Tom Watson

Tom Walker says "sitting around in his underwear" would have been better than working on album

Kilsyth-born Tom, 32, revealed he put himself under unnecessary pressure to come up with a set of stadium bangers during the Covid 19 pandemic.

20 Sep 2024, 03:30 by John Dingwall, https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/authors/john-dingwall/ · Daily Record

Tom Walker binned his planned follow up to his No1 album What A Time To Be Alive and says he would have been better sitting around in his underwear playing computer games.

Kilsyth-born Tom, 32, claims he put himself under unnecessary pressure to come up with a set of stadium bangers during the Covid 19 pandemic.

During lockdowns The Leave A Light On singer retreated to his bedroom, occasionally speaking with other members of his group on Zoom, only to realise much later that he’d missed the mark with the new material.

Tom said: “During the pandemic it was tough for musicians. We toured for five years straight nonstop doing gigs and festivals and really exciting stuff like going to the Brit Awards.

“All of a sudden that just stopped and I was home for the first time and it felt like an eternity. I was not really sure what to do and what the next step was.

“Not being able to go and gig and have that buzz or be in the studio I tried to do everything at home and write an album in my bedroom with no collaborators other than the people that I work with on Zoom, which, in hindsight, was a complete waste of time.

“ I should have sat in my pants playing XBox.”

Five years after his debut, Tom is back with new album I Am, which he recorded in Los Angeles.

“It took me a while longer to write this one, I'll be honest,” Tom said. “One reason is I binned a whole album because I didn't think it was right.

“On my tour two years ago I played a bunch of new songs and it just didn't quite feel as though they were as good as they could be.

“So I did start again.”

Tom Watson has released his new album called I Am Image: Joe Magowan

He lucked out when he teamed up with producers The McDonough brothers, who have worked with the likes of US singer-songwriter Khalid, Thirty Seconds To Mars and John Legend.

He said: “On the Underplay tour I was thinking, what songs are going to fill these rooms and allow us to get to arenas and then hopefully stadiums and these big stages at festivals and what production do we need to allow that to happen?

“The ballads I'd written weren’t bad songs but I just thought they were lacking energy and they were lacking a bit of excitement.

“So getting the songs right and the production took me longer than I was expecting.

“I felt like I've been kind of messing up working with people who were not in the studio from dawn to dusk. It just didn't feel quite like it was clicking.

“Then I met the McDonough brothers about a year and a half ago and they were passionate about the projects.

“Their work ethic is crazy. It was like 11am until two in the morning every single day and at first I couldn't keep up with them but you get used to it.

“They also reinvigorated my passion for music because they were such great producers.

“They were just so hungry for it.

“They really reignited the kind of fire for making music and we got the album done so quickly once we were going. We were absolutely flying.”

Tom, who won the Brit Award for Best Breakthrough Artist in 2019, is performing in-store shows at Glasgow’s HMV tomorrow on Saturday, September 21, Edinburgh Assai @ Liquid Rooms on Sunday, September 22, and Dundee Assai @ Beat Generator on Monday, September 23.

He'll also headline a massive arena show at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro as part of his UK tour next month.

In November and December, he’ll continue his live dates as special guest to Irish rockers The Script on their sell-out British and European shows.

Tom said: “Between now and the middle of December, it's pretty much all gigs so I'm really excited. But it is a lot to take on.

“It’s probably the busiest I've been since the last album so I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm also slightly anxious because voices can be temperamental. Perhaps I should have been a drummer.”

He insists that despite having lost his accent and people questioning his heritage as a result that he is 100% Scottish.

"I’m Scottish,” Tom, who tied the knot with his partner for 10 years, Annie, last April, said. “My whole family are Scots and were born in Scotland, but I moved to Manchester when I was three and a half.

“Obviously I went to school in England and a lot of my friends are English.

“I’ve been in London since I was 19.

Tom Walker says "sitting around in his underwear" would have been better than working on album

Kilsyth-born Tom, 32, revealed he put himself under unnecessary pressure to come up with a set of stadium bangers during the Covid 19 pandemic.

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