FEATURE: Spotlight: Thomas Headon — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Kai Giraulo

Thomas Headon

___________

WHEN thinking about different artists…

who will occupy their space and raise their profiles in 2022, I have been casting my net quite wide. I think I am too rigid with my listening tastes. Today, I wanted to spotlight Thomas Headon: an artist who has already been gaining traction regarding the ‘ones to watch 2022’ lists. I am new to his work and, whilst his style is not something I normally would pick up on, I have been intrigued by his rise and music. I am going to get to a few interviews. There are not a whole lot from last year, but the ones from 2020 are illuminating, informative and useful. We do get a sense of this bright young talent who definitely wants to ensure and stand out. I want to start with NOTION and their interview from November 2020. This was conducted to coincide around the release of The Goodbye EP:

“Congratulations on the release of ‘The Goodbye EP’. What is the message behind this EP and do you have a favourite track and why?

Ahhhh thank you thank you. This EP was written over the course of like a whole year, during that time I did a lot of thinking and writing about people. It’s very “people’s attention” based. Whether it be my attention to others, their attention to me, craving attention, giving attention, you get the idea. I had just moved to the UK, was meeting lots of new people and creating experiences and moments with a lot of them too. In my opinion I think that’s where it all came from and I think the songs reflect that nicely. Favourite track is probably ‘UrbanAngel1999’, it’s so left and different to something I would usually create… but I love that about it. I think I’ve got that song out of my system and I probably won’t create something similar again, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kai Giraulo

How has the pandemic influenced your work and creative process?

Influenced it kinda positively and negatively. Creatively I was terrible… I think because nothing new was happening I just stopped writing, stopped singing, playing, the whole lot. I often joke about how I went through multiple crises’ while we were in lockdown, but I actually did lmao. I’ve only really gotten back into trying to be creative every day recently. I’m writing a lot more, wanting to work with more people, do different things… all in all, I think now that life is somewhat getting back to normal here in London my mental health is just so much better and I’m a lot more willing to explore being creative every day. In another sense of ‘work’ though I think it forced me to stay active and online as much as possible, I did this thing where I went live every day for like 2 weeks which was great fun. As well as just connecting with fans a lot more. A part of me misses that time. I should do that more often.

Melbourne or London?

Melbourne. By far. Like I’m biased but there is a reason that city was the most liveable city on the planet for so long. Don’t get me wrong I love London a lot. I have a lot of friends here now, I love feeling like I’m in a city where so much is happening and also I planning on living here for the foreseeable future… but I think London only really thrives in the summer, which you get for like 1-2 months of the year. Melbourne even though its weather is so on and off I think just has something so amazing about it dude. I’m definitely biased. Anyway, Melbourne. Melbourne is still and always will be home.

Who are your top 3 artists of all time?

This is actually HARD. I can’t do 3 that’s too little. Nor can I actually put them in an order of favourites. But a few very notable ones are Coldplay, The 1975, Tyler The Creator, Rex Orange County aaaaand nowadays probably Easy Life. Admire them all in such different ways. I feel like I could also name at least 5 more that take similar positions. But all of them keep me going… whether that be musically or just purely because I enjoy listening to them.

Who would your dream collaboration be with?

Great question that I don’t think I’ll ever have an answer to. Collaboration wise I think I’m much more interested in being on tracks with like my friends and artists who are just doing their own cool shit right now, rather than heavily established artists or bands that I grew up listening to for example. There’s heaps of people who I’ve been inspired by forever that I’d love to write with though. People like Tom Fletcher from McFly, Elton John, Harry (of course), Matty Healy… the list goes on man. I usually often hate writing in sessions but I think it’d be so interesting to see how they all approach songs.

How do you measure success with your music?

Damn. I could go on about this question forever. Recently I really think my answer to this has drastically changed. As much as I joke about having the year 10 maths award, I’m very much a numbers driven / statistical person… I really like concrete data and figures. Because of that I think I used to measure my success based on my numbers, which is completely fair and an accurate way to do so, but little do they teach you in year 10 that that’ll actually drive you insane lol. Makes you compare yourself to everyone, puts so much pressure on you, dude it’s not healthy. Since finishing my second EP I’ve finally had the time to just focus on songwriting and making music again, and now I think my opinion on what success is with my music has changed. I wanna make music that means something to me, is something that I’m proud of and I can say “I did my absolute best on that”. Along with all the other things that come with making music I wanna do the same thing, content, work ethic yada yada you get what I mean. That’s a very long and spiritual answer but I think that was a deep question. Thank you for asking I liked that one”.

There are a couple of other great interviews that I am interested in sourcing. DIY interviewed Headon late in 2020; an artist definitely capturing a lot of love and interest from multiple sources and a big wave of new fans. I am a big fan of the Melbourne music scene, so reading Headon’s passion for it was quite touching:

“What was the Melbourne music scene like for you when you were starting out?

Melbourne’s sick, the music scene reminds me a lot of London. It’s such a creative and inspiring city just to be in - whether that be culturally or in the fact that art is everywhere all the time in so many different forms. The music scene in Melbourne is cool because it’s so alive, and it has the same feel as this playlist really: everyone knows each other and hangs out with each other, there’s no hierarchy, and everyone helps each other out.

How have your more recent experiences in London differed?

It’s more the city itself rather than the music scene. When you’re a new artist in Melbourne, you’re a small fish in a medium to large pond, whereas in London you’re a small fish in the middle of the ocean. But I still feel like, even though you’re a small artist, you have complete access and even the bigger fish are still friendly.

What have been the key influences for you so far?

My influences are all over the place. I’m a huge Coldplay fan - their early stuff is so good. Tyler, the Creator taught me a lot about how you don’t have to make music that even sounds like music - you can just make sick sounds, and then I love The 1975. I’m into artists and bands who do their own thing and just make what they want to make. You wouldn’t call it indie pop, or bedroom pop, or hip hop or pop; they just do their own thing. People like Rex Orange County, Clairo and The 1975 are all artists where you can’t really put them in genres but it all still works well together. They’re the artists that inspire me nowadays.

Do you feel like it’s quite a liberating time to be an artist?

Definitely, and I think there are bigger artists that are showing that as well, who don’t shy away from anything they think is cool. The 1975’s most recent album has about a hundred different genres on it. I think it’s great - you have less pressure to make an album with one definitive sound, you can do whatever you want”.

I am going to round off with an interview from Cool Accidents. They spoke with Thomas Headon late last year. It was a busy and quite productive year, in spite of the obvious limitations. The fact that Headon has been tipped as an act to watch this year shows that he has kept momentum going strong:

“UK/Australian singer Thomas Headon has lived a couple of different lives. He was born in London, before growing up in regional Victoria. In 2019, he made a move back to London to chase a career in music, and released a couple of EPs along the way - 2019's The Greatest Hits and 2020's The Goodbye EP. If you're fans of artists like The 1975, Harry Styles or Rex Orange County, then chances are that you'll dig Thomas' music.

While 2021 has been a rough one for artists everywhere, he's seen some highlights. Thomas has spent parts of 2021 playing shows in both Australia and the UK, and is set to tour the US and the UK in October and November respectively. He's just released the upbeat Nobody Has To Know, and it's a joyous about a love explored in the shadows. To celebrate the track's release, we spoke to Thomas (or Disco Tony, as he's known to his fans) about his musical journey to date, as well as just how much he loves The Kid LAROI.

Firstly, I wanted to start by asking about your 2021 – how has your year been to date?

I mean after 2020 I’m pretty sure I could be hit by a bus and it’d still be a better year. But it’s not been too bad! I’ve played some shows, some festivals, seen 2 summers, am finally releasing music again and I’ve moved house! It makes me very excited for 2022 now as well.

You were raised in Melbourne, before moving to London – and you’ve spent some time in both cities recently. Can you tell me how the two cities differ from each other musically?

Like most of Australia, Melbourne has this insane scene of incredible alternative bands, whereas London being a somewhat music capital of the world has mega popstars everywhere. Both are such great cities, I think my music taste and the kind of music I create has been massively influenced by Melbourne’s ‘band’ energy, and also just how creative the city is and how much it embraces arts. However, it’s good to be in London. Feels like I’m connected to the whole world here.

Your single, Bored, speaks a lot about boredom (obviously) – what things do you do to try and break up the day when you are feeling like things are dragging a bit?

Lmao recently it’s just been go live. To be perfectly honest I actually really struggle with boredom, it stresses me out. I don’t like not having something to do or look forward to. I’m not really into watching movies or TV shows. I mean I play games, but I feel like I’m wasting time when doing that and that stresses me out even more lol.

You began life as a busker – how do you think you’d react if you encountered a busker covering one of your songs, and has that happened already?

Hasn’t happened! That would be such a nice full-circle moment though. I don’t know if I’d talk to them. I’d probably be too nervous, and also I’ve seen videos where other artists do that. I think it’s a bit cringy lol. I did get to talk to a really nice busker when I was in Melbourne at the start of the year though! We followed each other on Instagram and she said she loved my music and wants to write more of her own music, gave my first speech like “KEEP GOING BECAUSE I STARTED IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT YOU WERE IN TODAY”. It was so wholesome”.

I am looking forward to hearing what comes next from Thomas Headon. He is someone I am relatively new to, though I have liked what he has released so far, and I feel he will have a pretty successful career. If you have not discovered his music yet, go and follow him and check out his stuff. Whilst the past couple of years have been strange and quite disruptive, let’s hope that this one allows him to…