We last spoke to local musician Tim Eveleigh about his music back in 2020, after the release of his EP In Kilnsea. Five years on, Tim has now just released his second album, ‘Life Is Not A Competition’. We catch up with Tim to find out how his music has evolved.

Croydonist: Which part of the borough do you currently call home?

Tim: I live in Addiscombe. I have moved in the past five years but I’m still in the same area.

Croydonist: It’s been quite a five years for the world as well as for musicians – has anything about the way you write or record changed because of that wider context?

Tim: I’m even more determined that the word that’s in my head when writing or recording is ‘reassurance’ and I hope that that comes across. I think that we could all do with a bit of reassurance at the moment.

My mental-health-supporting present to myself is that I have been and am gradually leaving all social media sites (and I nearly have).

Croydonist: Your second album has just been released. How would you describe it, and what have been the main influences behind it? 

Tim: I hope that it is a mixture of different genres and styles – so potentially indescribable – although other people will be the judge of that.

Overall it’s more of the singer-songwriteryness that was on the EP (‘In Kilnsea’) and the first album (‘A Record’) but there are horn sections, a big choir section with lots of vocal layers, lullabies and someone once told me that I’d written a punk song – see whether you can guess which song that is!

Croydonist: What music or artists inspired you when creating the album?

Tim: My main influences are always Peter Gabriel, Crowded House and Billy Bragg but I was – again – being produced by Andy Thornton (who is a genius and a big influence on what I write and record) and he also performed more on this one.

Croydonist: Do you have any rituals or habits that help you get into writing mode these days? 

Tim: Until relatively recently I sang songs with toddlers and their parents and carers for half an hour or so once a week. Afterwards they would go for snacks in a different room. I would then sit and doodle on my guitar and I think 8 of the songs on this album (and bear in mind that I only wrote 9 of them) came from these ‘sessions’. So my aim is to reproduce this scenario in my room.

I often (but not always) have a chord sequence and part of the words and/or melody worked out and then I build a song from that starting point. At other times I write the words and the music all in one go.

Croydonist: Have you collaborated with anyone new for this album, or is there someone you’re hoping to collaborate with next?

Tim: There are quite a few people that play and sing on this album – Sam Gee, Helen Parkyns, Ben Cosh, Neil Ridulfa, MJ Hibbett, Charlotte Wadsworth, Adrian Taylor, Simon Guy and Lucy Bone.

One of my goals would be to record at Real World studios (with Neil Finn and Billy Bragg). Is that too much to ask?

Croydonist: Croydon has changed quite a bit in the last few years – does the place still shape your music, and if so, how?

Tim: I think it does – if only because I’m from Croydon and I live in Croydon.

I’m not sure exactly how to describe it but I like to think that there is something geographically specific about what I do.

Croydonist: When you aren’t writing or playing music, what occupies you? Are you still involved in the Comedy Festival, for example?

Tim: I have run a small business that provides computer support to small businesses and individuals for 28 years.

I promote music, comedy and visual art via Get Art More promotions and within the next few weeks I hope to become a published economist.

I am gradually putting what I do (outside of computer support) into one place under the umbrella of ‘100% carrot’ – see here.

The Croydon Comedy Festival still exists in what I like to see as a dual state:

In practical terms there is a weekend of shows every summer that is run by Nice n’ Spiky and takes place at Stanley Arts (these are mainly Edinburgh Festival previews).

In its conceptual state the Festival (with many venues and events) still exists and if I have anything to do with it WILL RETURN!!!

Croydonist: Where can our readers see you perform next?

Tim: I will be playing in London in the new year as part of Bedsprings (a London promoter)’s birthday celebrations and I will also organise something in Croydon itself as a launch event for the album.

My recommendation is to join the mailing via my website here – I do all my information sharing via email these days and will keep you up to date without flooding your Inbox.

Croydonist: Now your second album is out, what are your next musical plans?

Tim: I think the next thing I’ll do is a series of EPs similar to ‘In Kilnsea’ – in that I like the idea of recording a new song, an older (so far unrecorded) song and a version of a friend’s song (as we said at the time – “something old, something new, something borrowed…”) and putting those three things on one record.

Having said that – it might not happen – I might do something completely different: I try not to plan anything definite in any area of my life.

Croydonist: And finally, what’s your current Croydon go-to – café, walk, or creative hideout? 

Tim: The Tram Stop Cafe on Lower Addiscombe Road, the Feel Good choir in West Wickham, Vujon restaurant, Ossie’s Fish and Chips.

Thanks to Tim for chatting with us. Listen to ‘Life Is Not A Competition’ on his website here.

Images courtesy of Tim, portrait by Sara-Louise Bowrey

Posted by Julia