Getting To Know Music Star Tom Cridland

Getting To Know Music Star Tom Cridland

Courtesy of Tom Cridland 

By: Bertha Solis

 

Who Is Tom Cridland?

Tom Cridland is an England-based singer/songwriter. Other than music, he has explored other professional endeavors. Such as his 30 Year Guarantee clothing line. The Garnette Report previously interviewed him talking about his clothing line, which you can read about here. He has also started his very own podcast, Greatest Music Of All Time.

In the Greatest Music Of All Time podcast, Tom interviews several musical talents and asks them questions about many different topics. Being a musical talent himself, he has written and recorded over 100 songs. Cridland has also had the chance of playing gigs across the U.S. He even caught the attention of the band, The Stylistics. Which he will be touring with on a U.K.-based tour.

 

So you are a current singer/songwriter in the present time, however, what inspired you to go into the music scene?

I was inspired to go into the music scene by a love for The Beetles and Elton John mainly. I’m just really obsessed by those two acts and I always have been. I just really love live music in particular, like, music played by real musicians on real instruments. It’s just been a passion throughout my life and something that makes me really happy. That’s why I decided to go into it.

At what age did your music obsession start? 

Very, very young. I never really played or sang myself. But it started when about when I was five years old. I was watching The Beetles documentary series.

Were there any obstacles when stepping foot into the music industry for you?

Yeah, there’s been a huge amount of obstacles for me. It’s very, very difficult to get anywhere without the backing of a major label at least in pop terms. I did not have a major label, management, publicist, or any assistance of any kind. I have been entirely self-funded. It’s been a real wild west industry. Like it’s really difficult to make your way in it and it is very difficult to avoid kind of getting ripped off and leaving money. So it’s easy to think, why should I even bother? But I’m glad that I have and I’m looking forward to going on tour with The Stylistics later this year. It’s going to be wonderful and it’s going to be a real high point in my career so far. Especially with the pandemic, it has made the music side of things even more difficult.

 

Describe how your life was like in England prior to going into the music industry.

I just went to school, I had a very privileged education. My parents sent me to really good schools. Then, I went to the University of Bristol where I studied modern languages. I had a great time and met my girlfriend and business partner, Debs. I made a lot of friends and was just enjoying life. However, I was really reckless, I didn’t work very hard, I just spent my student loans on drinking. It was all about partying really and listening to a lot of Elton John. All of my friends were listening to electronic dance music and rap. Even though I love hip-hop and rap, my main staple was listening to Elton John. I would describe my days as mainly carefree. However, after university, I was like wait a minute, I have no money, I have student loans, like what am I going to do?

How do you feel like your life has changed? Now that you are involved with music, fashion, and meeting new people constantly. Did it change in a good or bad way?

It’s a lot better, there’s a lot more purpose. I wake up in the morning and I relish what I do. I really want to work as hard as possible. It’s been full of challenges and stresses since going into a world of work. Debs and I have been really ambitious. And I haven’t had a whole lot of help from people. I come from a privileged background but I didn’t start off with a big network of contacts or people that I know in these industries. It’s a weird one because it’s not that kind of the universes collide situation because I’m from a privileged upbringing. However, I think people assume everything that I worked for has sort of been out of a result of some great grand nepotism. But I had no contacts, no network, I got a bunch of doors slammed in my face and in all honestly some pretty low moments. But I do recognize that there are people in way worse situations. But in general, while I do miss partying and being more carefree, it’s nice to kind of have goals and wake up every day and chase them.

You have had such a very successful career thus far, what would you consider your proudest / successful moment? What stands out the most for you?

So far, I feel like the Greatest Music Of All Time podcast has been a high point in my career. I have had the chance to interview my favorite musicians and other interesting people. I have just been recording these episodes without any kind of network or infrastructure to kind of assemble those episodes and put them together. So I’m very proud of that. But I’m also proud of the music I have recorded. I’m also very stoked to be going on tour with The Stylistics. I’m just happy to have kept going with the stuff that I’m doing because it’s easy to say I want to give up and this and that.

 

How did the idea of creating a podcast occur to you?

I wanted to start one because I wanted to meet people and there are still some people I would like to meet. However, some of them may be difficult to do because the ones that are left are the ones I would love to meet. For example, Dr. Dre, Phil Collins, like those are really, really difficult to get on the podcast. But basically, it was made to meet people. I just drew up a list of people that I wanted to meet and try to cross them off.

Do want to work with anyone in particular in regards to music?

I would love to work with my friend, Nigel Olsson from Elton John’s band. He’s been with Elton ever since 1969, I would love to get him to play drums. I would also love to do a podcast with Elton John himself of course. Same as Paul McCartney. It may be difficult but you never know. On this tour that I’m doing with the Stylistics, the guitarist, Kenji Suzuki from Simply Red will be in my band. That’s going to be pretty cool to have someone with that wealth of experience. Because he is one of the best guitarists in the world.

You have previously touched some base on your years of binge drinking, looking back now in the present time, do you have any regrets? Did it help shape you into the person you are today?

Yes, I have learned all sorts of things from it. It’s constant confusion and deliberation. Like during the pandemic, life was slow but it’s now getting back to normal, it feels like. With the world coming back to normal, live music is back, it feels a bit easier. But there is still isolation with things tentatively opening back up. I struggled to stay on the wagon recently, I haven’t had a drink in four years. But I have come so close this year. There was one night where I was getting quite socially awkward recently. I haven’t had a cigarette in seven years and I felt weird. I smoked seven cigarettes and felt ill, I thought to myself what am I doing? So it’s a struggle in a sense because I do want to stay sober. But your mind just wanders and thinks can I just enjoy a glass of wine every now and then? It hasn’t necessarily shaped or changed me because it’s still a kind of life situation. But I’m glad to have survived that initial temptation but I’m now conscious that it may come back again.

How do you picture yourself in five years? Do you want to accomplish anything? Where do you see yourself? 

I’m thinking about writing about my drinking experiences because I love to write. I’m definitely thinking about that as a new project. I would also love to get married and I would like to buy a house. Of course, I would want to play more gigs. It would be also good to see in five years’ time if I managed to stay sober. I would also like to say that I really enjoyed my life.

You may find Tom Cridland on platforms such as:

Instagram: @thetomcridland

YouTube: Tom Cridland

And check out Tom’s official website to access his clothing line, other social media pages, and more information on him.