Tom Waits for No Man

A lot has happened in the life of whiskey-voiced singer/songwriter Tom Baxter since he was featured on the cover of Hot Press at the start of the year. It’s quite heartening to see the platinum selling artist continuing to go from strength to strength, taking his sound across the globe, but if a recent story about up-coming nuptials are to be believed, everything could have went oh so very wrong for the softly-spoken 34-year-old.

“OK, let’s clear this up, I’m not getting married,” laughs the affable Englishman. “Ever since this story was put on a press release it’s become the bane of my life.”
To cut a long story short, a few months ago Tom played a show in the West of Ireland. By his own admission it was a bit of a hazy, drunken affair which ended up with one particularly amorous fan offering to take him up the aisle. Oo-er.
“It all happened during a silly night after a few too many drinks,” he confirms. “There were a gaggle of girls in the front row of my gig who were a bit merry and I ended up having a bit of banter with one of them. At one point she proposed but we didn’t take it too seriously. I didn’t get down on one knee or anything.”
That moment seems to sum up Tom’s profile in Ireland perfectly. It appears that our country is going through a bit of a love affair with his sophomore album Skybound. In fact, such is the passion for Baxter’s tender threnodies, he’s decided to end his touring campaign with a five night residency in Dublin’s Academy as a tribute to his huge success in our part of the world.
“Ireland has been the place that has made everything happen for me,” Tom enthuses. “I’m at the end of the touring cycle for my second record and I asked my manager to book me a gig in Dublin at the very end because you’ve been very kind to me.”
Err, kind really isn’t the word though Tom, especially when you take into account you’re playing five nights on the trot.
“Yeah I guess you’re right, five nights in Dublin is a brilliant run, isn’t it,” agrees the singer. “I feel very lucky to have this level of support. I like the idea of being in the same place in Dublin for five nights in a row. It’s almost like a residency. I want to do something different for these shows. I want to change the set up and play for longer. The idea is to do 40 minutes solo then have a bit of a break, then bring in the band for the more up-tempo tunes. I like the idea of doing what Dylan does.
“I often get asked why there’s such a strong link between my music and the Irish and I think it’s because my songs are quite open and vulnerable and I reckon that appeals to Irish sentiment. Music and poetry is rooted in Irish culture and I think that has a lot to do with my popularity. In England music is much more fashion-based but it doesn’t seem as relevant in Ireland. All that matters is whether or not you have soul.”
Now before you start worrying that Tom is getting all Commitments on us, it turns out that nothing could be further from the truth as he reveals that he plans to turn his amps up to ‘11’ for his third album in a bid to channel his inner rock star.
“I definitely want a rockier edge. I’m really keen for the next record to be as up-tempo as possible. The reason I want to do that is because I find it very easy to write slower songs and I want a challenge. In many ways I want it to be up-beat and emotional. One of the most fun things I did this year when I played the festivals was to go and see other bands and it really struck me that I wanted a similar energy off the stage as well. It would be nice to try my hand at that and see what comes of it. It might be a bit rocky, maybe a bit rawer and I want more electric guitar in there too. I guess I just want to rock out but we’ll see how that goes.”