Toby Bryant
Supporting Will Young on his Lexicon Tour, Asher Knight chats to CelebMix backstage at Newcastle’s O2 City Hall.
The penultimate night of an extensive 21 date UK tour alongside pop royalty in Will Young, stopping off at prestigious stages such as London’s Eventim Apollo, Manchester’s O2 Apollo and Glasgow’s SEC Armadillo is something 21-year-old Asher Knight has seen a lot of over the past two years.
“It’s been one of my favourite tours because Will is such a nice guy. He’s turned into a mentor for me and gives me loads of advice. It’s been amazing and I’ve had so much fun getting to know the audiences.”
“I love the Eventim Apollo. The stage is massive! It always takes me off guard. The people there are so nice and London is always a fun show as I live there now and have friends and family who come along.”
Those who are in their seats early at Newcastle’s City Hall on Monday night catch Asher’s half-hour of storytelling tracks and high energy choreography, featuring covers of Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ and Ronan Keating’s ‘Life Is A Rollercoaster’, amongst his own material.
October’s Will Young stint follows support sets touring with the likes of Steps, All Saints and Boyzone, as well as spending time in the studio with names such as Mark Owen, Olly Murs and James Blunt. And with Knight’s emotive story-driven tracks, including latest single ‘I’ve Changed‘, the young singer is determined to follow in the footsteps of those around him.
“I’ve just been inspired. The annoying thing about touring is you get inspired to try other sounds and music but it’s hard to find time to write.”
“All my songs are based on my life and what I’ve gone through. ‘I’ve Changed’ is talking about that moment where you discover who you are as a person. At school, I was really badly bullied and after I left I started to discover who I was, what I liked and disliked. I remember getting a lot of criticism for it and people who I thought were friends just deserted me. That’s what ‘I’ve Changed’ is talking about. It’s a bit of a sarcastic sorry I’m saying.”
The latest track follows 2019’s Step Back EP which has pulled in over 615,000 streams on Spotify alone, only a year after debuting with single ‘Hurricanes and Tornadoes’. Now, a trip across to the United States straight after The Lexicon tour is in the diary to get recording again.
When not travelling up and down the country or heading States-side, it’s by sharing his stories of school struggles and bullying through music that Asher Knight is reaching more and more people. A partnering up with Power of Muzik, a group of artists who head out to schools to talk about such topics and perform short sets, has seen him work alongside fellow emerging artists Denis Coleman and Luena Martinez.
“I really cared about going into schools and talking to kids about it. Reminding them that there is a life outside of bullying and the school system. The darkest moments of your life can change. I was in that place and I took it to somewhere I’m really excited about life and what I’m doing. For me that’s music but for others, it might be sports, science or something completely different.”
“To begin with I was hesitant to talk about bullying. It was a scary time and for a long time, I thought I was going to get bullied again if I talked out about it. Then I came to the conclusion that I’m not the only one who goes through this.”
Going forward, Knight hints at a couple more supporting roles before the thought of his own headline show, with new music clearly in the pipeline when he returns from across the pond.
Have you seen Asher Knight supporting Will Young on The Lexicon Tour? Are you streaming latest single ‘I’ve Changed’? Let us know @CelebMix on Twitter.
