Tom Grant

A Profile

“….I pour everything into every song that I write, for me its all about the words, it doesn’t matter if I don’t always hit that note, or land a chord properly, but as long as I get the words out, thats all that matters….” Tom Grant

On Monday 27th July 2020, Tom Grant releases his first full EP, Choices. This Nottingham based singer/songwriter has spent a year and a half carefully cultivating and cautiously creating the ground work for his first full release. However it hasn’t always been Plain sailing but despite everything he has picked himself up time and time again, utterly focused on the musical path he is forging.

So, who is Tom Grant, and how did he get to this point? Well, let’s take a look.

“….I’d sort of enjoyed music from an early age, but never really thought about performing or anything, but then one year I went away to a christian retreat and there I saw people getting up and performing music, and I was like, I’d like to try that….” Tom Grant

So, after catching the bug from watching the live performances, Tom began practicing on a friends guitar and slowly began to learn some songs.

“….What was strange though at this point, was that while I was practicing on a friends spare guitar, I hadn’t actually mentioned to my mom that I had an interest in it or anything, but then one Christmas, she handed me my own guitar and said, ‘I thought you might like to have a go at learning this’, it was such a coincidence, we were convinced that their had been a guiding hand in it….” Tom Grant

This serendipitous moment would be the starting point for Tom’s journey from observer of music to creator of it.

“….In the early days I’d perform at church, or various functions and was mainly learning and even writing Christian inspired songs, but as time went on I began to write songs with less of an obvious Christian element and they became more about me personally….” Tom Grant

Never loosing his Christian values, Tom began to create his own music and began performing at various open mic nights in and around Nottingham.

“…..Say I wrote three songs, back then two would be outwardly Christian, while only one would be, well not, but now its flipped, I do still write a Christian song, but I write more non Christian songs, and I kind of like it that way round….” Tom Grant

Performing his songs across the various evenings, it wasn’t too long before Tom found himself a part of the Nottingham music scene.

“….It was great to meet all these people as I performed, and over time they’ve become like family, and they’re always there for me and I’m always there for them as well….” Tom Grant

With this support network in place, it proved vital to Tom’s confidence as he began to venture out and perform in new places.

“….I’d sometimes get that gig when nobody claps when you’ve finished and sometimes I’d even have people come up to me afterwards and say that my songs were too sad and that I should write happy ones, but I always just did my best to ignore them, and everyone around me in Nottingham just supported me if things got a bit much in these situations….” Tom Grant

This relationship would become integral to Tom during the early part of 2020 when due to several personal issues he found himself at a breaking point.

“….I just wanted to quit to be honest, I never really had the biggest numbers on Spotify and people, like I said kept going on about my ‘Sad’ music, so I sort of reached a low point and was ready to just throw it all away and move on….” Tom Grant

Luckily however his new found musical family gathered round him once again and urged him forwards and encouraged him to record more tracks.

“….They we’re all just so supportive, and we had been through so much before with other set backs to my mental health that they all knew how to get me back on to my feet and set me back on the right path, and so I did…..” Tom Grant

Climbing back to his feet, Tom began working immediately on building up his material for his first EP release.

“….I’d decided pretty early on that I wanted to call the EP Choices, and people were saying, but none of your songs reference that, so when I finally did write the actual song Choices, it felt really good and almost like a new milestone for myself in regards to songwriting, as previously, ‘Life’s Too Short’ had been the song I was most proud of, but now its Choices….” Tom Grant

Despite working hard on his own material, Tom still works hard to give back to the musical community that took him in.

“….Most nights I’m either performing, or helping out at various open mic nights at different venues, just trying to payback some of the support that I have bee given….one particular night that I help out at is ran by a brilliant guy, Chris Bucknall, he’s a musical producer and is always happy to take a listen to my stuff, and let me know what he thinks, he’ll even help me out when I’m stuck….” Tom Grant

Unfortunately in March this year, like everyone else across the UK, Tom went into lockdown. However through his network of musical support he was able to finish recording the EP and plans to celebrate its release in person, along with everyone who made it possible as soon as he can.

“….Finishing the EP sort of felt like an ending, but more the ending of a chapter, I’m certainly not finished yet, and I’m really excited to see what the future holds….” Tom Grant

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