12 Questions with Timo Tierney of The Tea Street Band
The Tea Street Band (4/5 members of the former band The Maybes? ) Are coming into the tenth year of playing together. With two albums released and another one on the way, they have become somewhat of an iconic Liverpool band, we talk to frontman Timothy Teirney about life, music, fatherhood, and what the future holds for him and the band.
NSG: Hi Timo, and happy new year, it’s fantastic to have you along for an interview as were big fans of your music. Hows the beginning of this new year looking for you personally?
T.T: No, thank you, for asking me to come along! It is much appreciated -the support from independent journalists is fantastic and we would be lost without you all. Personally, the year is looking great. In November me and my wife, Helene welcomed a baby son into our family called Sid. So since then, the focus has just been on becoming a dad which is brilliant. Hard work and all new but fantastic. I consider myself very lucky I have a job I really enjoy and a network of friends and family that are very supportive, so I feel really good. It has been a tough year and can imagine it may be tougher for people but I have considered myself very fortunate.
NSG: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you’re from etc?
Iv been called Timo since the age of about 7 but as I’m getting older I feel a bit of a knob giving a nickname as his name LOL. It’s a pet hate of mine when people spell it with two M’s! Haha, I also work in The Florrie, organizing community activities. I was born in Kensington in Liverpool. A place that I am really proud of being from and a place that I loved growing up. It is just outside the city centre and an area made up of about ten streets of terraced houses. Summers were absolutely brilliant there when I was growing up. I had an amazing time with loads of boss mates. I have lived in Lark Lane for ten years now, after living on Falkner street in the Georgian Quarter, but Kenny is a place I defo still call home.
The Tea Street Band (Credit: TSB)
NSG: All considering how has the band been coping since the outbreak of the pandemic last march? Have you had much opportunity to write and record at all?
TT: The lockdown in March gave me a massive inspiration to pick up my guitar in a different way. I run a Guitar group in The Florrie so I was playing a lot therefore I wasn’t picking it up as much as I would have liked when I was at home. So when that had to stop I found myself playing loads more and coming up with a lot of ideas. I learned how to use Garageband and started writing, writing a lot. More than I had ever before, I was getting up really early and just recording. But because we couldn’t meet up and rehearse, I put a lot of them songs to a project called “Okiro” and recorded two albums worth of stuff for that. But we picked the best of the tunes out for the band and between the four of us we now have about 13 songs for a new TSB album, which has already started and well underway. So in short the band has been coping in a different way, but it has been very, very productive all round.
NSG: So before the pandemic, you guys were extremely busy gigging with some amazing shows including the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar with The Lightning Seeds and Jamie Webster? That must have been one hell of an experience, can you tell us a bit more about the trip?
TT: I have been very fortunate over the last few years playing and going for amazing shows with BOSS Nights. We have been mates for years so it has been amazing to see that all grow into playing shows together in places like Qatar and Madrid, they have worked very hard to make that happen. Qatar was mad! My Dad came and my Nephew Niall which was amazing to have them there to enjoy the journey with them. Qatar was very different, to say the least, I felt really far from home but I was sat in a jacuzzi four days before Christmas with my mates so that was brilliant! The shows were great too! A very surreal experience. A mention for Jamie Webster though, I have known him now for a long time and played some brilliant shows with him but seeing him go on from strength to strength is great. I am extremely proud to see how well he’s done this year and his album doing so well. He is a good lad and I wish him all the best. I went to see his Xmas show last month at Hangar 34 and it was great.
NSG: So you had an extremely colorful career to date, before TSB you were in another ground-breaking band “The Maybes?” It’s Rare to form and be in Two vary successful bands, tell me what’s your secret?
TT: Being very lucky. Not many people get to be in a good band when they pick up an instrument, I have been very lucky to be in two. I would say the secret is working very hard, doing it for the right reasons, and enjoying what you do. Belief in one another is a massive part. The bands I have been in have been with my best mates, not hired guns, best mates and that’s what I think has always set us aside from others. It is a great thing being in a band as long as you’re enjoying it. I have always enjoyed it and still do.
TSB @Hanger34 13 Dec 2019, (Credit: Billy Vitch)
NSG: So in “The maybes?”, you had a more indie rock sound, although in the song “Promise” there’s definitely a similarity to The Tea Street Bands current sound, can you tell me about how and why the dynamics of your songs changed between these two bands? The Tea street Bands sound is very unique, what really influenced you in the sound you created?
TT: Promise is and was a brilliant piece of work. No one else does 12-minute songs on guitars playing four notes over and over and over. The album is fantastic too, a great collection of work and songs and work I am extremely proud of BUT I can’t really sing that well. Tea Street Band was defo a move in that direction. When we started the band we were looking at getting a female singer and other options but it was all taking too long so I just said: “I’ll have a go” and from there it just happened that way. I think the sound is very unique and I always say that if you want to listen to The Tea Street Band you really have to come to see us live! No one else does what we do. Lees guitar playing is unreal and myself and him make the best guitar duo in the world. Nick on bass is thumping and Dom and him together are second to none. We like dance music and the idea of people dancing so that’s the band.
NSG: Your very active in supporting your local community aren’t you and do a lot of music workshops with the Florrie in the Dingle? Can you tell me why community is so important in this day and age and any ideas on how we can all do a bit more to help the communities we live in?
TT: The Florrie is an amazing place that I am very fortunate to be a part of. I first went there to support Mick Head of Shack and I said I would be back to volunteer and here we are many years on doing so much brilliant stuff in the Community. I started off doing a Guitar Workshop and at the start of last year, I was managing and organizing 40hours a week of free activity for people to attend. From Art classes to Dyslexia support and Yoga we were doing it in the building, but the pandemic put a stop to that and for the best part of last year I was supporting people via phone calls and door-to-door support with food parcels and hot food drop-offs. I cannot begin to tell you why Community is so important. Just have a look at www.theflorrie.org and my slogan over the last few years has been “there is U & I in Community” it takes a lot to make it work but it has got to work to make your area a better place to live and breathe.
TSB @Hanger34 13 Dec 2019, (Credit: Billy Vitch)
NSG: Right now the music industry is in tatters due to the pandemic. Do you have any thoughts on this and what are your concerns about the future of live music within the UK and your own careers?
TT: Will I ever do a gig again? Who knows. I booked gigs in November for the side project Okrio with Purple Noise Promotions. We sold out two nights and had to cancel them. That was shite, a lot of good venues are struggling. Being in a band is about playing live but whilst we can’t mix we can’t really do it. Although as mentioned seeing Jamie Webster last month was defo a step in the right direction. Promoters in the city like ILoveLive, Harvest Sun, Purple Noise, and Revo at Evol will make it work so the future is in good hands I hope to god I do play again!
NSG: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be and why?
TT: I have just had a lovely lamb curry that I made. I love curries and pasta but I will go for pizza. You can have anything on a pizza and they’re great
NSG: LFC or EFC?
TT: LFC!
TSB @Hanger34 13 Dec 2019, (Credit: Billy Vitch)
NSG: What’s the plan for the band this year, do you have much hope of the return to live shows?
TT: In terms of live shows, we have no idea -I am hopeful as otherwise, we have no income to make more music. Being in a band costs money. Rehearsing and recording costs a lot so without live shows, we will struggle to do so. We will hopefully have an album done though. We have already started work on it and it is fully written so here’s hoping!
NSG: Thank you for giving us the chance to interview you, anything else you’d like to add?.
TT: Stay Safe and look after one another!
To follow the band and Timos other projects click on the links highlighted in pink below.
Listen to The Tea Street Band on Spotify below.
Photo credit and copyright Billy Vitch and The Tea Street Band.
