Shoreham-based musician Tom Walker is looking forward to offering the debut headline gig from his new line-up TJ Walker Band at the Brunswick in Hove on July 25.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to
00:06speak to Tom Walker, who performs as TJ Walker from Shoreham. Now, no prizes for guessing
00:12what Tom does for a living, given that wonderful background. Tom, you've got the debut with
00:17the TJ Walker Band coming up at Ithove at Brunswick on July 25th, haven't you?
00:24Yes, that's right.
00:25And tell me the significance, the first gig with the new band. What's the significance
00:30of the new band?
00:32I mean, it's a new band in terms of us now being a four-piece band. We've been kind of
00:37playing together, not doing a headline gig like this, but there's the three of us. There's
00:43been myself, Mike Drinkwater on keys, who was also playing left-hand bass. So he's kind
00:47of doing two or three things at once. Ralph Millington on drums. But now we've added Beau
00:53Barnard on bass to make it a four-piece band. And this is kind of the first headline gig,
01:01I guess you could call it, that we're doing. I've hired the venue and I'm going to be promoting
01:05the gig myself.
01:06And as a musician, you've done lots of solo slots, because solo slots are easier, aren't
01:11they? They're more transportable, it's more practical. But as a musician, it's the band
01:16that you're really after, isn't it?
01:18I really enjoy playing with the band. I mean, I do do quite a lot of solo gigs and I've
01:25kind of refined my solo act. And I use a loop pedal very much like Ed Sheeran does, although
01:32he seems to play at slightly larger venues than me from doing it, but yeah, I'm working
01:40on it. You know, it's moving in the right direction, hopefully. But yeah, I'm basically...
01:47But the beauty of the band is it's what I really enjoy about music. It's the interaction
01:51with other musicians. You play off each other and it can make for a different night every
01:56time you play in it. You know, a unique experience on each show. And so that's what I really
02:01enjoy about music.
02:02And the last album was two years ago. You're hoping for the next album early next year.
02:06Just tell me about the kind of music you're saying. It's blues, Americana.
02:10Yeah, it's kind of... It's guitar based and it kind of... When you're writing, it's often
02:18you're influenced by what you're listening to at the time. So, you know, you go through
02:21different phases. There's a guitar here, a Van Halen guitar there, which I very much
02:28got back into Van Halen again recently. So there might be a slightly rockier edge, but
02:32it won't ever go heavy rock. But, you know, I have a lot of country influences, Americana
02:38influences and blues. It's the kind of stuff I grew up listening to. And it's just what
02:42comes out when I play and write, really.
02:44Fantastic. So it's July the 25th at the Brunswick in Hove. And where do people get tickets?
02:50From my website, actually. I've got all the links on the homepage of my website, which
02:54is www.imtjwalker.com.
02:55Fantastic. Really lovely to speak to you, Tom. Good luck with that.
03:00And you.
03:01Thank you.
03:02Thank you.