It's been a good year for Tom Baxter. His album, Skybound, was acclaimed by all and sundry and went Top Ten. His last single, Better, appeared in Run Fat Boy Run – thanks to the film's director, Friends star David Schwimmer, who also got Tom to play at the film's LA premiere. And his approach to recording – paint lovely canvases, sell them, fund new album – even drew compliments from the Daily Mail, who called him 'a thoroughly modern, multi-media role model.'
Which is all well and good – but how will he fare with the Questions of Living...?
Living... For The City
If I could live anywhere right now, I'd probably choose to live in Devon. Then again maybe France for a while... Actually, you know what, I love London. It's the best city in the world. Well, so far: I haven't seen them all of course! But of Paris, New York, LA... my favourite is in London. Culturally, art wise, and I like the way the city's big but it's still got its greens and parks: it's a collection of villages really. Plus I think the English people are a good bunch. You forget how lucky we are sometimes.
And family's a big thing, that keeps you here. I've got three other siblings and we're really close, so that's another thing. Maybe if I didn't have them I'd find it easier to bugger off... but yeah, London AND Devon, that would be cool. And I wouldn't mind living on a desolate Greek island for a while to paint and write.
Living... For The Weekend
The perfect Tom Baxter night out? It's not very rock and roll but I think I'd get all my mates, and the family, and the kids, and about 10 barrels of good beer – like Adnams – and some good wine and go up a mountain somewhere on a summer's evening. And get blasted on top of a mountain.Those sorts of nights are always the best, the impromptu ones where you don't spend any money. The ones where you spend loads of money I often find afterwards I'm thinking well, what was the point of that? But to sit around with a few guitars, a camp fire... Yeah, let's get tribal!
Living... On A Prayer
I'm not religious. My bass player has a website called Religion Is Rubbish and I totally agree with him. I think setting up a group, that pack mentality that they create, is destructive. I think being spiritual, being connected to nature, being aware of humanity is good. I think there is a spiritual side to humanity that we should tap into but I don't like the whole 'I'm a Christian,' 'I'm a Buddhist,' 'I'm this,' 'I'm that'... that just ends up making people defensive and killing each other. The essence of all religions is fundamentally great but there's all this crap that's built up around them, which is what I don't like.
Living In A Box
The best present I ever had was from an old friend of mine. When I got signed – just before my 30th birthday – she got all my friends to make a poem or a drawing or anything, collages, whatever, and she put them all together to make this lovely book. So I have all these thoughts from all the friends who supported me in my 20s, wishing me a happy birthday and good luck. That was amazing.
The best present I ever gave... I think I gave my girlfriend Lily the best present when I threw a surprise birthday party for her 30th and that just went really well. I got a pinata, and filled it with all the things she likes... It all took a lot of planning but it was just one of those parties where everything falls into place and goes right.
The Living Daylights
My favourite Bond film would be... actually, I reckon the last one, Casino Royale. The others are classics, but they did a bloody good job on Casino Royale. The last ten years of Bond has been a bit , well, is it a comedy? Is it a thriller? But the last one was gritty. He seemed more like a killer.
Living TV
The big night in? That's easy. Sofa, TV, girlfriend...! It would be a night on the sofa, watching a good film with Lily. We'd be eating something healthy, a good bit of fish and veg but there would be a bar of chocolate in the fridge. Maybe with a bottle of wine? Or a nice cup of tea... or maybe 10 barrels of Adnams.
Tom's new single, Miracle, will be released on 2nd June. Tom also plays London's KOKO on 3rd June 2008.
