By Keith Walsh
British singer/songwriter Tom Cridland switches genres more frequently than most rock and rollers change their socks. Since launching his music career in 2016 as the drummer and vocalist for The Tomicks, then switching to a solo career in 2019, this fashion designer turned songster has explored a multitude of styles spanning the decades from the 1950s to the present day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vVrqKnIBPY
Cridland’s last few singles have borrowed mostly from the sounds of the 1970s. His latest, “Sexual,” finds him crooning a tender plea for amorous action, atop a keyboard-heavy mellow groove. “I love the ‘70s, it’s my era!” Cridland tells me. “In all honesty in terms of what I really, really enjoy it is mainly the ‘70’s and ‘80s, some ‘60s and ’90s. I think pop music and pop stars began their great decline in the mid ‘90s. Since then it’s been really depressing at the highest level, with an influx of lots of smaller artists who are brilliant but often have less personality than the greats of the past.”
Cridland has the perspective required to make such a bold statement, as his podcast “Greatest Music Of All Time” has seen him interview more than 300 music legends, from Smokey Robinson to Annie Lennox, from Verdine White to B.J. Thomas, Dionne Warwick to Gloria Estefan and more.
“Sexual” is the most synth-based tune released by Cridland in a while, and features keys by Jim Baldock, who toured the U.S. with Cridland’s band in 2019 and early 2020 in an effort that brought them to all 48 continental states. “Sexual” was tracked at Love Electric Studios in London, “under the expert guidance of Andy ‘George Michael’ Hughes,” Cridland tells me.
In 2019 Cridland stated a goal of releasing a single a week, and has steadily done so, for the most part. As he continues to release singles, 2021 is set to be an eventful year for Cridland. The reunited Tomicks will release their third album, “Corporate Psychopath,” on March 19, and a UK tour by Cridland with soul legends The Stylistics is slated as well, contingent on COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. (Cridland was set to open for The Stylistics for their 2020 tour that was postponed by the pandemic.)
The Tomicks feature founding members Tom Cridland on vocals and drums , Nick Whitehead on keyboards, and Cridland’s girlfriend and business partner Debs Marx on vocals and keyboards.
www.tomcridland.com/
Greatest Music Of All Time Podcast
The Tomicks On Spotify
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