“We always had such a broad spectrum of music in our house,” explains musician and actor Jamie Campbell Bower from his flat in London. “While I was growing up, it spanned from classical music all the way through to Springsteen and The The. I can’t remember it for shit, but the first show that I was taken to as a child was Guns N’ Roses.” His parents both work in the music industry, and he would spend time rooting through their varied collection for inspiration. “If I was left alone, I’d be like, right, I’m going through the CDs. I’m gonna figure out what’s in here.”
As a teenager, Bower’s life-long love for heavy music was ignited with punk and nu metal, which continued via a lasting proclivity towards the gothic storytelling of Nick Cave and Ethel Cain – varied influences that are reflected in his own musical projects, from punk and post hardcore bands to his dark, country-inflected solo material. “I think that there’s merit in all forms of art,” he says of both his tastes and his own creativity. “You can approach art by means of automatic writing, or just wanting to get into a room and create as much fucking noise as you want. I’ve been in that camp at many points in my life. But the care and consideration of being able to tell a story is so powerful and immersive.”
How did he approach forming this list from his maelstrom of musical appetites? “I felt like I had to look at it in so many different ways,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that I was putting in artists who were around before I was born. I’ve tried not to look back too much, but still allow myself to be nostalgic,” he pauses. “Actually, historic! Let’s call that category historic rather than nostalgic. Nostalgic makes it sound bad.” His choices range from CD-Rs exchanged in the school playground to a record given to him for his 37th birthday last November, via an album that made him cry during the making of Stranger Things, in which he plays the final season’s antagonist, Vecna.
Bower won’t disclose how long his original list was, but whittling it down to just 13 was “the hardest thing I’ve ever been asked to do,” he admits. “If you’d asked me to do 100 records, I could have done 100 records, no stress. But to do 13 is really hard. Almost an impossible task. I’m scared. I’m terrified! I’m taking this to therapy next week!”
To begin reading Jamie Campbell Bower’s Baker’s Dozen, click ‘First Selection’ below
