Damian Lewis is accustomed to the strobe of paparazzi bulbs and crowds of fans clamouring for his attention on the red carpet. At its peak, his hit show Homeland was averaging around 7 million weekly viewers. But Lewis is the latest actor to pivot to music, and last week he played an intimate show to about 150 people at Rough Trade, the record store in East London.
The gig was the first since the release of his debut album, ‘Mission Creep’. His sound is folk-rock, with lots of guitar, hints of jazz, and a crooning voice. His influences range from Neil Young to J.J. Cale. What has it been like to go from gracing blockbuster TV shows to performing to a small crowd at an indie venue, I ask? “Fantastic,” he tells me. “The band all love playing live. But we can’t play bigger venues until we’ve proved ourselves in smaller venues”.
