Published: November 29, 2008 12:18 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight
Tom Bolton
Tom Bolton
Our next Sonicbids' submission artist, Tom Bolton, has embarked on a journey into music that has covered over a span of thirty years of songwriting. He also has had eight successful years of gigs and festivals along with a number of Australian national tours, and airplay on independent and college radio stations across USA and Canada. While accomplishing all this, Tom was able to create two successful albums. Now Bolton comes to Junior's Cave's Music Now page with a story to tell. Here is his story.
Isaac: Tom, please take a moment to elaborate on who you are and your upbringing.
Tom: I grew up with music in my life from earliest days. My family went to church, the kind of church where there was a lot of singing, and everyone joined in. There were no performers and no audience there... everyone gave to the music whatever they had to give. I got my first guitar at age sixteen, and started trying to write but it took years before the songs began to feel ok. Years of life being chaotic and strange. I wasn't interested in performing or being on stage until about ten years ago when the songs were finally ready to take out to the world... now I just love playing live and touring. My favorite gigs are folk clubs and house concerts... small crowds, people listening, a really strong connection with the audience.
Isaac: Was there any one musician that spoke to your heart so profoundly, you were inspired to do your own thing?
Tom: I heard Barry McGuire play live when I was about fifteen, and I remember thinking that I wanted to be as warm and full of energy as he seemed to be. Otherwise, it would have to be Neil Young.
Isaac: Which singer/group would you say you would most like to do a duet with?
Tom: Sinead O'Connor, Natalie Merchant, David Sylvian or Cat Stevens.
Isaac: What singer/songwriter do you most connect with?
Tom: I'm not sure if I connect with anyone. I connect with songs... one song from one person, and another song from someone else.
Isaac: Out of your entire song collection that you've written thus far, which song(s) would you say is/are the most personal/meaningful to you?
Tom: From my first album "All Your Questions" expresses something that still rings very true for me, and "Little Star" - from my second album "When I Cross the River" - is like a call to myself to stay hopeful.
Isaac: Which singers/groups do you enjoy/like from some of today's music genres?
Tom: Most of what I listen to is local live music, people no-one's ever heard of outside of where I live. I get a lot of my new music at festivals, and then some in compilations from friends. I heard a beautiful singer/songwriter a while back by the name of Khin Myint. Also, a moody song "The Dreaming Dead" by Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter. Then there's a strange mix of stuff... Low, Pete Morton, Happy Rhodes, Muse, Cry Cry Cry, Eddi Reader, Badly Drawn Boy, Hildegard Von Bingen.
Isaac: What charities are you involved with or support and why should people get involved?
Tom: I support an organization that assists people who are both deaf and blind, because I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to deal with that situation. I also support Amnesty International... there are many human rights abuses around the world, and while Amnesty might not be able to stop it all happening, they can report on it and raise awareness.
Isaac: Have you (or would you ever consider) writing a song about any of today's particular world issues/problems? If so, what world issue would speak to you the most to write about?
Tom: If I felt I could do it well enough, I'd like to write a love song to the planet. Social justice issues can get me really fired up, but the possibility of losing this beautiful world through our greed and stupidity goes beyond anything else. The Pixies already wrote "Monkey Gone To Heaven" ...it'd be hard to write something as moving and timely as that.
Isaac: What is the main reason why should people listen to your music?
Tom: Tunes that'll grow on you and stay with you... the best lyrics I could craft... and my heart on the line!
Isaac: What has been your main inspiration to toss out such classical music?
Tom: I just love a good song... any genre, any vintage, doesn't matter if it's serious or about nothing at all, as long as it gets in me. When I hear a great song, it just makes me want to write more.
Isaac: How far into the creation of a song do you share any of it with anyone? Who would you play it for? Would it be a chorus, a verse and chorus, or a complete song?
Tom: I play first verses and choruses to a small handful of friends so they can sense where I'm up to... like an emotional barometer. Also, I'll play the beginnings of songs to the guy who plays double-bass with me (Richard Grace) so he knows what kind of stuff he'll be learning down the track.
Isaac: How much do you let others "mess around with" one of your new songs?
Tom: A few people have pointed out improvements that I could make with lyrics, and I'm very glad they did. I don't mind if people mess with the songs in terms of instruments and sounds, but I'm fairly careful of the song structure, especially lyrics.
Isaac: Do you have to be a tortured soul to be a singer-songwriter?
Tom: I don't think you have to be... but maybe it gives some weight to your songs if you've survived through a few tough times. I figure it would be a waste of everything I'd been through (still going through) if I didn't put all that energy into something creative.
Isaac: Are your songs strictly autobiographical or are they embroidered autobiography?
Tom: Embroidered. They're constructed, fabricated to express and represent certain moods and thoughts that I've experienced. I think they're true to what my life is, but that doesn't mean they're accurate about details. They are a selection of things that I feel ok to reveal, and that can maybe reach across to other people. There's plenty of my life that doesn't get put into song, and many of my songs aren't about me at all.
Isaac: How long does it take you to process your emotions and turn them into songs?
Tom: That process is still happening... a life's journey maybe, of learning how to do it well. Some songs have taken months, even years. Sometimes though it all happens in a rush. Some mornings I've woken up with an idea for a song, and half an hour later the song is finished.
Isaac: The best piece of advice you actually followed?
Tom: To let my heart be known.
Isaac: Give Shutouts to your family and friends.
Tom: Hugs and love to the Wednesday and Thursday night people (particularly Rich)... to Rob, Kath, Jake, Seh and people of my tribe... to lovely friends who inspire me to write songs... to the big wide world and everyone in it!
Isaac: Last but certainly not least, what are you working on, now?
Tom: A batch of new songs that will be on the next album, hopefully ready next year, with lots of new energy and ideas!
