Casillero Del Diablo / Hell Hath No Fury / Ten Little Cuts / Throw Him In The River /I've Fallen In Love / Dogshit St. / Gravesend Shuffle / Shake Me Up / Note To Self / My Beautiful Cinema / Rufio

SELF RELEASED

Born in Cold Harbour, Gravesend but sounding like a grizzled mix up between Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and some Mariachi journeyman; Tom Allalone is a singer/songwriter blending rockabilly, pure rock n roll and swing to glorious effect.

On his debut long player, the self titled TOM ALLALONE, Allalone picks up the pace where Joe Strummer and his Mescalaroes tragically left things, a collection of songs that are drenched in attitude, jazzy trumpet blurts and deliciously delivered rock n roll sublimity.  Take opening track CASILLERO DEL DIABLO or the balls to the wall HELL HATH NO FURY, songs that showcase Allalone as a singer/songwriter of timeless brilliance; raging rockabilly a-go-go, sounding for all intents and purposes like the natural successor to Joe Strummer, or at a stretch a more snotty nosed and fired up Elvis Presley.  The tender TEN LITTLE CUTS proves him someone capable of delivering the more restrained and heartfelt moments whilst on the fired up rock fury of THROW HIM IN THE RIVER, Allalone blends Johnny Cash and the Glitter Band to typically spirited and energised effect.

The acoustic I'VE FALLEN IN LOVE is a tender and elegiac sounding affair, Tom Allalone sounding effortlessly heartfelt and epic, shades of Richard Ashcroft or Noel Gallagher at his sublime best; the orchestral flourishes wafting in the background only adding to the grandeur on display.  It's in a more downbeat direction that the record resides in for the time being, DOGHIT ST., another heartfelt ballad and GRAVESEND SHUFFLE a traditionally jazz tinged affair rich with brass interjections and Allalone's soulfully evocative vocals.  The equally jazz influenced SHAKE ME UP is perhaps a touch by-the-numbers in its execution, but still shot through with enough effortlessly cool rockabilly charm to go the distance whilst the starker sounding NOTE TO SELF is all reverb heavy guitar restraint and subdued vocals; a lesson in chilled out nu-jazz deliciousness.

The slightly more leftfield, country jazz shuffle of MY BEAUTIFUL CINEMA is a welcome change of pace with Allalone drifting into bombastically directed Beach Boys meets Sufjan Stevens baroque pop; while on closing number RUFIO, the tone is sent in more sombre, chamber pop directions, think Elliot Smith meets Rufus Wainwright for easy reference points.

A debut record that manages to constantly surprise and delight, TOM ALLALONE is an album that introduces the singer/songwriter in question as someone blessed with the talent, inventiveness and effortless charm to go all the way.

BIOGRAPHY

Tom Allalone was born in Cold Harbour, Gravesend in 1983. Cold Harbour lies in the shadow of Windmill Hill, where everything is fine. But Cold Harbour bares the scars of true Thames troubles. A dead Indian Princess, a house with an upturned boat for a roof, & a series of smugglers’ tunnels are all sewn into the personality of the town, and the music of Tom Allalone. Not since Charles Dickens has anyone encapsulated the true essence of Gravesend, the town that once hosted the worlds biggest pleasure gardens, complete with bear pit and tightrope walks by the Great Blondin. Tom cut his musical teeth in flop house jazz bands but soon branched out into what we now know as rust. Whilst playing in rust bands like The Debonaires and The Penny Dreadfuls, Tom met Matthew Evans, Richard Clarke and Tommy Connor and soon the basis for The Great Expectations was in place. These Days, taking musical cues from Bee Bop, Jazz, Blues, Rockabilly and Swing, Tom Allalone paints a picture of a real town with a guilty past and some all too unattainable dreams for the future. 

Tom descended from various musicians including Mel Gaynor, vocalist with the Oscar Rabin Big Band, Wallace Hartley, the ill fated Titanic Band Leader, and Anglo-Indian crooner Collin Allroy Hill. With a pedigree such as this, music has always been Tom’s lifeblood and he claims that he’s never wanted to do anything else, despite stints at Shaw’s Laundries, The Continental Barber Shop and as sexton in Potters Field. His idiosyncratic behavior and devilish sense of humor began to earn him a reputation as a risk taker when he starred in an advertising campaign for luxury burial caskets. Though many believe he is somewhat unhinged, Tom insists he has his feet firmly rooted on the ground, even though he has been spotted on the banks of his beloved river looking for survivors of the famous Princess Alice disaster in 1878. A gifted entertainer who’d be equally at home performing stand up, fighting bulls, or walking the tightrope, Tom Allalone arrives on the British music scene determined to bring a sense of humour and spontaneity back to a world where too-cool-for-school teenagers sing about girls they’ve only ever seen on MTV, and where the national music scene revolves around a magazine that is sponsored by hair gel. Rubbish. 

Tom Allalone and The Great Expectations began their ascent from Cold Harbour to London Town back in the autumn of 2006. On their travels they have played a sell out YMCA tour, headlined Suburban Kings at the Tap ‘n’ Tin, Chatham, got told off for playing Dogshit Street at the Hard Rock Cafe while people were eating, played Nambucca, The Fly and the Carling Bar Academy, entertained the troops on British Forces Broadcasting Service, got thrown out of the Salisbury, Soho, after one too many Gins, made an album that doesn’t yet have a name, recorded “Cheer, Cheer, Here Come The Fleet!” for Gravesend & Northfleet FC and played an awful show at the Pleasure Unit (they wont be going there again!). One night during last years YMCA tour, Tom met record producer, Neil Luckett. That night he saw Tom Allalone perform an acoustic show to an audience of Hookers, Christians and Junkies. Neil later invited Tom to record on a dusty old tape machine that he had in his room upstairs and in the few hours before dawn, the first Tom Allalone long-player was recorded. 

Tom Allalone’s as yet untitled debut album features songs about a satanic Latino nightclub, a group of murderous vigilante children and the burning of Gravesend Cinema. Hell Hath no Fury, Tom’s debut single, is penciled for release in the autumn of this year. In the meantime Tom will be recording a live session for XFM’s John Kennedy, and as well as numerous gigs on the London circuit, will be playing headlining the Riverfest.

DISCOGRAPHY

TOM ALLALONE (2007)

LINE UP

Tom Allalone

LINKS

Tom Allalone>www.myspace.com/tomallalone

FURTHER LISTENING

Johnny Cash

Rufus Wainwright

Joe Strumme