We were very much taken with Glaswegian singer-songwriter Dylan John Thomas’ recent Lost Without single, and after reading that he’s been taken on tour as support for both Liam Gallagher and Gerry Cinnamon, and becoming the quickest Scottish artist to sell-out his debut show at the revered King Tuts venue, we felt like we needed to explore more.
He’s raked up millions of streams on spotify, and makes the kind of folky indie rock, littered with good tunes and interesting lyrics that could be traced back to his first name one could say. We caught up with him to find out more
Hey Dylan, thanks for talking to us – firstly, how are you coping with lockdown? Has it affected any plans? Or rather, how much has it affected plans?
I had a wee tour and a lot of festivals lined up this summer which have now been postponed. However, I’ve had a lot of time to write and record more tunes.
Have you been able to do anything creative in the time?
I’ve managed to get some demos recorded and I have started learning a lot more piano which has opened my writing up to new styles.
Whats been soundtracking your lockdown? Any particular albums or artists or what have you?
Wendy Rene – After Laughter. I’ve had that tune on repeat. Don’t know why, it just grabs me.
Tell us a little about yourself? You’ve had some great success and played with some amazing people considering you’re so young. Tell us a bit about starting out and getting to the point of touring with Liam Gallagher?
I’ve done a lot of busking. Played open mic nights when I wasn’t even really meant to be in the pubs. That was my apprenticeship. I met Gerry (Cinnamon) when I was a kid and he took me under his wing. He taught me a lot. Gerry has taken me on tour with him for the last couple of years and I’ve got to live the dream playing all the best venues around the UK and Europe. The venues that we played on those tours are stages that every artist dreams of playing. Then to get to support Liam in Scotland. Dynamite. I knew for ages and wasn’t allowed to announce it. Imagine sitting with that information. To open those big shows for two musicians that I admire was surreal. Learned a lot and meant I was ready for my own headline tour at the end of last year. If you can hold your own in front of their crowds you’re laughing.
Who would you say were your biggest influences?
The first musical memory that I have is listening to Johnny Cash ‘Ring Of Fire’. I got a guitar when I was 10 years old and that was the first song I learned. Through listening to Johnny Cash, I was introduced to the likes of Bob Dylan and The Beatles. Writers have always had a massive influence on me.
We really liked your recent Lost Without single – can you tell us a little about that?
Cheers. It’s a reflection on love and loss and conflicting thoughts. I started writing it while I was on tour and I had a fast country guitar riff sitting about which I knew would go well with the lyrics.
And its your third single – is that right? Is this all leading towards an album or EP? How far are you along the line of that?
Yes. I don’t have a specific time frame just yet but I’ve been writing and recording a lot over the last few months so we’ll see what happens.
How don you write? Do you sit at a guitar, or write stuff down, or sing stuff into your phone?
I usually mess around on the guitar or piano and see if I come up with a riff or chord progression. I throw a melody and lyrics over the top of it.
Difficult to answer, but what are your plans for the rest of the year?
Play a lot of golf and write a lot of tunes. Try not to play too much Fifa. And get back to gigging when we can.
1 comment
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