Tom Odell Interview

Fresh from being the first male to win the BRITs Critics’ Choice award and before he starts his international tour, Scene caught up with Tom Odell to find out more about the young musician who was spotted and signed by Lilly Allen and is predicted to do big things with 2013.

Why do you think you have been the first guy to win the BRITs Critics’ Choice award?

I think that girls, in the past ten years, have been making better pop music than guys. I think they have been making great music and deservedly that’s why they have been winning all the awards. People like Adele and Emeli (Sande) are incredible artists and I am proud to be involved in an award like theirs.

How did you put your band together?

Over the past 3 years I’ve chopped and changed, people have left and people have come and its got bigger and smaller, its been quite an evolving process that’s been happening for a while. I’ve always loved playing with a band, its one of my favourite things playing music, that bond you have with musicians.

Your songs so far have been to do with heartbreak; do you think it’s harder to write songs when you’re happy?

I think it’s possible to write songs when you are happy, I don’t think you have to be broken down. There is definitely something to be said that when everything is in order and you have your girlfriend and you have a nice flat and great family and everything seems alright, that its difficult to write songs but I have never really been in that situation, my worlds never really in order. I think there is always scope to talk about something. With this album, I’m young so heartbreak was something I wrote about because that was apparent in my life.

What did studying at Brighton Institute of Modern Music for a year teach you?

I think being in Brighton, because it was my first time away from home, I guess its always difficult the first time you are away from home. It’s exciting but you learn a lot of things, probably more than you learn in your whole life in the first 3 months.

What do you think of the music scene in Brighton, is it encouraging?

There are loads of bars and open mics and gigs which encourage music but at the same time it’s quite small so there are lots of people doing it in quite a small area. People are as impressed by it as other cities but yeah I think it’s a really creative environment, there is lots of art and culture going on in Brighton so it was a good place to start. Its not quite as big as London or terrifying, it’s a little bit smaller, it was a nice place to go when I was 18. 

Published in Yorkshire Evening Post