Interview: Teddy Thompson

Since 2000, Teddy Thompson, son of the folk-rock duo Linda and Richard Thompson, has been creating his own fame and fortune. The New York Times acclaims his work as ‘beautifully finessed’, and he is just about to embark on a UK-wide tour. All rather exciting, right?

“No, it seems like an awful lot of work doesn’t it?” Teddy disagreed. “I’m not sure I can be bothered… maybe I’ll call the whole thing off?” I laughed nervously, unsure whether he was being serious.

Previously the singer-songwriter had described himself as ‘Po-Fo-Co’ (Pop-Folk-Country, obviously) but for Bella, his fifth album, expect more of a pop vibe. ‘‘I think it might be a bit more Poppy actually… I don’t know what came over me…there’s definitely a bit of ’60s girl group influence in it with the production, and there’s a kind of old fashioned boy-girl duet which also sounds very ’60s to me.’’

Teddy also spoke to me with fondness about the last time he was in Cambridge. This was in 2006, where he performed at the Folk Festival; “It was really sunny and beautiful and I had a really nice day, which is always nice for a festival.
“Festivals are a whole different thing,” he continued. “I kind of dread them in a lot of ways. I mean, Glastonbury is a nightmare! It’s so big and it takes hours to get there…you do your set and then there’s loads of great people there but you can’t get anywhere near the stage; it’s not really my scene at all! It’s not quite as much fun as playing clubs, because they are intimate…if it’s a good show and you’ve got a good crowd, they’re all brushed up against each other – it’s great!”

We talk about the process of making a record.
“There were a lot of times over the months that I didn’t think it was going well and I didn’t like any of the songs and I was having a hard time just going through the experience. With any artistic endeavour there’s a lot of highs and lows, and a lot of self-doubt. You have days where you think, ‘eurgh I hate this!’ and then you have a day where things start to sound good…and you’re like, ‘yeah, I love music, I know why I’m doing this!’’

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRk2ai8T9tg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Teddy Thompson performing ‘Looking for A Girl’, the first single from Bella.

When Teddy was 18 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career, but despite his musical background, it was not expected that he should follow in the footsteps of his iconic parents. “No, no, not at all. I mean, not expected or maybe not even really appreciated at the time. I think my parents might have preferred for me to go into something a bit steadier. If you’ve been a musician you know what a difficult experience it can be and you might not wish that upon your kids.

“They did encourage me once I knew that that was what I wanted to do, but they certainly didn’t push me towards it or expect me to play. It was all off my own back.’’
What was it like growing up in the Thompson household? Surprisingly un-rock-and-roll. “Nobody I went to school with had even heard of them. It wasn’t particularly cool and I did my best to make sure nobody else found out! I was embarrassed.”
Nor does he regard his parents as serious musical influences: “I think their influence is more on a genetic level than anything else… I am much more American driven and they are obviously very traditionally English…whatever we do share is probably just in the DNA more than the style of singing.”

And because Teddy had managed defy all the impressions I previously had about his upbringing and his mind-set, there was something reassuring, in finding at least one thing that is quite cliché about the indefinable Teddy Thompson: his desert island choices:

Music:  Bach, Ray Charles, Revolver.

One book: The Bible.

Luxury item: A guitar.

Teddy Thompson’s new album, ‘Bella’, was released on February 7th. Catch him at the Junction on February 15th, tickets at http://www.junction.co.uk/