Interview: Drew Thomas
Interview by Georgia Phillips
It’s a hot summer’s day in the UK and you’d expect Nottingham artist Drew Thomas to be basking in the lovely weather. Instead, he sat down with Tongue Tied Magazine to discuss his career and future plans in advance of his newest release “All My Friends,” out now.
“As a songwriter I constantly write songs about my life and the way I feel, it’s kind of cathartic for how my brain works. I think “All My Friends” sums up being in your twenties and seeing all your friends are doing things and moving on with their lives in a way your not. It started off being quite an angsty song, but I changed that and pulled it back a bit. It’s become this song that’s special in my life, it’s become sort of an anthem. It is probably one of my favourite songs I’ve ever recorded, so I’m very excited to release it.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
When writing lyrics, many musicians and artists use their own personal experiences and pour their thoughts and feelings into the music they are releasing into the world. It’s quite often that fans will find they resonate with the songs they listen to as they are able to match up lyrics with their own experiences, something Drew thinks happens for his music often.
“A lot of my songs I feel lyrically are quite personal. When I’ve gone to the studio to record and then played them live, I feel that although people know the words and relate with them in their own way, the message is quite abstract. This song, however, every single person in their twenties can relate with. I always hope people connect with them.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
When asked on some of his main influences, Drew mentioned a variety of artists, “With a lot of my music, especially my latest work, I’d say bands like The Killers where the guitars are just so soaring. There’s also bands like The Hives with big chords and pop artists like Alexander23 that inspire me lyrically. The artists I listen to at the minute are quite blunt and quite obvious. Even bands I grew up with, like Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, all those kinds of bands stick in my head when writing songs.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
With lyrics that hit so close to home, I was curious to see if Drew had a favourite lyric from “All My Friends.” Thomas admitted his favourite lyrics allowed him to say truly whatever he wanted with “Going out on a weeknight/ Stay up till the sunlight/ I don’t want to admit/ I’m just waiting for my next hit.”
Drew is certainly no stranger to the stage, as so far he already has one tour under his belt and has recently announced another set of tours in September consisting of London, Nottingham, and Newcastle. When tours came up, Drew was excited at the prospect of being able to play for his fans again.
“When I did my first headline shows in February in London and Nottingham, I didn’t really expect anyone to come as I am an unsigned artist. It’s hard to get people down to shows, especially in London where there are gigs every night and everyone always has plans. I played in London and everyone sang along - it was great. I thought ‘I need to do this again, I need to show everyone that the Drew Thomas show is very important.’ I’m very excited to play London again, and Nottingham is my home town so it’s pretty much always a great show. I’m playing Newcastle because I had a load of people randomly messaging me saying to come and play Newcastle, so I added that date between London and Nottingham.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
Delving deeper into Drew’s tours, I was curious about any pre-show rituals he may have to prepare himself.
“I used to do press ups before I used to go on stage. It was healthy, but I used to do it so close to going on stage I’d be out of breath. One thing I do now is I have a band and they play a lot of shows with me. We blast out some easy harmonies backstage and bring loads of honey and lemon as I go on the stage with a beer. It seems to be the same thing every show now which I love.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
In the music industry today, it isn’t uncommon for upcoming artists to work independently. Independence often allows artists to have a complete free reign on their music, pushing their career in any direction they want. While there are the positive sides, there are also unfortunately the negatives that Drew acknowledges.
“I’d say being unsigned is tough, but it also has its perks and benefits. For me, I’ve been doing music for over half my life. It feels like a ridiculous amount of time, but I think you can make all your own decisions being unsigned, it’s quite exciting but it’s also difficult when someone comes knocking at your door to answer. I used to really get hung up on record labels and booking agents being interested in me, but everyone’s on their own journey. I’ve grown as a songwriter and I do a lot of writing for other artists now and I still love it and wouldn’t change it.” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
Drew has already come so far in his career and he continues to go upwards, so I was really interested to find out what his proudest achievement has been thus far.
“I’d actually say it’s going back to the live shows. My biggest achievement was playing a song called “Soho.” It was one of the first songs I put out as a solo artist. I didn’t know how it would go down, but the whole crowd was singing. These are songs you write in your bedroom, go into the studio and think I’m happy with that and release it, but then you're like oh it’s gone now, and you never hear from it again. You let it into the world, it’s kind of like a child. When I played “Soho” in February and everyone knew the words of something I’d released a while ago, I was like 'this is the reason I’m an artist.’” - Drew Thomas, for Tongue Tied Magazine
It was a great chat with Drew Thomas, and we would like to thank him here at Tongue Tied for taking the time out to sit down. Make sure to follow Drew on the following social media platforms - Spotify // Instagram
