I grew up in Africa and made some awesome friends there. We didn't have all that much to do between school and sports; so we listened to a lot of music and had a lot of parties. The music we listened to was usually mainstream teeny pop (does anyone remember 5ive?), rap and anything we could find in between. One of my friends I remember as a short ginger guy who used to bait me with explicit lyrics from DMX's rap songs. I never swore back then. Thanks to Facebook, after a ten year sabbatical from friendship, Tom and I started talking again.
It seems he's no longer short, although still very ginger. He has moved up in the world of music; an acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter, Tom has been making his own music for about two years. I gave his stuff a listen when we first started talking again and I enjoyed it so much I play it in the background while I paint. The Irish Mob painting? Inspired by Tom's music.
There's something very soothing about the simplicity of the music itself as well as his soft voice. On his MySpace page, he lists his influences as, "Love, loss, hope, people stronger than myself." Things that affect everyone. Maybe that's why I personally find his music so alluring. It's simple, it's honest and it's something to which we can all relate.
Tom did me the honour of answering some questions, á la interview style.
