When BEAT first sat down with the enigmatic, gorgeous and unapologetically outrageous pop provocateur Tom Rasmussen, and asked how they’d like to be shot for us, they were clear about wanting to take ownership over their images. Allowing for a trans person to be photographed as they wish to be seen – through their own lens – was a BFD, and not something that typically happens in ye olde media. But BEAT does things differently. In fact, this whole interview breaks the mould. To celebrate the release of their second album – the gloriously rich Live Wire, featuring collaborations with Romy and Self Esteem – we asked Tom to ring up their parents for a proper grilling.
Tom: Hi, you all right?
Dad: Yeah, I’m good.
Tom: What are you doing?
Dad: Just sat looking at your thingy.
Tom: What thingy?
Dad: Instagram, you know?
Tom: Is mum there? Mother’s got to come to work. Hi mum! How are you?
Mum: All right! I don’t know what to do, really; what do you want me to do?
Tom: Well, I guess you ask the questions, and then I’ll answer. And if you have any comments or further questions, you’re allowed to butt in. If something interests you, you can ask me, OK?
Mum: OK, and then you’ll edit it at the end?
Tom: Yeah. Well, I won’t, but the editors of the magazine will.
Mum: OK. This is exciting for your mum. Do you think any of your early church-going or Sunday schooling influenced you in wanting to bizarrely sing choral songs?
Tom: Why do you think it’s bizarre? Do you like them?
Mum: You were never particularly interested in Sunday school or church, and I always felt like I was the one taking you. I was just wondering if there was a slight influence there?
Tom: Do you remember, though, I used to open ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ in primary school? Doyou remember that?
Mum: You did. And you’ve always sung beautifully.
Tom: Oh, thanks. I don’t think I was particularly interested in religion; I just remember thinking, “We all believe in God, and that’s what we do.” And then getting older, being like, “Oh, no.” But I do think there’s something quite amazing about choral music and the way it fills the room in church. Even grandma’s awful hymn-singing was quite… awe-inspiring. Standing in a group of people and singing hymns, that’s beautiful. So, yeah, I think it brings togetherness. And I guess that’s just the act of praise and worship, all the way to those voices working together in harmony on my album. It’s undeniable that it sounds beautiful. Even though I wasn’t the most keen on Sunday school – I wonder why? – it’s beautiful, and church music forms some of my earliest musical memories. So, I don’t know, it feels quite innate. Does that make sense?
Mum: Yeah, it does, love. Which is your favourite song on your second album?
Tom: Well, I think it changes all the time. I’m the kind of person who listens to a song over and over again. Like how, in the Mini Metro, we used to have Elton John’s ‘Are You Ready for Love’ on repeat?
Mum: I love that song.
Tom: Me too. But I’d say that ‘Body, Heart, Mind’ is the one on Live Wire that I come back to the most, because I think it actually holds the central thesis of the album inside it – which is trying to unite your body, heart and mind in one place, so you can tell someone all the ways that you love them. That’s what that song is about. So I think that’s my favourite.
Mum: Which do you think is your mum’s favourite song?
Tom: Well, you did chuckle when I played you ‘Oysters for Lunch’, but I don’t think it’s your favourite one.
Mum: It’s a bit rude for me, that. But I don’t hate it. I love the response from people when you sing it. Watching the crowd at Koko scream “ass for dinner” while you were writhing on the stage wasn’t something I thought a 66-year-old mother would enjoy – but I did! But I love ‘Shugs (Live Wire)’ because it’s about Shugs [Tom’s husband], and ‘I See Potential as a Beautiful Thing’ because you sound so lovely. The way you sing, it’s very special.
Tom: Ah, thanks, mum. I do think it sounds nice.
Mum: It does! And ‘Shugs’ is just so popular; the crowd erupts when you start to sing. It’s just lovely.
Tom: It really flopped when I did it in Leeds!
Mum: OK, next question: how does it feel when you’re singing, to bring so much joy to all the people you’re singing to? I found it absolutely amazing to watch, stood on that balcony at Koko, watching the crowd erupt. It was very humbling, actually. It must feel amazing for you – and then for all the people to come up to us afterwards, as your mum and dad, and say what joy your music brings. It was very special.
Tom: I guess, if I’m honest, it feels quite like a shared act. I think maybe, because you’re my mum and you taught us all not to be self-obsessed, I’ve worried that going on stage – and wanting to be on stage that way – is because, deep down, I’m self-obsessed. I’ve thought a lot about this, because the thing I really don’t like about other people is when they’re self-obsessed. I think being gay, you’re always made to feel like you’re a bit self-obsessed, because you’re often perceived as quite loud or quite attention-seeking. But you’re just different, and I guess that means more heads turn towards you. And I worried that maybe the reason I wanted to be on stage is because I was self-obsessed. But actually, the more I’ve done it, I’ve realised, especially with my own music, that it’s about a shared act of celebration. Whether it’s in a room of 100 in Nottingham, or 1,000 at Koko. And so, I guess in the moment, it just feels amazing to be together, to give all that and receive all that in return.
Mum: And the message you give out means so much to people. I’ve found that really, really shocking as well, that they’re so in tune with you, and you’re saying something that means such a lot to them.
Tom: There’s a lot of songs about gay rage, and a lot of songs about slightly complicated gay love, which I think is really important. But something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is that there’s something nice to write songs about – like how unique and actually special and uplifted gay and trans love should be.
Mum: Some of the gay older gentlemen we were talking to [at your show] were saying exactly that. Your songs say the words they haven’t always been able to, so it means such a lot. So, coming to my next question, which is a worry for a mother…
Tom: Sorry. One sec, I’ve just been on a run, and I’ve sweated all over my duvet. One second, let me just change tops… Carry on.
Mum: I’ve never thought of you as self-obsessed, but very humble. I suppose it makes me slightly worried that, as your music reaches more people… do you think you’ll change?
Tom: Oh my God. I don’t think I’m going to be famous, if that’s what you’re worried about?
Mum: OK. Well, you’ll come right home if you do drugs, Tom.
Tom: OK!
Mum: Hang on. There’s some questions from your dad.
Dad: Can you hear me?
Tom: Yeah, come closer, then it’s clear on the recording.
Dad: Mine are a bit more technical. Are you ready? Was the writing process different for Live Wire than it was for Body Building?
Tom: Oh my God, good question. I should mention here that dad is a brilliant musician – but not in a nepo way. You’re an amazing music teacher, but also an amazing player. Anyway… It was both easier and harder. It was easier because it came to me more freely. Finlay Henderson and I wrote the second album in the recesses of the first. We’d worked so hard to tell the story of this attack and what came after, that once we’d done that, there was just all this freedom. I was clubbing and I was in vocal rehab, so I was listening to so much club music. I just wanted to write a record about our interiority. It wasn’t until we wrote maybe 20, 25 songs that we – and the label Globe Town, the loves of my life…
Mum: Oh, I love Marit [Berning] and James [Harwood]. Your dad loves them because they’re creative. I love them because they’re nice.
Tom: [Laughing] … anyway, we were all like, “Oh, maybe there’s a record here?” And then I remember thinking, “Maybe the arc of this one is clearer than the first, which was written so intentionally.” It was just heaven to write, actually. It’s about trying. It’s about hope, despite knowing better. It’s about loving each other.
Dad: I thought of Body Building as more electronic, whereas Live Wire has more acoustic elements. There’s more reality to the instruments. Does that make sense?
Tom: Body Building is all about exteriority, and Live Wire is all about nature and interiority. So it kind of makes sense. I wanted the production to feel both vast and intimate at once. And that’s all from the sounds we worked with – vast strings, tiny plucky guitars, big vocals, soaring emotions.
Dad: And the live version of this record is so different!
Tom: Yes, Howie – my amazing Howie – who brought it all to life on these electronic machines. Nothing is triggered from a computer; all these electronic sounds are made as we go. It’s amazing. And I think you could really feel that – the responsiveness of music, to me, to the crowd, to Howie. I feel so lucky.
Dad: Well, you deserve it son.
Mum: What do you want now?
Tom: From this interview, or life?
Mum: Ha ha, Thomas!
Tom: I’d like to have the ability to keep realising my artistic ideas, and to share them with others. Whether it’s collaborators or listeners. If I fail, then I fail, and then I’ll make another record. I love it. I really, really love it. And it’s a proper job, mum!
Mum: It is!
Tom: Love you guys. Right, I think time’s up!
Mum: That was quick!
Tom: That’s showbiz, mum!
[All laughing]
