Tom Walker is living in a blur. He has gone from struggling musician who couldn’t pay the rent to having a No 1 album, winning a Brit award and travelling the world. ‘I went to New Zealand for just one day to play a gig,’ he says. ‘I mean, who does that?’
Over the past year Walker has ricocheted his way across the globe, playing Australia, Japan and Malaysia. He’s performed across North America, he’s played Glastonbury and last year was named Best Breakthrough Act at the Brits, even before his album was released.
Tom Walker on stage at the O2 Academy last year. Walker, 28, grew up in Cheshire and became obsessed with music because his dad used to take him to gigs
Astonishingly, What A Time To Be Alive went straight into the charts at No 1. ‘We were in a studio in King’s Cross and the chart people came over with a gold album in a frame. We came out of the studio, stood with it for a photo and got back to work,’ he says. ‘I remember not being able to believe I was No 1 but barely having time to compute the thought because we had so much work to do for the tour.’
Walker, 28, grew up in Cheshire and became obsessed with music because his dad used to take him to gigs, from AC/DC to The Prodigy and Muse. He bought him a guitar when Tom was 11 and a set of drums at 14.
‘Music was the only thing I was good at,’ he says. ‘I would write songs constantly in my room, but I didn’t think I looked like a rock star, so you think people won’t take you seriously.’
In his 20s he moved to London to try to ‘make it’.
He says, ‘I was living in a flat with 12 other people, scraping together money to pay for food and recording sessions. I’d turn up and play gigs to one man and his dog, and I’d look at all these other artists and think, ‘how the hell do you make it happen?’ Because I could never see it happening for me.’
Walker’s songs come from absorbing himself in the lives of others around him. After sharing a cigarette with a homeless woman who lives under the railway bridge in Finsbury Park, he wrote the song Not Giving In. A close friend he used to drink with suddenly went off-grid. His drinking had become a huge problem and Walker joined with his family to help him get through it. That experience inspired Leave A Light On. It was the song that changed his life. Relentless Records signed him and released the single, which reached the UK Top Ten.
‘Leave A Light On changed everything,’ says Walker, who now works with homeless and mental health charities. ‘People were singing the words. I’d hear the song everywhere. It was bought to use in a commercial. It was a song that just connected. I was getting messages from people saying how much it helped them get through a bad time, which was really pretty overwhelming.’
Two years on, Walker has reached a whole new audience through, most unexpectedly, the ITV show Love Island. ‘They play my tracks in the background all the time,’ he says. ‘I think they’ve played every single song from my album, which is weird and kind of surreal, but I’m very grateful because it really got my music out there.’
Walker’s songs come from absorbing himself in the lives of others around him. A close friend’s drinking had become a huge problem and Walker joined with his family to help him get through it. That experience inspired Leave A Light On
His biggest night so far was his win at last year’s Brits. ‘The weirdest thing was that I couldn’t get a ticket for my parents. My mum blagged one through someone at work, and then they gatecrashed the after-show party at The Shard. It was the only diva moment I’ve ever had. I was screaming “I’m not getting in this lift without my parents,” and they just jumped in. It was the best night because I owe so much to them.’
He muses on the irony of his sudden fame. ‘People ask me what it’s like to have overnight fame and I try to explain that I’ve been doing this for seven years, flat broke with no one knowing my name. I’m still sharing a flat in London with some mates and my girlfriend but I’m barely ever there. The one thing I’ve bought is a BMW 1 Series but I’ve only managed to do 2,000 miles in it since the start of last year.
‘My first album was written about my family and friends, and since I’ve had this success they are the people I have seen the least. My record company is talking about the next album, but I have to be with people to be able to write the songs. I’ve missed out on bike trips, my friends all going to Ibiza, birthdays and so many things. I’m so happy and so grateful for the way everything is going, but now when they start saying “Hey Tom, your next single is really blowing up”, part of me thinks: oh no – bang goes my time off. But bring it on. I will never complain because I am the man who never thought this would happen.’
The deluxe edition of Tom Walker’s album ‘What A Time To Be Alive’ is out now on Relentless/Sony