By Ross Barnett
Tom McCartney is poised to release his debut EP entitled “Well Dressed Man” after a showcasing concert at Duffy’s Bar on Saturday night.
The Tom McCartney band took to the stage at 10pm after excellent performances from Blues and Jazz guitarist Tony Alles and garage rock ‘n roll supremos Hanzo.
Before the gig, 17-year-old Tom expressed his love for performing to live audiences.
He said: “I’m about to release an EP but for me it’s all about live music.
“I would encourage people to buy the EP but would rather them buy a ticket to a live show and repeat that process. You’ve got to experience the music live.”
This wasn’t his first live performance, having performed at Nottingham’s largest music festival, Splendour, last year aged just 16.
The EP had been in the pipeline since Tom picked up a guitar 10 years ago.
“I’ve thought about it ever since I’ve been playing,” he added, “but I’ve never really done it because I felt it was too early and wanted to have solid foundations before I released official EPs.”
Preferring to write about personal experiences, Tom revealed that not all of the songs in the EP were written recently.
He said: “All the songs are quite old, only the title track Well Dressed Man is fairly recent. Not Around Town is about not fitting in to the norm and being the outsider.
“I’ve been playing Hard Times A’ Comin since I was 14 and it has progressed so much,” Tom added. “A lot of songs don’t have much relevance two years on, but this song still means as much to me as when I wrote it.
“The Bottle Ain’t for me is fairly literal in its meaning and quite metaphorical. I tell people to interpret it as they wish. Listen to the song and it’s got all the answers to questions.”
Despite working on his A Levels and having a job, Tom has made huge strides forward in his musical career but remains firmly rooted to the ground.
He said: “I don’t have to be on the front page of the news or TV, I just want to play music for a living – there’s loads of people who do that and you’ll never have heard of them – that is the goal for me.
“I kind of just take each month as it comes really, I don’t have any major plans. Each month I like to progress slightly such as playing in front of more people, bigger shows, supporting bigger acts, headlining at bigger venues. Small steps to build a foundation which I can sustain,” he added.
Tom and his band will be playing at Rough Trade, Nottingham on Friday (Jan 28th) for the second part of the EP launch and will be supported by Lucille from Derby and local Americano Blues act, Ryan Farmer.
Well Dressed Man will be available to purchase from February 1st, 2017.
