Interview: Tommy Sparks

Recently I was fortunate enough to catch up with one of the most genuine guys in the business, Tommy Sparks, just following the release of his second single, She's Got Me Dancing. We talked about his upcoming debut, self titled album, his plans for the summer, thoughts on the current music scene, just how important playing live is to him and loads more.

Tom Sowerby: She's got me dancing has just come out, is it being well received?
Tommy Sparks: Yeah, I think so, the last show at least we had a lot of people singing along, but I actually don't keep too much track of it, obviously you can get a feel for it, by monitoring friend requests and seeing comments, but it's not something I really think about, to be honest. I've been in music and bands for so long that whatever way it goes doesn't really matter to me.

TS: I've heard your new album; I liked it. How do you feel about it?
TommyS: Oh thank you, I'm so pleased you liked it, as an artist you're never happy though.

TS: How was it working with Mike Crossey?
TommyS: I've got nothing but love for that guy, he's amazing, and actually at the time I did another session with another producer, who I won't name his name but it was a complete disaster. We did it abroad, in the Czech Republic actually and came back and it just didn't work out... at all. We came back to London and it just felt negative. Then we stumbled upon Mike Crossey and had one meeting with him, and I was like "This guy's so sweet and amazing!" and we did the record in four weeks.

TS: Yeah, now you did the record in four weeks, didn't you?
TommyS: Well it's hard to say because modern music making is so much different, my mum basically lives in these thousand islands outside of Stockholm and you have to travel there by boat and she basically had a hut outside her house in the forest, it was like a woodcutters lodge and it had electricity, I don't know why, but it had and a couple of sockets. I went out there at the Vatican DC split and I basically recorded all these songs and programmed some basic stuff and recorded it, and on the record some of the sounds are from there and some are from London. It would be like I'm going to e-mail you a drum pattern and then you e-mail me back. It used to be cool and simple "We wrote our songs here then we all set up in the studio and played," but it's just not like that anymore! Anything goes; I wrote most of it out there, and recorded loads and then kind of re-recorded it back here.

TS: It sounds like a pretty inspirational place; do you think it helped you get in the mind frame?
TommyS: Well I was pretty down at that time, because I put a lot of faith in Vatican DC, but it also taught me to not give a fuck, you know?! But it's like the saying "You haven't really made it until you've failed four times", and you know, if I fail this time, I'll be halfway there! Can't wait for the next two! But it's true, because you just get over yourself, and get less pretentious and just become more and more honest in what you do, what you create and write about. It's an important process, for me anyway. A lot of musicians, I think, don't have that.

TS: Now, is it right that you left school at 13?
TommyS: Yes

TS: Was it for music purposes or...?
TommyS: Well, when I was in school I was like bullied, so school wasn't a good experience, it never was, I never felt protected. So leaving school was a positive thing for me. My dad, he isn't alive anymore but he was a thespian and I got a lot of cultural education just with him at home, and I got a lot of language skills too.

TS: Sorry to hear that, so you left school for other reasons, but what made you decide that music was for you?
TommyS: Well my sister gave me a mix tape of Hip Hop and it really impressed, completely blew my mind. Big daddy Kane and stuff. And there were still mix tapes around! And Public Enemy as well all these awesome pop/hip hop guys, and the lyrical content and the beat really impressed me. A good beat goes a long way.

TS: Yeah, when did you move to England?
TommyS: I moved in with my sister, I pretty much moved a year after leaving school, but then I've also moved back here at times so it's quite backwards and forwards. It was quite a positive thing for me, leaving Sweden, as even though I love it, it was kind of a life saving experience.

TS: What was the first concert you ever saw live?
TommyS: Trying to think... could have been Kiss actually, I think my mum got some tickets when I was like 6 maybe, they didn't have make-up on, I don't know what year it was, but it was quite shit basically, it was like "where's the make-up!"

TS: Yeah, I can imagine. Did you have a real love for music by that age?
TommyS: Well I didn't grow up in a hugely musical home; my mum was a TV producer and my dad was an actor, so they didn't do music, but I suppose arts are all connected really. So there wasn't really a lot of music going on, but I got my first bass at 14 and it cost me like £50 and I'm so gutted I don't have it still, because I would love it. I play the drums as well.

TS: Yeah, I know, it seems like you play everything!
TommyS: Well I didn't play drums on the record, bass is the instrument I can actually play, where I'm not just blagging it, but drums is the instrument I really love, and you keep the whole band together and stuff, you're the one. Front man... fuck you! If the drummer goes the band is done.

TS: Definitely, do you think you'll be confident enough to play drums on future releases?
TommyS: I don't have to be confident doing it, because you just fake it! On this record I used this guy Tal Amiran, an Israeli drummer in my old band, Vatican DC, we released a record in Vatican DC but it got a bit not nice and ended in a horrible way, but I wasn't going to talk about that actually. But on this record we didn't use any fake beats or anything and he sounds like a machine.

TS: Yeah, do you think in future you'll get into more of a band format?
TommyS: Well the members of the band I have now are perfect and it took me ages to find the right ones. It's got to the point where I almost feel awkward saying that I'm a solo artist now because of them, because of Sam, Tom, Min and Salvador, they're amazing and really contribute, and we're not a pretentious bunch. We want to fight all that shit; that artist's bullshit.

TS: So Tommy Sparks kind of feels more like a band than just you?
TommyS: Starts feeling like it, because we spend so much time together as well, I always try to get one of them with me for the interviews as well but they were all busy today.

TS: What are you mainly listening to at the moment?
TommyS: I got the new Horror's album, and I fucking love it, and NME actually got it right; it is fucking awesome. That first single, Sea Within A Sea blew my mind when I first heard it. Because I love Krautrock, like Can and it's good music. I make just pop music, but I love that shit, one of my favourite bands are Sonic Youth and I love Helmet, this hardcore band- actually get 'Mean Time' it's really good- but yeah, Sea Within A Sea, is just excellent, that's the last album I bought, which doesn't make any sense as to who I am, but what can you do?! The only music I listen to now really is hip hop and dance music, band music very rarely gets me, The Horrors album is the first in a long time to get me.

TS: Yeah, and you have a pretty distinctive sound, do you think your varying influences are the reason?
TommyS: Of course, I never ever went in to make a certain sounding record which I think a lot of people are very good at, like the Horrors, they are great at going for a genre and doing it so well, but I've never gone in thinking "I'm going to tap into this" I just do whatever.

TS: Because the whole dance/electro scene is really big right now, how do you think you fit into it?
TommyS: I don't think I fit in at all, I think if people see us live they will realise that we are more of a guitar band. Labelling bands is very hard, and I suppose the best label for us would be pop, because that's pretty much where we're at, dance or pop. Its more a journalist thing labelling, because you need to sum up our sounds. But I don't really mind, it's just there to try to explain to people what it is, I just think sometimes it can work in a negative way because it can narrow it down. I always wanted to write a pop record, but make it interesting. Interesting lyrically and sonically, that was my ambition.

TS: Now, you have a really impressive list of festivals for this summer...
TommyS: Yeah, I think it's just from people coming to check us out live and I guess the promoters thought "yeah, that will work" and decided to book us up. We're playing a surf festival in Newquay which for me is the most exciting thing of the year because I'm big on surf as well, I've been there so much and have friends that live there too. We really focus on the live show, you used to promote your records by going on tours, but now you put out a record to promote your tour.

TS: So for you, playing live is making your money?
TommyS: Exactly, I'm not a greedy person obsessed by making money or anything. If I was I would have gone and got a real job, and not fucked about in different bands for so long! But yeah that's the way it looks now... which I like, because I love the live side, it's the bit I most enjoy.

TS: Do you think you could have achieved any similar success if you had stayed in Sweden?
TommyS: Erm, I don't know, probably not; I never settled in Sweden and funnily enough I feel more English at this time, but I feel it was more important for me to move. It could have been anywhere but it was because my sister lived here and it was good moving here, I love London, when you travel and stuff you realise, even though London has its days when it's like "Ah it's doing my head in!" always coming back to London is amazing, and I don't even know why, because it's like shit isn't it! Looks like shit, smells like shit, there's nothing awesome about it, but there is something about it, there's a good vibe, good people. I live in Kilburn and I really love it there.

TS: What would you say has so far been the highlight of your career?
TommyS: This interview! I don't really look at it as highlights, I enjoy the moments playing live, every gig we've ever done, even the ones that go bad; we've always come out of it with something that feels real. I would just say playing live; all kinds of playing live, like the session for Bloc Party, which was possibly the best moment of my life... except for being born, but I don't remember that. I keep getting Blackberry messages saying that I'm doing well on the iTunes chart, but I haven't even got an iTunes account (number 11, and number 7 in pop charts).

TS: Ideally for you, where can you see yourself in five years time?
TommyS: Just hopefully still being creative and happy really, that's about it, being nice. I don't know where I'm going to end up; I want to do all of it!

TS: And last question: Who out of anyone would you most like to work with?
TommyS: Neil Young, Harvest is one of my all time favourites, it's fucking mind blowing and I saw him a while ago in Finsbury Park and I remember he played Piece of Crap it's a newer one and it was when George Bush had been in for around three years and he came out and said "I want to dedicate this next song to the President of the United States of America" and I was just thinking Oh god, my hero's just gone in front of my eyes, and he's going to play one of my favourite songs! Then Neil Young said "This song is called Piece of Crap!" it was fucking brilliant! I'm going to try and get onstage to see him at Glastonbury. We're going to have a good time this year; we've got our own outfits and we're doing a couple of covers, like Pets by Porno for Pyros and the Frankie Knuckles remix of Blind by Hercules and the Love Affair. It's going to be amazing, I'll never be able to match his vocals but it should be great, we're just trying to have fun, I'm over being pretentious. I'm always hanging out in the crowd, it's so boring back stage, just loads of bands walking around recognising each other but not wanting to talk to each other. We're just trying to have fun.. if anyone gets in our way, we'll kill them! Put that in the article!

• For more information on Tommy Sparks, visit his MySpace site.