It’s All
Indie had a quick chat to Tom Walker before he hit the stage at Truck. Despite
the extreme heat that day Tom wore his trademark beanie. That’s real dedication
for you! I was about to photograph his
set and so was carrying a heap of cameras…!
Words and photos by Rhona Murphy
Tom: That’s a lot of cameras!
Yes,
well I’m a photographer…
I can tell!
It’s
a bit of a giveaway I know! I first saw you at The Great Escape Festival when
you headlined Market Stage. Amazing venue!
Ah yes I remember, it was quite far out of
town wasn’t it?
Yes
but it was full and you had such an incredible reception.
Yes it was wicked that gig cos I wasn’t sure
about it. I thought ‘oh God’ it’s so far away from town is anyone going to find
it!
I
went earlier to do a recce to see if I could find it!
It was good though I really enjoyed it
That
was the first time I’ve seen you playing live but it seems to have been an
incredible 12-18 months for you.
Yeah it’s been crazy, we’ve got so much
stuff on this year. I think we’ve had, 2 UK tours, 2 European tours 2 US tours
and 35 festivals and in between that I’ve been recording my album.
You
must have known you’d made it when you appeared on Sunday Brunch? That’s the
pinnacle nowadays!
That was so funny cos obviously everyone
seems to have it on in the background at home so some of my mates were like ‘oh
God I saw you on Sunday Brunch’! It was a
nightmare though I had to get up at something like half past three in the
morning which isn’t natural at all!
It’s
very anti-social isn’t it?
Yeah and I felt like everyone else was so
used to it and I was just the musician there, drinking way too much coffee.
There
aren’t really many music programmes on tv though now and that’s one of the ones
you do get some really good musicians so it’s definitely the place to be seen!
Have you played Truck before?
No, I’ve never played this festival so I’m
excited to see what it’s all about. It’s
going to be hot up there!
When
your song ‘Leave A Light On’ was taken on for the Sony Bravia advert how much
difference did that make? You reached people that you hadn’t reached before so
potentially a massive new audience?
Yes it sent the song into the top 10 in the
UK and a lot of people were discovering it through that advert. I’ve discovered
new artists like José Gonzalez, when Sony did the bouncy balls advert for
Bravia, that’s how I first came across him and there’s a guy called Alex Clare…
Yes
he did some songs with Rudimental a few years ago.
Yeah he’s wicked and I discovered one of his
songs through an XBox advert so it’s cool that people are discovering things
through adverts.
Different
medium isn’t it?
Yeah and as long as the advert is decent
then I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’m all for it.
Are
you hanging around after your set today?
No, we’re driving to Paris afterwards cos
we’ve got a gig there tomorrow so we’re getting straight in the van and
driving.
And
do you enjoy it when it’s just a case of arrive, do all the media stuff, get on
the stage, get off and go? Do you still enjoy it?
I love the gigs yeah they’re great.
Everything surrounding it is sometimes a bit of a challenge. But it doesn’t
really matter if the gig was good.
If
you could be on a bill with anyone else, current or past who would it be?
Probably Ray Charles, that would be amazing,
he’s one of my all-time favourites. Obviously he’s not around anymore but that
would be my choice That would be crazy, he was so good, amazing guy.
That
music doesn’t age though does it?
I don’t think so no.
Teenagers
now are picking up music from the 70s and 80s…
He had about two and a half minute songs
which is how it’s getting now, he kinda invented that 50 years ago!
We
photographers hate those songs. We’ve only got 3 songs to take photos and they’re
all extra short ones!
It
was a short chat and, as he said, Tom and his band were straight off the stage,
gear loaded into the van and heading for Paris within an hour. He still had the
beanie on…..