Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
I have been playing in metal bands since 1987, but first went solo in 2002 with the release of my debut album We Have Bift Off which was a psychedelic industrial sound. I recorded a second album, The Wizards Bones in 2006, with Mike Sowerby on drums, this was different in style being influenced more by proto metal and stoner doom. After leaving The Exploited in 2012 I put together Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves with Warrior Soul drummer Michael Brannagh as a live band to play my solo stuff. We have had a bunch of bassists, latest being Jam (Critikill, Facehandle, Down to Kill) and did one album. Since then I have released two more solo albums (both with Mike Sowerby on drums) The Necromancer (industrial influenced extreme metal) and Emperor of the Moon (prog rock). On October 19th 2018 I will be releasing Unrelaxed, my latest album which consolidates my varied genres into a cohesive style. This was produced by Bryan Ramage (Ramage Inc, Cilice)
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
When recording Unrelaxed, Ramage came up with the term Cubist Metal to describe the album, this fits for me as it contains many musical juxtapositions.
I am influenced by many bands, but my long term main influences are Killing Joke, Hawkwind, Judas Priest & Amorphis. Recently I have been dangerously obsessed with Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, who pretty much sum up everything I love about old school progressive guitar music.
Live things are a wee bit different, under the moniker Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves we just slam it all out Motorhead style.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
To blow their mind, get into something different from the usual and support the underground.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
My solo releases are mentioned in a previous question, but over the past thirty years I have been on over sixty releases across fifteen bands, the majority of which can be found here at howlinginvocations.bandcamp. com, most of it is free or pay what you want so I encourage folk to dig through it.
I am not easily put into genre boxes, and don't purposefully seek to appeal to the average mainstream metal fan, so reviews are often weird and the point gets missed sometimes. The folk who are into what I do usually love it and get quite obsessive,
I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to play with some amazing musicians so live shows have always been absolute belters.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
I have not done many gigs so far this year as I have been concentrating on finishing Unrelaxed in the studio. But pretty soon we will be getting a new live set together and playing some shows. This will be equally exciting and terrifying as Unrelaxed is musically and especially vocally way more challenging than anything I have previously done either as a solo artist or in the format of a band.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Because I am a lifer, and not everyone gets to earn that accolade. My musical journey is varied and unique, which I think is cool. I am under no illusions though that the majority of people who discover my music now are initially attracted to me being an ex member of legendary punk outfit The Exploited. I say what I mean, mean what I say and never sold out, that's rare these days and that alone should generate interest.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Get Unrelaxed out, and then release it's already recorded follow up Unrelaxed II in 2019. Play gigs, have fun. Same old same old. I am looking at the very real possibility of expanding the live band to work with backing tracks alongside the real instruments. This is because a lot of my recorded solo stuff has plenty of keyboards, orchestration and sequences through it which have never been done live. It was never something I really thought about until I saw Septicflesh in Nijmegen early on this year, their show was unreal and really inspired me to look at the necessary technology to make it happen. It will be tough to get it right, but so is everything that's worth doing.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen and buy my stuff at tommyconcrete.bandcamp.com or check me out on Spotify .
September 2018