Native James is feeling fearless, and he wants that for you too. With new single Never Been Scared, he’s starting a new era with a “clean slate” and he’s ravenous for more collabs, bigger shows, and even more boundary-pushing grimey metal mayhem.
“Everything’s mad at the moment. My brain is like, ‘What is going on?’” admits Native James off the back of nutty sets at Download Festival and 2000trees. Mad, maybe, but the Ipswich grime-metal kingpin is taking all the chaos in his stride.
Beaming wide and chatting with oodles of charisma, the difference from his on-stage entity is like night and day. He chuckles his way through, not taking himself too seriously. That’s until he shares his vast visions for the near future.
“There’s so much stuff that I want to do, I haven’t even touched the surface,” he says proudly.
With brand-new single Never Been Scared, featuring Frisco of the Boy Better Know collective, Native is stepping things up. Among the bedlam of prepping for his next steps, with a new signing to record label SharpTone to boot, Native catches up with Kerrang! on all things festivals, new music, and moving past fear...
Never Been Scared has a real fighting spirit. It sort of makes you feel like you’re ready for a scrap. What were you channelling into it?
“It’s so funny you say that, I was actually pissed off that day! But I think the tune represents never being scared in any situation: taking your first exam, prepping for your first marathon, just getting up to do daily tasks, to fix up your mental health. It’s building and preparing your mental to [turn the] fear factor off. I don’t care about my fear, I go forward. And I was vexed as well, ha!”
You've collaborated with Frisco. How did you guys piece it together?
“My boy Reece [Selvadorai] makes videos, and at the start of my career I used to go to his [shoots] to network. Frisco was there a lot. I just kept putting my head around and nothing came of it. [One day] I had a studio session with [producer] Jon Cass, I was just freestyling and they had the beat there. I had two verses, but the next day I was like, nah, this other verse is not it, I need someone else on it. I said, ‘Frisco would be the perfect person for this song.’ It made sense for the history books. I sent it to Reece, I said, ‘I don’t know if he’s even going to reply, but send this to [Frisco].’ Boom. He did it the next day!”
Do you feel like this is a bridge from your 2025 EP CONFESSIONS OF A SINNER, or a clean slate?
“Clean slate. At the same time, there is consistency in what I do. I think now I want to mould my own sound, make sure that when you hear a track you know it’s Native James. It was nice to be able to take time out and listen back to what we’ve made and look at improvements. We haven’t collabbed with anyone in rock yet, so who knows? I want to give people something that they’re not expecting.”
You’ve also just signed with SharpTone. Congrats! How does it feel after all the hard work that you’ve put in so far?
“It’s weird. I was mentioning this to a friend and they were like, ‘Do you know how many people dream of being signed to SharpTone?’ It took me back. Things happen so fast, you don’t get time to [fully take it in]. To even be picked up by them and have this opportunity to mould with them is crazy. They’re lovely people as well.”
You made your debut appearances at 2000trees and Download recently. What is the festival experience like from your perspective?
“Festivals for me [are about] being a new artist for so many different people. You’re not really there as a person that’s got your own crowd, and I love that because it means that you’ve still got work to do. It’s nice to see people that don’t know you and convert them [into a fan].
“I was [on at] one o’clock in the afternoon at Download and I was thinking, ‘Alright, cool. Even if we have 10 people, 15, I’m good.’ When I saw the tent start packing out, it was a bit emotional... I had a couple beers [after] then went straight to press, so my brain was all over the place. But I did see the lead singer of Black Veil Brides, Andy Biersack. Big up him! I got love for him. Oh, and I saw Crofty, the Formula 1 presenter.”
You brought out Professor Green for BLOCK (RR) at Download. We never thought we’d see him at Donington…
“I was trying to set this up last year. I’m not a fortune teller, but like, I am. Do you get me? Like That’s So Raven! I said to [my manager], ‘Yo, we’re going to play Download next year. I don’t know what’s telling me...’ I wanted to make it a historical moment for the culture of rap and for metal as well. People love Pro.”
You talk a lot about how important the metal world and the rap world coming together is for you. People see them as being so vastly different, yet they interlink so well. What does it mean to you to be on both sides?
“In grime, black culture is very prominent. With metal, our culture is there as well but we don’t have a lot of us doing the rap and the metal crossover. Back in the day, if I said to people I listened to rock music, they [would say], ‘You’re listening to The Devil’s music.’ In Jamaican culture, it’s not [common to] listen to rock. Also in certain boroughs, [there was] goth bashing, making people feel vulnerable just for being themselves. I wanted to meld the two worlds together to say we’re not that different.”
What else do you have on your bucket list?
“I want to win a MOBO Award. I want to perform in arenas, to be able to do shows where people have got massive flares out. I want to build brands. I want to collab with Korn, with Deftones, Lamb Of God. I want to do so much crazy stuff and I won’t stop until I get there. If I set my heart to something, I will get there eventually.”
What do you think being Native James has taught you about yourself as a human being so far? Have you realised anything new about your character?
“I would say you’re worth more than you think you are, I’m very self-critical. When I step onstage, it feels like I’m giving back. You’re healing people, seeing people let go and be themselves. That’s a whole new power in itself. It’s that confidence to be able to do that, stepping out of the nine to five to a whole new space where people are trusting you with themselves, to deliver whatever they’ve come to receive.”
Before we let you go, here’s a chance to flex: what do you think sets your craft apart from others as an artist?
“I like silent kills. That sounds dark as hell, but what I mean by that is
I like to be like, ‘See for yourself.’ I can’t say performance because Jason Aalon [of letlive.] is still active in these streets and he’s fucking nuts.
I think I have authenticity, and that’s gonna sound rude as hell, but I give some form of authenticity. I don’t like to gloat, though! I always say to myself, this can always get taken away from you at any point. As soon as the ego starts getting involved, you become this different person. I don’t want to change for no one.”
Never Been Scared is out now via SharpTone.
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