Rag'n'Bone Man shares fears for small artists touring the EU

8 February 2021, 10:17 | Updated: 5 May 2021, 12:47

Rag'n'Bone Man on EU touring issues

The All You Ever Wanted singer has shared his sadness at the EU restrictions which will negatively affect smaller budding artists.

Rag'n'Bone Man has shared his sadness at the EU travel laws and has called for the Government to "do more" for smaller artists.

British musicians are currently set to face added expenses when touring around the EU, including visas, permits and extra taxation, which could make touring for small to mid-level acts impossible. A petition that demands paperwork-free travel for musicians is to be debated in parliament on Monday (8 February) after gaining more than a quarter of a million signatures.

Speaking to Radio X's George Godfrey about the situation, the singer-songrwriter said: "First of all, it's really sad to me that our own Government wouldn't recognise the importance of that. And secondly yeah, it will obviously affect us, but the people it will affect the most are the up-and-coming musicians and the people that go and slug it out for years before they can get to the point where they can play the bigger venues, because I don't know if it's going to be possible and that's really sad."

He added: "I think really our Government needs to do more to protect those people, because how do you end up with great bands and stuff if those people can't go and slog it out in little venues, which is meant to be the fun bit, you know?"

Though Rag'n'Bone Man - whose real name is Rory Graham - knows he'll be able to tour once things return to normal, he admitted that not being able to play gigs during the pandemic has been "like losing a limb".

Asked how it's felt not being able to perform live in so long, he replied: "Awful. I mean really It's like losing a limb."

He added: "Ultimately, I love writing and I love producing records, but the end goal is always to be playing it live on stage. And to have that end goal disappear before your eyes [...] it's really strange and really upsetting at times.

"You gotta have hope that it comes back."

Rag'n'Bone Man talks new Life By Misadventure album

The Uckfield singer-songwriter is set to release his second studio album, Life By Misadventure, and he revealed he wanted it to be "completely separate" from his debut.

He explained: "I just wanted to first of all do something that's, like with this whole album actually, just do something that's completely separate to the Human album and this feels like a project rather than an album.

"I commandeered all of my favourite musicians, we did the whole album live. It's a real, like a kind of more guitar-led album. Especially this single. And I really just wanted to be properly honest in this album and just not hold back on anything, really.

"So there's a lot of recurring subjects about me being a bit scared about what the future holds for my son and stuff like that, because we live in very dark and weird times."

Rag'n'Bone Man's Life By Misadventure album is set for release on 23 April 2021.