Jim Kroft

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Jim Kroft on tour 2012

Jim Kroft (Jamie Croft; born March 30, 1979 in Brechin , Scotland ) is a Berlin based singer , musician and songwriter .

Life

Jim Kroft and Ben Barritt live 2012

He lived as a musician in London for some time before moving from London to Berlin in 2007 as a member of the "Myriad Creatures" band .

After arriving in Berlin, he first found accommodation at the Tacheles Art Community and lived there with his band members in a house without water or electricity. Numerous concerts followed as part of the art project with his band. A first album with the "Myriad Creatures" was produced and published by Gordon Raphael ( The Strokes ) in London. In May 2010 he split from his band to work as a solo artist Jim Kroft. After the separation he made his debut solo album "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" in 2010, which he released on the London label Sidewalk 7 Records.

In spring 2010 the debut single "Memoirs from the Afterlife" was presented in Germany and played on important German radio stations. With this single he was the only artist without a record deal to make it into the top 100 of the national mainstream airplay charts. The song stayed there for two months.

The second single "The Jailer" was released in May of the same year and was played on German radio on Flux FM , Radio Eins and Radio Fritz , as well as on NDR2 , MDR2 and SWR3 .

In England, Jim Kroft received huge support from Absolute Radio (Frank Skinner Show), BBC 2 and BBC London for his first single "Memoirs from the Afterlife" .

The video for his song "Modern Monk" was also created in spring 2010. The cameraman was director Oliver Valente and in front of the camera was Rummelsnuff , a Berlin legend and also a musician.

As a solo artist, Jim Kroft gave concerts in Berlin in clubs such as White Trash , "Cafe Zapata", "WABE", "Sage Club" and "Frannz Club". He was also convincing as support for Peaches and Airborne Toxic Event : His band consists of constantly changing musicians who have also become his friends at the same time.

In 2011 Manta Ray took over the management of the artist. Jim Kroft started recording his 2nd album. "The Hermit & The Hedonist" was recorded at Urchin Studios in East London with producer Matt Ingram. The mixing was done by Richard Wilkinson ( Adele , Kaiser Chiefs ) in Konk Studios ( The Kinks ) - one of the oldest private London studios. The Sunst Brothers in Berlin, whom Jim Kroft met there and whose signature can also be found on the musician's merchandising, are responsible for the graphic concept of the album.

To promote his album "The Hermit & The Hedonist", Jim Kroft used videos that reflect the history of the album. This resulted in 12 videos from his Berlin environment, which he published daily on his website until the album was released.

In this video series he worked with musicians such as Livingston , Lea Johnson, Dance On The Tightrope, Elias And The Animals Orchestra, Hands Up Excitment, Ben Rusch, The Lucas Dietrich Jazz Trio, Ben Wuyts, Martin and James , The Ingvo Clauder Experience, La Horse, The Gecko, Vera & The Oysters and The Roads together.

Jim Kroft says about it:

"The truth of it is that there is little money supporting the project. So everything that we have made, including these videos has been about people wanting to make and put something good back into the world - for the love of it. It has been a privilege to work with so many of the great artists in the city. "

The 2nd album was released on October 21, 2011, followed by a support tour with Anna Calvi .

In 2012 Kroft was on the road with The Pusher all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria and afterwards he went on an acoustic tour across Germany with Martin and James . He then played with his band as support for Sunrise Avenue in Germany, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where he is very successful.

On July 27, 2012, he signed his first recording deal with EMI .

From autumn 2012 Kroft was on tour with the English band Livingston and was then on tour as support on the Mic Donet tour, which took him through Germany as well as Austria and Switzerland .

In May 2013 Jim Kroft started a headline tour through 9 German cities to promote his 3rd album "Lunatic Lullabies", which was released on March 15, 2013, and was on tour as support for Martin and James.

In 2013 he lost his record deal with EMI through no fault of his own .

Since October 2013 Jim Kroft has been running his own small film production company, which he calls Kroft Films. He deals with the production of advertising videos and produces a. a. for Reebok .

Jim Kroft started his project "Journeys" in 2014. As part of this project, he traveled through China in 2014 and through East Africa at the beginning of 2015 and gave numerous concerts there. He also published 2 documentaries: "Journeys # 1" shows his journey through China and "Journeys # 2" through East Africa. 2 EP's (Journeys # 1 / Journeys # 2) were released during this period in which he processed his impressions musically.

In March 2015 he was on the road as support with Jaimi Faulkner .

Another documentary film - "The March Of Hope" - will celebrate its premiere in Berlin on October 26, 2018. Jim Kroft traveled to Lesbos and Idomeni with a friend in January 2016 and lived, talked and helped the refugees there and captured them on film. This film has been shown and awarded at numerous film festivals. He processed his impressions musically in the EP "Journeys # 3", which was released on July 15, 2016 and was recorded in the studio in just 48 hours.

His film "The White Arrow" premiered on October 4, 2019 in Berlin and is a documentary about his journey with the Trans-Siberian Railway, during which he covered over 32,000 km, traveled through 11 time zones and only with a guitar and a camera Gave 30 concerts.

On October 11th, 2019 Jim Kroft released his single "Obstacles" from his 4th album "Love In The Face Of Fear" which was released on November 15th, 2019 under a new label and was presented at a record release show in Berlin to a sold out house .

tape

Jim Kroft and Band live 2012
Current occupation
Changing cast

Ben Barritt (guitar)
Dan Telander (drums, percussion)
Jonas Lieber (guitar, keyboard)
George Moore (keyboard) Tom Marsh (drums, percussion)
Scholli Schollhuber (violin)
James Allison-Booth (keyboard)
Ondrej Homola (bass)
Lea Johnson (Back Vocal)
Lucas Dietrich (Bass)

Discography

  • Promo CD "One sees the sun"
  • Release May 1st, 2011 "The Jailer". Label: Jackalope Recordings
  • Release February 21, 2011 "Memoirs from the Afterlife". Label: Jackalope Recordings
  • Released October 4th, 2012 EP "Tell Me" Label: Virgin (EMI)
  • Released February 15, 2013 "Tell Me (Where to Begin)". Label: Virgin
  • Release March 30, 2015 EP "Journeys # 1"
  • Released October 9, 2015 EP "Journeys # 2"
  • Released July 15, 2016 EP "Journeys # 3"
  • Release October 11, 2019 Single "Obstacles" Label: Radicalis

Albums

  • 2010 "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea". Label: Sidewalk
  • 2011 "The Hermit & The Hedonist". Label: Jackalope Recordings
  • 2013 "Lunatic Lullabies". Label: Virgin (EMI)
  • 2019 "Love In The Face Of Fear". Label: Radicalis

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review on alternativmusik.de ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alternativmusik.de
  2. ↑ Review on albumcheck.de

Documentary filmmaker

personal data
SURNAME Kroft, Jim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Croft, Jamie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Brechin , Scotland