It’s 11am and Tomi Swick is on the other end of the phone line, “Good morning,” he rasps in a sexy barely awake voice. I try to imagine what he looks like having found an undistinguishable black and white picture of him on the net on myspace.com. He sounds laid back and low key. He chuckles, “It feels like 6am.”
Hand-picked by Warner this new Canadian recording artist is creating quite a stir on the radio stations and in music circles. You have probably heard his song “A Night Like This” which has been playing on high rotation on AC radio stations and has reached #3 on the Canadian charts.
Green off-the-vine Tomi hasn’t even done a photo shoot yet – there is no video circulating and no debut CD for sale. You can, however, go to the stores and purchase the recently released CD From the Heart – a Warner compilation of heavyweight heartthrobs including Josh Groban, Michael Buble’ and Collective Soul. Tomi is featured on the bonus CD with three of his tracks.
Signed for a world-wide deal this 25-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario is still walking the streets basically unknown. “I am shy about being famous and about being on TV and doing photos. I am not your average pretty boy – I am 6’4”, 225 lbs, a big boy with red hair. So far, everyone has been really great with me and has made me feel comfortable…I have not been put in the ‘hot seat’ yet.”
I ask him about his new found success, “Warner gave me a good opportunity by putting me on the From the Heart compilation. They also put a lot of faith in me by pushing my single out there and the radio stations received it well. People have been telling me that they love the songs and they can identify with them. Maybe that’s it, the songs are honest. What can I tell you, I am very happy.”
As his publicist refers to him, this “modern rock troubadour” expects to release his debut album in the spring/summer of this year. “I like to write about things that happen in my life – personal things like relationships. I don’t just get up in the morning and say I’m going to write a song today. I just write when I do…I am going to Britain in April to finish the album. My family is from Scotland and I grew up very British. The first song I wrote when I was 14 or 15 was “Bonny Scotland where I‘ve never been”. I just want to get the vibes for the album and, yea, I would love to play Glasbury.”
Tomi’s advice for budding artists out there, “Gig, gig, gig. Play your heart out, play everywhere to let people see that you are an honest and real musician. I have been in bands before and we would send out demos, phone and harass people. I then went solo 2 1/2 years ago and I didn’t send out demos or emails. I just played where ever and when ever I could. Jennifer Hirst with Warner came to one of my gigs. She knew a friend of mine who was playing in the band and she liked what she heard.” (Of course, the rest is history.)
And this rocker wants his fans to have a good time when they come to his performances, “I am not big on the theatrics like Kiss. I want people to come because they think it is good music, honest music. Same thing for my album – I want them to enjoy it. Hey, I have always wanted to be a musician and I want to travel and gig for however long I can.”
After previewing a small sample of this talented artist’s work, my curiosity has been piqued and I’ll be looking forward to hearing more.
For further info go to www.tomiswickmusic.com