Tom Baxter has been around music all of his life as his parents were regulars on the folk music circuit when he was growing up.The singer/songwriter followed in their footsteps and released his debut album Feather and Stone in 2004 to critical acclaim.But troubled times have followed as Tom left his label and record deal financing and recording his new album Skybound himself.But the new record is one of the most anticipated of 2008 I caught up with Tom to discuss the success of Feather and Stone, worries about the follow-up and going it alone.
What made you decide to pursue a career in music?
Well I grew up in a hotel bar, we had a night club at the back so we had music all of the time, my mum and dad were musicians so me and my brother were playing in bands sine the age of thirteen. So it was in the family I supposed we just did it and loved it. I was terrible at school so for me doing music fitted in, I could do something at least.How did you go about getting your record deal and being discovered?
Well it was a bit of a weird one for me because I had been playing for years and hadn't really got anywhere, I got fed up with trying to scrape by either on the dole or doing crappy jobs, so I thought ok I'm going to stop playing music for a bit. So I set up a business restoring buildings and pubs and stuff.
So I was in this south London place called The Bedford and I was restoring this pub, the guy who ran was pretty eccentric, and we used to drink, and I was there everyday, and we were drinking and we used to have sing-a-longs at night.
And one of the guys there, who was doing the music for the pub, club or whatever it was, didn't know that I played and he said why don't we put up some nights were we put on some artists and stuff and I was like ok and so for a bit of fun we did these nights.
So I started playing the bar, just doing covers for the punters, and when I did these nights in the back room, they had an old Shakespearean theatre, and it got to the point were I was headlining and selling them out.
Then basically I found this other venue called Bush Hall, which was then a snooker hall, and we went in there and set it up as a venue and it started selling out, it was just at that time when everyone was just getting interested in songwriters and real music, so I was lucky with the timing. So I then got a publishing deal then I got my record deal and that's pretty much how it went.
Feather and Stone rose to critical acclaim how have you reacted to it's success?
Well it was great going from doing what I was doing, I had kind of got very disillusioned by music, so I was a builder. For me it was great it was really really well received critically and we toured a lot and had a great laugh, and I learnt a lot about how the music industry works and obviously I have gone on since then making more records and artwork so I' m in my element really.
Your new album is Skybound how difficult was it following up the success of the debut was it daunting going back into the studio?
It was daunting going back into the studio because on the first album I found it really difficult with the pressure that I was under from the record label to get the record done. But this time was easier because I managed to get out of my deal and I was doing it on my own label, so I funded it all myself with my own money, so I was probably more worried that I had put every penny into it I was more worried about the cost it was costing me than performing well.
So in a way it was quite good because I put everything from my heart into it, and also when we were in the studio I worked with a different producer who was really good at getting the best out of me, so it actually turned out to be a really really constructive time for me.
I decided that I was going to do all the artwork for the album as well and have the launch in an art gallery with all the canvasses that I had done, I did these big canvasses that I was selling off to the fans, so it kind of brought a different element to it and I was using that to kind of take the pressure off me.
You say that you did the artwork for the album yourself how important is it to you to be in control in all aspects of the making of the album?
For me it's totally and utterly important the only person who knows where I want to go is me and so it's really important to me that I am continually checking in with myself to make sure that I'm doing creatively what I want to do.
I think that there is always this romantic idea for any artist who thinks that they may get signed and that someone will come along and help you and tell you how it's done and it's just not true you have to be completely your own guide, of course you get help and you listen to certain people, in general creatively it's important to me to combine the art and the music because that's what I want to do.
And what can we expect from the album?
Well a lot of people who have heard it have explained that they think it's really filmic and I think that probably does explain it on many ways. It's quite variable it changes, there's a few different styles, I use Spanish guitar on some of the tracks, some of it's more groove based, and there are a few ballads in there and there are a few strings on it.
I suppose it's quite lush in some ways, I suppose that's why people have seen it as quite filmic, but it's quite open and very real sounding because it's all done live and it's very seventies sounding because we recorded it with a lot of seventies gear.
Is it true that you recorded it in just five days?
Well what happened was we only had five days to get the performances, five days to get ten tracks, so we basically managed to do that, although we missed one track on one and had to do three tracks the next day, we were under quite a lot of pressure because it was costing me so much in the studio but we did it so I was rally pleased because I was really nervous that we wouldn't be able to achieve that.
Once we had done that we went away for Christmas then we came back and spent more time just touching things up and finishing things off but we had the main bulk of it so I was really happy.
Why did you split from Sony?
Well our relationship had broken down because Sony had been taken over by BMG, SOny used to be its own company but they merged with BMG, but what actually happened was BMG took over Sony then BMG sacked everyone at Sony so I was left with BMG who I didn't have a relationship with.
We were struggling to both see the creative vision and in the end we put our head together and I said look I want to get out, but I had to wait for a while, they were very good to me and they treated me respectfully. But when I was free I knew I had a record ready to make I just had to wait to get out of my contract.
You are now in partnership with Charisma Records why did you decide to start working with them?
Because basically the significant reason is that I had put every penny I had got into it and you get to a point were it's so expensive you need to partnership with somebody to be able to market your record and get it out to the public.
They were also the most creative company that I had met they were very inline with the way in which I wanted to do it, they understood that I wanted to have complete creative control, they were the most supportive in the way that I was going.
So fundamentally what they do is we have the creative ideas and we instigate them and then they help support them and that is how our partnership works.
'Better' is the first single to be released from the new album why this particular song?
It just created its own momentum really, David Schwimmer had put it in his film Run, Fat Boy, Run, so that had happened and Johnny Walker from radio two had contacted me and asked me if I would if he started playing it so already it was on the radio so it just seemed like the obvious thing to do.
Everyone was loving it I think because it's a simple song with a universal theme I think it was just resonating with people emotionally.
It features in Run, Fat Boy, Run how did all that come about?
Well David Scwimmer had just got hold of the track, it was actually a live track that he got hold of, and he became a fan, and then he just came to gigs, and then put it in the film and told me about it so I went down and he was keen for me to see where I had put it in the film. I didn't know what the film was gong to be like and I was pleasantly surprised because it actually turned out to be a really good film, very funny as well.
And finally what's next for you?
I'm going to Argentina for Christmas so that will be nice and when I get back I'm doing Shepherd's Bush Empire on 1st January, which I'm really looking forward to.
Tom's new single Better is released 3rd December and Skybound is released 7th December.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw