Sunday 4 December 2011

Tom Caulfield

So, I’ve been trying to find new and exciting musicians over the past few weeks and I completely failed. Then on my twitter, this dude started to follow me. I looked at his profile and it said ‘‘Singer, songwriter, guitar player, nuisance. Keeping it real since 1982’’. I mean, what more of a coincidence? I totally checked out his website (http://tomcaulfieldmusic.wordpress.com/) and found that I hadn’t failed at all! This was the new and exciting musician I had been looking for.
When ‘tweeting’ him he turned out to be a really nice guy! I asked if I could interview him for my fanzine, that I’m currently writing, and he agreed to do it. So, here it is! My interview with Tom Caulfield. Enjoy, and check out his music!

Tom Caulfield

1.      Who are your inspirations and why?
There's many. Too many to mention now for certain, but respectful
nods have to be given to Dylan, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Woody Guthrie,
among many others. All for the same reasons, of course, that they've
pursued their own paths without ever playing the game, without ever
sanitising their own visions. It's heartening to see that.And Woody
paricularly for using music as a form of nourishment. Read "Bound For
Glory", you'll see what I mean.

2.      Have you ever been in a band?
I've been in many bands, yeah. Played all sorts of things, blues,
country, rock'n'roll, soul music. I've been doing this a long time.
The best name any of the bands ever had was "The Cake Police". Christ
knows what made us think of that. I still am in a duo occasionally
doing indie covers acoustically, Dirty Bristow and Lucky Pierre. If
you don't know what that means, I'm not going to tell you.

3.      If you were in a band, why did you become a solo artist?
It's a long story, and I'll cut it short. I've always written
songs, as far back as I can remember - or as long as a I want to.
Never really used them in the bands I was in though, it was a thing I
did for myself, like a dirty little secret. Anyway, I lost a job, a
girlfriend and a band all at the same time, tough break. So I started
to go busking, all the time. Needed the money. As a result of that,
I'd get offered solo gigs. And once I was comfortable with that, I'd
be slipping in songs that I'd written. And thus, I became a solo
artist.

4.      When did you start writing songs and do you still have the first one you wrote?
I can't remember the first song I wrote, but even as a child I used
to write funny little poems and rhymes about the teachers at school
and suchlike. They're probably not that funny now, but I liked them at
the time.

5.      Have you always had a love for music?
I have. Even before I held a guitar, the sound to me was the
coolest thing in the world. Still is. Still can't hear, say, John Lee
Hooker without a shiver of excitement.

6.      When you were younger, is producing music what you wanted to do?
I've never given it that much though. Basically, it's what I do,
and that's that. I can't imagine it not being around, not being a part
of me.

7.      Who is the musician you’d love to meet and why? (Alive or Dead)
I have to be honest, there's nobody. You should never meet your
heros. What if they turned out to be a dick?

8.      What can we expect from you in the future?
There's only one dead certainty to expect from me in the future,
more music. Expecting anything else would be futile. And besides, who
wants things to are expected?

9.      You’re currently writing a new record … what sound are you aiming to get through in this?
Well, the last record was just me and an acoustic guitar, so this
one's a lot fuller. I'm playing a lot of instruments, and drafting in
friends for things that I can't play. There's fiddle on there, there's
bass, drums, there's banjo, harmonica, glockenspiel...yeah, it's
bigger.

10.  What is the record going to be about?
There does seem to be a lot of motion in these songs, people
leaving, arriving, escaping. But that said, there's a little hymn to
domestic bliss as well. There's an Armageddon song, too.

11.  Who would you recommend people to listen too (any up and coming bands/solo artists)?
My best advice would be to get amongst their localities and find
people doing this that aren't on the radio. If you're in a pub and see
someone play their own song, buy the CD. It won't seem much to you,
but it'll allow them to keep chipping away at this for a little
longer, at least. That's my advice, and I'm sticking with it.

12.  If you weren’t where you are now, what would you be doing?
I honestly have no idea. I'd probably be dead. Or drunk. Or dead drunk.

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