Kate recently caught up with new and upcoming emerging UK alternative artist
‘I Know, I Know’. I Know, I Know is musician Tommy Hill who has just
released his brand new single ‘Fickle’. Having also worked on Royal Blood’s
song ‘Boilermaker’ which featured on their number 1 album ‘Typhoons’, I
Know, I Know certainly knows how to make a banging anthemic track.
This is the name of Hill’s solo project and ‘Fickle’ is the perfect track to add to
your playlists, filled with glistening guitars, intense drum fills and luscious
melodies, ‘Fickle’ is an immediate hit. It takes the listener to a mesmerising
alternative universe. I Know, I Know (Tommy Hill) certainly proves he is an
artist with true potential, he may be small right now but this guy knows how to
make a big sound, remember the name!
Kate caught up with Tommy to talk about the track, his music and overall
personality to get our readers to get to know Tommy! (I Know, I Know.)
Kate: Hi Tommy, it’s great to have you with us today,
I hope you’re good and have been doing well, so we’re going to kick things off with a little
Introduction so for those who haven’t come across your music yet could you just tell us
Who you are and how you got into music?
T: “Yeah so my name is Tommy Hill, I started playing guitar at the age of 6 from listening to
my dad’s records. My first memory of music is Queen, ‘Radio Gaga’. I mostly grew up on
rock music, guitar music, English bands and artists like Eric Clapton so from there I
eventually persuaded my dad to buy me a guitar and I started learning Metallica, I was
obsessed with Metallica! From there I started playing in bands when I was around 9 or 10 and
then I kept on going and eventually moved to London when I was 18 and then I kinda started
touring then as a side man for pop artists and stuff! I got some experience playing really big
shows which was amazing and traveling the world. In 2016, I decided to leave London and
move in with my mum in Brighton and I had basically all of my like, music stuff with me all
in one place and I just started writing songs and recording them myself on my laptop and
learn how to produce music and that’s really where I know I know started! Obviously didn’t
have the name by then but just kinda learned how to do everything myself, I play all the
instruments so in 2017 I released ‘Blindeside’ and it did quite well on Spotify and went viral
a bit, which was a bit crazy!! I then spent the following years still trying to develop as an
artist and I went to Los Angeles, spent some time in New York which was amazing and I
lived in this studio for a few months and I was hanging out with my friend Mike Kerr (Royal
Blood) in New York and yeah there was some crazy stuff, Royal Blood actually played a gig
in Brooklyn, they did 2 nights and I ended up going up doing a guitar solo on stage the
second night with them which was pretty cool but yeah I spent time there working on music
and then I decided to come back to London and make my records here and then the start of
2020 I went on my own to record more music such as the likes of ‘Talk’ and yeah that’s
pretty much where I know I know cane from, I’m sorry that was pretty long winded!
Kate: I know, I know is a unique name for an artist, how did the name come
about and does it have any special meaning?
T: “Yeah so there’s a story! I was walked into a pub in south London with some friends and
as I was walking in somebody shouted ‘Tommy!’ and I turned around and it was a friend of
mine that I haven’t seen for years and so basically we all sat down and had some drinks and
he was asking me how my music was going and I was like yeah I got my solo project I’m
working on and getting ready to release music but I don’t really have a name yet and he said
‘Well whatever it is, it’s got to be really fucking good!’ and I said ‘I know, I know!!’ and
then he was like omg I know, I know!! and then I said oh that’s quite good!! and I catch
myself saying it all the time so it’s basically from that conversation! My friend John!!”
Kate: Can you tell us a bit about your new single ‘Fickle’ and what is the
inspiration behind it?
T: “Yes I can, so with a friend of mine we made a beat in this room in this studio and I had
this idea that I wanted to have a song called ‘Fickle’ and you know, um basically if I’m being
totally candid, it’s just talking about like people you know that you kinda meet and like
people in London, they say one thing but really they mean something else and you know, I
didn’t grow up here, I grew up in the country side so something that I had to learn and kinda
deal with. Yeah I think doing something so creative and so competitive like music there’s
certain kinda crowds and stuff where like I feel like I’m being myself and accepted and
there’s others like….so anyways I had this idea about people bring fickle because it’s quite
common in the industry so I had this idea and this amazing friend of mine they’re called
‘Bambi Thug’ so we wrote the song together and the verse is kinda talking about experiences
and seeing stuff for what it is and I think after you’ve kinda been around a little bit you’re
fooled less easily so being able to see things for what they see. Basically, you’re seeing these
people as your friends but they’re not really, they just kinda want something from you. So,
that’s what it’s about and in the chorus, it says, I’m fickle but I’m not actually talking about
myself, you’re in it and you’re in it for yourself and it sounded cooler if it was in the first
person so it’s like yeah, so really it’s talking about other people. It’s a bit of a moody track
I’d say haha!”
Kate: What is your favorite musical memory and if you could invite 5 musicians dead or
alive to dinner, who would they be?
T: “Wow, okay, so hang on! So the first question, what’s my favourite musical memory?
Wowwww, um aww that’s a tough question Kate! I think there’s many! A highlight for mine
was playing Glastonbury pyramid stage in like 2013, I was like really young and that has
always been a dream of mine because I’ve been there and seen like Stevie wonder perform on
that stage and loads of my favourite bands so that was a highlight! Also, seeing Bon Iver in
2009, End Of The Road Festival when they just brought out their first album, nobody really
knew who they were, that was a big turning point and I was just like woahhhh okay this
music is really powerful and that kinda inspired me and I started getting into a lot of different
types of music and started writing songs around then!”
And who would be your 5 musicians dead or alive that you’d bring to dinner?
“ That I’d want to take to dinner? Okay eh prince, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, um, Kevin
Parker and ohhh I don’t know the 5th one, maybe George Harrison!”
Kate: Is there any advice you’d like to give to any musicians starting out during these
times?
T: “Yeah definitely, um, I would just say just keep going, keep doing what you love and
don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy yourself! You don’t need to take yourself too
seriously, I think you should just make sure you enjoy what you’re doing and make as much
music as you can and just remember why you got into it in the first place, I think that’s what
it’s about and to always keep that close and not lose that.”
Kate: What artists and you listening to on Spotify right now?
T: “Let me have a look!! Who have I been listening to? Recently played….Awh there’s this
amazing band called Skaters, they’re from New York and they’re really underground and just
amazing and they are really good! Eh, who else have I been listening to, I was listening to eh,
this artist called Angel Haze, she’s a rapper from America and I toured with her a bit and she
is incredible, she’s just a poet and she’s very self-aware in her lyrics and her whole
everything is just, I find very inspiring! I had this song from a New Zealand artist called
BNEE and there’s a song called ‘Happen To Me’ which I think is amazing! You know how it
works, Spotify is amazing for finding new artists and all that and just liking songs and adding
them to playlists!”
Kate: What is your favorite track that you’ve released and why?
T: “I would say Fade Out is my favorite one, that was written like last year in the middle of
lockdown and it really got me through a really hard time, all I had was music and I was able
to come and work here so that one for me is quite a special one. It’s about relationships that
just faded out during lockdown so it’s pretty on the nose and it still feels pretty special to me
so I’d say that’s my favorite one!”
Kate: Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?
T: “Um, who would be my dream artist? Gosh, I don’t know now….I would love to
collaborate with Kevin Parker just because I look up to him because the way he creates music
is pretty much how I do it too! I find him very inspiring!”
Kate: What message do you want your fans to take away with them when they listen to
Fickle?
T: “Um, I would like them to know that’s it okay to feel a certain way about something
whether that’s a person, a relationship, a feeling about a job or something whatever it is, it’s
okay to accept how you feel and act accordingly!
Do what makes you feel good and remove yourself from toxic situations!”
Kate: I have a few questions left and some of them are quick and short answers! So lets
go!
Cats or dogs?
T: “dog!”
Kate: What is your go to McDonald’s order? If you like McDonald’s!
T: “I don’t eat McDonald’s but if I did, then it would be a Big Mac! But I don’t eat the beef
really but I used too!”
Kate: Your favorite album of all time?
T: “ Woahhhh, Relationship of Command by At The Drive-In! It’s one of my favorites!”
Kate: 3 words to describe your music?
T: “ I. Don’t. Know.”
Kate: What is your favorite movie?
T: “ Pulp Fiction!”
Kate: What is your favorite performance to watch on YouTube at night?
T:“ At the moment, it’s Limp Bizlit At Lollapaloza, it totally blew me away! It’s
outrageously good!”
Kate: What have you been binge watching over lockdown? Have you developed any
talents?
T: “I actually have tried to not watch Netflix just because it was getting a bit much, I’ve been
listening to podcasts! I started running pretty seriously and done a few half marathons, don’t
know if that’s a talent!”
Kate: You recently played a show in London, what was that experience like?
T: “it was really amazing; it was almost overwhelming just because that was the last place I
played in London in March 2020 before lockdown. It was a beautiful experience to play some
songs live for the first time that I had written!”
Kate: What does the future have in store for I know, I know?
T: “Yes! I’d love to go on tour around the UK, Europe and even eventually get to America! I
would love to play ‘Fade Out’ in New York City, that’s my favorite place on earth really! So
that’s a big goal of mine. What’s in store? There will be more music and a record, still not
exactly sure on when it’s going to come out but it’s going to happen! Lots of new singles,
more shows, I don’t want to say too much but things are coming!”
You can listen to ‘Fickle’ the latest track from I Know, I Know on all major streaming
platforms now, be sure to follow him on Spotify.
You can also check him out on:
TWITTER: @IknowIknow_
INSTAGRAM: IKnowIknowOfficial
Huge thanks to Tommy for chatting to us for ICK Mag and we look forward to hearing new music from
him and catching a show in the future!