You’ve seen Jamie Campbell Bower everywhere ever since his acting debut in 2007 with ‘Sweeney Todd’. In the meanwhile, he’s done a Burberry campaign, started a band and played in the all-top fantasy film franchises (‘Twilight’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Mortal Instruments’, you name it, he’s done it). He’s the kind of character who uses all of his creative outlets when he’s going through shit and makes something worthwhile out of it. Living in a day and age where instant gratification is a given, Jamie Campbell Bower is a prime example of how sometimes you just have to work really hard and be patient in your pursuits.

On the Menswear cover of FAULT Issue 22, we catch up with the young star about his experiences within the industry, and where he hopes to take his craft.

You’ve worked with both Johnny Depp and Sir Ian McKellen. Which one of them stuck with you?

Johnny was really lovely to me, he could tell that I was nervous; he could tell that I was a bit rash and quite young. And with Ian I spent about five months. I tend to go a bit stir crazy when I’m on set just because it’s quite a weird experience, and Ian was always there, he was around when things would get a bit hectic. I think we come from the same genes, we’re pretty similar and he’s a phenomenal actor. I’ve always been the kind of person who’s a bit of a magpie. I’ve always taken little bits of other people’s performances or other people’s writing and tried to make them my own. Art is imitation at the end of the day. But yeah, I loved them both. I think of myself as quite a personable person. I like to talk; maybe I piss people off sometimes. But I like to find out about people’s lives and try to do the best that I can.

What about the music? What happened with The Darling Buds?

The music is going mental as well. We put The Darling Buds to bed at the beginning of this year. It’d been going for so long and I loved it, but there was something about it that didn’t seem like me. It was all very light and I’ve been through some hefty shit in the past year or so and I needed something that allowed me to rid myself of the things that really affected me. Music allows me to be me. To say what it is that I feel, how I feel, in an artistic fashion. I’m trying to be genuine and honest. I’m trying to be as real as I possibly can be on a day-to-day basis. And so, we changed the name of the band to Counterfeit and it’s the most raw and fucking real thing that I will have ever put out there. There are things out there that I haven’t told anyone and there are things out there that I’m nervous to talk about. But at the same time, they come across on the record and they come across beautifully. And it’s fucking loud. Jesus Christ, is it loud.

Of all the things that you’ve done so far, which ones are closest to your heart?

I couldn’t live without every single thing that I do. If my acting was to fall away, I’d be crushed. If my music was to fall away, I’d be crushed, if my creativity was taken away from me, I don’t know what I’d be. This isn’t to say that I define myself by what I do, I define myself by how real I am with what I say and what I give. I put so much effort and work into everything that I do that if one of them was taken away, it would feel like a part of me was missing. I wouldn’t be able to function anymore.

What’s your FAULT?

Because of the way that my mind works, I wake up and send emails to people at five o’clock in the morning and, within an hour, if I haven’t received a response, I’d lose my shit. I have to constantly remind myself that not everyone else is as mental as I am and that they’re not up at five o’clock in the morning. I need more patience. I need to learn to be mild, to be calm and to be calculated rather than be a fucking lunatic at all times.

Words: Adina Ilie
Photographer: Sarah Dunn
Fashion Editor: Kristine Kilty @ Lovely Management
Grooming: Lee Machin @ Caren
Fashion Assistant: Belda Chung
With special thanks to Team Rock

 

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