THOMAS GILES BLURS THE GENRES ON HIS LATEST SOLO ALBUM
Between The Buried And Me’s frontman enlists key guest players on fourth outing.
Thomas Giles (aka Tommy Rogers) has teamed up with bandmates Dan Briggs (bass) and Blake Richardson (drums) on Don’t Touch The Outside, out now through Sumerian. The album is his most emblematic yet, and also includes appearances from guitarist Wes Hauch (Alluvial) and vocalists Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), Einar Solberg (Leprous), and Carley Coma (Candiria).
“Kristoffer was on my bucket list,” says Giles, acknowledging the creative role that Ulver’s visionary played on the album. “Because his voice is so deep and distinguishable, our voices work well together. He sent me a lot of ideas that ended up being in Milan.”
Giles also tells Prog that the 70s soulinfluenced lead track Milan is one of his favourite solo songs that he’s written.
Giles brought in Coma for I Win because he knew he couldn’t rap, and wanted to put Solberg “outside of his comfort zone by throwing him on an electronic track [Everyone Is Everywhere]”.
Musician Wes Hauch created a big contrast with Mr Sunshine’s shredding guitar solo, leading Giles to conclude, “Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I try to get guys that I really admire, either as I was growing up or influencing me later. It’s amazing to work with these people.”
Giles says he lived and breathed the record for a week in the studio, allowing him to find a different inspiration to experiment and try new things each time. In this way, Don’t Touch The Outside signifies a move away from the electronic focus of his 2016 album Velcro Kid and towards a varied representation of the many different kinds and moods of music that the keyboard player and singer enjoys.
“There’s a lot of personal stuff, too,” he continues, “like Sway, which is about my wife and I, and Exordium, which is about me moving west. I tend to get more personal with the solo material. Lyrically, they hold a special place because of that.
“There’s not an overall concept or anything,” he continues. “I take it song by song with my solo stuff.”
He reveals the title and cover art were inspired by the notion that being anonymous today is difficult, inspiring him to “represent what a lot of people miss about not always being engaged with humanity”.
Thomas Giles is currently on tour in Europe with Between The Buried And Me, and joint headliners TesseracT. Although he has no immediate plans to play Don’t Touch The Outside live, he says he’s open to figuring something out later in 2019. JB
“It’s amazing to work with these people.”