JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
THEO TAMS: I just released a music video for my latest single “The Last Song” and the song is definitely one of the more personal songs I’ve written, so it was a challenge to try and represent that visually. I had the idea for the music video about a year before we shot it – I needed time to grow a proper beard lol. I knew that I wanted to depict a kind of metamorphosis and the feeling of trying to be everything and everyone for someone else, and you kind of lose your own self and your identity along the way. It was a really freeing process and it’s always a really beautiful thing to execute something the way you originally envisioned:
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
TT: Creating the EP “Call The Doctor” and the music video for “The Last Song” was really a form of therapy for me. I think for a long time I was in the studio censoring my own artistry, saying things like, “oh that sounds cool, but it’s not for me, I couldn’t pull that off…” and then I just starting saying “yes” to a lot more. Being more open, being more vulnerable. It’s the most personal EP I’ve done, and I’m really proud of it, it taught me a lot about myself and about trusting my instincts, but it also served a purpose and I think that purpose was to really let go of some shit that was holding me back. The new EP which will be coming out sometime this year has taken a really different turn sonically, and I think it took writing a really personal record to get me to that point where I was willing to start taking some bigger creative risks.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
TT: Honestly, I don’t let my head go there. I am more focused on the people who DO understand and who DO appreciate the work I do. When you’re in a creative field and you put yourself out there, there are bound to be haters and people who want to come down on your art, it’s all part of the business and a shit part of the industry. It can eat at you, so you have to make a choice early on to focus on the positive that you’re getting back rather than the negative.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
TT: I think for a long time I didn’t want to write about certain aspects of my life. I didn’t want to write about faith, I didn’t want to write about my sexuality, I didn’t want to write about my family…. because in certain ways, a lot of those things are very juxtaposed. But the older I get, the more I realized that we ALL have those juxtapositions in some ways. So, I just let go of steering away from those things and instead embrace all the complicated emotions that come with them.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
TT: The biggest challenge I face as a creative person, and I think a lot of creative people struggle with this, is finding ways to maintain being productive even when you’re not feeling inspired. That’s when working on your craft really becomes the job. The job is not creating, it’s pushing through the uninspiring times and learning how to use them to work on other aspects. When I’m not feeling inspired to write, maybe that’s when I can really work on my live set and the performance aspect. When I’m not inspired to sing, maybe that’s when I can really sit down with my journal and my words. When I’m not inspired to do either of those things, maybe that’s when I can sit in silence with my thoughts and try to unearth what might be blocking inspiration. There is ALWAYS something to do, but it’s about gently nudging things in one direction or another to make it all happen.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
TT: Oh dear lord, I’ve had so many hahaha. I think the latest was a therapy session I was in a couple years ago, before the release of “Call The Doctor” and my anxiety was so crippling because there was so much fear attached to the release of this particular EP. It was an extremely personal group of songs, so I was putting myself out there in a way that I hadn’t really done before. I remember talking to my therapist and saying that I just wanted this EP to be successful and I wanted it to be a bit of breakthrough, etc., etc. and she said something to me that I will never forget. She said, “Outside of all those external forces that you cannot control, i.e. public perception, and industry acceptance, etc., do you not feel as though it is simply your purpose to create? To tell these stories and to sing these songs?” It was such an incredible moment for me as an artist because I immediately felt lighter and safer, when you break things down, it really is that simple. We are all here to create – that sounds so whitewashed eat pray love I know… lol, but it’s true.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
TT: I think people often don’t understand that we often don’t get a choice of what inspires us. I can be inspired by the strangest things sometimes; my partner will look at me funny and I’ll write a song about how he broke my heart. My dog can be acting up and being rowdy and I’ll write a song about feeling completely irrelevant and unimportant. On the flip side of that, I’ll see a kid with an ice cream cone and write a song about how the world is a beautiful place and we are all going to be okay. Inspiration comes in the weirdest forms and I think it’s hard for outsiders to really understand that source at times.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
TT: I have always wanted to write a musical. There have been so many songs that I’ve written over the years that never made the cut for projects, often because they were too cinematic sounding, or a bit to over the top, so…PERFECT for musical theatre haha. There hasn’t really been a delay so much as really finding the right time and the right people to collaborate with. BUT I can now safely say that it is in the works, and we have some basic plot information down, and really starting to dive into the characters as well. It’s exciting and the quarantine has finally given some time to really dive into these ideas.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
TT: I have two left feet so I wish I could move. I sometimes think about doing a music video with some dance elements or some choreography to it, but then I remember that I literally trip over myself constantly. I’ve always admired dance as an art form, I find being able to communicate stories and emotion through movement is just beautiful, it literally makes me weak in the knees. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll take the plunge.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
TT: The music industry has changed so much in the last decade especially, it’s a bit disheartening at times because as soon as you have a handle on one aspect of it, there’s 50 more avenues to explore but that’s also what keeps things exciting. You have to give people more than just music, more than just a product, you have to give them a reason to invest in you personally. They really need to care about you, I think that’s one of the positives of coming from a show like Canadian Idol – there has been downsides for sure, but the positive is that you have an incredible fan base of extremely loyal people who really do care about you. I’m super thankful for that.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
TT: I think in an industry where production is playing a bigger role than ever before, it’s really nice to hear that I’m still a legit singer haha. Autotune has it’s uses sure, but it has no place in my studio or in my process. I love being able to deliver raw emotion without having to rely on a computer to get me to sound a certain way.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
TT: I’m resilient as fuck. I think people often forget that or don’t realize it right away. But there are not many things that can break me, I’ve developed a really thick skin over the years which has served me well, but I refuse to lose the ability to feel things and I’ve always tried to write music that allows people to feel things too, even things they’re scared to feel, “The Last Song” is a perfect example of that.