by Andrea Gaini
Tom Walker is one of the most promising up-coming artists in Britain and in Europe, his scratched baritone voice and his high-intensity music has conquered the hearts of millions of people all around the world. Quench had the opportunity to sit down on the sofas of his dressing room recently before his gig at the Tramshed and have a chat about his career in music and his new album that will be released on 1st March 2019.
When did you get to Cardiff and how are you finding it?
We got here on the bus last night, but I have not been outside the venue yet. I think IÔÇÖve been to Cardiff before, maybe, IÔÇÖm not sure. But I will definitely check it out during the day, I just had quite a lot to do with the gig and everything.
HowÔÇÖs the tour going, you were in Exeter last night, right?
Yeah, itÔÇÖs been amazing, really really cool. Yeah, I was in Exeter last night and it was absolutely wicked! It was in StudentsÔÇÖ Union and was pretty crowdy, so that was quite cool.
Just out of curiosity, whatÔÇÖs your pre-show routine? What do you do before jumping on stage?
Erm, I normally have a glass of red wine, to be honest. Usually Argentinian wine, if I have to be specific. TheyÔÇÖve got this Malbec wine, so I have one of those before stage. ItÔÇÖs really rockÔÇÖnÔÇÖroll I know, but if you have beer itÔÇÖs really difficult to sing, I find that it doesnÔÇÖt really agree with my vocals, so I just have a Malbec.
So obviously, your life might be quite stressful, going around every day. How do you manage it, how do you keep up with everything?
Well, itÔÇÖs not that bad to be honest. ItÔÇÖs just my job, isnÔÇÖt it? ItÔÇÖs like any other job, you get used to it. I think travelling around is the most difficult part and busy, but I get to see a lot of cool places which is quite fun. So, yeah, itÔÇÖs all good.
Do you usually write while on tour?
No, not usually, I find it difficult to write while IÔÇÖm on tour. I usually write songs when I get a break from touring, I just find it really difficult to sit down and compose music while IÔÇÖm around the world. So, normally when IÔÇÖm back home, I sit down and write some music, or simply when I have some time off really.
So, youÔÇÖve got a new album coming out in March, howÔÇÖs that been?
Yeah, good, IÔÇÖve just been writing over the past two years. ItÔÇÖs all finished already because originally it was supposed to be out on the 19th of October, but an opportunity came up to work with Rudimental, so their album is coming out first. We are gonna give it some time to breathe and then do the album early next year. After that weÔÇÖll be going out on tour again, weÔÇÖve got a whole European tour after this one. We decide to move the release date also because we wouldnÔÇÖt have had time to promote the album ÔÇÿcos we would have been out on tour, so we decided to move it to somewhere more suitable.
This is your first album since you started playing isnÔÇÖt it?
Yeah, it is. IÔÇÖve released an EP and quite a few singles, but this is my first full body of work.
Quench is student magazine and we quite like to support upcoming local artist, I was wondering if you could give a little advice to the Welsh artists who are trying to get in the business?
Erm, itÔÇÖs gonna sound like a clich├®, but I once thought I was gonna give up music because I was getting frustrated as I wasnÔÇÖt getting to the place I wanted to go, but then everything just started happening for me. I worked really hard for years and years, receiving little to no feelings of accomplishment. It really is persistence with this business, if you wanna do it youÔÇÖve got to be doing it every day, go out there and play as many gigs as possible, make your music heard. ItÔÇÖs a relentless process because you have to do it every single day and really work for it, so thatÔÇÖs my advice to everybody who wants to go into music.
How did you start playing? Did you start playing in your hometown?
For me it just kicked off in London. I moved there from Manchester, I went to uni, did a degree in song-writing and then it kind of all began with that. I did a few gigs in Manchester while in school, I was in an indie band when I was younger.
Ok, Tom thank you so much for the chat!
Thank you, guys. See you tonight!