In Conversation

 With

‘Tom’s Club’

 

April 2007

 

A little background:

People that know me know I love Brazilian bossanova

Music in particular Astrud Gilberto and of course her

Daughter, Bebel Gilberto with other classic stars like

Jobim to name but a few.

 

So of course whenever somebody contacts me through

Myspace.com and starts mentioning they are interested

In doing an interview, of course I am going to be interested

At least in listening to it.

 

In the case of the French Trio ‘Tom’s Club’, I was

Spellbound as this was a trio who not only shown a

Influence of Astrud Gilberto, but also gives a modern

Twist from the likes of Gainsbourg, Bardot, Bacharach

Etc.

 

Of course, when confronted with such lovely music as

This I of course would want to do a interview with them,

And this interview came together very, very quickly.

 

Please check out the band on their myspace.com page

And if you work in a record company – please sign them!

 

They can be found on and contacted on:

 

http://www.myspace.com/tomsclub

 

Thanks to Lisa for the interview…

 

Regards

 

Andy N x

 

 

Setting Sun:

How are things and what’s happening at the moment?

Tom’s Club:

We're fine at the moment because things are starting to move a

Little faster for us. We're in the 'free' music world, you know,

Creative Commons licence, that kind of thing. It's allowed us to

Encounter a lot of interesting people, and for example someone who

Wants to do an interview with me for a webradio. It also gives us

Ideas on how to search and get more exposure and attention.

 

Setting Sun:

Next can you tell us a little more about the history of

Tom's Club - i.e. what started you off etc?

Tom’s Club:

Christian (60, composer, guitarist) has loved bossa

Nova music for decades. Max (29, bass, keyboards, drums,

Sound engineering) has discovered this music in the late 90's.

And I (26, lyrics, singer) discovered it through Max about

5 years ago. From then on, we've been playing cover versions

Of our favourite bossa nova classics. We recorded our first

Compositions in 2006. Some of them were composed about

10 or 15 years ago by Christian, and I wrote the lyrics only

A couple a months ago! Others are much more recent.

 

Setting Sun:

Music wise, what are your influences and what are you

Listening to at the moment?

 

Tom’s Club:

We're big fans of original bossa nova music from the 60's,

Especially of Jobim, Marcos Valle and Baden Powell.

At the moment, Christian is into Maria Schneider and

He still listens to the good old classics very often, jazz or

bossa nova.

Max loves his bossa classics too, and his other influences are

Burt Bacharach, Deodato, François de Roubaix...

I like Astrud Gilberto. I like the French pop from the

60's, Gainsbourg, Birkin, Bardot, Karina...

Setting Sun:

 

Have really being grooving to a number of your tunes recently

(you have an excellent modern version of bossanova music

without doubt) including a nice mixture of both new and

old tunes. I notice also you are currently arranging concerts?

How have these being going, or if you haven't started –

how do you think they will compare to your more studio-based work?

 

Tom’s Club:

Yes, our recordings are carefully realized and represent

quite a number of hours of work on the part of Max.

For concerts, we tend to either simplify the arrangements,

or use a looper for the drums so that Max is free to play something else.

We're only 3 performers, and some songs require

guitar + bass + drums + voice + keyboards, etc. So we make

choices when rehearsing our set. Basically, Christian always

plays the guitar, and I always sing. So it's Max who must

choose between drums, bass, keyboards... to play each song live as best as we can.

 

Setting Sun:

 

So far I think my favourite two songs have being your two on

your myspace.com - 'Ladybird' and 'Rainy Sunday' - can you tell

us a little bit about these songs?

 

Tom’s Club:

'Ladybird' seems to be our "hit" so far. A lot of people who

like our music choose 'Ladybird' as their favourite. I can understand

why it is so, because I too like this song very much. The combination

of bass + drums is really good in this one, as it makes the whole

song very dynamic. Makes you wanna dance! The overall

impression is one of slightly psychedelic music, with this

kind of surreal effect on my voice.

Basically what makes our songs good are Christian's

guitar compositions. He's into complex harmonies, crazy

chords and good melodies. Very refined and expert guitarist!

And then Max works his magic on the whole thing, and

you get something we're proud of.

For 'Rainy Sunday' Christian had the music, and I had to write

lyrics to it. I started to write them one rainy and boring

afternoon. It wasn't on a Sunday, if I remember it well, but

'Sunday' was the notion I needed to choose to convey this

immediate impression of a slightly depressed feeling or

emotion, if you see what I mean.

 

Setting Sun:

What's next for yourself? Do you have any

more concerts planned etc?

 

Tom’s Club:

We'll play in a bar on June 21st for the Fête de la Musique.

But maybe I should talk about the French music scene now...

 

I know in the UK there are a lot of opportunities for musicians,

and a lot of places to play gigs. So it's natural for you to ask

us about our concerts projects

.
But here in France it's a bit more difficult I’m afraid, especially

for the non-professional musicians. We have good food and

wine, lol, but as far as music is concerned, well, we're not the

best nation in the world. In other words, music (as an activity)

is not as much a part of our cultural life as it is for you in England.

The consequence being that there are very few places to actually

play, especially when you're not in Paris.

So we're lucky enough to have been invited to play in this

bar on June 21st. There's another concert planned in

October too which we're most excited about because we'll play the

first part for a band called Modern TanzMusic

(they are a really cool band) which we do love.

 

Setting Sun:

What's the origin behind your name 'Tom's Club'

Out of interest also?

 

Tom’s Club:

Our great inspiration, the Brazilian composer

Antonio Carlos Jobim, was called Tom Jobim in the US.

 

So we're Tom's Club. Quite natural, isn't it ?

 

We'd first thought about 'Stone Flower' for our

name, after the name of an album of Jobim's, but we realized

that it would sound like something "rock" to most

people's ears, because of the Stone Roses, so we thought

about something else. And Max came up with the idea of

Tom's Club which we readily and happily adopted.

 

Setting Sun:

Anyway, a few lighter hearted questions to finish off with, firstly –

where are you all from? What's the music scene like where you are?

Have you seen any good concerts recently?

 

Tom’s Club:

We're from a rural area, in the west of France, between

Vendée and Deux-Sèvres, between Nantes and Poitiers if you like.

 

We're about 3 hours far from Paris (by TGV, though!).

About the music scene here, I’ve made my point already, but

I think I may have been too negative.

 

It's not that bad...

 

On the other hand, Max compares our situation as

musicians in France-minus-Paris to a Third World of music.

Quite a strong statement, I should say.

 

But he may be right...

 
We don't go to concerts very often. There's nothing going

on at the moment that convinces us to make the effort of getting

lost in a noisy crowd. And as far as concerts go, I prefer being

on stage anyway ;-)

But I remember seeing the band 'Gong Gong' in Angers last

summer, and they were brilliant!

Setting Sun:

 

What would be your dream job if you were not in 'Tom's Club'?

 

Tom’s Club:

Well, Tom's Club is not our job, for we don't earn a

living with our music. We don't sell anything, and

we've never been paid for a concert so far.

 

Oh... oh, yes, we've been once.

 

Anyway. Music is officially a kind of 'creative hobby'

for us. But we have hopes that maybe one day we can be

professional….. Very difficult.

Apart from music, my dream job is to do nothing but take

care of my hubby. I am only kidding! I'm a student of linguistics,

and plan to become a university professor. Max is a professional

musician, starts to earn a little with his other band.

 

And Christian is retired. He was a professional musician.

Setting Sun:

 

What would you like to be doing when you are 60?

 

Tom’s Club:

When I’m 60, I’d like to be still breathing fresh air, drinking

pure water, eating healthy food... if it's possible, that is.

 

Apart from that, I’d like to be a beautiful 60-year-old singer,

still inspiring musicians to write for her.

 

Setting Sun:

What will you be doing when you are 60?

 

Tom’s Club:

Well, who knows? I may be a beautiful 60-year-old

singer still inspiring musicians to write for her. Or I

may be writing very complicated books on "gestures,

intonation and pragmatics in verbal interaction"

Or something like that...