Mr Tom Kilner, thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule to talk to us here at HRH Mag.
You have just played your show to launch the new album Borrowed Time and you are about to start a run of shows and festival dates across the UK, do you enjoy life on the road?
Yeah! Absolutely, I love being out on the road. It’s where you can have the best times with band mates and get to meet new people while you’re out there. Don’t get me wrong sometimes there can be some stressful bits but for the majority it’s a blast.
As a boy growing up in Yorkshire, were you always surrounded by music and the arts?
Pretty much from when I can remember I’ve been surrounded by music. My dad’s always played and had guitars around the house so guitars have been ingrained in me for a long time. Some of my earliest memories are of me and my mum going to raid the charity shops for 7” singles and records, so much fun!
What drove you to becoming a musician and songwriter and, which came first?
I’ve always loved playing guitar and it was more or less instantly I knew being a musician was what I wanted to do. Songwriting also came very early on, I would write songs albeit pretty bad to start with from more or less when I learnt my first few chords, I guess that it would be a pretty equal quantity of being a musician/songwriter and I’ve spent a lot of time developing both. I’ve always had a big interest in songcraft and writing and hopefully people get something out of the songs I write and that are on my new album ‘Borrowed Time’ as a lot of work went into it.
Your sound is firmly rooted in americana, country and blues, as is your aesthetic. You live and breathe it, who was, or is, your muse, that gave you the love of the sound?
My first hero was Rory Gallagher and he firmly solidified my love of the genre he had everything rock, blues, folk, and what a live performer! But there’s a massive list of influences from; J.J. Cale, The Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, Waylon Jennings, Warren Haynes, Delaney and Bonnie, Tedeschi Trucks Band. These are just some of the artists I love and pull influence from. The love of the sound is that its real people singing and playing real instruments and it’s just magical how they can move you even just with one note.
Borrowed Time, is the perfect soundtrack to summer days and warm nights, plenty of guitar, harmonica and Hammond organ, if I’m not mistaken. Tell the HRH Mag readers about the album?
Well It’s been a long time coming! The first versions were recorded about 4 years ago but I sat on them for a bit and decided that they needed re-recording and I’m pleased that we did because I’m so proud of the result and of the re-imagining of some of the tracks. For the first time I’m playing different instruments on a record along with new sounds that I’ve not had before. It’s my best work to date, it captures everything I am as a writer. It’s got good time rock n’ roll, storytelling, songs about real life and with all that I think it really takes the listener on a sonic trip. There’s a real mix and curveballs on there that keeps things interesting.
What is your songwriting process, when are you at your most prolific?
That really depends as sometimes I can come up with lyrics really easily, sometimes there’s some real dry spots and generally I write songs in pairs as one tends to come along with another when it seems to flow quite quickly. Ideas can just happen in the middle of the night, I always have a pen and paper knocking about to jot ideas down. But, sometimes lyrics can come at totally inconvenient times like in the shower or at the supermarket where you tend not to have anything to get ideas down.
How did making this album differ from your previous releases? What have you changed, or gained since your first release?
For a start there’s new people on the record, a different style of production and instrumentation. We recorded and produced ourselves, then went to Wayne Proctor at his House of Tone studio to record vocals and some other bits and pieces and he added some production elements too, it was great working with him. There’s more of a development in my abilities as a player and songwriter. I think it’s just the natural continuation from where I’ve come from to where I’m heading as it’s a case of constantly evolving the sounds and improving along the way.
If you could write and create, or perform, with anyone, past or present, who would this be and can you explain why?
I would love to write with Jason Isbell, he’s one of my favourite writers out there. His songs are just real and done in a way that just connects to me, I absolutely love this artist.
Borrowed Time has a message that is very much about life, finding yourself, living for the moment, there’s a few lessons in there. If you could go back in time and give 18 year old Tom some advice about what is to come, what would you tell him?
Read the contract properly and don’t jump in. A record deal maybe not all what it pertains or turns out to be. Be prepared to sacrifice some everyday things that a ‘proper job’ lets you do and be prepared to work your ass off to make little steps forward. And most of all just keep doing what you believe in even if sometimes it feels hopeless, just keep going!
Thank You Tom!
Interview by Viki Ridley
