Electric White Boy
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in his own words
- What's the worst, nails-down-a-blackboard musical experience you've had?
- When you hear somebody sing a song that’s painfully close to home for them emotionally at the time. It’s uncomfortable and beautiful listening in equal measure especially once you’ve got to know a few of the performers on the local scene personally and you know exactly who and what that song’s about.
- What's your favourite song of yours?
- At the moment “Sing at My Funeral”, it’s a song I’d been trying to write for years. Both the music and the lyric had been kicking about separately or in various incarnations until I put them together and did a bit of fiddling. It’s the one I’m almost proud of.
- Your favourite song(s) of all time?
- Whole Lotta Love Led Zeppelin, Believe I’ll Dust My Broom Robert Johnson, People Ain’t No Good Nick Cave, Time Has Told Me Nick Drake, Spark Tori Amos, House Where Nobody Lives Tom Waits, Grace Jeff Buckley, If You See Her Say Hello Bob Dylan, I Know It’s Over The Smiths, Black Pearl Jam, Gone The Black Crowes
- The consumer question: album, book or film you've enjoyed recently?
- The Mighty Rearranger Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation He’s not the screaming tenor that can’t keep it in his trousers persona he was in the 70’s, but then again it would be far sadder if like Mick Jagger he was still trying to be. It’s undeniably better than the iffier Zeppelin albums and still relevant.
- How would your best review sum you up?
- "Possessing a voice which has a world-weary bluesiness that bellies the pasty-faced youth his name suggests.” Edinburgh Evening News
- How would your worst critic sum you up?
- Uninspired Classic Rock with delusions of adequacy.
- Who do you fancy at OOTB?
- I’ve finally well and truly learnt my lesson about eyeing up female singers, these days it’s which guitar would I like to take home with me.
- Who would be in your fantasy band?
- The Sawmill Buddhas plus the Dirty Dozen horn section and two black female backing singers. Oh and I’d be playing a Zematis guitar, a vintage Les Paul, a Cherry Red Gibson ES150 and a Telecaster.
at OOTB
(Nov 2002)
The one and only Electric White Boy then took to the stage. After a few weeks off to write songs, he came back with a bang. He now holds the record for the newest-ever-song-played-at-OOTB with "For The Firemen" which was written 20 minutes before he went on stage. He played, spontaneously, at a picket line this evening and this was about growing up wanting to be a fireman. "What's A Boy Got To Do?" was about being a single white boy playing the blues and featured some impressive scat singing halfway through. With a Heavy Metal intro and some fret-surfing harmonics "I Shall Not Be Forsaken" betrayed EWB's rawk roots. Howling vocals with a passing nod to Nickleback and a Led Zep III-ish instrumental break, this was full-on stuff and very enjoyable. See you soon, 'Electric.(October 2003)
Jim Thomson, AKA Electric White Boy, went up next to give us some trademark Deep South sold-my-soul-at-the-crossroads style blues. The first was "a rare song" with some melancholy guitar work and jazzy breaks. It was sung with his typical bluesy vocals and lyrics like "its gonna be a long night and I don't think I can sleep" making the song sound more despairing. "The miller's daughter" is an old OOTB classic, bluesy yet melodic, and this time sung without the microphone, making it sound more personal. "I went down to the river today" and "surrounded by cold water, I saw the miller's daughter" for some reason made me think of "O brother where art thou?" the Coen brothers movie set in the Deep South. The third song was about unrequited love, played tonight for a band member in that situation. "Yo a red hot mama but I gotta keep my damper down" summed up the basis of the song, with variations such as "You crank my handle but you keep your hand on the brake" sung in the style of a white James Brown, but with a smaller belt size.