Angus Stone, Cub Sport and Eves Karydas are among the artists working with Jim Beam Australia on its new ‘Jim Beam: Welcome Sessions’ project.

Looking to reconnect music fans all over the world through shared passion, the bourbon is bringing iconic artists back to the independent venues that gave them their first stage to film one-of-a-kind performances.

Stone, Cub Sport, Karydas and more will work with Jim Beam Australia to share their reflection on the venues that gave them their first stage. 

The project aims to celebrating and create moments where the power of music helps people feel like they truly belong. The first artist to take part is award-winning singer, songwriter and composer Jack Garratt.

Garratt has announced the release of a reimagined performance of his seminal track ‘Time’ available exclusively via Jim Beam’s official YouTube channel and filmed at East London’s Village Underground in collaboration with ‘Jim Beam: Welcome
Sessions’.

Each Welcome Session designed to bring to life the spaces that have played host to seminal performances in which people feel like they truly belong, the collaboration between Jack and Jim Beam finds its roots before the Brit Award Nominated artist’s meteoric rise to fame and following a particularly difficult experience on his first UK tour.

His final homecoming gig was a sold-out performance to a crowd of 700 fans at Village Underground, a venue known to be a rite of passage for musicians coming up; Jack’s now seminal performance lives long in the minds of audiences and artist alike.

Garratt said: “I arrived in London, after a tour of bad luck and technical difficulties, and everything just worked. Not just technically, but also the experience that the venue provided. I immediately felt a connection to this audience of hundreds standing in front of me. An audience who were singing every word of every song back to me. I was home.

“For that brief moment in time, nothing else existed beyond the venue’s four walls, and I was in the one place in which I felt I truly belonged. It changed me as a performer forever, convincing me that I did not need to worry so much anymore. Any self-doubt about if I was on my way up or not, was put to bed. It was the start of something that changed my life forever. I’m not religious, but it’s the closest thing to a congregation I’ve been a part of. All of us in one room, sharing a single experience in which strangers become communities if only fleetingly, escaping together to experience a singular event that is absolutely unforgettable and utterly distinct.”

Offering audiences a taste of the experience he felt that night, Jack has re-recorded Time for the first time with the support of a full horn section and choir. Having always played on his own and with never more than two supporting musicians on stage, the track plays tribute to a community of professional musician that has not played for over a year and a half.

Garratt said: “These venues deserve to be filled with music played by those who make music professionally. So, when Jim Beam explained to me the concept of ‘Welcome Sessions’, I knew instantly that I wanted to bring as many people with me on the journey as possible. I’ve wanted to be a musician since I was a kid. I don’t know how to do anything else, and like me, it’s not only the thing that keeps them alive, but it’s the reason that they want to have a livelihood. This concept and song are about celebrating independent music venues like Village Underground and the communities that breathe life into them.”

Working in partnership with renowned music production team La Blogotheque – famed for collaborations with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, Jack White, and Iggy Pop – the release of Time is the first release as part of a multi-year marketing effort by Jim Beam to foster a relationship with music fans and support independent music venues handpicked for their unique welcoming spirit.

Celebrating and creating moments where the power of music helps people feel like they truly belong, Jack will be joined by Fontaines DC, Jose Gonzalez and Wolf Alice across 2021. Each film celebrates the warm welcomes experienced by artists and music fans alike; more artists will follow with their take on the live experience in 2022 and each year following, supported by a range of unique content and activities across the globe.

Malini Patel, Managing Director James B. Beam Distilling Co, said: “Fostering a welcoming spirit throughout our 226- year history, the Jim Beam Welcome Sessions pay testament to this cause and offer a way to help reconnect amazing global acts, the iconic independent venues and the audiences who love their music. By launching the global partnership, we hope to create a unique shared experience that fans can relate to, over and over again. An experience that inspires, uplifts and instils a sense of community to being part of something special.”

To view Jack Garratt’s one of a kind reimagination of his iconic track ‘Time’, go to Jim Beam’s official YouTube channel.

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