Tom Abbott Interview
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist?
A: Well, I’ve always liked music. Between the ages of 5 to 10 I tried a bunch of different instruments from saxophone to drums to piano. Nothing really clicked until I bought an electric guitar. From there I knew that playing guitar was all I wanted to do.
I started a band with some friends in middle school called Koala! We played out in a lot of places in the Providence/Boston area, but as time went on our musical goals started to drift away from each other. As the band began to disperse I started going to open mics and playing songs on my acoustic. That’s where I really learned how much I loved playing my own original music, and I started focusing primarily on songwriting.
At first I was nervous to tell my parents I didn’t want to go to college and pursue music instead, but then they reminded me that there are music colleges. I was able to get into New England Conservatory in Boston, where I met up with a bunch of teachers and fellow students that helped me hone my skills, especially as a songwriter.
Q: I was reading about some of your influences like Neutral Milk Hotel? What influences your music besides music?
A: Yeah, I love NMH! Another really big influence on me is The Beatles. They were the first band that I really fell in love with, and I think there’s a little bit of their sound in pretty much everything I do.
As for non-musical influences, I find tv shows, movies and other story-telling mediums to be a great source of inspiration. I love taking themes and ideas from other art forms and translating them into what I do. I’m also a practicing Christian, and I like using that as inspiration without crossing over to the squeaky-clean world of Christian rock.
Q: What was your recording process like for In The Dust?
A: My process for this album was a lot like my last album Puppet Boy. It was done in the same studio, Dimension Sound Studios, in Jamaica Plain, (a neighborhood in Boston) and the same engineer, Joe Stewart, and pretty much all the musicians that played last time came back. However, In The Dust has way more instruments than the last album. It has accordions, pianos, horns, and even a string quartet. I think I learned a lot about the recording and production side of music with my last album, and those lessons have let me expand so much on my music and instrumentation.
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist?
A: Well, I’ve always liked music. Between the ages of 5 to 10 I tried a bunch of different instruments from saxophone to drums to piano. Nothing really clicked until I bought an electric guitar. From there I knew that playing guitar was all I wanted to do.
I started a band with some friends in middle school called Koala! We played out in a lot of places in the Providence/Boston area, but as time went on our musical goals started to drift away from each other. As the band began to disperse I started going to open mics and playing songs on my acoustic. That’s where I really learned how much I loved playing my own original music, and I started focusing primarily on songwriting.
At first I was nervous to tell my parents I didn’t want to go to college and pursue music instead, but then they reminded me that there are music colleges. I was able to get into New England Conservatory in Boston, where I met up with a bunch of teachers and fellow students that helped me hone my skills, especially as a songwriter.
Q: I was reading about some of your influences like Neutral Milk Hotel? What influences your music besides music?
A: Yeah, I love NMH! Another really big influence on me is The Beatles. They were the first band that I really fell in love with, and I think there’s a little bit of their sound in pretty much everything I do.
As for non-musical influences, I find tv shows, movies and other story-telling mediums to be a great source of inspiration. I love taking themes and ideas from other art forms and translating them into what I do. I’m also a practicing Christian, and I like using that as inspiration without crossing over to the squeaky-clean world of Christian rock.
Q: What was your recording process like for In The Dust?
A: My process for this album was a lot like my last album Puppet Boy. It was done in the same studio, Dimension Sound Studios, in Jamaica Plain, (a neighborhood in Boston) and the same engineer, Joe Stewart, and pretty much all the musicians that played last time came back. However, In The Dust has way more instruments than the last album. It has accordions, pianos, horns, and even a string quartet. I think I learned a lot about the recording and production side of music with my last album, and those lessons have let me expand so much on my music and instrumentation.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: I always start with chords and guitar parts. Then, I think about an idea or theme that I want to write about, and then maybe six months later I'll get around to actually writing lyrics. The lyrics are definitely the hardest part for me. I'm constantly writing words down, then erasing them, then writing something else down, then erasing that, so on and so forth. It's really hard for me to express exactly what I want to say through words alone, which is why I think writing the music is much easier and faster for me.
Q: What are some themes that are touched upon your release In The Dust?
A: Most of the songs on In The Dust were written during the pandemic, which just happened to be right when I graduated from college. So naturally, feelings of isolation and confusion come up a lot throughout the album. But I was also sure to add some more uplifting messages into the album like in "Armageddon" and "Full Of It" so that I wouldn't completely depress the people listening, and to keep my own spirits up as well.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: I played a lot of virtual shows during the beginning of 2021, but since about summer I've been playing live acoustic shows again. We were also able to have a full band album release show which was such a great time! I do want to get back to streaming shows eventually though, because I honestly had a lot of fun doing it. Playing on stream is a very different vibe from playing a normal show, because the audience can write in the chat and speak to you more directly than ever, even though they aren't there physically.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: Well, I'm already close to being done writing the next album, which is going to be a LOT bigger than this one, so definitely be on the lookout for that. I'm always looking to make the next song I write better than the last, so if you checked out In The Dust and enjoyed it, be sure to stay tuned for the next one, because it's only up from here!
Thanks for the questions, and thanks for the great review too!
A: I always start with chords and guitar parts. Then, I think about an idea or theme that I want to write about, and then maybe six months later I'll get around to actually writing lyrics. The lyrics are definitely the hardest part for me. I'm constantly writing words down, then erasing them, then writing something else down, then erasing that, so on and so forth. It's really hard for me to express exactly what I want to say through words alone, which is why I think writing the music is much easier and faster for me.
Q: What are some themes that are touched upon your release In The Dust?
A: Most of the songs on In The Dust were written during the pandemic, which just happened to be right when I graduated from college. So naturally, feelings of isolation and confusion come up a lot throughout the album. But I was also sure to add some more uplifting messages into the album like in "Armageddon" and "Full Of It" so that I wouldn't completely depress the people listening, and to keep my own spirits up as well.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: I played a lot of virtual shows during the beginning of 2021, but since about summer I've been playing live acoustic shows again. We were also able to have a full band album release show which was such a great time! I do want to get back to streaming shows eventually though, because I honestly had a lot of fun doing it. Playing on stream is a very different vibe from playing a normal show, because the audience can write in the chat and speak to you more directly than ever, even though they aren't there physically.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: Well, I'm already close to being done writing the next album, which is going to be a LOT bigger than this one, so definitely be on the lookout for that. I'm always looking to make the next song I write better than the last, so if you checked out In The Dust and enjoyed it, be sure to stay tuned for the next one, because it's only up from here!
Thanks for the questions, and thanks for the great review too!