Isolation Prompted Mick Thomas To Create A Whole New Album Quickly

Today’s release of Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission’s ‘See You On The Other Side’ is a byproduct of the creative surge the coronavirus has inspired in artists.

It has been eight years since the last Mick Thomas album. Had the lockdown not happened Mick would have been in the studio making a new album. ‘See You On The Other Side’ however became a whole new product with almost all new songs written and recorded in April, 2020.

The only song written before the lockdown was ‘Mint Condition’ for an online drama series.

‘See You On The Other Side’ was done quickly and remotely, old school.

“I reckon a really great read is The History of Blood On The Tracks,” Mick Thomas tells Noise11.com. “Dylan didn’t like some of the songs. He was away with his brother who said “I know a band in this town” and they re-recorded three or four of the songs on the spot and the album still came out a month later. It didn’t come out a year later. I know now when you want to change something on a record you hold your breath and hope it’s not going to hold it up”.

Just prior to starting this record Mick Thomas hit a milestone. He turned 60. It jolted his creativity. “That milestone was pretty important,” he says. “You lose confidence at a point in your career. After the last record I didn’t feel like writing for a long time. Writing has been a constant in my life. I’d written 20 albums and I just wondered if I would be doing this for the rest of my life. Then something like this comes along”.

One song inspired by the lockdown was ‘Rainbows and Bears’. “I have a 7-year old. All of a sudden we were faced with the spectre of home schooling. One of the things is that you got to a stage every day where you just had to get out of the house. What we noticed was people started putting bears and rainbows in their windows and kids would spot them. It was a joyous moment. We have a big porch at our house. We’d be sitting out and see people walk past and kids would go “there’s a rainbow”. The parents faces were like “what the fuck is happening” but I’d love the fact it was done for kids. It was just about capturing the period in our head, capturing the moment. I just loved that these community things started happening that were bringing people together and people would speak more”.