I was recently asked to do an interview with Tom from Aldora Britain Records, which is a new music zine. You can read it here. Just like a normal magazine, it doesn’t come free so you can send a magazine-sized donation to Aldora Britain Records HERE.
Alternatively, you can just read my section below.
Aldora Britain Records: Hello Tyler, how are you? I am excited to be talking with such a fantastic artist now based in the UK. It is amazing how music can bring us together. Let’s start off by travelling back in time. What are some of your earliest musical memories and what was it that first pushed you towards pursuing this passion of yours?
Tyler Massey: Thanks so much for reaching out! Hope to run into you at some point! Like nearly everyone else in the States, my earliest memory of music would have been the gospel music I heard in church. We went two or three times a week throughout my childhood. I remember singing – badly – in the choir and taking some piano lessons but my strongest memory is hearing ‘Ring of Fire’, which is actually a June Carter composition, on my grandfather’s console stereo at the age of five or six. Johnny made a strong first impression. I tried to play a bit at school, but the teacher definitely favoured the girls who had pretty voices. I had almost no encouragement at all. I was just stubborn! Despite my lack of obvious musical talent, I ended up getting a music degree.
And now, let’s take a leap forward to the present day and a brilliant project of yours. The beginnings of the Quartet must have been an exciting, invigorating time. How did it all come to be? What was the initial spark? Is it an outlet for your solo musings or more of a collaborative kind of feel and approach?
It was organic. I’ve been running music nights – I hate the term ‘open mic’ because that’s not how I do it – since I was a kid. I still do one every Thursday here in West Malvern. I met the guys through these sorts of events. Alex Knight on bass was first. I met him at the Firefly in Worcester around ten years ago, which was really what started everything. I needed to make a recording and he wanted to help, so we made American Nightmare together. Eric Hej on percussion was someone I’d known for far longer, and he started playing with us on Thursday nights. He’s playing the drums on All the Pretty Lights, the second EP. Ralph Jackson on sax and flute started playing with us about two years ago, also on Thursdays. He’s on the newest EP, Ghost Radio. I love having a soloist in the band, he really completed our sound. So, I just did what came naturally and my friends joined me, one by one. I can only play with people I love, these guys are my brothers. I’m the only songwriter but the guys write their own parts. Our band works everything out together, from keys, tempos to logistics. TMQ is a peaceful democracy.
You are fresh from the release of a superb new record, Ghost Radio. This was also my introduction to your music, so I already look back on it especially fondly! What are your memories from writing, recording and releasing these songs, and how would you say you grew and evolved as an artist throughout this process?
My friend Will Jones asked me if we wanted to be on his YouTube channel, which is a live performance showcase called Off the Road [click HERE]. He and his partner Rob Dowse have had some incredible artists, Scott Matthews among others, on there so I was very happy to do it. We shot it once, four songs, all live, in one take, but the audio was no good. We tried again, this time with Matthew Devenish recording it, and it turned out really well. The guys in the band aren’t fond of overdubbing and tracking, so everyone was happy to put out the live audio soundtrack and call it an EP! It was extremely nerve-wracking to be filmed laying the actual tracks. We’re going to do some more work with Matthew, sans cameras. I have new songs finished for that. We grew a lot as band because we couldn’t make any mistakes. We’re weirdly like a jazz band that doesn’t play jazz.
I am definitely drawn in by your dynamic songwriting and songcraft. That initial foundation for the songs. How do you approach this part of your creative process? Are you drawn to specific themes or topics? Perhaps coming from more of a personal, observational, or even fictional perspective or point of view?
I could never just write to a brief like ‘do a song about love’. I’m no Randy Newman! I’m really slow and I probably only get one or two good songs finished in a year. I work hard on getting them to a point where I don’t cringe when I sing them. ‘Ghost Radio’ is kind of autobiographical and explains my process well. I do have audio hallucinations which are like earworms that I actually hear, but they’re my songs, not famous things. They often won’t leave my head for weeks. My wife found an old box of my lyrics and I found the words there. The chords and the melody just fell out of me. The guys were all there at the time. It was a lucky break. Usually, lyrics take me months to finish.
Let’s get more specific with this now. I would like to focus on two personal favourites, ‘Slowly Turning Blue’ and ‘All My Words Are Curses’. For each, what is the story behind the song, and can you remember the moment it came to be? Did anything in particular inspire them and what do they mean to you as the writer and performer of each?
‘Slowly Turning Blue’ is about a broken person that I used to know, but it was mostly inspired by the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Charlie Kaufmann, Michel Gondry, 2004). The pain in that one is real. I was trying to erase my memories of this person. It was a lockdown song, or it certainly got finished then. I’m proud of it. I’d like to record it again, really, because I was so nervous being filmed. I might do that on the next session with MD.
‘All My Words Are Curses’ is about the insurrection in 2021, in D.C., near where I was born. I’m not patriotic or nationalistic, but it really bummed me out to watch those evil freaks kill people and shit all over one the most beautiful buildings in the States. I detest guns, violence, conspiracy theories, and right-wing bollocks, so it was a long night. The song just spilled out after that. Things like terror, hatred, betrayal, and lies seem to motivate me. I often think that we live in the Age of Lies.
‘Flying Cars’ is about being disappointed in the future. We were promised a lot of ridiculous things in school. What we’ve done to the planet, and to each other, makes me sick, so all that anger is visceral and honest. I also think phone addiction is a problem. I have it, too. I know you didn’t ask me about that song, I just couldn’t resist.
I have been doing some crate-digging over on Bandcamp, leading me to 2019’s All the Pretty Lights. This is another fine, fine snapshot of you as an artist. Let’s explore it. How do you reflect on this outing as a whole now, and is there anything that you would edit or change when looking back with the benefit of hindsight?
Yeah, I wish we’d had Matthew there to get it down live. The guys are so much happier that way and they like things to be honest, warts and all. It was all assembled in home studios. My old friend Daniel Smith helped us finish it because we lacked the gear at the time. I love ‘I Was Wrong’, though. That one is about Brexit, true story. I wouldn’t change the record, though. Art is about limitations and decisions and then you’re stuck with it.
As you well know by now, I love that Massey sound and your approach to making and creating music. That strong, earthy folk rock foundation. Superb! How would you say this style of yours came about, what goes into it for you, and who are some of your biggest influences and inspirations as an artist currently?
Oh, thanks! It was a hard old slog getting here. I never sang lead much before I came to the UK, I was always like a lead guitarist or a backing singer. I’m more of a ‘guitarist who sings’ rather than a ‘singer who plays guitar’, if you know what I mean. My wife Tara encouraged me to sing, I remember, because I didn’t know anyone here, we moved in 2005. If it wasn’t for her, I literally wouldn’t be here. She has great taste in music, she often mixes live sound for us. I was a huge Beatles guy. I learned all the songs on The White Album when I was a teenager. My music professor at Marshall University was a German guy called Matthias Stegmann. He taught me everything I know, really. Learning to read music was crucial. It’s criminally underrated, reading standard notation. My older brother was a big influence on me as a child, he had some cool records. Listening to Gillian Welch taught me how to find my voice. She made it sound easy, it’s so honest. She and Dave taught me that having an accent is okay. So did Tom Petty.
A broad question to finish. There have been a lot of changes in the world in the post-COVID era, both throughout society, with political turmoil and even bloodshed in Ukraine and Palestine, and within the music industry too, AI for example. How would you say these several years have impacted you, both personally and as an artist? How do you think this time has changed the music industry, both for the good and the bad?
I did a new music podcast during COVID that was extremely good for me, it was called WMSCP. I had ninety minutes of all new music every week. I never repeated a track in seventy episodes. I was living out my John Peel fantasy. It wasn’t a $potify playlist, people emailed me MP3s and WAVs and I assembled it all in Audition. There is an amazing amount of great music coming out every day. In the old days, there were a lot of people standing in the way. I love Bandcamp, in particular. I hate AI slop. I think it’ll go out of style. I like to think that AI is a fad. The bad part of doing music now is that you cannot make a living from it. You have to have some serious bank in order to tour because you will probably lose money doing it. I don’t know what the answer is. Things will have to change. I believe that music predates all language. It’ll find a way.
Quickfire Round
Favourite artist or band?
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. The best songwriters alive, and Dave is the greatest acoustic soloist on the planet.
Favourite album?
Depends on what day you ask me. Revolver is a serious contender. The Cars, maybe.
First album you bought with your own money?
ABBA’s Greatest Hits. I think I was seven or something. The hooks!
Last album you listened to from start to finish?
‘Prize’ by Rozi Plain. I met her at Moseley Folk Festival recently. What a talent. She’s ploughing her own furrow.
First gig as an audience member?
My dad took me to see Jerry Lee Lewis when I was a toddler. I have no memory of it. My first gig as a player was opening up for Adrian Belew and The Bears. I played synthesiser.
Loudest gig as an audience member?
Probably Van Halen.
Style icon?
Robert Smith. In a word full of Morrisseys, be more like Bob. I used to wear makeup, but I’d never have the balls to do it now. I dress exactly like Bob Dylan did when he sneaked in to pick up his Nobel Prize. Black jeans and hoodie.
Favourite film?
Blade Runner. I first saw it at a drive-in in WV when it came out. It had Harrison Ford’s voice-over on it then. My dad hated it. The Shining is a close second. Life of Brian is a perfect film. I struggle with favourites. I love the Coens and PT Anderson.
Favourite TV show?
University Challenge, maybe? I never miss it. It’s my version of sport. Monty Python, The Young Ones, Doctor Who, Tom Baker era, Benny Hill, true! Those shows made me want to be British when I was a kid. I love John Oliver. It’s not a TV show, but the Blindboy Podcast from Ireland helped me come to terms with my neurodiversity. He’s a good’un.
Favourite up and coming artist or band?
I love an artist called tristen from Nashville. Have a listen to THIS. It’s just great pop music.