Going the Distance with Tommy Alexander

Tommy Alexander is one of our favorite discoveries for 2018. The artist who recently revealed his new track “Son of a Carpenter,” quickly proves himself as both a songwriter and musician. His honest and heartfelt lyricism come to life in his songs which will strike a chord with you the very first listen. We had the chance to catch up with Tommy Alexander to dive deep into his music; past, present and future.    

– You have a new single out…what was the driving inspiration behind the release?  

It’s been over two years since my last release and I am not quite sure where all that time went. My band and I have been touring that record (Old News LP, 2016)  non stop the past two years and we hit a point now where we have about three albums worth of new material. You’re going to start seeing a steady stream of releases over the next 12 months. That’s a promise.  

-When forming a song, what steps do you take to create your vision? 

Typically how long does it take you to build a song from start to finish? 

Hmmm.. That’s a good question. Generally, I start with an acoustic guitar and a hand held recording device. Most of my songs start with a freestyle approach and then they get whittled down into a more thoughtful or maybe thought out finished tune. I like to get new songs into show environments right away to get a feel for what seems natural and what feels more forced. When the song eventually flows from beginning to end, that’s really nice. At that point it’s often hard to remember exactly where the song came from and how it has reached that completed state.   

– When first creating your music, how did you decide on and form your sound?  

I don’t know if I can really remember a specific decision I made. The way I played was the only way I really knew how and it still kind of is Haha. It felt good to play folk songs and sing my own words over them. I used to go full force all the time, pounding the guitar, breaking strings everyday, and singing my heart out (and my voice). I had a lot of emotion to get off my back for sure. I still like to get ‘intense’ or loud but now I have a slightly different way of feeling the music out and have become more interested in dynamics and making space in the music. Luckily for me now this process has become more a group effort with my band. I bring a kind of skeletal version of the song and together we fill it up. It works well with this group because we all like and listen to a variety of different sounding music. This way each song get to have unique feel and that help keep us all having a lot of fun.   

– When did music profoundly start to have an influence on your life?  

At a young age I idolized Michael Jackson very much, still do! But yeah, there was a lot of music that got to me young and it allowed me access to feelings I hadn’t felt before.I found comfort and routine in my radio. I had my stations, my songs, the shows I listened to every night.   

– What sparks your songwriting creativity? Is it more of a storytelling aspect or a personal aspect? 

I think it comes from whatever I’m taking in in my everyday life, and when I go to write a new tune I try and let that everyday come out of me. Because my writing process isn’t very based on premeditation its hard to really pinpoint initially where the song is coming from. I usually look back once the song is done and try to come to some small conclusion about its origin.  

– With a new single in tow, what other surprises do we have before the end of the year? 

I think so! I’m releasing a new song in December, January and February and then a full-length album in Spring of ’19. So, lots of new music and shows coming to you in the 12 months with some exciting things in the works that I am not quite at liberty to talk about quite yet.     

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