Hot Press meets Tom Odell

Rising star and recent winner of the Brits Critics’ Choice Award, Tom Odell is in town to play the Trinity Ball. Unsure what to expect from the Trinners bash, he’s got a couple of questions.

“Is it a bit crap?” he asks. Hot Press relays a second-hand story or two. Straight away the 22 year-old from Chicester sits up in his chair.
“Did you hear that?” Odell shouts enthusiastically to his nearby manager. “Johnny said there’ll be people shagging up against walls and everything. Jesus. Maybe it’s not going to be so bad after all. What time do we have to wake up?”
Buoyed with this newfound enthusiasm for his 1.30am slot, Odell’s attention is drawn to his manager’s glass of Guinness. He looks like a man who fancies a pint.
“I feel really ill though,” he admits. Following a late night in Zurich, he’s faced with that age-old dilemma: hair of the dog or not? “Nah, fuck it. I’m going to stay on the tea, and go for a jog instead (laughs).”
Music has been a part of Odell’s life for over 15 years now.
“I remember seeing a band when I was three or four and being completely blown away. For a long time I asked my parents for piano lessons. They gave in when I was about seven.”
Things could’ve been different had he followed in his father’s footsteps and become a pilot.
“I was quite interested when I was young," he says. "All the travel appealed. I’ve managed to find another job where I can do that. I don’t like being in one place for too long.”
Odell attended Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM). “What was amazing about that time for me was that I’d moved away from home. I met a lot of musicians. It was a good time. I didn’t have any cash. Any bit of money I got I always spent it on musical instruments.”
Odell is preparing to unleash his debut Long Way Down album in June, which is literally a labour of love.
“It’s kind of a whole relationship in one album,” he tells me. “I started writing two years ago, and finished the last song in June or July last year. It’s about meeting someone, and it going well, and then sort of eventually being destroyed.”
What would qualify as a success for
Odell’s debut?
“To sell 50 million records. More than Adele, that’s what I want,” he jokes. “Nah.I just want people to like it, and to be able to keep touring and keep making albums. That’s what I really care about. And I want to make a load of different records to be honest
with you.”
Having won the Critics’ Choice Award at the Brits – an accolade that accellarated the success of Florence & The Machine, Jessie J and Emeli Sandé – recording album number two should be a breeze!
“I was pretty shocked. I didn’t expect it, I really didn’t. It’s been a crazy few months. The great thing about the Brit award is that it’s made more people hear my music – people that wouldn’t have heard it otherwise.”
What about the actual ceremony then?
“At the end of the day they’re just people. I was sat next to Justin Timberlake in the green room for Jonathan Ross. He’s such a nice bloke. It just so happens that his job is to create brilliant things. There was no godly glow coming from him. He’s just a bloke sipping a beer. And I think that applies to the Brits as well. People are the same everywhere.”

Tom Odell plays Longitude Festival on Friday July 19 in Marlay Park, Dublin.