Loyle Carner Interview (2017) | Before Yesterday’s Gone Changed Everything

Back in 2017, while working as Managing Editor for Wordplay Magazine, I had the chance to sit down with Loyle Carner during a pivotal moment in his career. The interview took place around the release build-up for Yesterday’s Gone, at a time when his audience was rapidly growing but before the scale of success that would soon follow. That evening, he played to a few hundred people at The Marble Factory in Bristol, a venue that already felt too small for what was coming next.

Photo by Jack Cullis for Wordplay Magazine

Looking back now, what stands out isn’t just the hindsight of knowing what he would go on to become, but how clearly the foundations were already there. Even at that stage, Loyle spoke with a level of openness and emotional intelligence that felt distinct. Themes that would later define his work - family, grief, identity, mental health, community and creativity -were already central to how he viewed both music and life.

One of the most interesting parts of revisiting this conversation is hearing him discuss the album before it arrived and before the wider world fully caught up. There’s something special about hearing an artist process growth in real time, without the polish of retrospect.

Beyond the music, we also spoke about his work with young people, cooking initiatives, touring, creative pressure, and the transition into adulthood; conversations that feel even more relevant now given the direction his career and public voice would eventually take.

Since this interview, Loyle Carner has become one of the defining voices in contemporary British music, releasing multiple critically acclaimed albums, headlining major festivals, expanding into acting, and continuing to create work rooted in honesty and humanity.

This interview originally appeared on the .co.uk Wordplay Magazine website in 2017, which is no longer online (it moved to .com in 2019). I’m resharing it here as both a piece of music journalism history and a reminder of a genuinely exciting moment in UK hip hop culture.

Photography by Jack Cullis.

Photo by Jack Cullis for Wordplay Magazine

So what you been up to?

Well, quite a lot. Trying to finish up this album I’ve been working on it for 2 years I guess. Also touring, just a UK tour, we’ve got one more date left on the UK leg. It’s been the biggest one we’ve done so far, it’s been a bit overwhelming, played at Coco a couple of days ago, it was sold out.

So is that your favourite venue to date?

Yeah I think so man because I’ve seen a lot of my hero’s play there, so it’s been a super surreal experience being there, because I’ve been in the crowd so many times as well.

So how long have you been planning the tour for?

We were coming off the spring tour we did in Easter time, so since then really. We kind off put in promotion before we went off on that tour, but an autumn tours always been in the back of my head but it got properly put down on paper just before they announced it.

So calling it the XX tour, holding your dad’s shirt on stage and stuff, is it a tribute tour to him, is that the idea?

I guess so in essence. It’s more of a farewell to all the songs that have served us well over the last 2/3 years because I put them out, and we’ve been touring, but I haven’t put any new tunes out. I haven’t put a big project of work out for a while and with the album coming out next year I think it was the last time I’d be able to play them in a whole. So it was like a tribute to the entirety of my work.

That chapter…

Yeah exactly

So what can you tell us about that album?

I’ve been working on it for a long time, it kind of came out of nowhere. It wasn’t like I was working on tunes like album, I was just writing stuff to get it out of my head. A couple of months ago I sat down and was like, oh I’ve actually got a body of work here, let’s make this coherent. There were a few tunes that didn’t really fit in to that story, but might fit in later down the line. I think it’s just an evolution of me. My last EP was like a snapshot of being nineteen. This is I guess a snapshot of being twenty-one; I suppose it’s a little bit more mature. It’s the same themes, family life, but just the different struggles that have come to get to the next step. 

Have you got any favourite tracks on the album?

Yeah a couple.  A tune played with Tom is a favourite of mine just because it came up out of nowhere. I just kind of free styled it while he made a beat and I was trying to write something but I couldn’t write anything, so I was like, cool let me just get a freestyle down just so I can go back and write to it and have a feel for it. In the end the freestyle stuck because it was just a one off thing. But for me it was kind of the purest form of the music I’ve found today. It just feels like it wasn’t forced at all.

You’ve been working with Tom a fair bit, is there anyone that feels like your favourite producer to date?

A lot of the people I’ve wanted to work with I’ve worked with in England. I’ve been working with Jehst a lot. As far production goes I love his beats but I also think he’s the best rapper of all time from the UK, so working with him has been surreal. I can phone him up and chat to him! And Tom of course, working with your best friend is a beautiful thing.

So what are you two doing together at the moment?

Just messing around, playing Fifa! Nah we’re working on a couple of tunes together, touring. Tom DJ’s all my shows so we’re working on stuff when we’re away, but really just whatever friends do really. Spending too much time with each other and winding each other up. Like a proper married couple!

How did this [cooking school] project with Goma come about?

I’ve always loved cooking. When I was younger I found this unparalleled peace when I was cooking and I figured if it worked for me it might work for kids in a similar situation. This kid company hooked up with me and asked if I wanted to come and rep his skate brand. I hadn’t skated for a few years so I said you don’t need me you need someone else. But he asked if I wanted to put on a project myself and I’ll help you run it. Off the top of my head I said I wanted to open a cooking school and we put it in to motion. The first course was this summer with kids aged 14-16. It went really well, and we’ve just got funding to put it in to place properly. We’re gonna do a Christmas dinner, and put the course in to yearly rotation. Mad, but very rewarding! It’s kind of second nature to me because my mum teaches kids with special education needs so for me, I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else.

Have you taught before or done anything like this?

I’ve done bits and bobs, running little workshops and stuff, helping out my mum in her classes at Croydon Literary Centre. That’s the only real experience.

So where did the idea for the package come from? It’s a different way of approaching a cookbook!

It was more just a way of documenting for us and for the kids. Get some photos done, get some recipes down; it was more for them to have something to take away and remember. As we got further with it, it just made sense to sell them and get them out there so more people could be drawn in to it. But it was never a thing about making it big and making loads of money, it was more lets get a nice thing you can flick through quickly, and remember it instead of getting bored off it.

World’s smallest cookbook!

Yeah exactly, three recipes! Good recipes though!

Chilli con carna is the one!

Haha, thanks!

So other than the album, the cookery school, and Fifa have you got any plans for the rest of the year?

We’re going on tour in Europe at the end of this month, wrapping up this album. I guess it’s kind of what’s been sucking up a lot of my time. That and sorting out the mortgage! Really just grown, boring old man stuff!

Is there another single coming out?

There’s another single before the year is out. Just finished storyboarding the video, and hopefully gonna co-direct it with someone I’m a big fan of.

Photo by Jack Cullis for Wordplay Magazine

Revisiting this interview nearly a decade later, it’s striking how much of Loyle’s future was already visible in the conversation. The honesty, calmness and clarity that people connect with today were already there, even while he was still navigating the earlier stages of his journey.

There was a real feeling in the room that night at The Marble Factory that something important was building. Bristol has always had a strong connection to independent and alternative Hip Hop culture, and this felt like one of those moments where an artist was crossing from underground acclaim into something much bigger.

Massive respect to Ben (Loyle) for the conversation, to Jack Cullis for capturing the night so beautifully, and to everyone involved with Wordplay Magazine during that era. Independent music journalism and grassroots live culture played a huge role in documenting and supporting artists at these important stages, Wordplay was the first ever publication to support Loyle. It feels important that conversations like this continue to exist somewhere online.

Originally published in 2017 - www.wordplaymagazine.co.uk (don't click it, it doesn't exist anymore!)