01Profile
A Tom Rhys Harries Photo
Tom Rhys Harries
Actor — Cardiff
03Interview
Photo by Rebecca Reid
Name, where are you from?
Tomos Rhys Harries, Cardiff, Wales.
Describe your style in three words?
Loose, Hurried, Functional.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Probably still the first gig I went to without my parents - Arctic Monkeys in 2006. I hadn’t heard of them but my girlfriend at the time, who was a lot cooler than I was, told me earlier in the week that Arctic Monkeys were in town on the weekend and we should go. I pretended I knew what she was talking about, agreed enthusiastically and subsequently spent the entire week trying to learn all of their songs. I obviously didn’t do enough studying because she turned to me during ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ and she was singing along word for word, I crumbled, I just couldn’t remember the words to the song. I thought I can sort of go along with the guitar riffs, so I tried to style it out by ‘air guitaring’ but in my panic, I forgot I had a pint of beer in my hand which I, on an up strum, chucked all over her and the crowd of people around us. She broke up with me not long after that! I don’t know if there’s a moral In that story somewhere - it’s a sore point - and I’m not sure I’ve ever completely recovered from the trauma of that night.
If you could work with any film-maker in history?
Kubrick would be up there for me. His approach to his work was so meticulous and each of his films are distinctly unique, whilst maintaining a sort of connecting thread - genius. Not sure Shelley Duval would agree with me though.
Which Subcultures have influenced you?
I was a skater when I was a teenager but not a particularly good one, I just dug those BB jeans and chains. Blaring out Sum 41, The Offspring and Blink-182 shouting a lot and calling mundane things "gnarly".
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
That’s like trying to choose at a restaurant that has a menu the size of the Illiad. Johnny Cash, so we could go for a drink and I’d love to watch him write.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Cocteau Twins - Elizabeth Fraser's voice is off the chain, I find her so moving and their music just otherworldly. I’ll often use tracks of theirs when I make playlists for projects.
Tom Rhys Harries is a Welsh actor who recently starred in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (2020). Tom can currently be seen playing a superstar DJ in the new Netflix thriller, White Lines.
White Lines was be released 15th May 2020, stream it here.
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
'Me And Julio Down By The School Yard' by Paul Simon.
Dad had 'Paul Simon' on and the first track I can remember asking him to keep playing was this one.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'In Too Deep' by Sum 41.
One record you would keep forever?
'Harvest' by Neil Young. I bought a little beat up Vespa 125 with my first paycheque and the day I got my licence I woke up around 3am and drove down the embankment with this album playing in my headphones. Neil Young's music is timeless.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
"Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a gypsy queen,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green."
From 'Wiggle Wiggle' by (Nobel prize for literature winner) Bob Dylan.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'Roses' by Outkast. Andre 3000 is a lyrical wizard, I love that in recent years he pops up in the middle of another artists track and steals it with a couple of bars. I’m particularly into his verse on James Blake’s 'Where’s the Catch' - he’s got this dope, unstructured syncopation to his rhythm that is just a bop.
A song you wished you had written?
'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones. Playing this to a rammed out stadium would be wild. Also a very good soundtrack song, they used it in Flight (2012) - Denzel is strutting to his court hearing half-cut and he’s whacked his shades on. Yeah, it’s a doozy.
Best song to turn up loud?
'All Night' by Chance The Rapper. When I first moved to London I lived in a house opposite a pub and we had these big windows in the living room you could open up wide onto the main street below. One of my housemates is a DJ so he’d set up his equipment and point the speakers out the window and we’d have these house parties. An enduring memory I’ve got of those nights is me and the boys setting up and as this track was playing, a bunch of our mates were wandering towards the house, dancing down the street.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
'Dinner At Eight' by Rufus Wainwright. Rufus Wainwright is a bit of an outlier and quite hard to pin down, his 'Want One' album is Phenomenal.
Best song to end an all-nighter on?
'Sloop John B' by The Beach Boys. Growing up in Cardiff we’d ask for this track near the end of the night and go mad.
Any new music you are listening to right now?
'The Slow Rush' by Tame Impala - Kevin Parker just keeps getting better.
'Kiwanuka' by Michael Kiwanuka.
'1958' by Blick Bassy.
03Interview
Photo by Rebecca Reid
Name, where are you from?
Tomos Rhys Harries, Cardiff, Wales.
Describe your style in three words?
Loose, Hurried, Functional.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Probably still the first gig I went to without my parents - Arctic Monkeys in 2006. I hadn’t heard of them but my girlfriend at the time, who was a lot cooler than I was, told me earlier in the week that Arctic Monkeys were in town on the weekend and we should go. I pretended I knew what she was talking about, agreed enthusiastically and subsequently spent the entire week trying to learn all of their songs. I obviously didn’t do enough studying because she turned to me during ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ and she was singing along word for word, I crumbled, I just couldn’t remember the words to the song. I thought I can sort of go along with the guitar riffs, so I tried to style it out by ‘air guitaring’ but in my panic, I forgot I had a pint of beer in my hand which I, on an up strum, chucked all over her and the crowd of people around us. She broke up with me not long after that! I don’t know if there’s a moral In that story somewhere - it’s a sore point - and I’m not sure I’ve ever completely recovered from the trauma of that night.
If you could work with any film-maker in history?
Kubrick would be up there for me. His approach to his work was so meticulous and each of his films are distinctly unique, whilst maintaining a sort of connecting thread - genius. Not sure Shelley Duval would agree with me though.
Which Subcultures have influenced you?
I was a skater when I was a teenager but not a particularly good one, I just dug those BB jeans and chains. Blaring out Sum 41, The Offspring and Blink-182 shouting a lot and calling mundane things "gnarly".
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
That’s like trying to choose at a restaurant that has a menu the size of the Illiad. Johnny Cash, so we could go for a drink and I’d love to watch him write.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Cocteau Twins - Elizabeth Fraser's voice is off the chain, I find her so moving and their music just otherworldly. I’ll often use tracks of theirs when I make playlists for projects.
Tom Rhys Harries is a Welsh actor who recently starred in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (2020). Tom can currently be seen playing a superstar DJ in the new Netflix thriller, White Lines.
White Lines was be released 15th May 2020, stream it here.
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
'Me And Julio Down By The School Yard' by Paul Simon.
Dad had 'Paul Simon' on and the first track I can remember asking him to keep playing was this one.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'In Too Deep' by Sum 41.
One record you would keep forever?
'Harvest' by Neil Young. I bought a little beat up Vespa 125 with my first paycheque and the day I got my licence I woke up around 3am and drove down the embankment with this album playing in my headphones. Neil Young's music is timeless.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
"Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a gypsy queen,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green."
From 'Wiggle Wiggle' by (Nobel prize for literature winner) Bob Dylan.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'Roses' by Outkast. Andre 3000 is a lyrical wizard, I love that in recent years he pops up in the middle of another artists track and steals it with a couple of bars. I’m particularly into his verse on James Blake’s 'Where’s the Catch' - he’s got this dope, unstructured syncopation to his rhythm that is just a bop.
A song you wished you had written?
'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones. Playing this to a rammed out stadium would be wild. Also a very good soundtrack song, they used it in Flight (2012) - Denzel is strutting to his court hearing half-cut and he’s whacked his shades on. Yeah, it’s a doozy.
Best song to turn up loud?
'All Night' by Chance The Rapper. When I first moved to London I lived in a house opposite a pub and we had these big windows in the living room you could open up wide onto the main street below. One of my housemates is a DJ so he’d set up his equipment and point the speakers out the window and we’d have these house parties. An enduring memory I’ve got of those nights is me and the boys setting up and as this track was playing, a bunch of our mates were wandering towards the house, dancing down the street.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
'Dinner At Eight' by Rufus Wainwright. Rufus Wainwright is a bit of an outlier and quite hard to pin down, his 'Want One' album is Phenomenal.
Best song to end an all-nighter on?
'Sloop John B' by The Beach Boys. Growing up in Cardiff we’d ask for this track near the end of the night and go mad.
Any new music you are listening to right now?
'The Slow Rush' by Tame Impala - Kevin Parker just keeps getting better.
'Kiwanuka' by Michael Kiwanuka.
'1958' by Blick Bassy.