Tom Saint through his own eyes – this is an auto portrait.
Trying to summarize Tom Saint as an artist is like sparring with Bruce Lee. Before you predict one move, three others will reach you and you don’t even know what hit you. You manage to uncover one influence and Tom is already on with several more. Always ahead of you, always either checking something new or preferably, having multiple projects going on at the same time. We have been warned that Tom Saint was this Bowie-eque Renaissance Man of the indie circuit but you don’t appreciate it unless you experience it. In one interview, he took us through his musical upbringing, his love for 80s synths, filming at a graveyard to horror movies we haven’t even heard of.
Don’t you just love when artists you discover make you feel like you are witnessing something new and exciting? That`s Tom Saint in a nutshell. We sat down with him ahead of his first headline show at London`s The Grace and we had so much fun!
You describe your art as “music for the clinically spooky and horny”. Alarmingly, it sounds like you are Fox Mulder. Please introduce yourself to readers of Indieterria.
Tom: My name is Tom Saint and I’m an artist/songwriter/producer making drill metal emo rap out of Peckham, South East London.
In an interview with Lost in the Manor Magazine you said that you began your musical journey by playing classical piano. Do you have any formal education or are you self-taught?
Tom: I started having weekly classical piano lessons when I was 7 years old. My dad is a keyboard player and I used to watch him play as a kid and wanted to play too. He used to go on tours as the synth player in an 80s pop band. That soon turned into me wanting a guitar. I’ve been a self-taught guitarist from the age of 11. I started recording band demos on a Yamaha hard disk recorder when I was 13 and got a Korg hardware Groovebox I could make beats on when I was 14. That was the start of my love of production and being ‘in the studio’.
Tom at one of his underground gigs – photo by Jessie Rose Lena
When we went through your back catalogue for the purpose of this interview, one thing that really blew our mind was the number of genres that you incorporate in your sound: pop, electro, all the way to grime and horrorcore. How important is it for you as an artist to experiment and try out different outputs?
Tom: The main thing I’m trying to do is to figure out who I am through the journey of testing different genres. I have a really eclectic music taste, in the way that most people do nowadays. I grew up listening to rock music, I then got into hip hop then house music. I used to make trap, I used to make dance music and I’ve come full circle back to rock with all these things that I find inspiring to me. I love synths, I love guitars, I love making beats so I want to incorporate all of that. There are so many exciting things happening all the time that we’re exposed to. You really are the sum of all of it and now everything is at your fingertips. It should be everything! if you’re not in tune with everything that’s going on around you then you’re missing out. Who knows what I’ll do next but I think I’ve definitely found my sound now. This blend of drill/trap beats with guitars (either virtual or live) and 80s cold wave synths – that is the midpoint of everything I’m doing and that’s where I’m most excited to be.
There is one song that really stands out in our eyes. Your 2021 single co-written with James Yuill – “New Ferrari”. It has this retro feel. It could have been on the soundtrack to Knight Rider. Would you say theme music from television series is also your inspiration, cause Stuart Phillips would have been proud if he composed “New Ferrari”.
Tom: That’s awesome that you think so. “New Ferrari” is one of those songs I find I’m cringed out by its existence but I’m also really proud of it. It was produced by James Yuill although I was in the room. I came up with the top line on the way to his studio. We did it together, he’s an amazing producer and the reason I still make music. I played a show with him and was thinking of quitting soon after. We did a session for fun and then he very much spurred me on to carry on. We both love the Knight Rider reference, we’re both massive fans of 80s music and we love synths. That’s why “New Ferrari” balances our love of 80s open chord pop and fat trap beats.
Tell us about your new single “Never Trip”. What`s the inspiration behind this dark, almost petrifying song?
Tom: I just started listening to Ghostmane obsessively and I wrote “Never Trip” after my girlfriend told me she wished I made music like his, because it makes her so horny (laughs). So as a joke, knowing she was coming to the studio later on, I wrote the song in the style of what I thought was a great Ghostmane impression. As I was under these time constraints I did the whole thing in two hours. I had to finish the verse in 10 mins! The whole thing came together just to impress her and make her laugh. When she heard it, she loved it and said that I had to put this song out.
Is it true the video to “Never Trip” was done in just a few takes? And why are you closed in the toilet?
Tom: We rented a 360 camera for the day and the plan was to vibe out in a graveyard. We went there for a bit but while we were filming it started to rain. While trapped in the house Tara Noble (AKA TASH who was filming it for me) had the idea that I could be in the bathroom/on the toilet getting ready and I reluctantly followed that idea. I find everyone does the same thing, people rarely surprise me or grab my attention in the London rock/metal scene that I’ve now found myself in. The never trip toilet vid was an effort to just make people take notice. Ask yourself why you think I’m singing an empowering song while sitting on the toilet? It’s the only moment in the day you’re truly alone with your thoughts.
On June 14th you will play a show at The Grace in London with GLYTSH and About Bunny. What can we expect from your set? Feel free to absolutely plug the event, we know it`s gonna be a banger!
Tom: I am gassed, it’s my first headline in London. There’s going to be some surprises, I’ve got a new song that samples “Thank You for The Venom” by My Chemical Romance and a cover of Aquas ‘’Barbie Girl” that I’ll be releasing next. Expect an appearance from TASH for “I`m in love with a Vampire” as well as the live debut of my next two singles “Left For Dead” and “Messed Up”.
Sleeve for Never Trip single
Not many artists on independent circuits have a fully developed stage persona. You on the other hand created quite a character. Tell us something about the person you become at your gigs. Is Tom Saint closer to Ziggy Stardust or the unnamed protagonist of NIN`s “The Downward Spiral”?
Tom: Somewhere in the middle between these two. Tom Saint is all the parts of me that I like to express when I’m feeling my most liberated. I think when you’re onstage people want to see you embody all the things they wish they were. Tom Saint is the very furthest edge of my existence and it’s all the things I wanted to be growing up. Nowadays there’s a lot of material online that promotes people being themselves and people being more extravagant and there’s a lot more acceptance. When I was a teenager, it wasn’t the same so this character is the embodiment of all those things I wanted to be. That’s why I wear makeup and gender-neutral outfits and blend all of those things and keep it as vague and strange as possible. I let other people make their mind up about what that represents.
If anyone wants to book you for future concerts, what is the best way to contact you? What types of gigs or engagements are you looking for at this stage?
Tom: I currently have a booking agent (Guilia Spadaro at WME) and I’ve just been recently booked for a club show, I want to play more house parties, warehouses and all the places you wouldn’t expect a drill metal rap artist to play. Holla @ me!
We know you are a big fan of exploitation cinema and horror flicks. Imagine that you were offered a chance to star in a remake of a classic slasher. Who is directing and what role are you playing?
Tom: This is such a good question! I would say I would like to star in a remake of Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. It is a 1988 horror/teen movie where a sorority girl boss orders pledges to steal a bowling trophy, but when they drop it this imp comes out and they all get killed off. It’s classic B movie horror. I’d love for that to be remade and rewritten but I’d like it to be directed by Ari Aster who did Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid because it would be terrifying but so stylish and cool.
I’m playing one of the dorky teens who gets murdered quickly. I’d love to have an amazing onscreen death.
Thank you, Tom. This was one hell of a great interview!
You can follow Tom Saint on socials:
https://www.instagram.com/tomsaintxo/
https://www.facebook.com/tomsaintxo
https://twitter.com/tomsaintxo
https://www.youtube.com/@tomsaintxo
https://soundcloud.com/tomsaintxo
https://www.tiktok.com/@tomsaintxo
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tatWnZ4nH8Cpivd2uXKJn
Additional readings if you want to find out more about Tom and his music:
https://www.lostinthemanor.co.uk/blog/interview/june2022/musosoup/tomsaint
https://sinusoidalmusic.com/reviews/music-reviews/genres/electronica/tom-saint-all-my-friends-are-enemies-genre-bending/
https://talkaboutpopmusic.com/2021/01/26/fresh-new-ferrari-tom-saint/
Tom Saint will headline London`s The Grace on June 14th with special guests GLYTSH and About Bunny.
You can get your tickets here: https://dice.fm/partner/dhp-family/event/88w8w-tom-saint-14th-jun-the-grace-london-tickets
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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