Rencontre avec un mec bien : Tom McRae

Jeudi 2 novembre 2000 (la veille de son passage à NPA), après son showcase à Gibert Musique boulevard St Michel, Tom McRae accepta gentiment de s'entretenir avec l'équipe de PurJus.

Dans le cadre exigu qui lui a servi de scène, Tom nous aménage amicalement un espace pour l'interview. Il apparaît détendu mais quelque peu fatigué.
Concentré, il répond à nos questions :

The image we have of Tom McRae from the media is a very dark one. Is it the real Tom McRae?
(smiling) I enjoy life very much. I love to laugh. Writing and singing helps me express the saddest side of my personality. My songs convey genuine emotions. I think everybody is in fact a mixture of opposing feelings: anger, happiness, sadness, optimism, pessimism.

Do your songs refer to some bad experiences in the past few years ? Will you write "happier" songs in the future?
When I feel happy, I don't feel the need to write music. But I don't think my songs are all that "sad" or "depressing". My music is not intended to make you cut your wrists ! Although it isn't jolly music, I do hope my songs are hopeful as well.

Aren't you afraid of being trapped in this image of a "beautiful loser"?
Well no ! I'm not hiding behind any kind of image whatsoever. I just play and write music as it comes, to anyone who wants to hear it.

When you left Suffolk to London you began studying geopolitics... Well in fact I wanted to become a journalist, to be able to better understand our world. Why poverty? Why hunger? Why wars? Why such justice?

And why did you choose a musical career instead?
During my studies, I also wrote music. At one point, I could see my whole life straight in front of me : how could my whole life be already written ! Through music I found more sense than in my studies, music was like a saviour for me.

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