking for new talent to support Joan Armatrading on tour, his girlfriend sent one in, and in 2012 Rory made his debut solo performance in a very public way.
How was it? “F***ing nerve-wracking!” he laughs. “I’d only ever been on stage at hip-hop gigs, so being on my own with a guitar was really daunting and really scary. But I got over it, and it was good. After that I got quite a lot of love off some radio stations, and people started being interested.”
He gave up the day job to concentrate on music, and was rewarded in 2016 when his single Human, as he puts it, “went bang”. With its slow beat, menacing bassline and intense vocals, it topped the charts around the world, was snapped up for TV themes, trailers and adverts, scored more than a billion YouTube views and earned Rory two Brit awards.
“It was like someone turning your world upside down,” he recalls. “But I’d done the hard graft. I’d been on the train with my guitar on my back with no money. I’d played shows for beer. I’d been doing the festival circuit for four years. To everybody else it’s like you go from a road sweeper to a millionaire, but it wasn’t completely new to me, it was just like everything I’d done before on steroids.”
Hits including Skin and Giant followed, and Rory’s life became a whirlwind of live performances – until the pandemic emptied his diary. “There’s been points where I felt really, really sad about it, but on the other hand I got to spend the whole summer with my boy, which I would never have been able to do because of all the festivals,” he says. “It was really cool to hang out with him, but I’m ready to go on the road now.”
His first gigs are, touch wood, in June. In the meantime, he’s nurturing Reuben’s musical potential. “I’ve taken him down the studio a few times; he’s only really interested in the drums, which I can understand. When you’re three, hitting stuff’s more fun than trying to play a melody.”
Should Reuben learn to love singing more than hitting stuff, though, it’s a career his dad would recommend. “For sure, absolutely,” says Rory. “Having a job that you’re passionate about, that you really, genuinely love? It’s amazing.”
:: Life by Misadventure by Rag’N’Bone Man (Columbia) is out now
THE BARE BONES
Rory is in a new relationship, but isn’t writing any songs about it. “These days I’m more inspired by other people’s loves and heartbreaks,” he says. “I find other people’s scenarios more interesting than my own.”
He’s famed for his unique voice: “Someone said it was ‘like honey and gravel’, which is weird. It has changed, though. In the early days it was always ‘let’s sing as loudly and as rough as possible’, but over time I’ve discovered a sweeter spot.”
The pandemic threatened to scupper recording the album in early 2020. “We went to Nashville to record it in a three-week block, but had two weeks in quarantine when we got there. So we recorded 14 tracks in six days, which was pretty amazing, really.”
An edited version of this interview appeared in Waitrose Weekend in April 2021 (c) Waitrose