Thom Morecroft may not be a Scouser but the passion he wears on his sleeve for his adopted home of the last few years is plain enough to see. His relaxed style makes swans seem fidgety and yet he has blown away audience after audience with his music and is looked upon as one of Liverpool’s great successes. The Everyman Theatre, newly reopened hides us away as we talk about music, including his love of the Progressive giants Genesis. With a new night of music opening up and a gig to look forward to you might think Thom Morecroft had enough on his plate to deal with but music calls all the time and there is always plenty to discuss.
We’re sat in the new Everyman Bistro, which is looking wonderful! I suppose you have a new start as well?
Thom: “I suppose I do! I’ve just started running the Parr Street Acoustic Sessions at Studio 2 on Parr Street, as the name might imply. I’m very lucky that I’ve branded that name as well, as obviously when people hear about it then they’ll know where it is! It’s free entry, quite relaxed and an intimate acoustic night. The aim of the showcase is to show five or six emerging talents in and around Merseyside in what I think is one of the best small venues in the city. Studio 2 has been taken over by new management who have put a great p.a. system in and you’ve got in-house sound technicians who know what they are doing and they’ve got a stage in there and it just looks great, they’ve really done it up. I’ve been really lucky to stumble across this opportunity basically and I’m also in the lucky position in that I’ve been in Liverpool for four years and I know many good musicians so they are going to be different acts every week.”
The musician that you had on the first night Alexandra Jayne was wonderful …..you must have been very proud to see her on stage on your first night?
Thom: “Yes, she was brilliant, she played a blinder. I felt everyone who came down and played were great. I’d never seen them play so well before and it gave me a sense of personal pride as it was me putting on the night and James the soundman who had done everyone’s sound and Alex, to ME and Deboe, to Matthew McGirty*, I feel like I’m namedropping! All the people though to Gaffney Collective to Daphne Murray, they were all superb.”
I’m a huge fan of ME and Deboe – are probably the finest duo you can ever see!
Thom: “Probably the best thing since Simon and Garfunkel! Really, you try and sit down and think of anybody who can play like that, forget about Hall and Oates, ME and Deboe are fantastic.”
I’m actually quoted saying that about Simon and Garfunkel!
Thom: “Copyright Ian D. Hall – Liverpoolsoundandvision then!” (Laughs)
This isn’t going to take away from your own music then?
Thom: “No, I’ll still do it. I feel like I do so much, I’m just like a regular fixture as I also run Fresh Sessions near Penny Lane every Tuesday as opposed to the Parr Street session which is every other Wednesday. Anytime people need to see me in a way in Liverpool, I’m kind of there. The main focus is them, I won’t be playing there but I’ll still be playing at the Zanzibar on 19th April supporting Emma Stevens on her U.K. tour. I’ll be playing with Alexander Jane, T.J. Murphy, Professor Yelp*, I’ll still be doing that and playing around the country but for me, there’s so much talent in a certain way in the city that can be presented in the right venue and people will be able to look up at them. There’s nothing wrong with a pub or club but if you can get a small venue where people come in and respectfully listen to the musicians, not because they’ve been told to but because they want to. One of the lovely things is that you usually feel like saying can you be quiet but nobody has to be shushed, people just come in and listen, it makes the acts feel good about playing there.”
You’re obviously not from Liverpool?
Thom: “No, I’m from the wilds of North Shropshire!”
Was it a conscious decision to stay in the city because of the music?
Thom: “I didn’t know how really good it was going to be when I moved here, so when I moved here to go to university, I just sort of, it was an opting in. I never felt that the music scene was going to be that good. I think in the last few years the way things have blossomed and the very special individuals that have turned up, none of these people have got record deals and may be none of them will get one but that’s not really important. What is, is what has happened with all the music that’s been going on and everyone being around each other and all the colourful characters, to see people’s development rather than considering people as products which is very much my ethos. To some extent you have to advise people how they can better they can become unfortunately but that’s not the most important thing about it here. It’s a difficult thing to explain to people that the music scene is really great and we’ve got all these little things going on and to me, as much as I think everything is, it just felt like I really wanted to be in a position where I could put people on where I knew they would be listened to, where the sound was going to be great, with great surroundings and the spotlight would be on them if you like, just really showcase them.”
When you were growing up in Shropshire, was music your first love?
Thom: “I think probably yes but I think I wasn’t really aware of it at first. It’s a bit like when you fall in love with someone when you think you’re just friends with them and then you realise about three years in that I’m madly in love with you. It’s a bit more like that. I wasn’t conscious of it but it was the thing that most got to me but from a very young age actually.”
I know that you’re a closet Genesis fan!
Thom: “I’m not, I’m out! I may as well have Peter Gabriel tattooed on my forehead! I’m massively indebted to his awkward English tones shall we say. That’s not something I’ll ever be to shake off.”
We obviously both enjoy our Prog! We’ve also talked about the re-emergence of Prog as well in the last few years.
Thom: “I think it’s in a way people are not aware of. There’s three things, one of which is that you have a generation of teenagers who had they been growing up in the 70’s, when that was a very progtastic time – they would have been listening to Led Zeppelin, that would have been the staple but I think this generation who are now in their early 20’s and going out and struggling to get work I think in a weird way, especially people who are really into their music, the band of their generation is Radiohead, who despite the fact that they came out of back end of Grunge and the start of Britpop, they were an intricate, odd band who mean a lot to many people. The second thing is that Radiohead and Muse – are big epic bands, this new generation are seeing these big films like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, these fantastical things have a huge effect defining higher culture I think and it creates an entire vibe and I think that also goes hand in hand with things like Game of Thrones. So that really goes hand in hand with the folk revival to some extent and when you think of the grand nature of that it’s in line with the likes of Johnny Flynn or the new folk revival that has taken place in that sense. I think thirdly the emergence of computers you can do it all again and make it sound new and I think that people have also kind of realised that if you stick on a B.B.C. Four documentary about progressive music and sat a group of young people in front of it and tell them it’s amazing – once everyone can see Rick Wakeman’s cape and Peter Gabriel dressed up as a flower or Emerson, Lake and Palmer with horses, once they see all that they are put off to an extent but if you look at bands like Half Moon Run – very Pink Floyd and harmonies and Skylike. I’m amazed at all these young bands who have lead guitarists who play more like Dave Gilmour than the Liberteens so I think there’s going to be an element of that. Sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent at that!”
One last thing, would you have liked to have been around in Prog’s heyday?
Thom: “No, I have the music and I have the records but I’m very glad that I missed out on the bell-bottom jeans, the cheesy Top of the Pops and also I would never wish my whole life away like that, wishing I’d grown up in a different era. More important to me now than music are all the people I’ve met in my life and all the experiences I’ve had now and maybe some in the future and all the good music that I’ve managed to kind of hear like now and all the acts I’ve managed to see, I wouldn’t go back. I’m very excited about what’s going to happen next so that’s great.”
What is going to happen next?
Thom: “I think for me personally it’s not necessarily doing Prog rock, cover by numbers, I’m not going to go and do Foxtrot by Genesis. I think the albums I’ve released are good and reviewed well, not least by this fantastic service here, is they are good singer-songwriter albums and I think they are organic and I’ve never really done it but I’d like to go into a studio and do something that’s a bit heavier, get some drums involved, do something that’s still got a commercial edge to it to some extent, I don’t mean like as to I want to make money but I like pop songs, I’d like to give it sound. Someone like Jake Bugg – who I’m not a great fan of, his guitarist sounds a bit surreal, so I’d like to add a darker edge slightly to the music I’m doing and going to do something that’s instinctively now not in the sense of copying genres but getting something that’s really indulgent in order to get it. Everything I’ve recorded sounds like me live which is great but those people who have already heard me will think it sounds fantastic as that’s what he does live but I think in particular the last album, I’d like to think about doing something big, it might be a little bit more funky and darker edge but we’ll see nearer the time.”
Ian D. Hall