“The more I try at something, for sale unhealthy generally the worst it gets, capsule ” posits Drew Thomson on his songwriting style.
If that’s the case, help Thomson hasn’t been trying very much at all lately. In the last two years he released the blistering Negative Qualities LP with his band Single Mothers, a solo self-titled 7”, a limited-release solo cassette, and a slew of digital releases via Bandcamp. His forthcoming effort from Blacktop Records, Live at Apt. 2B, captures a recent performance of his solo material (complete with terrific “my girlfriend hates your band” banter) at Blacktop HQ in Tillsonburg, Ontario.
“Ben, who runs Blacktop, is spearheading the musical scene [in Tillsonburg], bringing a lot of bands to the community that he lives in that normally wouldn’t play there,” details Thomson. “I just believe in what he’s doing, and he asked me if I’d be interested in putting out a release with him. It was really small and it’s just one mic in the middle of the room. I’m happy to put this out with him.”
Three of the five songs from the performance—“Stoya”, “Please”, and “Parade”—were all released in the back half of 2015, which saw Thomson releasing five EPs in as many weeks.
“I’m a constant writer, so I just write lyrics all the time. And I’m extremely impatient, so the whole Bandcamp series came out of me having a lot of time on my hands. A lot of those songs I’ll never play again or I’ve already forgotten how to play. Most of the lyrics just came off the top of my head.”
Thomson’s lyrics, both on Single Mothers and solo releases, sound like they were penned by a bookworm that’s been hanging out in the wrong bars (or the right bars, depending on who you ask). Over the years his tales have touched upon collegetown excess, less than romantic encounters, and the listless, inebriated drift so commonplace somewhere north of age 20. As with any confessional-style writer detailing scenes fit for The Lost Weekend, a question begins to emerge of where Drew Thomson the regular guy stops and Drew Thomson the character begins.
“…most of the songs just kind of seemed in a darker area of my personality, but that’s just one part of who I am. It’s just the part that’s easiest to write about. It comes naturally to me, but people kind of make you one dimensional, and the songs can’t define my whole personality. It’s definitely become an exaggerated facet of that part of who I am. But it’s not an intentional character, although it’s kind of turning into that. I’ve kind of become that character unintentionally. I wish I kind of designed it better,” he says, laughing, “because there’s a lot of… say my girlfriend’s parents hear these songs and say, ‘Wait—who is this?’”
However, amidst the often dark subject matter does come some levity. One standout on Live at Apt. 2B is “Stoya,” written from the perspective of fan that is absolutely convinced the pornographic actress is in love with him, sending “secret codes only I can read” through her films.
“I just thought it would be funny to write a song about a guy thinking that some porn star or someone famous was actually obsessed with him instead of being obsessed with someone else. Stoya is just such a beautiful name, and I thought that’d be an interesting song to write. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, actually.”
When asked if he regrets any of his writing, Thomson responds in jest.
“All of it! Just scrap everything,” he jokes. “Yeah, I don’t regret any of it. Art is art, and this band is my art. When you become too sensitive and you’re censoring yourself you’re not doing yourself justice, because you’re not expressing yourself. If it offends people that’s unfortunate, but it’s never the intent.” 
Listen to and order Live at Apt. 2B digitally or on cassette (limited to 100 copies) from Blacktop Records over at Bandcamp.