Diandra Interviews Tom Walker: Staying Humble To Stay Connected
Incredibly charming is an understatement for Tom Walker. He is a walking heart on a sleeve, which makes people gravitate to him as a person and artist. Frankly, for him, there is no difference between the two. He is always Tom; the guy that loves his mates, calls his grandma when he needs some positivity, is in love with his fiancé, and is both nervous and excited by his rising fame. Debuting this month with one of the best debuts of the year, What A Time To Be Alive feels like the recorded recollection of someone closing a chapter in their life. Ib sure interview we discuss how his highs and lows were all steps to where he is now: an Epic artist touring the world.
Diandra: What do you feel your debut will say about you in terms of love?
Tom: There are a lot of songs about past and present relationships. There’s a song I wrote called “Fade Away,” and I wrote it when I was 19. I was going out with this girl from like 14 to 19, and it was the most abrupt, heartbreaking end. I moved to London, and we got so sad and mean towards each other. There is also the new one, “Just You And I.” I wrote that three years ago about my now fiancé, and we were doing long distance and I would have to drive three hours to see her. So there is a bit of everything when it comes to love.
Tom Walker – Leave a Light On (Official Video)Diandra: With your father being such a heavy music influence, what is his favorite aspect about your music style and debut?
Tom: He introduced me to so much music. We went to see BB King and John Mayer. He took me to see Slipknot because HE wanted to go. He introduced me to so many genres, and that can be seen in the album. His favorite track is “The Show,” which I wrote one night when I went out in London, and the queue was so long. We waited like 45 minutes, and I told my mates, “I’m not doing this.” So I left, and just walked around London with my headphones, and wrote the song in pieces.
Diandra: Did he let you mosh?
Tom: He was discovering what a mosh pit was in real time. I was like 15 so he was trying to protect me, and he was like, “This is what they do. They run into each other. It’s crazy!”
Diandra: What have been the biggest lessons you have learned through touring?
Tom: The one thing I have learned is that you could be a really big deal somewhere, and then go to another city and be nothing. You are always somewhere working from the ground up, and you need to be a humble person to deal with that. It took me like two years to really get something good going in England, and then I went to Mexico and no one heard of me. (he laughs). But it’s really cool and life- affirming to have a journey you need to take in each place. Mexico was really cool because it was another world for me. I had been throughout Europe, but Mexico was different in culture and skylines.
Diandra: So it must be easy to be humble?
Tom: Oh yeah, you get to see so much, and if you are not humbled by it then I just think it means you are a bad person. (he laughs)
Tom Walker – Just You and I (Official Video)Diandra: From your charity work to your music, you enjoy helping people and have made it a purpose. Whom in your life is who you turn to when you need help and advice?
Tom: My gran whom is 81 years old has been through everything. She has survived cancer and had her man walk out on her, in the middle of the night, leaving her to raise three kids. I can’t really recall anything specific, but she is just so positive. She remembers everybody’s birthday, down to the cousin fourth removed, and sends them a card. For someone who has been through so much, and to still be so kind and humble, she is an inspiration to me. She’s just a legend. We have been doing press in Scotland, because the Scottish press loves her, and it has been hilarious. She loves it.
Diandra: You should bring her to New York!
Tom: She has been here like three times. She is a world traveler; she doesn’t mess around. (He laughs).
Diandra: You are such a humble guy. What do you think about fame and being associated with it?
Tom: It’s really interesting. I haven’t really experienced it. In Italy, we went to San Remo Festival, and we had like 50 people follow me to a restaurant, and they were all watching me through the window while I ate. For me, so far, it has been quite chill. Some person might recognize me, but they are always cool. Ask for a picture. I take it. I’m super chill about that. It scares me a bit to be like Ed Sheeran. He is so globally huge. He can’t go to a bar.
Diandra: Do yo think you will be as famous as him?
Tom: I think in some aspects. I think he is a special case. He is so big.
Diandra: Love Island was major in putting your discography into new homes. If you could create a reality show, what would it be?
Tom: I love Love Island, but everybody is too perfect and beautiful in it. Get some bloody normal people from all walks of life to do a love show. Like get somebody who works at a zoo and like twenty other people. Like a regular show for regular people.
Tom Walker – Angels (Official Video)Diandra: How do you feel your failures and your triumphs have impacted your writing process?
Tom: When I started writing songs, I was writing them in my bedroom because songwriting is my therapy. And I’m still doing that now, but my whole life has changed. I think touring and traveling so much makes it hard to write about the everyday things that really connect people, and that is what I do best with my songs. I like to make the mundane feel special like, “Blessings” I wrote about being with my mates, drinking beers, and having a laugh at home. To others, it may not seem special, but to me it meant the world. I worry that I will lose that connection because this is such a crazy lifestyle.
Diandra: Well, there will always be an apartment with beer. So I do not think you should worry about that.
Tom: (He laughs) Yeah, I mean I brought my friends to The Brits, and we partied for two days: just laughing and drinking at my flat. Nothing is going to change with my mates.
Diandra: Well, if music is a therapy for you, how do you think you have grown?
Tom: I think I got wiser. I got older. I have written a few songs about having a fiancé and I felt very adult. (he laughs) I love getting older. I think people hate it, but I think its wicked. I really feel like in each step I feel more responsible for my life and my choices. So I like that.
Tom Walker – My Way (Official Video)Diandra: If you could describe what you were feeling or give a backstory for each song you wrote for your debut, what would it be. For example, Leave A Light On is Compassion. So let’s begin.
Tom:
Blessings- Very blessed. I had no money and I was as poor as anything. I didn’t even have money to get to the studio session to write the song so I had to walk miles to get there, and I still felt blessed. I had great mates.
Cry Out- Sadness and despair. It was a tragedy that I don’t really talk about or want to talk about because it happened to my family, and we really thought we had lost someone we cared about. Thankfully, it worked out, but it was the worst. It’s the one thing in the album I will never tell anyone what happened.
Fade Away- 19. I was so sad and irrationally upset like, I felt like it was the end of the world. Just “F**K!”
Angels- I was having a bit of a complex with that one because I was getting annoyed with society for worshipping celebrities when they don’t give back. Like what have the Kardashians given you. You have firefighters, social workers, policemen, EMT’s! So I wanted to do a song that thanked the people who give back to people.
Not Giving In- Sadness. I used to live by Finsbury park in London, and there is a bridge. There was a woman that was homeless that lived there, and I saw her all the time. One day we shared a smoke and a conversation, and then one day I never saw her again. I used to think, “What would have happened had I extended a hand? Would she be in a better situation or would she be in the same?” It bothers me that I will never know. I felt like I should have done more. You can never really do enough.
Just You And I– Being really in love like never before.
Dominoes- F**K Everything that is happening in the world like, Brexit. It’s like f**k everyone that is making this world harder for everyone else.
Walk Alone- hopeful. Showing up at the right time even if broken down.
My Way- I love Post Malone. I love the bass and the beats are so sick. At the time, I had a lot of people trying to influence my music, and this is my song saying, “I will do what I want with MY MUSIC!” You don’t tell anyone what to do with their music even if you think it’s unconventional. Also, you cannot influence people sometimes. They have to see the results.
Tom Walker – Blessings (Official Video)How Can You Sleep At Night- This is love and “I’m Sorry.” I was living with 8 people, and I was in the studio in the basement, and my fiancé was like, “We need to grow up and move out.” And I was so mean, and I made her cry, which I NEVER do. So, it’s like me telling myself “Stop being a d**k.”
Now You’re Gone- That is back to my teenage relationship that scorned me. It’s just that age of feeling things so intensely. It’s one of those relationships where you know you should not go back, but you cannot stop.
Diandra: What is one lyric that you have written that most describes your relationship with your fiancé?
Tom: It’s the pre-chorus to Just You And I. It goes “I know I can tell you anything. You won’t judge/ You’re just listening.” I think that’s the truth for a lot of couples.
