By Keith Walsh
With his band The Tomicks, singer/songwriter and entrepreneur Tom Cridland just released the outstanding ten track set, Tomicks IV. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As a podcaster, Cridland recently interviewed music industry legends Clive Davis and Davey Johnstone ( guitarist of the Elton John Band) and is set to embark on a 130-plus show tour of the U.S. with his Elton John Tribute, The Rocket Man Experience.
It’s all in a day’s work for Cridland, who launched his eponymous fashion brand in 2016, an endeavor that led to him to become friends with his inspiration drummer Nigel Olsson, alum of the Elton John band, launch The Tomicks with keyboardist Nick Whitehead, and record more than 100 songs as a solo artist. Cridland recently released his memoir Million Dollar Addict. With creds such as these, you might think Cridland has lots to say about the music business in general – and you’d be right.
Take the new Beatles single “Now And Then,” for example. I asked Cridland, who’s found inspiration in the fab four since childhood, for his opinion – is it a hit, or a miss?
Tom Cridland: It was a hit. Because it included John Lennon’s demo, and you know the vocal, it wasn’t like an A.I. generated vocal. It was just the vocal from the demo. So from that perspective, it was a hit and I’m a big Beatles fan. There was a brilliant thing that Liam Gallagher from Oasis said about this all — which is I’m not really sure what it means but it sums up what I think, which is ‘The Beatles could sh%t in my handbag and I’d still keep my Polo mints in there.’
Popular Culture Beat: I don’t like that aspect of rock and roll, the hagiography — making saints of people.
Tom Cridland: Oh, yeah. I know what you mean. I sympathize with that.
Popular Culture Beat: Yeah. I think it’s wrong. Don’t don’t you think the magic is missing from that song?
Tom Cridland: Slightly. The positive aspect is I’m a big Beatles fan. When I hear John Lennon’s voice on a new song that I haven’t heard before, I’m excited. I like the song, but on the other hand it sounds too modern. I hate A.I., it’s just a marketing exercise.
Popular Culture Beat: I don’t think McCartney had input into the structure….typically he would have written a middle 8 or something. It’s just sort of bland to me.
Tom Cridland: They did record new parts. George didn’t want to do the song, and that says a lot. George said ‘this is a rubbish song.’
Popular Culture Beat: I didn’t care for the song, and then I watched the video that Peter Jackson put together and it changed my mind because it was just so beautiful.
Tom Cridland: That’s exactly what happened with me. When I first heard it, I thought ‘oh this is just so cynical, and it’s just marketing,’ and it is just marketing. But the video made me emotional about it, about The Beatles.
Popular Culture Beat: On to another subject – now that the streamers, Spotify, iTunes, have taken over, what’s your view on their effect on the valuation of music?
Tom Cridland: Music literally has no value anymore. Art has no value….. These companies don’t value artists. They are reprehensible. That’s what all artists need to contend with and artists need to get real. That’s why playing live is really good and it’s good to hear that you’re doing the covers. You’re getting gigs — we all need to be pragmatic. Get in a covers band, get paid. Spotify and these record companies don’t care. They don’t care how good your songs are. I like my songs. Are we getting paid by Spotify? No we are are not — they are a terrible company, and the people that they promote on their algorithm are all not all crap, but largely are. Look at the Top 40. It’s all made on laptops — and it’s going to get even worse with A.I. I’m not trying to be negative. I have a lot of positivity in general.
Popular Culture Beat: It takes the prestige from music by people just using A.I. to make something that might sound really good. But the process isn’t the same and maybe the soul is not there.
Tom Cridland: The soul is not there, it never will be there plus A.I. will never be able to play live. The thing is, a lot of people who created wonderful music in the past don’t care. ABBA are cashing off that Voyager thing in London. So they have an A.I. thing. They built a whole theater and they’re doing a matinee and an evening –they don’t even need to be there. It’s just avatars playing.
Popular Culture Beat: What do they do? They just press a button?
Tom Cridland: They do nothing. They provide the music — ABBA’s Greatest Hits. They’re not even there — they’re in Sweden.
Popular Culture Beat: To conclude, you recently interviewed Clive Davis for your podcast. What was the most surprising thing he said or you learned about him?
Tom Cridland: I wasn’t actually surprised by anything that he said. When we first arrived, I think he was a little bit like ‘who is this clown?’ and he was like very high and mighty. But by the end, he was really enjoying it and he was really very friendly.
Popular Culture Beat: He has to be friendly, he moves among all sorts of people, artists, business people….
Tom Cridland: Yeah, his contacts list….. His annual Grammy party, everybody in the business comes. I’m talking modern people now. Like Justin Bieber, Lil’ Wayne will attend with Cardi B, not people who I like, but pop stars of today and then he’ll also have the classics like Frankie Valli. It’s the top Grammy party and he’s hosting it, and he’s like 91 or something.
Popular Culture Beat: Thanks, Tom!
Tom Cridland at YouTube
Tom Cridland dot com
The Tomicks On Spotify
Tomicks IV Review At Popular Culture Beat
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