Tom Walker is the first of our Brand New For 2018 nominees we’re throwing a spotlight on this fortnight and in our exclusive interview Tom told us about the hard-hitting inspiration behind the making of his current single ‘Leave A Light On’…

“It was the first time me and Steve Mac actually got in a room together,” Tom recalled. “We wrote that song in like five hours. It was one of those real natural ones.

“One of my friends…was in a really bad place at the time and, I don’t want to say went missing, but he just dropped off the map and I had lost a family member also, so it was those two things coming together, on that day, in that session… I think it’s one of the realest things that I’ve written.”

He added: “I think a lot of people connect with it. I’ve had so many nice messages from people who’ve [said] ‘oh I’m going through something similar and thank you for writing it’ and it’s nice to think that you’re helping people with you’re music, that’s wicked.

“It’s kind of a nice side effect that you don’t really consider while you’re writing it, it’s very selfish when you’re writing, you don’t think it’s for other people, it’s for you!”

On to 2018, Tom confirmed that his debut album “for sure” will be released this year and teased his next single…

“So we’ve got the next single, it’s called ‘Angels’, in the pipeline and we did go in with a 30 piece string arrangement which was, again, one of those days where I turned up and I didn’t really know what I was in for.

“I turned up to the studio like ‘oh cool and then got there and listened to all the string parts that somebody had arranged for my tune and I was just like ‘how have I managed this then? This is crazy!’

“It sounds absolutely lush and I’m really excited about it. Yeah it’s gonna be a good year!”

We can’t wait to hear it!

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See Tom Walker Live:

17th January – Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival, Groningen, Netherlands
18th January – Cavern Club, Exeter, UK
19th March – Engine Rooms, Southampton, UK
21st March – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham, UK
22nd March – Thekla – Bristol, UK
23rd March – O2 Institute Birmingham, UK
24th March – The Haunt – Brighton, UK
26th March – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich, UK
27th March – KOKO, London, UK
28th March – Manchester Gorilla, Manchester, UK
29th March - Òran Mór, Glasgow, UK
16th April – Nest, Ghent, Belgium