Interview with Tommy
(From Tommy in the Attic)
with David Berube.
David Berube; What are your musical influences?
Tommy: Queen, Marillion, Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Styx, The Phantom of the Opera (Broadway)
David Berube; How do you compose, do you write the music or the lyrics first?
Tommy;
Today's tools for writing music have become very efficient so much that it's faster for me now to write the music then it is to write the lyrics. My guess is there's tools out there to write lyrics. But I don't use any . I don't like my lyrics to be influenced by any of these dictionaries are or synonyms or things like that. I tried a few times to go on online for synonym database but most of the time I wouldn't find what I was looking for and I would come up with the words that I was really looking forward and they weren't in there anyway.
Sometimes I hear music in a dream. I can hear the whole band every instrument the melody the words and the feeling. So I get out and I record my idea half asleep on an MP3 recorder and go back to sleep. So the next day, I can recall the feeling in the melody, and Find some chords to go with it.
I started playing guitar pretty late actually, around 19 years old. For me music is always been a way to express myself. When I bought my first guitar, it was really because I had something to say. I remember writing so many songs with the same chords, hahaha! It didn't matter much what mattered then was the message, what I wanted to say.
David Berube; What is your musical background?
Tommy; School drop out, played music, went back to school to get a paying job cause music didn’t pay, got a paying job and finally went back to music to live!
I did go to College to study Classical Signing, one session! It was funny, the leather jacket, long hair the boots, hand on the piano and Tenor the notes up there in a classical voice!
I think I was singing more when I was not going to school, there's so much theory that I got board. Besides, I never really liked borders, structures and limitations. I think it characterize my compositions on many levels in Tommy in the Attic, you can see that many songs are over 6 to 8 minutes long sometimes with many different variations within the same song.
I never really played cover songs, I figured I want to keep my time and energy that I dedicate to music on my own compositions. I felt it was a waist of time to do other people’s stuff, I’m an original guy, period.
David Berube; How did this idea of ‘Tommy in the Attic’ came about?
Tommy; Mix of Broadway and Rock, I call it ‘Broadway Rock’.
I wanted to step out of the very long and endless process of getting a Musical out there, so bringing it on stage as a type of Rock Opera or Shock Rock. But I also wanted to make it different, make a mark. So By creating the story line like a musical and keeping the Rock edge on it would bring it to a Rock Opera level, then I wanted to step out of the conventional arrangements and make some song specifically non commercial, in the sens that they are not conformed to the standard ‘Radio’ structure and time. I also wanted to let go freely and wild on the musical arrangements, with even classical instruments not only in a an arrangement setting but also sometimes as a dominant part of the composition. That in turn created what I call ‘Broadway Rock’.
I think the world is ready to hear original music that steps out of the daily music feed they are fed, we long for something new, un-commercial or stacked up to fit the grid of society.
David Berube; I know your always full of projects of many kinds, any up coming ones?
Tommy; Right now the main goal is this show, Tommy in the Attic. It’s taking most of my time as we are mixing the album and coming out with a EP in January.
It's set in an imaginary world, wear a mad scientist Controls the people of the city. Where everyone sleeps in their daily lives until someone comes to wake them up to a new reality. All this in a modern classic Theatrical Rock formula and hopefuly one day, with multimedia projection mapping with interactions!
David Berube; Multimedia projection mapping with interactions?
Tommy; Yes, the kind you see on the buildings at night in Festivals around the city. But this time, it could be a part of the creation process of the story so it’s really integrated deeply in the atmosphere of the story line. I don't have access to the thecnology yet, but I am hoping to get it in the show.
Also, I want everyone to dress up and come to the show, the crowd will be invited to interact in the show on many occasions! If I would have my way, I would create specific apps for this show, but I’m not there yet! I’ve got to stick to the technology available for now!
Keep an eye out for the up coming EP in January, ‘Tommy in the Attic’!
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