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“Many dreams come true and some have silver linings.
I live for my
dreams and a pocket full of gold.”
For a boy from The Empire State,
moving across the country to Seattle without a dollar in
his pocket, those lines from the Led Zeppelin song “Over
The Hills And Far Away” may be the subtitles to his
journey.
Since the 1960’s, local musicians
have taken up corners in Pike Place Market performing
for the thousands of visitors that walk through the
aisles. 46 years later, when Tom Rooney rolled into town
with his guitar, mandolin, banjo and little else, he
knew the market was the place to be seen, heard and earn
a little cash while playing his bluegrass.
Tom's introduction to music
started at home with his father who is a musician. "I
grew up going to the Watertown Irish Festival. St.
Patrick's Day was always bigger than Christmas, pickin'
and singing all hours of the weekend. My father played
in a Celtic band called the Casey St. Shuffle." Tom says
his father's band mates were all surrogate parents of
sorts.
During a visit to the New York
State Fair, Tom’s parents took him to his first concert.
On stage was the blues-rock guitarist Stevie Ray
Vaughan.
Around age 13 or 14, Tom picked up
his first guitar and began teaching himself how to play.
However, it wouldn’t be the guitar that Tom would play
in his first band, The Wharf Rats. “I played drums…
badly. It was a bunch of Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and
Neil Young covers. It was a ton of fun; we rolled around
in a smoky, VW camper/bus.”
The Wharf Rats didn’t last but Tom
continued his young, musical career in bands such as
Family Shame and Weezer cover band called Suburban
Marble Rye. While going to college at SUNY Plattsburgh
for English Lit and Spanish, Tom put together an
eclectic, acoustic, bluegrass string-band called The
Happy Campers.
Tom’s father remained a constant
influence in his musical style along with artists like
Jerry Garcia and Jimi Hendrix. Included in Tom’s “Can’t
Live Without” CD list are Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You
Experienced?”, Led Zeppelin’s “II” and the album from
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman “Shady Grove”. Unlike
many musicians his age, Tom didn’t dream of performing
with rock stars or pop singers. His dream duets include
Aba Keiser and jazz singer/song writer Madeleine Peyroux.
After arriving in Seattle getting
a feel for the music scene, Tom checked out a bluegrass
jam at Conor Byrne’s in Ballard where he met Ken
Nottingham of Creeping Time. Tom started sitting in with
the band playing guitar and joined them for the 2007
Yakima Folklife Festival.
As Creeping Time performed their
energetic, acoustic grass-rock, members of Ockham’s
Razor watched the show. After their show, Tom went to
check out Ockham’s Razor’s set on a different stage.
Kris Clements remembers seeing Tom
for the first time. “While we were performing, I looked
over and saw this bare-footed guy with long dreads just
dancing his butt off to our music to the side of the
stage.”
After the Razors show, Tom came up
to the band and convinced them they needed a mandolin
player. At the time, Tom didn’t realize he was the talk
of the 5 hour car ride home for Ockham’s Razor. The
Razors had already decided they did in fact need a
mandolin player.
The ramp-up period for Tom, as
with most of the new members of Ockham’s Razor, was
quite fast as they were preparing to record their CD
Ten Thousand Miles To Bedlam and wanted Tom
on it.
Tom had to quickly learn all the
songs and create a part for himself in a matter of
weeks. Out of all the songs on Ten Thousand
Miles To Bedlam, his favorite became “The Road to
Bedlam/Follow Me Up To Carlow”. In his words, “It
f%#king rocks!” However, looking back, his favorite part
of recording the album was when they were finally
finished and could relax.
The recording of an album for most
musicians is usually a tedious, clinical process. Where
they dream to be is on-stage performing for an audience.
Aside from the songs on Ten Thousand Miles To
Bedlam, Tom’s favorite songs to perform live are
“The Lassie Who Never Says No” because he says “it
sounds so epic” as well as the bands cover of The
Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. “I love the
audience interaction. The call and response.”
Before Tom joined Ockham’s Razor,
the band had the honor to open for internationally known
Celtic bands Enter the Haggis as well as The Paperboys,
who Tom lists as one of the bands he would love to open.
Also included in that list are Ozomatli, Rusted Root and
Yonder Mountain String Band. After Tom took over guitar
duties for Ockham’s Razor, he got to fulfill one goal
that most Celtic musicians only dream of; opening for
legendary Celtic band The Chieftains.
From the audience, musicians seem to be living the
dream. Performing their craft in front of a cheering
crowd appears effortless. What does Tom think about
while
performing? “Nothing. Just the music. I love playing
rhythm guitar because I always wanted to be the guitar
player and the drummer at the same time.”
Tom's laid back, easy going
personality and incredible musicianship has helped form
the current Ockham's Razor sound incorporating his love
of bluegrass with Celtic. For Tom, "Many dreams come
true and some have silver linings. I live for my dreams
and a pocket full of gold."
QUICKIES:
What’s your zodiac sign:
Scorpio
Life on tour
is….(finish the sentence):
Life on Tour is… a dream to chase
Funniest/Most embarrassing experience you’ve had since
being with the band: “Too
Drunk to play Irish music??”
Provide one “life motto” you try to live by:
Go with the Flow
Favorite Drink:
A hoppy NW IPA microbrew
Describe the
sound of Ockham’s Razor in 15 words or less:
A crispy-clean Celtic crunch
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