Thomas Maria Craven was created in a test-tube in 1986 by scientists at West Herts College’s Cassio Campus in Watford. The original intention was for Tom to be more similar to the lab’s previous creation, Cat Deeley, but in an unfortunate accident a junior scientist had swapped the potions for “boobtubeâ€, (An important component in the Cat Deeley model) and “moustacheâ€. Hey presto: Tom Craven MK1 had arrived.As a young boy, Tom tried to make a name for himself carrying clogs around the Watford area, and would occasionally try to swap them with passers-by for pencils and apples so that he could go to school. Tom never found any Watfordians in need of new clogs, but eventually a local school got tired of Tom’s persistent mischief-making and found a three-legged desk that they were able to set up for him at the back of the class, underneath the boiler and a cupboard full of screws.Tom excelled in solving mathematical equations with his pipecleaners, and his apple collection, gathered from the back of Hairy Frank’s Grocery Shack on St. Albans Road, brought him popularity with the girls and two of the boys, but Tom was only interested in his guitar. Various early songs: To A Clog, Do You Think I’m Sexy? and Chances were enough to land him a couple of gigs at the Horns.After a brief and unsuccessful stint on Strictly Come Dancing, which I’ve been asked not to describe by the family of the dwarf who was injured in the brawl that broke out after Tom was voted off by a single point, Tom returned to his native Watford and teamed up with his second band outing, The Chapter, as well as setting off on a solo career.Tom’s live shows suffered a little after a small Albanian poet with a long nose and six fingers on each hand claimed that Tom’s song Do You Think I’m Sexy? sounded too similar to another song that he’d heard once on Absolute radio, and, although he didn’t really like it, Tom was forbidden from playing it ever again. Tom was helped out, though, after his doctors and two members of The Chapter advised him to swap his trademark “tights and bra†look for a more conventional jeans-and-Bubba-Gump-Shrimp-shirt combo. Jimmy from Too Late Lucy commented that someone should have told Cher the same thing in 1987, but noone really paid too much attention because two horses were chasing a milk-float past the Flag at the time, and Jimmy’s mouth was full of chilli peanuts.In 2008, Tom’s Unseen Angel EP had fifty-five launch parties before it was released and was eventually delivered to his eager fanbase by carrier pigeon all over the UK.Tom is really looking forward to 2009. He hopes it will make him even more attractive, rich, popular and famous, and would love to see you at one of his shows.- Jamie Smith Esq. - Biographer & Part-Time Drunk.
GOTO WWW.REVERBNATION.COM/TOMCRAVEN FOR A HELL OF A LOT MORE STUFF! MORE TRACKS, MORE GIGS, MORE INFO, MORE INTERESTING! SO MUCH BLOODY BETTER :) See you there :)
"[On Tom's Music] Well, it simply grabs you by your soul-bollocks and doesn't let go!" - Alice Hamilton, KomodoRock, July 2008
"Not your average acoustic performer...this one’s got a dick!" - Paul Willet, Broken Circle, March 2008
"Raw, emotive, acoustic music...with balls!" - Lee Sparkes, Monkeyboy Promotions 2007
"I Think ’Raw, emotive, acoustic music…with class’ is more suited to this gem of a songwriter" - Luke Bailey, Gigstation Review 2007
"The bastard lovechild of Goo Goo Dolls, Damien Rice & Tom McRae" - Alex Mead, Immoral, 2006
Tom Craven is a 22 year old singer/songwriter and performer from Watford who aims to bring thoughtful and emotive, yet punchy and catchy tunes to whoever cares to listen. With 10 years of performing experience under his belt, he has been gigging throughout London, the Midlands and further afield trying to spread the word of his music. Since only being the acoustic performer we see today for the past 3 years, he has built up a reputation for a consistent set of powerful epic ballads about love and loss and contrasting, upbeat melodies sometimes compared to and reminiscent of Goo Goo Dolls, Feeder and Tom McRae. With that in mind, Tom has set about forming the new band The Chapter to give his most accessible songs of his set the lease of life they need. It’s about time the incredible amount of new material emerged and gets recorded, either alongside the band or solo. Recently he's finally released his debut CD "Unseen Angel", which is on sale now! Expect a hell of a lot over the next few months. It’s all go. Hope you enjoy. x
CLICK BELOW TO GET YOUR OWN COPY OF TOM CRAVEN'S DEBUT EP - UNSEEN ANGEL:
With thought provoking and dark artwork from Christoph Blank (unused.at) and recorded in bedroom studio sessions back in December 2007 with the multi-talented Joshua Steele (www.myspace.com/fluxpavilion), Unseen Angel is a 5-Track Introduction to the music of Tom Craven.
Unseen Angel:
1. The Night Drive
2. When We Were Kids
3. Anthem
4. Everything Turns Numb
5. I Fell For You
If it's a proper copy you want, for a mere 5p more than iTunes (+P&P, but it does include all the groovy artwork, Jewel case, cellophane etc etc), send an email with your address to
[email protected] and i'll get a copy out to you asap! Can sort out payment through Paypal or however! Just get in touch.
I am endorsing Jeff Michalik's art @ KillerBunny.co.uk T-Shirts aswell as working alongside Jeff for album artwork and my t-shirts! Check out his site, www.killerbunny.co.uk!
