We were delighted with the coverage ‘Made of Light’ received in fRoots Magazine, the leading Folk and World Music publication. fRoots also included ‘Conscience Money’ (the album’s opening track) on their annual complimentary CD and invited Tymon to play on their stage at the Sidmouth Folk Festival in August. Cheers fRoots!!
Jesus Arias and Tymon Dogg Granada 2012
Granada will not be the same without our dear friend Jesus Arias, journalist, composer, guitarist who devoted his life to making and writing about music. He loved bringing creative people from all different art forms together and was a master of encouragement.
This from the pen of the wonderfully-named Ricky Flake… love the ‘regular-guy voice’ reference… Tymon has never been called that before!!! ‘Screeching elf’ yes, ‘banshee rant’ yes but ‘regular guy voice’? Nope!!
Made Of Light Tymon Dogg (Thin Man Music, HHH 1/2)
This Nov. 6 CD comes from someone who was a friend and songwriting partner of Joe Strummer and member of The Mescaleros. There are two CDs, labeled Side One and Side Two which indicates availability in vinyl/digital formats for this well-crafted album. Tymon sings British-accented, better world lyrics in a regular-guy voice, but there’s tremendous instrumental variety. The lavishly orchestrated Conscience Money; the piano-powered Like I Used to Be; the violin-drenched That’s The Way It Is and the humorous Perfect Match are my favorite tunes. This is a good one for discriminating listeners.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/entertainment/article47868865.html#storylink=cpy
Chuffed with this one ranking Tymon’s album alongside Tracy Chapman’s ‘Greatest Hits’… cool!
Here’s what it says in case you can’t squint it:
‘Uber talented Clash/101ers associate’s ornate and barbed songs make their mark on this sweeping double CD’
OK! It’s the excellent Hastings Independent… Cheers guys!
Who let the Dogg out?
While the wider populace usually recall him for Lose This Skin, his strident folk-flavoured cameo on The Clash’s much-maligned Sandinista, Merseyside-born Stephen Murray (aka Tymon Dogg) has enjoyed a rich, if erratic career sprawling over five decades.
During the early 70s, Dogg met the pre-Clash Joe Strummer while busking on the London Underground. Years later he joined Strummer’s post-Clash outfit, The Mescaleros, for 2001’s Global A-Go-Go, though his eclectic CV also includes Merseybeat-era gigs at The Cavern; collaborations with Ian Hunter and 1968’s The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane, a solo 45 for Pye featuring Jimmy Page.
Starting with his eponymous 1976 debut, Dogg’s sporadic solo oeuvre has so far yielded six LPs; of which Rev-Ola’s 2010 retrospective The Irrepressible Tymon Dogg remains the best point of entry for the uninitiated. Both the faithful and newcomers with a penchant for eccentric English pop will, however, find plenty to dig on Dogg’s latest, Made Of Light. The meandering, raga-like Rock Box Hammer shows his perpetually nomadic muse can sometimes be a little too restless but both the harpsichord-driven Conscience Money and potent, pro-vegan Pound Of Grain are pithy and politically-aware while Like I Used To Be is perhaps the most charmingly idiosyncratic love song he’s ever penned.
Thin Man Music |
Reviewed by Tim Peacock
Tymon Dogg playing the violin
From what I’ve heard of your music – from the best-of and other bits and bobs – your music wouldn’t have any trouble selling on its own merits. A lot of it is damn good, and also happens to be commercial. Why has so little of your music been released? Do you feel the record labels let you down by not distributing it properly?
They weren’t the right sort of record labels, and I was very, very young [17] … some of those songs must’ve been around from a late 16-year-old. As far as I was concerned, I was just writing songs; that’s just what I do.
Tymon Dogg
I found myself become more independent in my twenties, and I turned my back on the whole music industry, really. I just thought, “It’s not what I need.” I had everything I needed. I had a nice piano at the top of [my] house.
You sound like you were more interested in getting the music out of you than into people’s ears.
It was that, yes – where the music was purely a thing I was just … doing. I think many young people have to worry too much, about security and money. And it’s a pity, because they don’t get enough chance to really make proper decisions.
Why is your latest record split into two discs?
It’s people’s concentration. I just thought I’d do it like Side 1 and Side 2 of an old [vinyl] album. I realised that with a lot of CDs I listen to, I couldn’t get past four or five tracks. With a [vinyl] album, you’d listen to the first side, and then decide [if] you’d want to turn it over. But you’re not force-fed it.
Tymon in the Red Garden
How did Lose This Skin come about?
I was staying in Spanish Harlem, doing a lot of folk gigs …. The Clash were staying in a very nice hotel, and they had the Electric Lady Studio – really, they had the best the rock world could give them. And I think they felt slightly envious that I was living a kind of [freer] life; particularly Joe. So they wanted to get me on their record… It was quite a funny exchange. There was absolutely no contract involved in it. And it was great. They just sort of put it out.
[Martin Scorsese] talked about doing a film one day that [turned out to be] Gangs of New York. [“Lose This Skin”] was actually in the film for a while. But I think there was some problem with Sony… I remember getting a call from Memorex telling me that it was in the film, but then it was taken out. The same week that Joe died.
Was Joe vegan?
He was vegetarian.
When did you become a vegan?
Around 1985. I’d been a vegetarian since ‘74, and a lot of that was influenced by the people around me. They had a vegetarian café, and it just became the norm for everybody [around me]. Of course, Joe was involved in our community, so vegetarianism was the norm. If somebody came in with a piece of meat, we’d go, “Wow, he’s weird!” Mick was, and is, a vegetarian.
What were you doing, and where were you, when you heard the news about Joe’s death?
I was actually making phonecalls to him. I was leaving messages on his answer-phone. A couple of hours later, the phone rang …
But that’s what I was doing that afternoon. We were arranging how we were going to go about the next record. There were various messes and tensions, between us and other people. They wanted to make a much more commercial record, I don’t know. They were worried about my influence. But we were trying to sort that out.
Young Tymon
Do you have any favourite movies?
Recently I saw Boyhood. I thought that was a brilliant film.
Are there any young (or older!) musicians that aren’t so prominent, whom you respect and who you think should be better known?
Some of the great Indian violin players, like L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar. [Their talents] always seem to be wasted, you know, when they play two notes on a Peter Gabriel song.
It’s difficult to say. I do listen to a lot of music … I like some of the attitude that Jack White [had]. More recently I’ve been listening to a lot of classics. Debussy, and stuff like that.
Tymon Dogg
What’s the status of release of your unreleased-on-CD LPs: Outlaw One, Battle of Wills, and Relentless?
There’s no work in progress to get them out. It has crossed my mind…. Now and again you come across a vinyl copy.
A vinyl copy of Relentless was going for £60 online today!
Oh dear. I will try to get them released [on] CD. But there’s a long waiting list.
by Arjun Sajip
Made Of Light is out now
Check out this cute video for ‘Pound of Grain’… warning it gets a bit grizzly towards the end…
More info to follow… Tymon will be doing a solo gig at the Observer building and Steve Finnerty’s JNKDLX project will be performing too… should be an EXCELLENT night so come along and bring mates…
Tymon will be playing and talking on Spencer Leigh’s show, On The Beat Sunday 118th October 7.30… you can listen again here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7sj
Tymon Dogg 