Tom Tit Tot

"Solo Project" lol

My home studio is getting more and more badass; more mics, better software and hardware, some drums and amps, keyboards, a violin I can’t play very well, a concertina I can’t play very well, etc. I also have a bass and a sweet red guitar and a greek bouzouki and an accordion I bought with the proceeds from this Substack.

Now, this time last year, I was feeling weirdly Christmasy and thinking about my dear departed Gran Dorothy, who loved traditional carols and playing the piano. So I laid down 11 piano tracks and started adding to them. And before you know it, I had this:

Of course, it will never top the Christmas albums put out by such brilliant visionaries as Bob Dylan (“Must Be Santa”) or the Dropkick Murphys (“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Boston”), but it’s nice to have on around the house if you’re baking.

“Tom Tit Tot” is the name of my favourite English folk tale, it’s the original “Rumplestiltskin” story and now it’s the name of my Alter Ego on the streaming services. It’s a little digital place I’ll store my random collected tunes over the years that aren’t good enough for the Dreadnoughts.

And of course I use this home studio to record demos for the band. For example the other day a mildly interesting little middle-eastern tune came to my head and I dashed in and made this in a couple of hours. It might make it to an album song. It might not. It needs to be developed and have more parts added. But it’s fucking awesome to be able to make these things and hear what they might actually sound like coming out of a real studio.

Anyway, if you don’t already, consider supporting this burgeoning recording studio by becoming a paid subscriber! Personally, I wouldn’t, it doesn’t seem worth it, but some of you seem kind of nuts and I’m happy to take advantage of that.