Tempo Talks: A Conversation with Tommy All Along

THE RELEASE

Tommy All Along is the musical alias of Ramon Angelo Santiago, a Filipino multi-instrumentalist who began on a soul-searching journey after relocating to Canada in 2018. Ramon ventured into constructing his own sound, inspired by indie rock stalwarts such as Beach Fossils, Real Estate, and Turnover, spurred by a desire to reinvent his musical identity overseas. Ramon's music became a platform for personal expression and reflection as an immigrant navigating life far from home. Tommy All Along's music is a genuine investigation of his personal experiences, encapsulating the essence of his artistic journey and the realization that what he sought was inside him all along.

"Things I Wanna Do," Tommy All Along's debut EP, is a passionate musical journey that digs into the personal experiences and emotions of multi-instrumentalist Ramon Angelo Santiago. The album's five tracks provide a real view into Ramon's life, from the title track's candid goals to the Tagalog-infused "Roxy" and the frustration-fueled "Losing Streak." This EP epitomizes the DIY spirit, expressing Ramon's creative artistry and the knowledge that what he sought existed all along within him. Prepare to be engrossed in the mesmerizing sounds of Tommy All Along's first release.

THE INTERVIEW

If you had to create a Mount Rushmore of inspiration, what four individuals molded the artist you are today?

Man I really wish there were more heads on that thing lol, but since there are only four:

Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils. His jangly guitar riffs and mellow, laid-back singing style are a big part of the style of music I’m going for. Beach Fossils’ Somersault album is one of my favourite records of all time. The whole album feels like a summer road trip, which is kind of the vibe I am going for.

Martin Courtney of Real Estate would be the next, also for his guitar playing and singing, as well as his lyrics. His work on their In Mind album also served as an inspiration for my writing on the EP. The chords to Saturday are 100% the very first chords I’ll strum each time I pick up my guitar.

Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, for his writing, production style and very liberal use of effects on mostly everything. His layers of synths and wet guitar tones gave me a lot of ideas for this EP and a lot of other songs I’m working on. And oh, I also have a Roland JV1080 just like him lol!

Alex Brettin of Mild High Club, last but not least, for those lovely harmonies and progressions on their songs, especially on the Skiptracing album. I hope one day I’ll be able to write something that’s harmonically complex yet still very chill to listen to, the way Skiptracing is.

Were there any personal experiences or stories that influenced the creation of the EP, and if so, how did they shape the final product?

The entire Things I Wanna Do EP is sort of a collection of my own personal stories from the period of my life that is from 2016 to the present. That’s like eight years of memories, feelings, and whatnot. I thought writing about simple things that are close to my heart, or based on personal experiences is a great way to get started with an EP.

The song Roxy, for instance, was written in my native Tagalog, and talks about asking a friend to come with me on a short drive to pick something up. Another example is Canyon Cove, which talks about a weekend beach trip me and my friends took back in April of 2018. I thought these topics meshed well with the style of music I was aiming for, and I thought they translated nicely into the tracks.

I’ll definitely explore looking outward for inspiration and writing about my observation or interpretation of things outside of my personal experience on future songs, but everything on Things I Wanna Do comes from the past eight years of living.

How did you approach the selection and arrangement of the songs on this project to create a cohesive and impactful listening experience for your audience?

When the idea of doing an EP started, there wasn’t really any plan or process lol. I just know I needed about five finished tracks. Over the past two years, I had so many ideas, and even more unfinished DAW projects. More than I’d like to admit. You know, those files that you just save with a filename like “asdfasdv” and then you say to yourself, I’ll come back to this later. Only to start a new project in a different direction and save it as “qwerasdf”, type of thing. A simple 4 loop beat and then synth chords over it. Sometimes a file would be just the lead melody. Those ideas would just come and go.

But you know some days, some ideas would just click instantly, and in that same day, there would be a rough draft of a complete song. The track Here is an example of this, and is one of the first songs I finished writing, so that had to be on the EP. After a few dumb ideas in between, Roxy was made. Things I Wanna Do came in as the third song. Losing Streak was one of those old ideas that I came back to, and eventually got finished. Canyon Cove was the most recent song to be written and completed out of the five.

I looked at the five tracks, they all seem to be about things I am longing for, you know, being the homesick settler that I am during some (read: most) days, and so I thought, why not make Things I Wanna Do the title track and call the EP that? So there wasn’t really any selection process or arrangement process, it’s literally just the first five songs that I was able to finish, out of the hundreds of files forever trapped in my project folder lol. Maybe my next releases would have more structure in terms of track selection, who knows.

How do you see this album representing your artistic evolution or progression, and what new elements or techniques did you experiment with during its production?

Back in the Philippines, I was a synth player for our reggae group. Quite a far cry from the style of music I ended up producing lol. I mean was already listening to indie and alt-pop and dreampop stuff back then, but I never really played them. Our group was doing quite well in the small scene we were in, so I had to focus on that.

Moving abroad changed that, and I was taken away from my comfort zone of reggae synth riffs and bubble rhythms. Then the pandemic came. With nothing to do, I picked up a Squier Affinity Jazzmaster from the Facebook marketplace and fooled around with it for a bit. I found myself trying to play some jangly, very lightly overdriven guitar riffs feeding into a Boss DD-7 that I was using for a synthesizer. I fell in love with that kind of sound. I played more of that type of riff, that tone, and thought, “yeah I’m coming up with a playlist of songs I’ll try to practice on the guitar”. It then hit me that I was on to something, and so the idea of playing and producing this type of music was born.

Being able to release the EP to the world is such a satisfying feeling, because I was able to follow through on that idea I had in early 2020. The whole ordeal was messy as I didn’t really have a workflow, and it was especially tough doing mostly everything DIY, but I learned so much from it. New chord progressions and harmonies, better guitar playing, songwriting, and music production techniques – I thought I was able to apply a little bit of each of these things to the songs. I may have overused modal interchanges and tape echoes in some parts, you know, but I think the songs sound great with those. Overall, I think I did pretty well outside of my comfort zone, and I think I may have leveled up as a musician and as a producer with all these new lessons I’ve picked up. The release of the EP just hypes me up to learn more of the relevant stuff and apply them to my future releases.‏

Can you share any memorable or profound moments from the recording or writing sessions that had a lasting impact on you personally or creatively?

I was mixing the track Here when I started to use reference tracks. Before, I would simply go online and head over to groups or forums that discussed mixing and production tips and techniques. "How to use a compressor" or "what does your vocal signal chain look like" kind of stuff, and then try it out on my DAW. I failed to realize then that the folks providing advice usually have different levels of expertise, using equipment and plugins different from what I have, and are making styles of music different that what I'm aiming for. Of course, following their advice to the letter would yield different results. So I started referencing tracks that sounded more like the vibe I was going for. That did it for me, and I was more pleased with the results.

I also suffered from really bad gear acquisition syndrome, thinking that I needed a certain pedal or interface or synthesizer to get a certain sound or tone. Some sober thinking (as well as my credit card statement lol) made me realize that what I have right now is enough. I mean, really, does it make sense for me to want something so hi-fi when I’m not even envisioning a hi-fi aesthetic for Tommy All Along?

I think these two things - using proper references and not impulsively procuring gear - extends beyond my music and into my life as well. I think going forward it's best that I try to emulate stuff that has a positive impact on my life and the lives of those people around me, and not just because other people said it's cool or it's trending. The people who love my music the most don't care whether I used an analog synth or a VST. All they care about are the melodies sounding good and catchy, or the lyrics, and I've learned to be happy with that. I also think learning with what I have makes me a better musician and person, versus endlessly amassing things, thinking they’ll make me instantly better.

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