| A sandwich with Mr. TOMMY ILL... |
| Written by Michael McClelland |
| Monday, 13 September 2010 17:40 |
 TOMMY ILL is putting out his debut LP – a stylistic free-for-all of obscure samples, self-deprecation and offbeat humour. Above all, the hooks are catchy and the lyrics are impossibly memorable. If you’re into any of these things*, you’d better go out and get yourself a copy. Thanks to LOOP recordings, I was able to sit down with Tommy Ill (real name Tom Young) to shoot some pressing questions his way in between awkward bites of an inappropriately large sandwich. Despite his humbly reserved demeanour, the man (and part-time rapper) had a lot to say. If you have a listen to his upcoming debut self-titled eponymous <insert adjective here> album, you’ll get a taste of what I mean – but with rhymes. For now, check out the interview. *you are CDM: There’s a lot of sampling going on in your music – do you have to worry about copyright? TOMMY ILL: Basically I try to avoid copyright because with the first EP I put out through LOOP, we had to go back and remake every song because the samples couldn’t be cleared. We try to use Creative Commons things or things that are out of copyright - things that have only had 500 pressings, on like a 45 record in 1968. Things that are obscure enough that no-one will get upset about us using. CDM: How are your friends liking the album? TOMMY: Pretty much my core group of friends have all worked on the album in some way or another, whether it be making a video, making the album artwork, taking photographs... things like that. Most of my friends have had some role in it so they’ve all heard it as it’s developed. Even for the ones that haven’t actually been directly involved, I’ve been playing them rough versions over the last couple of months and saying: ‘What do you think I should do with this song? Should I change this? Should I change that?’ So I think they all sort of feel like they’re a part of it as well. Which is really cool – I wouldn’t have it any other way, because if my friends don’t like it then I’m not really gonna like it either.  CDM: What are the roles of each member of your band? Who produces and records the music? Is it just you in the studio or do you have a producer? TOMMY: There’s Buck and Kelvin (Buck and Shorty K), who when we’re on stage are both my hype-men. So they do my backing vocals and jump around and fight each other... they try to be exciting. And they help me out when I lose my voice. Brian is the DJ for our tour. He’s going to do visualizations and stuff as well, so he’s got a projector that he’s going to show, and be playing the backing tracks and things like that. In the studio, Buck and Shorty K both help make the beats. We don’t really make a beat each – we work on the whole song together. So I’ll find a sample and loop it, and then Kelvin will take it and put some drums on it, and Buck will come and add all sorts of layers to it. It’s really a collaborative sort of thing. CDM: What kind of hip-hop do you listen to? TOMMY: Not much at the moment... not that I’m against any sort of hip-hop. I’ve been listening to Das Racist - they’re from Brooklyn and they’re really good. You can get their mixtape for free on the Internet... but that’s the only rap music I’ve really listened to in the last few months. But I’m always into Wu Tang, I’m always into the Beastie Boys. I grew up on A Tribe Called Quest. I know pretty much all the words to Wu Tang Clan’s '36 Chambers'. CDM: You’ve included some EP songs on the album - why the decision to reuse old material? TOMMY: Basically because I always saw EPs as precursors to an album. They were all sort of intended to be albums at some point, but through complications and through some things not being as good as I’d like them to be, there hasn’t been an album until now. But of the songs I included on the album, there are three off 'Come Home Mr. Ill' and there’s a new version of 'Matchsticks' (with Grayson Gilmour playing piano). They’re really songs I want to do justice and just do better versions of them. These are the definitive versions of these songs, just better quality. And I was sort of thinking of them as an introduction to my music for a lot of people who haven’t heard my EPs. So I thought, well, these are some of my stronger songs so I’ll have them on the album. CDM: Do you think you have a shot at international distribution and tours? TOMMY: I’d like to think so. We’ll have to see what the future holds, really. At this point, I’m just focusing on New Zealand and maybe Australia. I’d like to go to Japan. CDM: How long have you been with LOOP recordings for? TOMMY: I’ve done 2 EPs with them and an album. First EP I did with them was in 2008, so I’ve been with them since then.  CDM: Are you up to date with a lot of new stuff coming out of Wellington? TOMMY: The bands you see playing at places like Mighty Mighty, like Tiddabades and 47 Diamantes – we’re all kind of buddies in Wellington because it’s just a small town and you can’t really avoid hearing new stuff. CDM: What’s your favourite? TOMMY: I really like 47 Diamantes, but maybe I’m sort of biased because Kelvin’s helping my music. They’re just getting better and better. James Goldsmith who helped record my CD is recording their stuff as well, and I’ve had a sneak peek at their EP and it just sounds so much bigger and better than their stuff which is on the Internet right now. CDM: You’re playing an All Ages show in Auckland as part of your tour – do you do these often? TOMMY: I’d like to, but it’s a lot harder than R-18 shows. In Christchurch we’ve done All Ages shows, but in Wellington there’s almost nowhere to do them. There are places that we can do it, but underage kids just don’t go to shows in Wellington. We’ve done one before in Auckland that wasn’t the best we’ve done <laughs> - but this one’s going to be great. CDM: Do you find yourself getting pigeonholed a lot? TOMMY: Kind of. It’s a hard sort of genre of music to fit into any sort of category, I think. Sage Francis is playing in Wellington in a couple of weeks I think, and I would be stoked to open, and I think I would be perfect to open... but I can see them sort of choosing a more staunch rap act, even though it’s not that sort of rap music that they’d be opening for. There’s not enough of an alt-rap scene. |
