Tom Grennan
Tom Grennan and I have both lost our voices. For me, it happened after trying — and failing — to rap along to Eminem at Reading Festival the previous weekend. For him, it was midway through his spectacular Sunday set on the Festival Republic Stage in the same field. “It was bleak! I nearly cried!” He croaks down the phone. “I kept apologising, but the crowd knew all the songs so it was great.”
Less than a year since he first sparked attention with his feature on Chase & Status’s goose bump-inducing “All Goes Wrong” and rose to the top of every list predicting the future stars of 2017, he can only describe these past months as “pinch-yourself moments”. Releasing his first EP, “Something In The Water” a few months after his collaboration with the dance duo, Grennan tells me how he never expected such success. “The first EP is just songs that I wrote in my bedroom and I never thought people would grasp onto them.” He explains, “‘Release The Breaks’ [his second EP] was the same. I thought it was just a bunch of OK songs but people loved them!”
Now having dropped his third EP, “Found What I’ve Been Looking For” earlier this year, it seems that perhaps Grennan is beginning to embrace the true talent that he is. As the owner of one of the most original voices in music at the moment, his gravelly vocals evoke a power and sincerity that makes his tracks seem brutally honest and wildly captivating. “Without sounding like a prick, I’ve grasped the gist that I’m doing something that’s different and something that’s connecting and that people are believing in,” he admits endearingly.
It’s clear that the hype around him is only going to grow and with an album on the way early next year, Grennan is about to become a certified star. Not that he was far off already, selling out Camden’s KOKO a few days before we talk. “It’s a rock n roll venue, innit?” He laughs when I ask how it feels to pack the iconic London venue. “The fact that my hero Amy Winehouse has played on that stage and has blessed that stage and I’m about to perform there, it’s a very crazy thought. It’s mental, it’s so mental.” Let’s just hope there’s a few Strepsils on his rider.
Photography - Daniel Ciufo
Fashion - Kamran Rajput
Grooming - Rebekah Lidstone
Wonderland Magazine Autumn 2017 Issue
