Tom Moriarty

A year ago Tom Moriarty was wearing a suit and tie, working the nine to five in the City of London. Business was good but his lifelong dream of making an album seemed to have died.

“Then things changed,” he grins, “and realised this was the time to live that dream.”

As a boy Tom had played in front of the Queen, and for the Prime Minister. “I recently heard Kris Kristofferson say that if you are a musician, it’s not a choice but a duty. I agree with that. You just feel you are here to do it. And that is all I wanted to do.”

Now, at last devoting himself full time to his lifelong passion, Tom has made that album.

Fire In The Doll’s House may have been a long time coming. But its 11 self-penned songs, recorded at the legendary Studio 2 at Abbey Road, show that the best things really do come to those who wait. Those songs contain a lifetime of experiences and Tom admits: “I could not have made this album when I was 22.”

Tapping into the tradition of protest music that first fired the teenage Tom’s imagination, and influenced equally by rock, blues and folk, Fire In The Doll’s House shows off a distinctive new vocal and songwriting talent.

Tom’s soulful voice soars from a husky croon that recalls John Martyn on folky numbers to a full-blown rasp that summons up the spirit of Paul Rogers in his blues-rock days with Free. Throw in the musical and lyrical influence of Tom’s heroes – folk legends like Bob Dylan and John Martyn, as well as soul superstars such as Ray Charles and Sly Stone – and you find a singer songwriter who straddles the genres with ease.

Tom Moriarty states his case on the title track, Fire In The Doll’s House – an allegory about the state of the world today, set to a bluesy shuffle that sets the musical tone. “It’s about how everyone seems to be blind to what’s going on,” says Tom. “I suppose you could call it a bit cynical, but we need to wake up to the fact that we’re all in this together.”

We do indeed. And Tom takes his politics one stage further on From Now On, his most forceful message of all. “Will you question your belief, or the company you keep, when the soldiers come to haunt you in your sleep,” he sings, before signing off angrily: “From now on I think you’ll find, You have lost your fucking mind, When all you do is drop another bomb.”

Says Tom: “I wrote it when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. He was the architect of apathy. If you create enough apathy in society it’s a good way of controlling people because they don’t know what they’ve lost. They think they are free.” He adds: “It’s time people stood up and made themselves heard.”

Not that Tom Moriarty can be pigeonholed as a protest singer. Life’s A Mystery, a bluesy boogie with gospel frills, muses on that feeling we’ve all had: “When you sit back,” explains Tom, “and think you just don’t know what the fuck is going on.”

There are love songs too. Where Are You Now is a wistful recollection of an old girlfriend over the gentle shuffle of acoustic guitars, while Don’t Ask Why attempts to unravel the secret of a long-lasting relationship amid a maelstrom of banjo picking and tambourine bashing. “I remember a family friend telling my parents how his marriage had lasted so long,” recalls Tom, “and he said about his wife: ‘If she wants something, I don’t ask why.’ That stayed with me. Then I began to think about the flip side – that sometimes it is better not to know.”

Then there is a song with the newly abridged title of All You Need, which summons the exuberant gospel-soul spirit of Joe Cocker when he was getting a little help from his friends. “I was going to call it ‘Love Is All You Need’ but that’s been done hasn’t it,” grins Tom, “and the irony was not lost when I recorded it at Abbey Road. But those four guys were not wrong!”

In a similarly euphoric vein is Smile If You Want To Get High – a song that is entirely self-explanatory and comes complete with Memphis soul-style horns and gospel singers. “I’ve come to realise that if you want to get through all the personal shit we all go through, you should just try and smile,” says Tom.

“It may not be the most profound political statement of all time, but given that we’re going through a recession and life is difficult, the song is like an antidote.” And we all need one of those.

Member Since:

April 18, 2007

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