Vince Freeman: LD Systems Live Session

In this LD Systems Live Session powered by Headliner, UK singer-songwriter Vince Freeman recently performed his original song, Devils, from his new album, Scars, Ghosts & Glory at Darkwood Studios in Hertfordshire. Freeman performed through an LD Systems MAUI G3 rig, and Headliner caught up with him after the performance to find out how a last minute stocking filler changed his life, how he crafted a hit dance track with Fedde Le Grand, and how the idea of selling his soul for nothing inspired that very song.

Freeman’s latest album is the result of years of hard work and struggles. It’s a remarkable story that has taken Freeman from an aspiring musician who made a living as a barista, taking his coffee van to festivals while dreaming of hitting their big stages, to playing shows with the likes of Van Morrison, Eric Clapton and Paul Weller.

Early in his career he won two UK Indie Awards before reaching the final of The Voice in 2012, during which he was mentored by Danny O’Donoghue of The Script. Just as he was breaking through, a nagging backache escalated into something more serious, leading to six years of debilitating pain due to a spinal injury.

When he eventually recovered, fate still wasn’t on his side: as soon as a hit collaboration with Lost Frequencies took off, the world locked down due to Covid. Now, with the release of Scars, Ghosts & Glory, Freeman says it's his time to shine.

What are your early memories of music that set you down this path?

I was given a guitar by my mum. She was working nights at this factory and putting needles together. I was a sportsman, and that's what I did. I'd never sung a note, never played an instrument – it was just a stocking filler. One of her friends went, ‘Does anybody want this guitar?’ She didn't even have time to wrap it, so she gave it to me, literally, in a bin liner. It sounds cheesy, but I literally didn't leave my room for about four days just trying to figure this thing out. I guess the rest is history!

What is the story behind your hit single, Devils, with Dutch house DJ, record producer and remixer Fedde Le Grand?

The backstory of Devils is quite a strange one. I got asked to do a vocal for a song called Sun Is Shining, and that ended up being the title track for Lost Frequencies’ album, Alive and Feeling Fine, and as a result of that, I got asked to go to my very first writer's camp in Belgium.

I just had this idea, and it was based around touring and selling your soul. I remember waking up one morning and going, ‘Bloody hell. I'm doing this all for nothing’. I had this one line: ‘It feels like lately, I've sold my soul for nothing at all’. I went into this writing session and we went back and forth, and that became Devils, and it got released with Fedde Le Grand.

For those people who know their dance music, you’ll know his track, Put Your Hands Up for Detroit. Fedde picked up Devils, loved the track, and we ended up releasing it together. Fast forward to now, and I've been given this amazing opportunity to record my first debut album.

The version of Devils on your new album, Scars, Ghosts & Glory, sounds very different…

I really wanted to record Devils not as a dance track, but the way I heard it in my head. It's a bit more bluesy. That's where Devils came from. It did really well with Fedde as a dance track, but I wanted to put it on the album so that people can hear how it should have sounded.

What was your impression of the LD Systems MAUI G3 rig you performed though?

What's really nice about the LD Systems rig is that you can be quite close to the actual speakers themselves. These column systems are really good at guarding from feedback. I can be fairly close to this with a mic or a guitar, and you don't get those pops and those whistles.

Another really nice thing is the clarity is really great. Usually, when I do this kind of thing, I haven't got a speaker system behind me. I've usually got headphones in my ears, or a lot of the time, there's no system at all! So it was nice to have that behind me.