Ceri James

Ceri Dillwyn James (born 3rd October 1969 in Fulham, London) is a Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist, currently based in Lewisham.

A popular and well-known figure in the New Cross scene at the turn of the new millenium, Ceri helped establish many regular gig nights in numerous pubs (notably acoustic open-mic nights) in the local area, and was a networking "hub" of sorts to performers in New Cross. To this day, Ceri remains a regular fixture in the scene for over a decade. He has been a frontman to a different number of bands in the past, like Zen and Tuesday Heartbreak. However, he is more known for his solo material, having released two official albums (Start and Begin, and Win, Lose & Some You Can't Tell) under the Mile High Music record label, and being part of the seminal first album release from the Angular Recording Corporation: The New Cross - An Angular Sampler, with his track "First Frenzy". Ceri was also the main figurehead in compiling two albums featuring South East London talent that was sold across the UK, which were Raw and Unplugged in New Cross and Replugged In New Cross.

Ceri is now head of his own record label named Heed Records, and his music and songwriting is noted for its anti-establishment leanings, social conscience and '60s influenced sound and vocals.

Early life and first years in New Cross
Though born in London, Ceri grew up in Swansea in the south of Wales. Influenced by The Kinks in his youth, he first learned guitar aged 15 and joined his first band called Gwylan with school friends. Ceri attended Keele Univeristy, earning a BA Combined Honours degree in Law and American studies in 1993. In 1997, he would join Zen for the first time, touring all over England and France. It was around this time that he moved back to his birthplace in Fulham. After his short first stint with Zen, Ceri concentrated on his own written material in 1998, joining Atomic Central. A year later, he would move to New Cross, where he found the music scene there far more active and closely knit. Ceri joined The Lewisham Academy of Music during its final active year in 1999 as a means to collaborate with fellow young musicians. Ceri was even part of an exchange program with other music club projects, which involved going to Berlin with now Strange Chocolate members Daryl and Harriet Castillo and Shane Lewis. He also was studying for a diploma in Popular Music at Lewisham College of Music, which he earned in 2000. Later, he formed Bossman (based on his nickname) with Jon Dougall, and then move to 51a Deptford Broadway in the same year. It was this very place where he worked with many different musician flatmates at the time, and would inspire his most well-known song "Deptford Broadway", which is an autobiograpical account of him living there.

Music scene activist, solo, and band work (2001-2007)
Ceri, along with flatmate Sean Pocock, would work together in hosting regular open mic nights in and around the local area. While a few venues came and went, mainly due to them shutting down, they mainly hosted at the Walpole Arms every Sunday night, which brought a variety of musicians from the local area and from around London, as well as having frequent regulars performing and in the audience. He would also help host Pepys in the Park in 2002 and 2004. With the success of the regular Sunday nights, and ex-Zen colleague Christy Fry coming to London, Ceri recorded demo album "Beyond The Show" in 2003 and put together a Walpole acoustic sessions album as well. "Beyond The Show" would be of great importance to Ceri, because not only would a number of the songs from it would be reworked and fine-tuned for his two album releases, but "First Frenzy" would feature in compilation album The New Cross - An Angular Sampler: The now legendary first album release from Angular Records that was named #1 compilation of 2004 by the NME.

Buoyed by this success, Ceri and Christy would reform Zen in its "supergroup" guise in 2004, which also featured multi-instrumentalist and producer DreZone on drums. Zen would record their double-A sided single "Devil Take Me Down"/"Deptford Broadway", and record the songs "Mr. Songwriter" and "De Ja Vu" with The Strokes' producer Gordon Raphael. However, the band would disband for good before the years' end. Ceri then set about putting together a compilation album set for general release in the UK. Entitled "Raw and Unplugged in New Cross", it featured an eclectic, acoustic-based tracks from some the local area's finest talent. A critically acclaimed success, it was #6 in Rough Trade's best compilation albums of 2005. Ceri then followed it up with Replugged In New Cross in 2006, which was released under the Mile High Music label, and also met with favourable reviews as well. That same year, Ceri joined newly-formed band Malmo, who would better be known and named as Tuesday Heartbreak. Combining Ceri's material, fellow frontman Dennis Dine's songs and the overall talent of the other members, Tuesday Heartbreak performed very regularly in 2007 with some well-received performances, and released double-A side "Tuesday/Poor Little Rich Girl", but lasted the better part of 18 months when all the members amicably had to go their seperate ways.

Ceri James the solo artist (2008-present)
Returning to being a solo artist for the first time in five years, Ceri released his first ever solo single on international download "Start and Begin (6/9)" in February 2008. The song also featured Ceri's first ever promo video for a single, which was directed by fellow New Cross musician and filmmaker Roman Rappak. A few months later, his debut album, also named "Start and Begin", was released on CD format and on I-Tunes. Ceri's new live band consisted of Renouf's bassist Craig Burden, ex-Shy of Silence drummer Keith Button, and fellow Tuesday Heartbreak alumni Emma Harvey on keyboards. Shortly afterward, Ceri went straight to work on his second album which was slated for release in the second half of 2009. The lead single of the second album was "What Else Matters" was released in March 2009, and the second album was released on September 2009, entitled "Win, Lose & Some You Can't Tell". Soon after the album's release, Ceri left Mile High Music as both an employee and recording artist, and would then become founder of his own record label called Heed Records.

Personal life
Ceri is married to Lilian Chow with one daughter Elena (born 2007).

Singles

 * Start & Begin (6/9) - February 25th 2008
 * What Else Matters - March 23rd 2009

Studio albums

 * Start & Begin - June 9th 2008
 * Win, Lose and Some You Can't Tell - September 28th 2009

Compilation albums

 * The New Cross - An Angular Sampler - November 2003 (featuring track: First Frenzy)
 * Raw and Unplugged in New Cross - March 2005 (featuring track: Penny Serenade)
 * Replugged In New Cross - May 2006 (featuring track: Mr. Songwriter)

Videos
thumb|300px|left|Start & Begin (dir. Roman Rappak)

Trivia

 * According to an interview with Anna Vincent on Earwax radio in 2005, they discussed on and agreed with the effectiveness of Ceri James' skills as a doorman. They recalled an incident where he stood up to a considerably larger man with expensive clothes who refused to pay the small entrance fee.