‘The first proper memory I have of getting into music’
The Scotsman Sessions reaches its 400th edition in the fine company of one of Scotland’s most accomplished rising stars. Glasgow-based singer/ songwriter Dylan John Thomas has just released his debut self-titled album, a bumper 13 tracks of wellkent tunes dispensed in just over 40 minutes.
For his burgeoning fanbase, the album is a document of the set they have sung along to at Thomas’s impressive six sold out Barrowland shows to date. For the uninitiated, it will be a journey of discovery taking in his influences, from mentor Gerry Cinnamon to Two Tone titans The Specials to the man (in black) who started it all, Johnny Cash.
Thomas grew up in care and came to his obsession with music through the video games he played in his foster homes. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a favourite, with Cash’s Ring of Fire featuring repeatedly on the soundtrack. “I remember jumping about the room singing it and that was the first proper memory I have of getting into music,” says Thomas. “It sparked something in me.” Thomas asked for “a wee Argos guitar” for Christmas and set about learning to play the song, the first step on an ambitious, focussed journey he characterises as “a bit of graft and a bit of luck and meeting some nice people who can help you out”.
He is already way ahead of many of his contemporaries in profile – not many artists can sell out Barrowland even once before they have released an album – but this is simply the fruition of a conscientious plan hatched from his bedroom to be able to tour. As such, he is a ten-year overnight sensation who cut his teeth on the busking and open mic scenes of Glasgow where he caught the ear of an older jobbing musician, Gerry Cinnamon. Cinnamon would go on to huge success, selling out two nights at Hampden Park, but he spotted a callow kindred spirit in Thomas. “Growing up, I didn’t have anybody to speak to and Gerry saw that, this young boy jumping about the gigging scene, needing a bit of direction,” says Thomas.
Forced off the road by the pandemic, the everindustrious Thomas took the time to develop his songwriting, including confronting his troubled childhood. “It was going to come out one way or another and it’s better that it came out in a song,” he says. “For me it was probably the only way I was going to be able to process it.” Even now, Thomas will not go into details of his experiences in care but he lays it out candidly enough on album closer Wake Up Ma: “Fifteen foster homes, three meals a day, can't fill the hole left in my heart”.
As for his Scotsman Session, Thomas has chosen the more freewheeling and optimistic former single Yesterday Is Gone, saying “I just like the tune. I was listening to a lot of synth music and watching a lot of Ryan Gosling films at the time!”
Dylan John Thomas is out now on Ignition Records