I managed to catch up with Thom Morecroft in Leaf to discuss his appearance this weekend at Threshold. He arrived suitably late but made up for his poor time-keeping with a constant smile and brilliant attitude.
Are you looking forward to playing at Threshold?
Oh definitely, it’s going to be wonderful.
Will you be playing with a band?
Yeah, it’s a five-piece band; we’ve got a bass player now, that’s a new thing, he’s a nice man called Adam. There’s a female singer called Elle Schillereff, the percussionist is Chris Cousineau, and a guitarist called James Baxter.
So do you and Elle share the vocals?
Well, kind of, i’d say that we share them so (shrugs).
Are you going to be playing songs from your new album or from other places?
Probably all the stuff of the new album or just new songs. I don’t really play songs of the old album, it was a long time ago, there’s some stuff on it I quite like but I just don’t play anything off it. I might play ‘Oh Rocko’...
Do you feel like you’ve moved on a bit since then?
I don’t know about that, I think we probably just haven’t got around to playing anything off it because I didn’t know [the band] then.
I hear you’ll be keeping busy across the weekend.
Yeah, i’m doing a 25 minute set for my set and then the Paul Du Noyer thing, so i’m on at 16.55 in the Camp and Furnace on the Paper Garden stage and then Paul Du Noyer is having a book session thing, he wrote for Q and NME and was apparently one of the founding co-editors of Mojo magazine. Actually, I don’t know why I said apparently, it’s not like I don’t believe him. He wrote this book about the Liverpool music scene and he has a list of 100 songs and i’m playing 3 of them apparently for that, well I am, there’s nothing apparently about it.
You’re playing some saxophone as well?
I am, for the Terry Gray band who I think are on sometime after half twelve, at half one I think (The stage time is actually half twelve-CS). All on the Sunday.
Are you planning to make the most of the Friday and Saturday while you have the time?
Definitely, i’m going to make a big point of watching Silent Cities, I mean, I won’t bring banners with me or anything. Robert Vincent, Natalie McCool, there are so many people to see, Chris and Kaya are lovely people, the guys who run the festival. I played last year at the Cafe Bar in the Nordic church quite late on the Saturday night as a 2-piece, it was quite fun.
You’re glad to be asked back then?
Oh yes, i’m so happy they asked me back, I was dancing round the room. The sample of acts that Chris and Kaya have is incredible, they take everything from the up-and-coming alongside people who are more ‘hidden nuggets’, people like Tom George.
Thom Morecroft will be performing on Sunday at Camp and Furnace on the Paper Garden stage from 16.55. He also runs an acoustic night on Tuesdays at Schmooze and can be found at www.facebook.com/thommorecroftmusic and on Twitter: @thommorecroft.
