Pete Gardiner unveils video for new single 'Pretty Smiles' - premiere

The track is taken from Gardiner's upcoming debut

(Press image)

Here's Irish singer-songwriter Pete Gardiner and his new video 'Pretty Smiles'.

Clearly going for a moody 50s noir theme, 'Pretty Smiles' was shot in a Manchester bar by award-winning director Alex Taylor.

The track is taken from Gardiner's upcoming debut album, which has been produced by Mercury Prize winner Tommy McLaughlin

Check out the video and let us know what you think:

Q&A with Pete Gardiner

What are you listening to at the moment?

A lot of different bands from a lot of different eras. It depends on things like what mood I'm in or what time of day it is, or what I'm drinking.

The two most recent albums I bought were from Foy Vance and Bessie Smith. Foy Vance's album came out a couple of months ago, the Bessie Smith one came out 60 years ago, and I can flick between the two with no problems. If it's dark outside and it's too late to call anyone, I listen to Leonard Cohen's first 3 albums. They're great company. If I'm on a train I'll listen to Dylan's later albums, anything from 1997 onwards.

I like that phase of Dylan's work when his voice finally gave up but the songwriting got back on track. Those are great songs to travel with. I bought an album by Wolf Alice recently. I think they're pretty new. They remind me of the early 90s alternative era and that suits me because I'm a big Pearl Jam fan. Springsteen's another hero I never go too long without listening to. A lot of the time I can't decide and I let my iPod choose for me. Thank God for the shuffle feature.

What have you got lined up for the rest of 2016?

I'll be doing a lot of shows around London. You can find out where I'm playing at the website petegardiner.co.uk. It's always up to date. I'm also doing a lot of writing at the minute. The first albums finished so I'm working on the next one. Moving to London last year really helped me out with that, I was starting to feel like I'd gotten all the songs I could out of my hometown. Although I suspect there'll be a few more waiting for me when I go back.

I cowrote the title track for a movie called “Property of the State” with Pol Brennan from the band Clannad. It's going to be coming out in October this year. It's an important film, I saw it recently at the Galway Film Festival and I'm excited for everyone else to see it.

I'd say you'll hear another single or two from me before the year's out as well.

What was the first gig you ever played, and what’s been the best so far?

Technically my first gig was when I was about 16 as the guitar player in a rock band. We used to play at one or two venues around our little town in Northern Ireland. That's a period of my life I'd like to revisit. We had a few fans who knew as little about music as we did and lived out our rockstar fantasy for a couple of years. We were going to be the second coming of Guns N Roses, and we would have been, but our drummer's mum made him go to university instead.

I've had a lot of great gigs over the years. One that springs to mind is when I played The Sugar Club in Dublin last year supporting Charlie Simpson. A memorable evening relies on certain conditions, some of which you can't control. You have to connect a certain way with the song you're singing and if you can do that then the audience might accept it.

Some audiences are harder to penetrate than others no matter how well or badly you're doing. The Sugar Club audience was one of the most hospitable crowds I've ever played to. There's a big difference between a polite applause and a warm one. They made me feel welcome. They weren't stubborn and didn't have to be won over, they just gave me a chance and they liked what they heard. Concerts are rarely this agreeable, in my experience there's usually some sort of battle that has to take place before the artist and the crowd can surrender to one another.

Pete Gardiner plays the following dates:

7th Bedroom Bar, Shoreditch (Acoustic Set)

12th Paper Dress Vintage, Hackney (Full Band)