Tom Williams & The Boat's worst interview
- By Jack Preston -
- Apr 19, 2012
Following on from his first interview, Tom Williams gives us his worst. Featuring long drinking sessions on white beaches, bleak gigs, cow insemination and The Kooks...
The worst job I had is nothing compared to some of the other guys in the band. Ant is a cow farmer, which can really suck. Getting up hungover at 5.30am to inseminate a cow isn’t something I’d like to be doing.
The worst film I saw has to be when I got dragged along to Sex and the City 2, parting with the best part of a tenner for that was a painful experience.
The worst album I bought was by The New Radicals, I still love that ‘You Only Get What You Give’ track but I think I must have been the only person to buy the album. It was no Willennium, that's for sure.
The worst gig I played was at the Hope and Anchor in London, I did the sound check and the place was empty – not even other bands. I got on stage, played one song to the sound man, shook his hand, packed up and went home. Perhaps one of the bleakest moments of my life.
The worst review I read of myself was of an E.P. of ours in Q Magazine, I got compared to Luke Pritchard from The Kooks and Jack Penate in the same sentence – perhaps some of the most revolting comparisons that have ever happened anywhere. Maybe it was the Thames Valley accent.
My worst drunken experience was at our first European show last summer, it was at this small festival just outside Barcelona. It was right on the beach, we turned up on Thursday, played Friday and didn’t leave until the Monday. We were on cloud nine, with a free bar, on a white beach and didn’t stay sober too long. There’s nothing worse than being hung over in an airport.
The worst thing about making the album has been dealing with the subject matter. It’s a break-up record and is a bit close to the bone, it was written as a cathartic thing. It was kind of unpleasant at times, although the whole point of writing these songs is to make something beautiful out of something unpleasant.
The worst song I wrote would have been when I first started out, I wasn’t very good with lyrics so one song had every other word as a mention of one of Dylan’s albums. The early songs are very important, they made me realise I needed to try harder.
In my head there’s this Holy Trinity of Springsteen, Dylan and Neil Young, if I could share a bill with one of them one day then I’d be very happy. We often get talked of as an American folk band rather English folk, it’s more dustbowl and not as flowery or ornate. It’s a lot simpler and that musical economy of language is something that suits us. We’ve got ambitions to go abroad and see America as a home away from home for the band, we just haven’t been there yet.
Tom Williams & The Boat's second album, Teenage Blood, is released on Monday April 23rd.
Did you enjoy those worst 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 or Lostprophets?
By Jack Preston. Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
