TOM WEBBER hasn’t been in the music business for very long, relatively speaking, but his new single, This Time, is another step in a cycle of evolution already.
Following performances at events such as Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival, he is set to perform at the Rising Sun Arts Centre next month as part of a headline tour.
The new song is a collaboration with James Dring and Jack Kaye, the latter of The Magic Gang fame, just one way in which Webber’s output is seeking to climb to new heights while retaining some of the personal relevance he instils in his music.
“It all depends on how creative you want to be; for me, I like evolving.
“I don’t want to stay in the same place, so it’s important to keep a continuous sound.
“It keeps old fans and new fans happy, so to keep the same influences forever feels like a bit of a shame for everyone.”
Being a musician was not his original plan, though, he explains.
“I’ve always loved music, but I never really thought I was going to sing, so I guess it just kind of happened.
“I always saw others performing and thought that I could do it myself, but I thought it would be visual art that I’d be a part of for the long haul.”
But art of all forms, he argues, informs other creative outlets.
“I have friends who are visual artists, and it’s the same job, really; we express our emotions or ways of life through a chosen medium.
“I just wish there was more of it.”
He began writing when he was 15: “But only really ‘professionally’ since about 2020– I think I’m still learning the ropes.
“Becoming a musician during the pandemic was the strangest things, in some ways, but I suppose I never knew any different.
“Like everyone else, it made everything else a lot harder: you couldn’t write with others in the room or go performing, but everyone really suffered through that.”
As a Millenial musician, Tom, 24, says that grappling with social media and the internet age comes with the territory.
“I think a lot of people’s attention spans have become shorter– perhaps too short for a series of paintings or an album.
“But art will always be alive and kicking, and these things go in cycles.”
But while the reduction in attention span is one of the outcomes of the internet, he argues, it also comes with unprecedented access to the world’s media.
“It’s two sides of that coin: sometimes you find yourself more clueless when there’s too much choice.
“If you want to find something really obscure, you can do it, and you can find yourself rather lost down the rabbit hole if you don’t try and control it.
“For me, I think whatever your meant to find will be, and then you can pick what you want and dispense with what you don’t.”
For him there is an element of ritual to listening to music, which is enhanced by listening through physical media such as records.
“You’re all tuned into something and it does have the kind of ritual feel– maybe it’s also a bit of a novelty to those of us who weren’t born into a world of records and tapes.
“But either way it makes it feel more special.”
There are also perks which come with being a performer: “I was at Truck Festival and then had to get the train into Hackney to record a song, then went back to the festival.
“The energy of that song really benefited from those surroundings and it just felt really cool in a slightly vain way to go from recording back to the festival.
“It’s moments like that which make you really appreciative of all the work that goes into creating music– and make it clear that it’s completely worth it.”
Overall, he explains: “I love creating and I love performing, but for me, being in the studio is the most exciting.
“You walk in with nothing and come out with something magical.”
Tom Webber’s new single, This Time, is streaming now, and he will be performing at The Rising Sun Arts Centre on Saturday, February 3.
