American singer-songwriter and inventor Thomas Truax will play Newcastle on Feb 19th at Cobalt Studio including debuting songs from his fantastic new album, Dream Catching Songs. Damian Robinson caught up with Thomas to find out more.
Congratulations on the album, it’s great and has such a nice blend of humour and wit and melancholy throughout it. Was there any particular intent with the album?
Thank you, that’s very nice to hear and I’m glad you enjoyed it. There’s not so much intent as such, more the album was about trying to be a better songwriter. With each album I try to set the mark a little higher for myself which means that now, with my tenth album, the writing process seems to be a little tougher and I’m perhaps a deeper critic of myself. But I think that’s helpful when you’re creative. Aside from that there’s the mysterious and metaphysical elements of creating and wanting to make something that connects with people. Since I was teenager I’ve been trying to find out why I wanted to play rock and roll.
There’s some work with the well-known drummer Budgie on this album, did you set out to deliberately make a record with a ‘live’ drummer or was it a happy coincidence?
A little of both I think. I often use a self-made drum machine called Mother Superior when I’m working on drum parts, but for this record I was thinking about trying to make really deep human connections so I had the idea of live drums floating around. When I met up with Budgie, and I have to say I’m such a fan of Budgie’s work with Siouxsie and the Banshees and his other projects, it all seemed to fall into place. Budgie’s influence was considerable in helping make those connections.
Do you know how you’re going to tour the album yet?
I’m piecing it together now. Budgie won’t be on the tour so I’m working on what can be achieved with Mother Superior and trying to take the songs which can work live and bring them to life. Often I think it’s about trying to find the essence of a song and stripping it down in a live environment.
Your shows are such an interesting blend of performance, musicianship, humour and inventorship. That must be a hard combination to juggle when you’re playing live?
Thank you, it can be but I think all of it is a constant work in progress. I try new things each night to try and help the dynamic stay live and fresh, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t work as well. But from night to night I think it’s most important to treat each event like its own unique moment.
THOMAS TRUAX TEAMS UP WITH BUDGIE FOR NEW ALBUM:
‘DREAM CATCHING SONGS’
He plays NEWCASTLE Cobalt Studios on the 19th February