Sam Fender

I remember specifically, for me, as a kid growing up or as a young teenager, if I ever cried or got upset in front of anybody, I would be so humiliated.

Music was always ever present when I was growing up, and it's continued to be the most important and intrinsic part of me. It kept me from going off the rails as a kid, and it gave me rare purpose and self-confidence that I couldn't find from anything else.

I'm never going to overestimate the clout of my job.

The Cure wrote 'Boys Don't Cry,' and it's the same today: as a boy, you're not meant to show your emotions, but if you don't have a job or any prospects, you're going to be depressed, and it will be much worse if you can't express that. I hate the term because it's become a buzzword, but it's toxic masculinity.

I write from the perspective of an early 20s kid who is trying to grasp an idea of what the hell is going on.

The thing about Springsteen, his music, although he's writing about, you know, New Jersey and Asbury Park, all of them places, it's blue-collar towns that, like - it's similar to Newcastle, where I'm from.

I don't live in London. I live in the place that I sing about.

Back in the day, you could have a crap gig, and nobody would film you. Now, everybody's got an iPhone - you have a bad day, and it's going on the Internet.

I was probably the only kid in school that had long hair.

It's so surreal for us to be playing at Tynemouth Castle. It couldn't be much closer to home. I've got so many mad stories of us all running around here as kids, and it's mental that we're going to be playing at an actual castle!

I was told not to cry as a kid.

My brother was a drummer, and he was always, like, smashing the kit around when I was a kid, and my dad was, like, one of them old musicians, and he played in, like, loads of different bands in the '70s and '80s. Him and my brother were kind of like my main inspirations.