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My first trip as a
musician to a major label headquarters was when I was eighteen. I
took the greyhound to Toronto from Ottawa Canada convinced the
cassettes that FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE had so painstakingly put together
with construction paper inlay cards would change the world. FGNM
were listening to a solid diet of THE BLUE NILE, THE SUNDAYS, THE
SMITHS, XTC, THE CLASH and any other cool UK imports we could
get our hands on. I was so surprised when the Canadian labels
didn't open up the coffers and offer us a deal. Apparently we didn't
sound like Bryan Adams enough. Stunned I set about figuring out what
the problem with the majors was. There was no thought of "what the
hell are we doing" but rather a feeling of "we don't belong here".
I bought my bible at the time (the NME) and dreamt of being in a
place where people would understand our music (and women with
accents) and then it struck me. We have to move to London
England to get our record deal ! I felt that FGNM's music could
nestle in with the current crop of UK Indie hopefuls more easily
than in Canada.
After months of convincing
the band to make the move, Jonathan Evans, Meg Lunny and I travelled
to London laden down with guitars, keyboards, hope and expectation.
London was an eye opener. A city with the coolest bands ever
playing but we could rarely afford to go and see them. We lived in
Holland Park in a pub called The Raj where I used to serve AHA and
ASWAAD their pints. It dawned on us that London was too expensive a
place to get our mission started so we headed for the sunnier climes
of Glasgow Scotland. Once in Glasgow we secured a gig at a bar
called Bar Luxembourg and played our first UK show. After the show
Mark Goldinger and Phil Hay approached us and there began our
affiliation with Miles Ahead Management. Miles Ahead got us
gigs, bought us gear, supplied us with dough for our flats and got
us on our feet for the first time in the UK. 7 months later I quit
my job washing dishes and signed my first record deal with RCA in
London. We released FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE, had some top 40's
in the UK and Canada and toured our asses off. FGNM recorded in
Dublin with Donal Lunney (Elvis Costello - Kate Bush +) producing,
were mixed by Bill Price, Tim Martin and Julian Mehndelson and these
initial contacts with Producers set my mind on fire. I freaked out
when Bill Price told me about all the records he'd worked on. I
couldn't believe a lot of what was happening at the time.
When FGNM broke up I returned to Ottawa and decided that I was
destined to be a dishwasher. I would be the best dishwasher in
Canada and would serve out the rest of my life as a dishwasher. Then
I got the call for THE NIGHTCRAWLERS. I was scrubbing madly
one day and the phone rang. An artist Mark Goldinger was managing
needed a bass player and I had been chosen. I flew to Glasgow on
Friday, learned the material on the weekend, rehearsed monday to
thursday and was on the highway heading for London to gig on Friday.
THE NIGHTCRAWLERS was an amazing live band and the gigs were very
different than the FGNM ones because of their Northern Soul sound.
Playing The Fridge in Brixton, The Town and Country Club supporting
Incognito and The Brand New Heavies was an experience I'll never
forget. The guys in the band - Morph Dobie, Ross Campbell, Greg
Havers, John Reid, Mary Kiani and Denousha were excellent musicians
and I got to play Ronnie Scott's ! With a #1 hit under his belt John
Reid decided to apply himself to writing for other artists and
generally to build up the publishing side of his career on his own.
He was a solo artist but it was hard to see THE
NIGHTCRAWLERS dissolve.
After THE NIGHTCRAWLERS I played with a variety of artists in Canada
playing both bass and guitar at this point to make ends meet. One
of these bands was KOBE JAMES. Kobe was from Philly and
wrote these killer songs. It was in KOBE's band that I met drummer
Tony Rabalao. KOBE led to BASS is BASE and it was on a BASS IS BASE
tour that I heard the strains of Tony's song BEAUTIFUL drifting
through the the thin hotel walls. Late that night in the Athabasca
Hotel in the Canadian Rockies I popped by Tony's room and brought my
guitar. (I've been playing with Tony ever since.) A few months
later Tony and I decided to start a band of our own. Initially it
was the 2 of us. We added Thomas Payne as guitarist and shortly
thereafter Tara Slone joined as vocalist. A pile of songs, 5 day a
week rehearsals and a handful of shows later JOYDROP were
signed to TOMMYBOY RECORDS NYC. JOYDROP recorded at Longview
Farm Studios In Massachusetts (Bonnie and her crew were amazing)
with Ron St Germain producing ( Bad Brains - Jimi Hendrix -
Soundgarden) and METASEXUAL was born. (Ron St Germain is one of my
favourite people on this planet) We scored top 20 and top 40 hits
in the US, Canada and Australia with that same song I heard Tony
playing on tour, BEAUTIFUL and toured relentlessly throughout North
America. We landed bigger and bigger shows on bills with BUSH,
MOBY, DEFTONES, MARILYN MANSON, KID ROCK, BIG WRECK, JIMMY'S CHICKEN
SHACK and BLINK 182 to name a few.
By this time I'd recorded another 15 or so records as a Producer,
writer, bass player, guitarist, keyboardist in the cracks as I
always had. I'd been producing records for over five years and I
was learning how challenging the Producer's chair was to occupy. JOYDROP
recorded their second record VIBERATE with Garth Richardson
(Rage Against The Machine - Red Hot Chili Peppers) in Vancouver.
That 2nd record thing kicked in and nerves were frayed. We needed
to make another hot record and the pressure was on. Luckily Garth's
1st engineer Andre Wahl was on the session. Andre is talented. He
taught me a pile about the recording process and how to man the
spaceship. Garth was hardcore and demanded tuning and timing but
Andre sat in that chair for every single note that was recorded.
Thomas Payne was into the production, I was into the production,
Garth was there and Andre was a kick ass producer in his own right.
SOMETIMES WANNA DIE, the first single scored a top 5 hit in
Canada, a JUNO NOMINATION (Canadian Grammy) a # 1 Video (w/Tommy
Lee) and a PLATINUM Record for it's contribution to Women in Song 6.
We toured Canada but TOMMYBOY RECORDS sold to Warners and Warners
saw the acquisition as catalogue.
I had the Producing bug bad by this point. I've been producing since
JOYDROP and I'm loving it. It's a natural place to be after years
of being the artist and learning from some heavy Producers. I've
always been a firestarter. If I know something is exceptional I'll
do whatever it takes to get a song or a band into a better
situation. 20 some full recordings on I feel great about the future
of music. I don't share the doomsday prophecies of some in the
industry, rather I think the internet is an emerging band's weapon
of sucess and that the quality of songwriting and record making is
the highest I've seen it in years. Cheers and Spin that record DJ
!!
A few career highlights:
Platinum Record for Joydrop's "Sometimes Wanna Die" as part of Women
In Song 6.
"Sometimes Wanna Die" top 5 in Canada
Top 20 US/Top 10 Canada for Joydrop's "Beautiful"
Nominated for Juno (Canadian Grammy) for Best New Group w/Joydrop
#1 Video for "Sometimes Wanna Die"
Xtras:
I played bass live w/The Nightcrawlers - Island Records UK. The
Nightcrawlers had a top 5 UK hit w/"Push The Feeling On"
I played bass, co-wrote, co-produced and performed live w/The
Venafro Cafe Orchestra at The Glasgow International Jazz Festival
2005.
Five Guys Named Moe released in Japan.
Written up in Bass Player Magazine.
Had songs placed in White Oleander, West Wing, Triggerman and more.
I speak French and I can cook a chicken. (Not sure whether these are
related)
TESTIMONIALS
"...Tom offers ideas that no one else can. Your album will sound
500% better if you work with him. He taught us things about
music/recording/life that inspired us to be a MUCH BETTER band.
All 4 of us became better musicians through the process. From
lyrics - chord progressions - melodies - form structure -
instrumentation - Tom provides the X factor that takes your
tune from an A to an A+. McKay is the BEST value for the
money and I cannot reccomend him highly enough. We were
so impressed by his knowledge and attitude that we call him the
ROCK NESS MONSTER..."
Adymm Ender - singer/songwriter EDEN ANTS
"Going in to the recording process, I felt I had the potential for a
good record. After working with Tom Mckay, what I ended up
with was a great record. He motivates, pushes, and works harder
than anyone I've ever worked with, and because he's also a
talented musician/songwriter himself, he comes up with great
ideas that take it to a whole other level. Tom hooked me up
with world class mixing engineer, Mark Plati, and then it was
game over. My shit sounded amazing!"
Leh-Lo - Tony Rabalao
Tom McKay
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