TN'T (Trish & Tom) Online interview with Mike Ashley Life and Soul Promotions U.K. https://www.lifeandsoulpromotions.co.uk 06/18/07 https://www.tritommusic.com Mike: Tell me about yourself, where you from, background, family? Do you still live there, if not where are you based? What are you working on now? Do you have a CD out or when can we expect it? (Tom) I'm from Birmingham, Alabama... (Trish) I am a native New Yorker... I grew up in Freeport L.I. New York. (Tom) I played my first night club At age 14. Then went to college and receieved a B.S. degree in Commerce and Business. Afterwards decided to move from Birmingham to New York to pursue my first love...music. Trish and I became close friends while members of the funk band Pryme Tyme. Afterwards Trish and I did production work with different producers and worked as songwriters, musicians, and producers ourselves. We did extensive work with funk producer Johnny Ray Reid (Crown Heights Affair), Kenton Nix (Heartbeat,Funky Sensation), James D-Train Williams (Keep On) and many others. A Few years back we decided to release our first indie soul cd entitled "Sweet Like Honey". We did everything in house. It was written, produced, recorded by us in our own Light, Laugh, and Love studio. Recently we released our second indie soul cd "Something Good" which was pretty much all done in house with the exception of three tracks written by other writers...there are 17 tracks in all on the cd, all either produced or co-produced by Trish and I. So this is where we are right now..."Something Good". Though we live as husband and wife on Long Island, we consider our base New York City, L.I. is a suburb of NYC. How’s it going down – what tracks can we look out for/do you like? Several tracks on the "Something Good" cd that are creating a stir and receiving airplay are 'Welcome to The Party","Soul Music", "I Got Some Loving For You", "Bet Your Money", "So Hard So Cold", Its a diverse Cd and even though our roots are funk...we make many different stops along the way on this record. There are 17 tracks so if you listen long enough you're bound to hear something that's gonna move you. By the way "Something Good" received an award for one of the best of 2006 from Soul-Patrol.com. Did you write the songs? We wrote 14 of the 17 tracks on "Something Good". If so tell me about the writing process And production? Our writing process is fairly simple...either the music comes first or the lyrics come first. We write mostly about things that happen in our own lives. We've been fortunate to have a super relationship between the two of us... we think its due to being raised in families with very similar values.... so there's a lot of positivity in the songs. Even when the music is fast and funky we're still on the love thing. God is love, we need more love..it'll make the world a better place...which by the way is the title of one of our favorite tracks from "Something Good" cd ..."More Love". Sometimes we write about other people experiences we observe as well. As we said earlier 90 plus percent of the production is done in house by the two of us and we also like to call our good friend Johnny Ray Reid in on ocassions to help out. What instruments do you play? All of the vocals are done by Trish and I. I'm a drummer first, but along the way I've developed pretty decent keyboard skills...of course we're always inviting some of our funky friends over to help bless the tracks. Where is it obtainable from? The "Something Good" Cd is Available online at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tnt2 or can be purchased directly from us by contacting us at our website http://www.tritommusic.com. We're independent music artists so it's a real grassroots effort. Tell me about your style, what you do and what do you add to the rest of the stuff out there? Our style uses funk as the the platform upon which we build upon. You have indie soul artists who use soul and jazz. We fuse soul and funk...and some house and some rock...you know Trish is a house head anyway. We just take an eclectic mix of what we like and make music. I grew up in a household full of gospel singers. In my early years I was a rockn'roller, then it was jazz, and some kind of way the funk and soul took over. I think it was the 2 and the 4 the 1 and the 3. Trish is a dancer...she has a degree in dance from the College at Old Westbury. She likes jazz standards and old old movies as well. So you take all of this and put it in a pot and come up with "Something Good". Whats your show like, what gigs are you doing? Do you use the same people live as on your recorded material? We live for the live show. We enjoy the live show more than we do recording...Energy and sweat. To see us live is not your typical indie soul set. It's not for the faint of heart, it's not for the laid back. You have to come ready to get down and funky. The show is filled with emotion and just the two of us being who we are... and we always roll with the funkiest band in the land. Me being a musician myself I know how to pick just the right players to compliment TN'T. There's one pre-requisite...James Brown said it first "Whatsoever it is, it's got to be funky). So when you come to a Trish & Tom set you have to be ready to have a good time...after all that's what entertainment is. We just recently performed at the Soul-Parol convention in Philadelphia and right before this interview we performed a set at Sip in Harlem NYC USA (The Acoustic Soul Lounge), The crowd was the epitome of what we just mentioned about being ready to have a good time, it was a very good evening. Our calendar for the first half of july is empty by design because of prior non-music comittments we have, but hopefully we'll be back in time to attend the International Soul Summit in Atlanta. Yes, as a matter of fact we do use the same musicians that helped out on the CD whenever possible...sometimes different combinations, but all from the same school of funk. Whats it like getting yourself heard, and getting stuff down as an independent? Of course being an independent is difficult...it's expensive, exhausting, seems sometimes there's no light at the in of the tunnel...but in the same breath we would say it's the most rewarding endeavor ever for us. it's a sense of accomplishing things you never knew in the beginning you were capable of. Our motto has always been "One Thing Leads To Another" and this journey so far has proven us right. As for radio play we are getting some, not as much as we would like...commercial airplay, forget about it...but we never created "Something Good" with commercial play in mind anyway...we just wanted to create a record that we and like minded people would dig as well...and so far everyone who has had a chance to hear our music has gotten a good vibe from it. Getting the music heard is not an easy thing, there are so many other talented music artists out there. We seek those stations who have formats that we think our music might fit. Ultimately as an independent it comes down to persistence to get it done even though you don't have a lot of money. We love what we do and stay true to the game...keep a positive attitude and the rest works itself out. Who are your influences, currently and from back in the day? Our influences are mostly funk and soul music from the seventies, gospel music... my uncle Sam Matt who still is a tremendous singer, musician and arranger. We usually don't like to start calling names because there are just so many who have had a mega impact on the way we hear and make music. One thing we've always done is try to get something out of every piece of music we hear...out of every situation we're in, we try to learn or take something positive with us. Are you in it full time What other independent artists are you feeling? Our goal as independents is to eventually get to the point where we can eat off of what we create...we're not there yet...but we have no doubt...it could be just around the corner. We're fans of indie soul music. We have quite an extensive indie cd collection. We feel its important to support that which you are a part of. We dig'n the usual suspects. What’s the scene like where you are? We're in the New York City Metro area...the soul scene here is pretty vibrant and of course many of the indie soul artists who are not based here come here to do shows, so we get to see and hear a lot of shows... can't remember a bad one. The Indie soul scene here has rep for strong artists. That's the beauty of this whole thing most of the artists are on their game and take great pride in what they present. We learn a lot from the Eric Robersons, Julie Dexters, Marlon Saunders, etc.,etc.,etc., see we told you ... we don't like to start calling names because there are just too many that we admire and think highly of and probally so many more we haven't heard of. What is your following like locally? Locally, we have our niche of like minded funky souls...no the the funk is not dead, It lives. Ocassionally we get away and increase our territory just a bit. What we find is, if you're a fan of good music...more often than not you'll become a fan of TN'T (Trish & Tom). What do you know about other markets, UK, Europe, Japan etc.? We have to admit our knowledge of markets in The U.K., Europe, Japan, etc. is very limited. We've had sales through CdBaby.com in all of them. MySpace music has been very helpful in terms of us getting a chance to see what's up with our Brothers and Sisters abroad of like mindedness. We've traveled in Europe, but haven't had the opportunity to get down with the nitty gritty soul scene. The vibe I'm getting is a good one from The U.K., Netherlands, Europe and japan. It seems a better place for what we do than the U.S. We're looking forward to increasung our territory and Broadening our mindset.... Not all Americans are narrow minded. Some us do realize there is much more to this world than just the U.S. How do you see Soul Music right now? Right now we see soul music is on the horizon but feel it can go either way. Its going to be up to the soul community both indie and mainstream to come together collectively and create a movement that won't be denied. Understand we're speaking of soul from the perspective of an indie soul artist here in the U.S. because as we stated earlier our knowledge of the U.K. European market is very limited. We have to respect differences in style and become fans of each others music. Most of the time when people ask us about our genre of music...we tell them we're indie soul music artists, they have no clue...no never heard of that genre. and if you just say soul music, they think old...of course there's nothing wrong with old. If you didn't have the old there would be no new. So there's work to be done here in the U.S. (Silly Americans). We have an aquaintance who's a industry executive who has asked us about being indie music artists and when we explain, it's like this person still has no clue...I guess if you've never been there its hard to understand or you just don't want to understand. What are your ambitions? Our immediate ambitions as we said before is to get the music to where we can eat off of it. Whats happening next? Well right now I need a cup of coffee...been sitt'n here a while... We're not really sure of what's next ...of course we'll ride "Something Good" until the tires fall off, simply because its still a very new record and there's a whole world out there that needs to hear and see what we're offering. Writing and recording new material is ongoing with us...but we have no immediate plans to release anything new as of right now, so you can look forward to more and more show dates as we have recently hooked up with what seems is going to be a good booking agent for us, hopefully it'll be the right fit. Is there something adventurous you might like to do but haven’t yet with your music? Adventurous with our music...yes, tour and spread the word throughout the U.K.,Europe and Japan What do you enjoy most about what you do? First of all we don't take our talent for granted...we consider it a gift given to us by The One and Only God. So the fact that we have the freedom to create, bring joy and happiness is what we like most about what we do. What other things do you like to do? We like anything that has to do with the arts, travel... I'm also a sports fan sort of. We also enjoy participating in community programs. Any random words? Yes... love, peace, and hair grease Do you have a favorite artist? I don't have a favorite artist I love them all...Trish might have a favorite, but she has abandom me for the moment. Favorites? Favorite Film...no, Actor...no Food....yes, We like chicken...oh yeah!!! and potato chips Drink...believe it or not ...water....Trish Diet Coke City...Not a favorite, there are many we like to visit. Anything else you’d like to say? Thanks... we've tried our best to give you the real on TN'T(Trish & Tom)...the abbreviated version anyway.... bad grammar, mispellings and all. There's a lot more, we'll save that for the book. Thanks for the opportunity, we hope we've made some new friends. Good luck and thanks for your time Mike