UK singer Tom Grennan has released his new single All These Nights and is about to announce Irish gigs for next year. He tells Alan Corr why he'll always be proud to be half-Irish, why he’s still in therapy and what to expect from his new album
"’95 is my year of birth and the `OY’ is the car reg for Offaly." Tom Grennan, proud half-Irishman, singer songwriter and owner of one of British music’s best new voices in years, is showing me the tattoos he has emblazoned across his knuckles.
"And this," he says lifting up his right hand, "54-46 That’s My Number is a Toots and The Maytals’ song."
27-year-old Bedford boy and illustrated man Grennan is a very likeable guy. Seemingly shy and unassuming, he packs raw emotion into his songs and has avoided the syrupy sentiments of his many contemporaries in the heartache brigade. He’s quietly spoken and chooses his words carefully but he’s also got a ready and raucous laugh.
When we meet in the RTÉ Radio Centre, he is resplendent in an ankle-length marble green leather coat, which he eh, procured from a photo shoot, pimped-up runners, jeans, and a black hoodie which struggles to contain his mop of brown hair.
"Welcome home," I say. "Thanks, man!" he replies, with a boyish grin. Grennan’s dad is from Ballycumber and that night, he’s heading out in Dublin with his cousins from the Faithful County and another set of cousins from Shannonbridge in Donegal. Who knows, Tom’s cousin, ex-Offaly footballer Nigel Grennan, might be there . . .
Grennan’s Irish roots go deep. "When I was growing up, I was here for summers, Christmases, half-terms . . . " he says. "I’d always be flying over with my mum and dad and staying in my granny’s house. It’s a place that means a lot to me and I do feel at home here.
"I feel a connection with Ireland. More now that my music is doing OK here. I’ve just got this extended family now, which is mad. At gigs here, the Irish lot know that I am one of them. There’s a family connection for sure."
Grennan has just released his euphoric new single All These Nights, announced an arena tour for next March and also revealed details of his third album, What Ifs and Maybes, and he’s more than ready for the challenge of taking on the next level and hitting the stadium circuit.
"I’ve dreamt of it. I’ve dreamt of stadiums, it’s the next step," he says. "Obviously, I’ve had loads of Irish people asking me where’s the Irish date, where’s the Irish date?!’
So, Tom, where is the Irish date? "I want to keep that separately because this is my home too," he says. "I didn’t want to just announce Europe and I’m also going to Ireland. I wanted it to be a separate thing. The dates are going to be announced and they are big venues and big gigs. Both indoor and outdoor. They should be summer shows."
It’s another stage in the unstoppable rise of Grennan. Almost by stealth, he has become the more acceptable face of the emotional male singer songwriter boom.
He first got noticed as the guest vocalist on Chase & Status's All Goes Wrong in 2016 and his debut album, Lighting Matches, was released in July 2018, giving notice of a new kid in town to take on George Ezra, Lewis Capaldi, Sam Fender, and the one they call Sheeran.
He has since worked with Calvin Harris and dueted with Ella Henderson on Let’s Go Home Together and his song Memory Lane with grime MC Bugzy Malone was the first song to get clearance from the Gallaghers to sample an Oasis track (Wonderwall).
However, before he even discovered he could sing, Grennan was more interested in his burgeoning football career. He played for Luton Town for a while and later tried out for Northampton Town and Aston Villa. Then just as he was on the verge of playing in the US, he chucked it all and gave up the pitch for the stage.
In fact, music didn’t occur to him until one night at a party with a few beers on board, he started singing. "My friends were kind of surprised. Where I grew up with my friends, if you wanted to sing, they were like what do you want to do that for?" he says.
"I’d never knew I could do it so it shocked me more than anybody but when I found something I enjoy doing, I thought `my god, I’m gonna do this. It’s fun and I crave attention!’ Hahaha.
"I always knew I couldn’t do a normal job, I tried, and I was rubbish at them. I was a labourer for a while, but I was shit at that, so I always knew I had to do something extraordinary."
With a giggle, he admits that he has always wanted to be the centre of attention. "I was one of those people. That attention thing has calmed down now and these days it gives me anxiety more than anything. When I’m on stage, I love it but when I’m on the street, not so much."
He pauses and says, "I’m a human at the end of the day and it’s not easy to be happy, happy and trying to please everybody every moment of the day. It’s tiring. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I love that my music helps people and it lives in people’s lives. Some days I’m down and out and some days I’m not."
It’s a feeling that has led him to get heavily involved in a campaign for mental health and he’s still in therapy. "It helps me navigate my thoughts. My brain is like a game of tennis that has been going on for hours and hours non-stop.
"Over-thinking, telling myself that this could happen or that could happen. Obsessive thoughts, which is hard to navigate so when I go to therapy, it helps me and I can go out in the world and write music."
It’s helped put him in the right frame of mind for What Ifs and Maybes. His last album Evering Road saw him picking through the debris of the end of a romance but his third record is all about fresh starts and celebration.
"Right now there is so much struggle financially, coming out of Covid and lockdown, I think everyone is drawing their breath and saying what’s going on, what can I do . . . " he says.
"I want the new album to be a place people can come to and go you know, `I’m good for anything that’s going on in the world right now’. All I can do is dance, sing and be with my family and friends. Just have that moment to say that I’m on cloud 9."
The words of a sensitive soul. "I am sensitive soul," he laughs. "My missus always tells me that and my mum has always said I’m a sensitive soul. I’m not playing up to anything, I’m just being me. Some people might say that’s a good thing, some people might say I’m a pussy, I dunno. I don’t really care."
Grennan has a very laudable approach to ticket pricing in this era of economic uncertainty. In his drive to keep his ticket prices down, he recently seemed to throw down the gauntlet in a tweet to fellow artists when it came to their own gig pricing.
Trust me we've worked hard to pull the cost of ticket down, and dismissed all VIP and platinum ticket options as it’s just bollox in the middle of a cost of living crisis. The pinch is real, and I take it very seriously. Others should take note 🤷🏻♂️ X https://t.co/y3mdvR6Ebl
— Tom Grennan (@Tom_Grennan) October 5, 2022
"I don’t mean other people should follow," he says. "What I mean by it is, I’ve seen other people rip their fans off. I just mentioned that we are about to go into a recession and people are struggling financially. I don’t want to be an artist or a person who says spend all your wages on me and come and see my show because I don’t want that.
"There’s a lot of tours happening next year and I’ve seeing people being charged a stupid amount of money to see their favourite artists and I think it’s outrageous."
Grennan will talk about nearly anything . . . except his love life. However, it is a legal obligation of the pop star interview that I at least throw in a polite question about his girlfriend - or "missus" as he calls her.
So, according to that font of all truth and beauty, The Daily Mail, you became engaged to Pilates instructor Danniella Carraturo seven months ago . . .
No dice. "I feel like I’m happy and I’m in a good place, yeah." he says and laughs that raucous laugh again.
All These Nights is out now. Tom Grennan plays Fairview Park, Dublin on Friday 30 June 2023.
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