Mark: Now with the benefit of a few months behind the release, are you pleased with how it’s been received?
Tom: Yeah, so far, so good. The fans seem to like it; I’m having a great time on the road touring, meeting the fans and hearing their thoughts on it. We’re just getting started; we’ll be working it all next year, so I’m very fortunate to have a very committed label.
Mark: That’s great news, are you thinking of taking it overseas?
Tom: We would love to. Like I said we are going to be out all next year, so we will see where it all leads, but absolutely, yeah! We do have a lot of places to get to here in the States, but after that we’ll start looking to that.
Mark: I can imagine there are a lot of people out there who would love to go and see you. I read somewhere that years ago, you were pretty uncomfortable getting out there and singing originally, and that you would hide behind your guitar. Has that changed over the years, do you still need the guitar; would you feel naked without it?
Tom: No, as the years go on, I love playing guitar, but I feel freer up there, and I just think if you’re a singer who plays guitar you are cemented to that one place on the stage, and sometimes that feels a little confining. More and more I’ve done songs, 3 or 4 in a show, where I’ve put the guitar down and found more and more that I’ve enjoyed that. Particularly with the voice condition, it takes a lot of concentration to keep it really lined up, I have to remember all the techniques to keep it working, and sometimes the guitar playing is a little distraction from that. In later years, in light of the condition that I have I think I probably sing a little bit better when I’m not dealing with the guitar too. I get to work the stage a little bit more too, there’s more freedom up there, but I’ll never stop playing guitars, I love playing!
Mark: As a guitar player who do you look to as your role models?
Tom: I grew up in a time where guitars were king, and Jimmy Page, Keith Richards; Joe Walsh is an idol of mine, Bad Company, Foreigner, the guitars were amazing in that stuff. Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, there was a lot of diversity in the seventies when I was growing up, so Michael Schenker was another one; I loved that early UFO stuff. I could go on and on, and Johnny Winter and all that blues stuff, Muddy Waters, BB King, was my first exposure to real blues, some of that stuff sounds simpler than it is; it’s very powerful if you can even get half way close, the way they do. I have a lot of guitar inspirations.
Mark: Do you listen to a lot of music in your down time?
Tom; I don’t have a lot of down time, but I try to listen to new stuff, certainly in recent times, the most current things I like, that have really caught my ear, are Magic Dragons, Bruno Mars, I think is just awesome, his voice is insane! I love that piano ballad that he has out right now. As I mentioned before I listen to Halestorm, they are great, great songs, and her voice is pretty amazing! So, there’s a few in recent years that I really like. Going back a few years, I really love the band, Train, Pat’s lyrics and the song writing is very cool, Buckcherry, Jet, that’s other stuff I’ve been listening to. Every once in a while, something just sticks out and you go “wow!” I really love this.
Mark: Does that continue to inspire you? A lot of people complain about the state of the music industry, and it has changed immeasurably since the 80’s, when you put out your first record, but there are still some great bands out there, putting out some fantastic music. What’s your take on what’s happening out there at the moment? Where did the industry change so much, everyone cites the 90’s and Grunge, as being a turning point, but really over the last few years with I tunes and digital downloads, it’s knocked the heart out of the industry. What do you think?
Tom: Well, it’s one word, plain and simple, the illegal downloading, obviously there’s nothing wrong with downloading music and paying for it. The impact has changed the industry beyond repair, and the fear is the lost revenues to publishing companies and record companies, and these are the people who develop artists, they go out and they find them and develop them. I was fortunate enough to come up in a time before there were all these streaming networks, who just have created the new mentality that you don’t find music, you just save it to your playlist and listen to it, so that really hits the revenue hard back to the industry, and all the illegal downloading that started way back with the internet, it’s just crippling the industry. The saddest part of it all is how it affects new artists, the income that they can make, they work their asses off, they get a break, and have a successful record, and they can’t even make a living! The other part of that equation is the record companies can’t afford to develop artists over three to four albums, and make sure they have the best producers and studios, and engineers to help them grow. So, that’s all really, really sad to me, it ultimately affects the art itself.
Mark: Cinderella were one of my favourite bands, you made the transition very early, from playing clubs, to playing arenas with some of the biggest bands in the world, like Poison and Bon Jovi. What’s it like now to get out there and play those big stages and festivals, has it changed over the years?
Tom: Well, that’s a good question, because oddly enough the live thing hasn’t changed that much. You walk out on stage, and Cinderella has had such incredibly loyal fans for years, and they still are, and we walk out on stage and when I go out with my solo thing too, the same thing, they’re there! But, again that was all grown and created back in a time when the industry invested a lot in the artist to make that all happen. It still carries on through today for us, because that’s what was built, a relationship with the fans, when the foundation was built by the industry, back in a time when they could. I think that’s still there for a lot of new artists that break through. Certainly the dates we just did with Halestorm, it felt like a big concert, and you can’t download that experience! Wait till technology catches up and the I phone can now record a 3D, hologram version of a concert, and then we’re really all going to be in trouble!! You tube isn’t like really being there, so it’s still the same, I think, you still feel the same emotion and energy, whether it’s for an act that’s been around a long time like myself or Cinderella, or a newer band like we just played with, Halestorm, people love live music.
Mark: I think that’s the thing that will save the industry in the end, that whole live experience, until of course someone comes up with that technology to take that away from us!
Tom: Oh, it’s coming!!
Mark: Don’t give anyone ideas!!
Tom: There’ll be like an I phone with 6 lenses on it, that you can focus on different places on the stage, and then an app that edits them all together, put’s them all into 3D holograms, it’s coming!!!
Mark: Patent that idea!!
Tom: I haven’t got the brains to develop that software, but I have the brains to know that someone’s going to!!
That’s what’s scary, some of the videos I see now of live shows, it’s almost like being there.
Mark: Our time is running out, so one final question, any thoughts on the next step for Cinderella?
Tom: Well you know we’ve toured the last three years; we intentionally took a break this year because we felt like we needed it, so I’m sure we’ll tour some time again in the future. Right now, I’m riding out and having a good time, doing the solo thing. In terms of a new record, we’ll see, we’ve had a couple of bad tastes left in our mouths from some record companies, so it’s not a lack of desire on our part, we just have to be in the right situation where we’re with a label and people who really want to do things right.
Mark: Sounds great. Well, thanks for your time Tom, the time has absolutely flown by for me, it’s been great, and speak to you soon.
Tom: I had a great time talking with you, my friend, have a good day. Thank you.
Tom spoke to Mark Diggins 20th September 2013 |