Tom Williams & The Boat's first interview
- By Jack Preston -
- Apr 18, 2012
Ahead of the release of Tom Williams & The Boat’s second album, 'Teenage Blood', Virgin Red Room speaks to the man himself about his first times. Including a bewildering first memory and some heartening experiences making the new album...
My first memory is being born, or at least that’s what I used to think it was. There was this vivid memory of moving from a dark space into a light space, in hindsight that could have been another memory I’m getting confused with, like moving from a dark room into a light room – perhaps?
The first album I bought was ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’, I got it from Sainsbury’s when I was living in Brixton. It was closely followed by Will Smith’s ‘Willennium’, I reckon three of my first four purchases were Will Smith records.
The first film I saw at the cinema was Space Jam, a highly enjoyable experience it was too.
The first song I wrote would have been when I was about 15, it was about my uncle and had just two chords. My Dad really liked it and still heckles me at gigs for it. My computer crashed in 2003 and I lost a load of my songs, so thankfully I’ll never have to hear it again.
The first job I had was in a coffee shop after I left school, it was good as it gave me the opportunity to write a lot and get the band together.
The first time I was drunk is something I can’t remember, which is good as that’s the point of it – isn’t it?
My first gig was at The Forum in Tunbridge Wells at an acoustic night, it turned out to be a really important night as the guys who run the venue actually funded all the vinyl runs for the first record. It was the start of a really important relationship, we still play there a lot.
The first review of myself I read was in a little indie magazine printed in Tunbridge Wells, it consisted of three pieces of A4 paper and was called ‘Back Beat Bands’ – I was on the front cover! It was run by this girl called Ellie, who later went on to be Anne Frank in the BBC’s Anne Frank drama. I was in the ‘ones to watch’ section along with Cajun Dance Party and Good Books, I actually read it the other day and there was a tinge of regret.
The first time working with Pledge Music has been amazing. It was something that Moshi Moshi were really keen to do, they’d done it with Summer Camp and it had gone really well. We were really bowled over by it all, we reached our target with time to spare. The average pledge was around £30, I mean, I can’t think of a band that I’d spend that money on. To find people willing to spend money on your album without even hearing it is a very heartening experience. It’s the hard core fans that wade in and show how much it means to them.
Even with that I’m still going to have to try and avoid reading reviews of the new album, although I’m not quite sure how to do that, it’s difficult when you’ve been so DIY and heavily involved in all parts of your releases. With bedroom bloggers there can be a lot of hurtful things written, although it comes with the territory so I guess I should just toughen up.
Tom Williams & The Boat's second album, Teenage Blood, is released on Monday April 23rd.
Did you enjoy those first times? How about some more from; The Ting Tings, We Are Augustines, Katie Melua, The Jezabels, Sleigh Bells, Kyla La Grange, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Blood Red Shoes, Charlie Simpson, The Futureheads, Vanquish or Lostprophets?
By Jack Preston. Senior Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
