Artist Interviews

Q&A: Tommy Reilly

By | Published on Friday 18 September 2009

Tommy Reilly

Winner of this year’s Orange Unsigned Act competition, and the Young Scottish Entertainer Of The Year Award, Tommy Reilly reached number 14 in the singles chart with his debut single, ‘Gimme A Call’. He then retreated to Edwyn Collins’ studio to record his debut album with Bernard Butler, popping out to play well-received sets at various festivals over the summer and a couple of headline tours. The album is released by Universal/A&M on Monday and he begins his latest round of touring this weekend. We spoke to Tommy to find out some more.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
When I was young my folks sent me off to piano lessons. The deal was if I tried it and liked it I could keep going but if I didn’t I could quit. I guess I liked it, because I kept on going and even started writing little piano pieces. But it wasn’t until I started learning to play the guitar that I started attempting whole songs.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Essentially girls, and how things weren’t working out with them. Most of the songs came to me at a time when I was pretty down about a lot of stuff but I don’t think it comes across as a bleak or sad album, because all the tunes are upbeat. There were a couple of incidents in particular that sparked the first few songs and the others sort of fell into place after that.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
It used to always be the music first and then the lyrics with a definite melody in my head so the words would be tailored to the tune. When I was in the studio with Bernard Butler making my album we recorded it backwards and started with an acoustic recording of the song. The aim was to build the songs up a little without taking away from what they were about, so we would build around the acoustic song and not just add in a full band for the sake of it. He was awesome to work with and I couldn’t believe how much freedom we had to do what we wanted.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell. I think all that happens subconsciously. I guess if I list the bands and writers I like they will all have had some kind of impact. I’ve been listening to Mumford & Sons a lot. I love Frightened Rabbit and The Cure, as well as timeless songwriters like Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I really hope you like it but it’s quite alright if you don’t.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I want to tour this album like crazy. I’m really enjoying playing live. It’s so much fun getting to go to new places all the time. It’s like being on holiday with your mates except we get to do our favourite thing every night as well by playing a show. It would be insane if we could go and play in Europe and/or America. I think it would be the ultimate to take my music to new countries.

MORE>> www.tommyreillymusic.co.uk



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