Tom Morley: The Wanderful Podcast with David Pearl

Listen to the latest episode of the Wanderful podcast from your favourite podcast station!

Team Building is needed more than ever in 2023. Face to face onsite interaction. A reason to come together. 200 people drumming. A thousand people singing in harmony. Things we can’t do on Zoom.

Tom Morley has a 40- year track record of doing this. Scritti Politti, David Bowie, Madness, Blue Chips everywhere and now you. Exactly where you are. That’s Tom’s speciality, finding out where you are and starting there.

Following his time in the music business with the 80s band Scritti Politti Tom has developed a truly artistic way of living where every experience leads him to the humorous uncovering of some universal truth. He turns his disasters and successes into Keynote inspiration for tired conference audiences who think they’ve seen it all. Maybe they HAVE seen it all, but have they FELT it? Have they DRUMMED it? Have they CHANTED it? Have they HARMONISED it?

Four decades onstage, first behind a drum kit then being the front man for whole troupes of performers has earned him the name ‘The Stand Up Drummer’. What’s he standing up for? You’re about to find out.

Timeline

00.00 – 00.44 Theme & Intro

00.45 – 05.30 David introduces Tom Morley

05.30 – 10.00 Tom discovers ‘analog instagram’ and describes the way he looks

10.10 – 13.05 How the ‘groove’ is found at the intersection of discipline, surrender and mischief.

13.06 – 14.07 Addressing the ‘thing’ which the audience is thinking.

14.08 – 15.39 Irreverence Justified

15.40 – 21.21 Tom describes his work as a ‘polymath’.

21.22 – 23.00 Scritti Politti Anecdote – Mischief in action

23.10 – 29.02 Making good trouble – re-introducing people to their own creativity

29.03 – 35.27 The importance of dancing around the room – finding the flow – safety in the                                             ‘groove’.

35.28 – 39.03 Playing with the walking rhythm – getting into the groove on the 2nd and 4th beat.

39.05 – 42.34 Don’t just walk from A to B – dance to A to B: Bring out the inner-adult

42.35 – 44.24 The Wanderful Exercise: Finding the Groove

44.24 – 48.48 Epilogue & End Credits

 Quotations

“My mantra is ‘we’re better than this’. That’s what drives me on.” (David)

“Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin… all those people… they gave us permission to just jam clothes together.” (Tom)

“I look like someone you would want to have a conversation with and that’s because I’m shy. I can’t really start conversations from scratch, I have to get people to start conversations with me.” (Tom)

“The ‘groove’ is found at the intersection of discipline, surrender and mischief.” (Tom)

“Irreverence, justified.” (Tom)

“We are our own powerpoint. We just need to turn ourselves on.” (Tom)

“I’m there to re-introduce people to their own creativity.” (Tom)

“We are up against the very well funded status-quo.” (Tom)

“Drummers… what we do is make it safe for everybody… we keep the groove going.” (Tom)

“The irony is, the safer they feel with the groove, the groovier the groove is, the more attractive… then they will feel something new.” (Tom)

“We walk in rhythm, so you can play with the rhythm of walking. We pretty much walk in 4/4. If you want to get into the groove, emphasise the 2nd and the 4th beat. Then you get into the groove. It’s called the off-beat.” (Tom)

“What’s the purpose of the dance? It’s to dance.” (Tom)

“There is a lot to get done. As we do it, lets dance our way there, because we’ll get to better places if we do that.” (David)

“I’m not interested in bringing out their inner-child. I’m interested in bringing out their inner-adult.” (Tom)

Links

Tom Morley (Guest)

Website: https://tommorley.com/

Twitter: @TomMorley

Instagram: _tommorley_

David Pearl (Host)

Website: https://www.davidpearl.net/

Instagram: davidpearl_here

Andrew Paine (Producer & Audio Engineer)

Twitter: ItPainesMe

Instagram: Sonicoyster