Tom Woodward

ONLY CONNECT

There's this curious thing happens when some people step onto a stage, something that Canberra alt.country singer/songwriter Tom Woodard understands well and is at the core of his work. "All my songs are inspired by a sense of allienation I guess," he says. "You can reach people through music in a way in which you can't in the restrcitive boundaries of a normal social setting. You can make people laugh or cry or rethink their attitudes kind of all at the same time."

So in a very realy way, Woodward is one of those people who, one on one, can feel so self-conscious it's almsot impossible to articulate ideas and emotions with any clarity. Yet put a guitar in his hands and put him in front of 300 people and suddenly he's confident, articulate and charismatic. "It takes a special kind of person to be able to do that at the dinner table and I'm NOT one of thos people. When I'm on stage, hopefully I can do that. Songs kind of divert attention away from yourself yet allow you to channel yourself through them, and it's quite liberating."

Well known in and around Canberra for his work not only in the band The Henchmen but also in a duo - guitar and violin - called The Mating Season, Woodward has spent the past couple of years building a solo career as something of an alt.country meets folk artist.

"It was great playing in different bands and all the experience I got but I really needed to sit down and have complete control over whqat i was doing how I sound and how I get my message across," he explains. That said, it wasn't that easy to ensure the message he wanted to present on his debut album, Blue Day Requiem, remained as clear as he'd intended.

"All the tracks were originally solo and I kind of went crazy with overdubbing, so it was a much bigger album than it ended up being. A lot of the songs had all sorts of crazy sounds on them and big solos here and there. But I pulled myself up, determined to get the song across so after I'd finished recording, before I mixed it, I stripped it back. There were so many good things that I had to kill, some really great piano parts, because they just suit the ambience, so it was kind of tough having to press the delete button on a lot of good sounds."

WHO: Tom Woodward

WHAT: Blue Day Requiem (Bayonet/Creative Vibes)

WHEN AND WHERE: Thursday 2nd august, Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills; Friday 3 Dekk Bar, Terrigal; Thursday 12, Akemi, Blue Mountains; Sunday 15, Lass O'Gowrie, Newcastle - Drum Media, July 31st, 2007

Tom Woodward doesn't want to pretend. He doesn't want to be ashamed. He doesn't want to live a life of suburban mediocrity. But when your music's been described as "unadulterated acoustic smut for the damp & sodden", suburban mediocrity probably isn't on the horizon.

Speaking with Tom is like a breath of fresh air being blown through a whiskey soaked cigar. His words are a wake up call, not coated in fancy trimmings or novelty, but instead doused in realism and truth - then set alight.

On a school camp back when Tom was fifteen, he thought he was going mad. Sitting around listening to the petty woes of his fellow schoolmates, he thought that if he didn't really care about all that he must be crazy, surely. It took some time for Tom to realise that perhaps he wasn't insane (despite doctors' diagnoses) and that he could escape a life of mediocrity by delving into the fantasy world of music.

"I realised that there's this whole world out there that I haven't touched yet and I can escape this suburban medicority through music," Tom says. "I guess I'm inspired by trying to get across a certain honesty of emotion and a view point that isn't filtered. Trying to not cloud things by being fancy or playing things up with gimmicks". So how does someone escape the world of societal based bullshit that we're taught to believe? Well, Tom feels that by not hiding who you are and not feeling like you have to smile for the cameras is a good start. "I think there's a lot of escapism in melancholy. You can liberate yourself by not having to smile and by just letting your emotions run free. In this world, every time you go for a job interview you have to present yourself as a perky person who's a team player and this and that, but in melancholy you can be happy, you can not feel shamed". Having hocked his record collection in order to "keep moving" Tom is someone whose music is as enigmatic as the man himself. But Tom feels that his songs aren't aimed in any specific direction, "I don't choose to play folk or country kinda stuff, I just write songs and they just come out that way."
So where's Tom taking his joyous melancholy next? Why the Big Apple of course, if only to have all his dreams crushed in one experimental conquest of discovery.

"The U.S is a place I really want to go, perhaps to have all my illusions shattered. Certainly New York anyway."

Dave Zwolenski

'Blue Day Requiem' is out now on [Creative Vibes]. Tom Woodward plays The T roubadour on August 5.

- Scene Magazine, Brisbane, 01/08/2007

The Troubadour - Sun August 5

Splendour, or the spectre of Monday may keep some from the Misery and Redemption Tour, but those who trek through a chilly ten degrees to the Troub are rewarded with a line-up of heart-warming melodies and Icelandic melancholy, perfectly suited to tonight's cold snap.



Local, Tara Simmons and her two cellists kick off with some musical chicken soup for the soul. The warm bass of a pizzicato duet is a joy on Patience, while an as yet unnamed piece is a highlight, Tara's electronic samples, cello, piano and voice demonstrating considerable maturation from last year's EP release.

Next, from more icy climbs, clad in a snug, 'fuck yoga' t-shirt, Svavar Knutur plays the kook, cracking troll jokes, and conducting a brief Icelandic lesson before introducing Pete Uhlenbruch (aka Owls of the Swamp). What follows is a journey through light and dark, Pete offering a layered soundscape of recorded and live vocals, samples and acoustic. Opener Midnight evokes the icy beauty of Sigur Rós' ghostly choir, while the stunning Death By Waterfall's sparse acoustic passage of spontaneous tuning transports us to the echoing majesty of a glacial waterfall.

Next, Canberran Tom Woodward slides into his set without introduction – appropriate really, given his music speaks for itself. His vocals a cross between Glenn Richards, Dylan and Gareth Liddiard, Tom's alt. country social commentary and observations of love put me in mind of a less saccharine Josh Pyke, and in all he's brilliant, particularly on A Little Tear For You.

Svavar rounds off the night with tracks from his album Songs Of Misery And Redemption. The jolly eccentrics of the earlier emcee are channeled into passionate concentration as he plucks away, adding swoon-worthy vocals to the beautiful simplicity and raw emotion of songs like Goodbye My Lovely. An outstanding evening of incredible talent.

CAMILLA JONES

- Rave Magazine, Brisbane, 8 / 8 / 07

To say that Tom Woodward might be influenced by Bob Dylan is an obvious statement but wholly unavoidable. Not only does he sound like him but he looks like the young Mr Zimmerman too. So, Blue Day Requiem might well be Woodward’s very own ‘Freewheelin’ – a raw and honest set of acoustic songs that may seem a little overlong upon the first listen but before too long become a comfort, like a group of friends you know you can rely on when the rest of the world seems a little too complicated.

Much like fellow countryman Josh Pyke, Woodward belies his Australian roots with his vocal style. Admirably not attempting to hide the Dylan influence, the soulful drawl also recalls both Mark Knopfler and Tom Verlaine. In terms of mood, the album reaches it’s lowest ebb for ‘Listening to the Traffic’, during which Woodward plumbs the depths of despair, giving Nick Cave a run for his doom-stained money. However, for this track and throughout the rest of the album there's more than a sprinkling of dry humour. Tracks like the cheeky ‘Not Hard for You’ and lines such as ‘You could be the chicken, I’m your marinade’ will raise an eyebrow and whereas they might be more commonly found on a tongue-in-cheek Country album, they do highlight the fact that as a lyricist Woodward knows no bounds.

Standout tracks include the drifting, Byrdsian ‘Drinking The Dregs’, the agitated ‘Fatal Rush’ and the never more Dylanesque title track. Blue Day Requiem is heart-on-sleeve music for the spiritually battered, and whereas it might not be the most uplifting record, it’s sometimes enough to know that when you’re down at heel, there’ll be someone there to keep you company.


RICHARD STOKOE

- Losingtoday.com - The Indie Music Magazine

Originally a Canberran but now more a roaming citizen of bars where troubadours ply their trade, Tom Woodward offers a debut album so brutally honest it leaves its listener/voyeur slightly embarrassed yet oddly addicted. In his cracked, quivering voice, Woodward spins tales of sorrow and love with feeling to spare. It's not easy on the heartstrings to hear of "an empty-hearted hero", and a candidly sexual track called Not Hard For You is always going to be a squeamish experience, but any artist that can wrench such emotion from life's simple truths should be cherished. Along with his insight, Woodward also displays a dab hand at crafting melody on Reminding Me of You, while the overlapping saxophone on Drinking the Dregs separates him from other singer-songwriters in his willingness to experiment with unorthodox arrangements. Intimate, confronting and inventive, Woodward succinctly engages his listeners, and with an exclusive distribution deal already bagged and a US tour planned for 2008, Blue Day Requiem will soon be showcasing these charms to audiences far beyond home. - Canberra Times - Aug 30th, 2007

SUBHEADING:

Though only 22 years of age, Tom Woodward has run the gamut of occupations, creative expeditions and life experiences in general. Having latterly committed himself entirely to music, Woodward's latest incarnation sees him as something of a dark, folk troubadour, or as some critics have put it - Canberra's answer to Bob Dylan.

STORY:

Tom Woodward has just released his debut album, Blue Day Requiem, that sees Woodward coming across as a sort of Nick Cave meets Dylan-type character; the former being most apparent in Woodward's macabre, melancholy lyrics, and the latter influence being manifest more in the sound of the music itself (that and he bears some resemblance to a young Dylan).
Woodward, however, does not see himself or his music as particularly pessimistic or cynical, but rather more honest than anything else. "I think most people aren't happy all the time, and it's not necessarily depressing to write a sad song or sing in a sad way, I think there's a lot of sadness even in happiness. And to me I feel most comfortable in that genre because in a society where everything's being sold to you with a smile or something, to me it feels most comfortable to relax into your melancholy state where you don't have to pretend."
Hearing the circumstances under which the then unsigned and largely unheard of Woodward created the album gives further insight into his musical philosophy. "I'd just got all this new equipment and I was basically writing songs so I ahd something to record. I had also just come out of this relationship and basically spent two weeks locked away writing and recording. And then I needed some money to put out the album so I went fruit picking for about three months, which [in hindsight] was a fucking great experience but at the time it was horrible. It was kind of like going to prison and you're just waiting for your release date. It was working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, getting up at 6 and working until all the patches of peaches had been stripped. There was no time to listen to music or play music or anything. I think that was what made me want to get into music and take it far more seriously. It sort of changed the way I write, I didn't have much time so I couldn't just indulge in an afternoon of writing."
Indeed, Woodward's fascinating back-story does go some way to expalining his music. As he describes it, his past has been "saturated with organising [artistic events] and trying different things out. Like, when I left school I set up a theatre company with a bunch of us doing expressionist theatre at restaurants and whatever else. I've tried a whole bunch of different things but I've always played music and now that's kind of all I do."
This plethora of different artistic endeavors includes moving to Melbourne a couple of years back to become a writer. "At the time I was living in my own fantasy land. I really enjoyed writing because it makes you feel powerful when you may not have any other power in your life... Writing gives you a feeling like you're in control, it puts everything in perspective."
However, after working on one particular book for two years, Woodward realized the life of a writer was not the life for him. "I stopped because I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to be the kind of guy who'll probably never make it as a writer who'll just go to parties and get drunk and say 'hey, I'm a writer'... Anybody can writer, it's the biggest democratic form of art. Nowadays on the internet everybody has a blog, there's nothing special about writing."
Also, like many artists, Woodward found himself emotionally drained by self-doubt. "I'd ask myself 'is my writing any better than anybody else's?' I guess with [music] you work for years how to play guitar or sing or something, and then the words have an added meaning. Like, if you can make someone dance or sing along it gives those words an extra special something. I think the written word doesn't have that kind of importance any more."
Woodward the musician is, seemingly, not plagued by the same self doubt as Woodward the writer was, and rightly so. Lyrics are the fundamental key to the folky / bluesy / storytelling genre in which Woodward operates, and in this regard, he is streets ahead of many of his contemporaries.
Expect great things!

- Beat Magazine (Issue 1072, July 11th, 2007)

Local singer-songwriter Tom Woodward has been a force on the local music scene for some years now, so it was great to sit down and listen to his official debut CD, “Blue Day Requiem” having heard a number of his earlier one-off recordings. My interest was sparked in this recording after hearing both of Woodward’s gigs at the recent National Folk Festival over Easter here in Canberra; both of which were strong showings and proved his credentials as not only a young local talent, but as a truly national performer.

While his live gigs are solo efforts, this CD has a strong collection of collaborators on all manner of instruments which somewhat muddies the thoughtful and striking collection of songs provided here. No matter how good the backing musicians are, sometimes they aren’t needed, with several songs deserving of a simple solo guitar instead of being muddled with other instruments. The arrangements are a little too simple and predictable showing that Woodward has yet to match his arranging skills with his undisputed excellence as a songwriter and performer.

There are some standout tracks on this album which, given the right air-play, could strike a chord further a-field than Canberra. The opening song “Drinking the Dregs” captures the attention immediately, setting the mood of the recording both musically and lyrically, with the opening line of “...If I were a magician, I would make you disappear”. This song is a real winner and is complemented by some wonderfully understated back-up singing. “Reminding Me of You” continues in the same vein with Woodward’s rough, folk-rock voice leaping into falsetto in parts. The slow “Not Hard for You” is slightly comical, leading into the lyrically beautiful “Love and Leave Behind”. The strong, evocative lyrics continue in “You Caught My Eye” which is my pick of the album.

This recording shows Woodward’s maturity and development as a songwriter, showcasing his talents in a diverse and inspiring collection of work. It matches, if not betters, many high rotation “star” performers currently being heard on the radio daily both here and overseas. Surely there is a smart producer in this country who will pick up Woodward and bring him to a wider national audience.

- City News - The Canberra Review

Tom Woodward publicly maintains that he’s not trying to be a Bob Dylan tribute act. But sometimes you have to wonder if that’s just taking the piss. I mean really, what would Dylan do?

Tom’s latest album .32-20 Blues is, I suspect, an attempt to make a case that he merely shares influences and has arrived at the same place as Dylan, rather than being a knock-off.

As a bonus, those wanting a preview listen can grab an mp3 of “Red Sally”, taken from the album, here)


For those who haven’t noticed the current enthusiasm for all things Robert Johnson sweeping popular media I’d advise starting with his Wikipedia Entry.

The name of this CD is that of a Robert Johnson song which appears as the third track. For those who came in late I’ll quote from Robert Rankin’s latest book The Brightonomicon which is a good summary of the mythology (if not the reality) surrounding the man.

‘Robert Johnson,” said Hubert, ‘blues musician - ever heard of him?’

‘Actually I have,” I said. ‘He wrote “Cross Road Blues” and “Me and the Devil Blues” and “Hell Hound On My Trail” and “Love In Vain” - the Rolling Stones recorded that one. Just about every rock musician today pays homage to Robert Johnson. They say that he started the whole thing, put it all together - the notes, the chord progression, the lot.’

Hubert nodded. ‘You’re absolutely right. So let me tell you this. The story goes that Robert Johnson wasn’t much of a guitarist, but he wanted to be the best, to be remembered. So we went down to the crossroads at midnight with a black-cat bone and sold his soul to the devil. The Devil tuned Robert Johnson’s guitar–’

‘I remember reading this somewhere,’ I said. ‘From then on he always played with his back to the audience. Folk who looked at him from the stage side of the curtain swear that he had six fingers on his left hand’

Hubert nodded. ‘When Keith Richards first heard Robert Johnson’s recordings - and he only recorded twenty-nine songs, all in a hotel room, with his back to the recorder - Keith Richards said, “Who’s the other guitarist playing with Johnson?” because one man alone simply couldn’t play all those notes at the same time.’

‘Spooky Stuff,’ said Fangio.

‘There’s more’ said Hubert.

‘Go on,’ said Fangio.

‘I was going to say that I said.

‘Robert Johnson met with an untimely death,’ said Hubert. ‘Murdered by a jealous husband, they say. Or perhaps the Devil claimed his own. Perhaps he always claims his own.

Incidentally, my reading of the liner notes seems to suggest Tom played .32-20 Blues on his lonesome… or is that with the Devil?

In any event Tom has invited comparison and I think the following excerpts from the wikipedia entry on Johnson are relevant:

Johnson is known as “the greatest blues singer of all time” or even the most important musician of the 20th century, but many listeners are disappointed by their first encounter with his work. This reaction may be because of their unfamiliarity with the raw emotion and sparse form of the Delta style or because of the thin sound of the recordings when compared to modern music production standards. Johnson’s guitar work was adroit and his voice was high-pitched.

…

An important aspect of Johnson’s singing, and indeed of all Delta Blues singing styles, and also of Chicago blues guitar playing, is the use of microtonality — his subtle inflections of pitch are part of the reason why his singing conveys such powerful emotion.

And those qualities are all here on this CD.

However what this CD has which most blues does not is a sense of narrative in the lyrics. If, like me, you like your music to have a story as well as a beat, then you’re probably going to like it.

Let’s move through the songs:


Red Sally

Available online as an mp3, with Tom’s kind permission. This is a mopey song of love, despair, and redemption featuring slide guitar. But it’s got just enough purpose in the beat to make you think there really is light at the end of the tunnel.

Give Me Some Mercy

Changing gears we get a driving beat and an almost rap-style as Tom paints micro-portraits of the scum of the earth and their cries for mercy. Humanising a wide variety of miscreants is a brave approach, but one that seems to work. As you find yourself crying out for mercy as you join in the chorus it feels almost cathartic as you descend into the mire.

.32-20 Blues

The title track slows the pace right down. It’s a song about heartbreak and vengeance. Again the character is, on the surface, unsympathetic and yet over the course of the song you come to feel the pain.

For the curious the .32-20 is a type of bullet. Originally used in repeating rifles it was adapted to a series of particularly large revolvers.

Pop Star Girl

Just when we think this journey is going to crash into the swamp, Tom gives us a more upbeat number. I don’t know if Tom’s actually been having affairs with any pop stars, but he paints an authentic picture of being trapped by success and yet at the same time unwilling to give it up.

Caught Out In The Rain

It starts almost like a Johnny Cash number and then evolves into a warmer song about finding love, of a sort, on a train, in the rain, and then never quite finding the way home (again).

These Days

An unambiguously Dylanesque number to finish up with. While slower paced than “Tangled Up in Blue” the narrative progression is very similar, as is Tom’s phrasing.

It’s a nice way to finish the journey

So what you’ve got here is a snappy little unit that you can snap up for a mere $10 if you email Tom (tom@thehenchmen.net) or catch him at one of his shows.

Turn down the lights, light a candle, and have a chill to this one.

(Note for our Liberal Party readers: if the PM does like Bob Dylan, as much as he said he does, then this might make a nice little present)

- www.the-riotact.com 26/4/2006

Tom Woodward began performing at the age of fourteen, at the now defunct Gypsy Bar. They were a considerate enough venue to have an underages night, called melodic minors, every Tuesday evening. Tom played an electric guitar, had frizzy bleach blonde hair and a baby face, his voice still unbroken. Usually one or two people sat in the audience sipping lemonade, curious to see what the baby face with the girly voice had to say. A few years later, his voice had dropped three octaves and he had well and truly lost the baby face. In those days people sat in the crowd sipping wine (instead of lemonade), wondering whether they had just stepped through a vortex into Greenwich Village, circa 1961. “Is that a young Bob Dylan?” They briefly stopped to think, in between chardonnay.

Tom Woodward is now adamant that he is not trying to be Bob Dylan. He hopes and prays that his debut studio album, Blue Day Requiem, will help assuage the recent five year flow of Bob Dylan comparisons. But as much as Woodward says he is tired of being compared to Bob Dylan, he can’t say he didn’t ask for it. “Bob Dylan was a huge influence on me when I was about fifteen. Almost overnight I went from trying to be Kurt Cobain to trying to be Bob Dylan.” And the change was definitely noticed in the small but rustically charming venues Woodward chose to play in. “Basically, one week I was in the Gypsy Bar with a distortion pedal and a heavy metal drummer behind me, and the next I was opening shows for David Branson at the Currong Theatre, with an acoustic guitar and ten minute songs dedicated to the age-old themes of existential angst and social justice.” To make matters worse, at the age of 18 he was on the bill at the National Folk Festival where he entered himself into the “Inspired Bob Dylan Song Competition”. An electrifying and overtly Dylanesque version of Girl of the North Country won him third place, and of course more (and sometimes derogatory) Bob Dylan comparisons.

Now, at the age of 22, Woodward is happy to leave the Bob Dylan mantle behind him. “For a while, every time I did anything, I would consciously try and separate myself from the Bob Dylan thing. It was like: ‘will this earn me another comparison’? They were getting very passé, and this was a very creatively restricting way to exist.” By 2005, he had almost stopped playing music altogether. “I moved to Melbourne and decided to try my luck at writing. It was another almost overnight change, but this time I wanted to be George Orwell.” For a year and a half he bummed around between Melbourne and Canberra , playing music occasionally, but spending most of his time locked away, writing like a demon.

The final overnight change happened in mid 2006, when he had been struggling on the same book for nearly two years. “I was depressed. I had no money, no future; no reason to stick around really. I basically just decided to quit writing, quit everything, move out to the country and work on a farm.” For three months he picked peaches on a small farm north-west of Sydney, totally isolated from the trappings of his old life. “Basically I saved money, and that was a novel thing for me, because I’ve never had any money.” When he came back to Canberra, the first thing he did was invest in recording all the songs he had written out on the farm. “I no longer felt the need to try and imitate anybody else. The new songs felt like the most honest things I’d ever written, and I had some of the best musicians in the country willing to put down tracks for me.” After an intensive period of writing, mixing and arranging, he sent the recordings off to be mastered by Don Bartley, one of Australia’s most prominent masterers.

The final product is Blue Day Requiem, an eleven song journey into the mind of a man unafraid to turn over every psychological leaf; a deeply moving discovery of the limits and capabilities of ones own existence. “I am really happy with this album,” he says. “I think it’s the first thing I’ve done I can really be proud of.”
And in a career spanning eight years, it seems the Cobain turned Dylan turned Orwell imitator, is quite happy to just be who he is: a songwriter named Tom Woodward.

Blue Day Requiem is being launched at the National Multicultural Fringe Festival, Wednesday February 7 th, 9.30pm , Civic Square.

- The Word (feb / mar 07 issue)

Tom Woodward - The Wesley Anne Nov 2nd

Before taking to the stage, 22-year-old Canberra native Tom Woodward blends right in with the Wesley Anne's understated bohemian-chic set. Woodward shakes hands with old friends made during the years he spent in Melbourne when he was more an aspiring novelist than a folk troubadour.
He's all shaggy, curly, unkempt hair (beard included) and loose fitting clothes, barring a suit jacket that looks distinctly misplaced on account of Woodward's apparent indifference in selecting the rest of his outfit for the night.
Then, having made a final annotation to the guest list (which appears to be a serviette covered in green highlight) Woodward emerges from amidst the 60 or 70 person strong crowd with white wine in hand. All punters have managed to find a seat in the intimate, cozy little setting that is High Street's Wesley Anne, and only the punk kids who have smuggled in some bags of fast food continue to converse as Woodward nonchalantly steps up to the microphone, clutching his well worn acoustic guitar.
Few solo acoustic artists are as adept at holding a crowd's attention as young Tom Woodward. Tonight, he dredges up every word from the pit of his stomach and spits them out with varying degrees of anger, tenderness, and exasperation.
Opener, "Give me some Mercy", sees Woodward confronting his own sense of 21st century urban alienation, and displaying his ever increasing prowess at the art of picking his instrument.
Hooky second number, "Riding Home" is a welcome surprise, full of poppy Police-esque vocal hooks and a lyric that harks back to the three months Woodward spent fruit picking in order to save up enough money to record his early EP's (which, famously, he personally delivered to anyone who wanted one).
Other notables include "Desire", Woodward's soon to be released second single, and catchy downbeat set closer, "Julia"which sees Woodward alternating between his intentionally lazy, Dylan-esque drawl and a vibratto falsetto that's at once forceful, scratchy, and vulnerable.
The night's display, despite being played to a damned near mute, but nonetheless appreciative Wesley Anne crowd, was another case in point that despite the fact that Woodward's smutty folk won't exactly light the East Coast scene on fire, this fella is certainly here to stay, and has an awful lot to offer.

NICK CLARKE, BEAT MAGAZINE, 21 NOV 2007

(Tom Woodward plays at Bar Open this Thursday with Jordie Lane, Liz Stringer, Vorn Doolette and Austin) - BEAT MAGAZINE