Focus: Tommy Arch

Who are you and where are you from?
Hello! I’m Tommy. I grew up on the coast but now I live in Newcastle. I love it here! When I was younger I was desperate to get away, anywhere. And then I did a lot of travelling and roaming about and found that at least in the UK, Newcastle was very special, to me anyway, so now I’m stuck here!

What is it you do?
I make music. I write songs. I’ve been doing it so long now I don’t really know what else I could do. I find writing songs sometimes frustrating but ultimately rewarding, most of the time anyway! I also enjoy helping other songwriters bring their vision into some kind of reality, that’s satisfying too.

How long have you been doing it?
I’ve been playing music as long as I can remember, probably since I was about 11/12? But it all got more serious when I joined Holy Moly and the Crackers on the drums, I must have been 22 years old at the time. And we’ve been on a crazy journey together for nearly 10 years now, my God! Seems like a lifetime! But the Tommy Arch project has only really been going for a couple of years at the most.

What inspires you?
I find for me, inspiration comes from all kinds of places. Sometimes a film or a documentary, gets too deep into an artist (Bob Dylan). Sometimes a personal experience or even just hearing a phrase passing someone on the street and scribbling something down in a notepad. I’m a compulsive reader and that often helps get things moving, maybe appropriate a line here and there…. But that’s not stealing, right? It’s just referencing! Yeah, all that and sometimes just good plain hard work does it.

Tell us about your music.
I’ve written songs since I was a teenager but I think maybe only in the last few years I’ve felt like I actually know what I’m doing. Like there’s a direction and a cohesiveness. I try to write songs that have meaning to me but also are easily relatable to almost anyone. I like to write songs that have a narrative, I guess they’re folk songs if you had to put a label on em’. I like to take a lot from Country music, also the blues, soul and R&B. The three recordings I’ve made so far have been cut straight onto tape, mainly live, the old-fashioned way. That gives you an idea of what I’m trying to do.

What have you got coming up in the future?
I’ve released two songs so far this year (Lucky and Got It All Wrong) that I’m really proud of. I’m releasing the third helping mid-October which is a real beast called Rolling To Ruin. I’m really excited for people to hear that one. And then I have my first headline show in Newcastle at Cluny 2 on the 28th of October which is really exciting and terrifying. It’s also my first time playing with a band that I’ve put together, especially for the show. A bunch of guys that are good friends and also happen to be some of the best musicians around so not bad for a first show… P.S.. please come!!

Where can people find out more about you?
You can find me in all the normal places like Spotify, Instagram and Facebook, etc. But I think coming to a show would be the best way to figure it all out and we can have a beer and a chat afterwards if you like! Oh and listening to the songs! But in the meantime yes there’s…  

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rJVFLoTgCueUDFA0X4AyU?si=wbV6To5STqOG9dSH41R6PA
Insta – https://www.instagram.com/tommyarchofficial/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tommyarchofficial 
All very official!