Yossi Sassi [Interview]

If rock-oriented instrumental guitar is your thing, Yossi Sassi is a name you need to know. In this interview, TMMP talks with the man himself about his upcoming EU tour, the bouzoukitara (Sassi’s unique signature instrument), creativity, spirituality, and more…

You’re set to tour Europe this December. How’re you feeling about it?

We can’t wait to share the Desert Butterflies show with our European followers! The set list is promised to be diverse and rich, spanning both solo albums, as well as some past materials and surprise songs, past and future.

What’s your earliest musical memory?

Age 1.5 or so. I recall my father singing in his underwear in the living room!

Seriously, I was surrounded by music all my life. My grandfather was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and played the oud, and was teaching music to his 10 children. I absorbed it from childhood.

I first played the flute around age seven, then sang in school choir. Then came the guitar, and it was right on the spot. The right instrument. It changed my life ever since.

You have a signature instrument – the bouzoukitara. How did that instrument come to be?

For years I’ve been playing over 17 different instruments, yet composing mainly on bouzouki, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.

In 2011 I composed a couple of songs for ‘Melting Clocks’ that demanded me to move between those instruments when playing live. I decided to plan an instrument, seeking an efficient way to switch between the acoustic Greek bouzouki to the electric guitar.

The “bouzoukitara” is a unique instrument that combines a traditional acoustic bouzouki with an electric solid-body guitar, and acoustic guitar. Together with luthier Benjamin Millar, I was able to Read more…

Posted on 12 October 2015

Jon Gomm [Interview]

Imagine you’re a guy with an acoustic guitar. You practice a lot. You get good. You experiment with every technique you can possibly think of. You record an album, with the goal of getting gigs. It works – a bit too well. You end up touring for several years, performing in countless countries and covering every continent on Earth.

Things are going pretty well by the time you record a solo performance video for a song that, on paper, shouldn’t have commercial appeal. It’s six-and-a-half minutes long, your vocals aren’t auto-tuned so badly that you sound like Hatsune Miku, and you don’t have your hair cut in a trendy style that makes you look like an Iced Gem. But it also goes viral on the back of the fact that by now, you are a legitimate and undeniable Jedi-level virtuoso. Praise comes flooding in from every corner of the world. You win fans as diverse as Stephen Fry and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.

When you’ve been through a journey like that, and it’s still ongoing, you could probably be forgiven for developing a big head and being a bit of a knob. Jon Gomm, however, remains a true gentleman despite social media success, global popularity, and the fact that his star remains deservedly on the rise. Whether you’re a long-time Gomm fan (Gommaholic?) or just curious, read on as Jon Gomm digs deep into the story behind his new live album Live In The Acoustic Asylum and discusses authenticity, drunk Italian dockers, and the counterintuitive reality of being a bipolar performer…

Your new live album Live In The Acoustic Asylum is out next month. What thoughts and feelings are going through your head right now?

Fear, I guess! Not so much about the album release, but just kind of releasing the songs onto the Internet one at a time – because that’s where they get the most added exposure – and then, you know, are people going to like it, are people going to be into it, is it going to be popular, and all these different things.

It’s a little like being a bird with babies in the nest, and then you push them out pretty much hoping they’ll fly, and if not they’ll go splat on the ground, and you’ll be pretty upset!

How did you go about selecting the songs you recorded for the album?

Well, at my gigs it’s pretty noticeable – particularly in the UK – that there’s generally two kinds of fans Read more…

Posted on 12 August 2015

The Lion And The Wolf [Interview]

The Lion And The Wolf (aka Tom George) is a master of melancholic songcraft. TMMP talked to Tom about his upcoming 2000 Trees set, his earliest gig, and going for a pint with Bill Murray…

You’re playing 2000 Trees this year. What can the curious expect from your set?

Well, it’s just me and my guitar – so normally people can expect some fairly melancholic numbers but with light-hearted Alan-Partridge-esque banter in-between.

What’s the story behind the first gig you ever played?

Ever? Oh man – I guess it would be back at school in 1999, or maybe 2000. [My band was] called Exit 540, and I was beyond terrified. It was in front of everyone in our year and we messed up half way through and all I can remember shouting was “…keep going!” and needless to say, it didn’t go overly well.

Your music tends to be very layered. What’s your creative process like? Where do your ideas come from?

Recording-wise, with Symptoms, yes – it was layered. We built the record around Read more…

Posted on 01 July 2015