Bookin' It with Tommy Concrete

Tommy Concrete

How many times have you thought about music from Scotland?

Well, being a pretend Scotsman, i.e. my family goes back to the Highlands, it's really  not all that often.

Perhaps it's times to think about my ancestral homeland a bit more often. In that method, let's talk about Edinburgh's own, Tommy Concrete. 

In October he released his latest record, Unrelaxed, and you can preview or puchase that on digital or CD via BANDCAMP.

So, let's get down to business and talk to him about books.

1. I try to read at least two books per month, and mostly fail, what's your goal and reality?

Two a year is my goal, but to be honest I struggle to manage one. Reading is very important to me, but it is also very difficult. I have limited visual imagination, in the sense that I don't 'see' anything in my mind when I read. 

So fiction can be a tough slog. Reading isn't something I can easily do to relax, I have to be already relaxed to attempt it. I read every day, but usually just wee bits here and there. I tend to pick at books, usually non fiction like biographies or nonesense 'factual' books on secret ninja techniques such as invisibility and such crap. 

2. Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure books were a big part of my childhood. What did you read back in Elementary School?

I was totally into all the Conan books. I loved the originals by Robert E Howard but also really liked the later stuff put together by other authors based on Howard's mythos and notes. 

I love the films, but as is often  the case they do not do the books justice. Conans sly intelligence and cunning was dumped, which is a shame. 

Funny thing is, at the time I thought I was really adult because I read them.

3. It's no secret that I think Harry Potter is an amazing saga, but it wasn't until after the movie for Chamber of Secrets was released that I began reading the books. What was the big thing you were late on?

William Gibson. 

Was very late to the party here. An incredible sci fi visionary. I read Idoru and couldn't believe how much his influence was in so much modern sci fi. A brilliant yet hardly new discovery. 

4. My local library is amazing and I'm there pretty frequently. What do you like about your library?

The quiet, peace and serenity of it. 

I love the fact that an entire building can be dedicated to allowing people to freely educate themselves, or just flex their brains on some fiction. 

5. Comic Books. Which ones are you reading?

At the moment I am revisiting all my old school Iron Man collection. I have about 75% nearly a clear run from issue 1 up to mid 300's. 

I also have loads more 70's and 80's stuff like Thor, Groo, Hulk, Batman and 2000ad. 

6. What author can you just read again and again?

Phillip K Dick is my favourite author. I love his ideas and writing style. I have read more of his stuff than anyone else.