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- 🔍 Hrvoje Bubić; TOM MALONE INTERVIEW (DuckDuckGo search or Google search or WP search or FB)
Tom Malone je američki glazbenik iz Venture, Kalifornije. Za SolinLive govori o sebi, svome gradu Ventura, kao i o heavy metal bendu Cirith Ungol (čiji je on neslužbeni sedmi član)
First, introduce yourself to our readers and say something about yourself.
Hello everyone! I’m Tom Malone and my birth name is “Tommy” (not Thomas). I go by both first names. I moved to Ventura in 1970. I lived across the street from the Foster Park Bowl. In 1973, Cirith Ungol played a benefit concert at the Foster Park Bowl and that was the first time I had ever heard of them. I was only about 12 years old at the time. The tickets were only about $3.50 for the concert, but me being a kid, I tried to sneak up and see the concert for free. Security caught me up in the hills and made me leave, but I got to see a few minutes of the show and still heard them. This was the time before they had Neil Beattie as the vocalist. I became a fan immediately and was always aware of the band growing up.
You have been involved in music for a long time, what was the key moment that music was your calling in life? What bands did you play in?
Music was always a major calling in my life due to my father. He had one of the first home reel-to-reel recorders that came from Japan that he got in his travels in the U.S. Navy back around 1958. He was always singing and playing songs. He had a beautiful voice. I didn’t get his voice unfortunately. So, as far back as I can remember, him playing and recording was just part of normal home life. My Dad played acoustic guitar and recorded folk songs and also wrote and recorded his own songs. I still have his original tapes and they still play! I have an old reel-to-reel player that’s from the 1960s and I’m even on the tapes talking and singing as a very young boy. My parents were young when I was born in 1961, so I grew up with an amazing record collection that my parents let me play on the record player anytime. The Beatles, Zombies, The Animals, and even country artists like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash were in the collection. I spent countless hours just loving all this amazing 60’s music.
Eventually, Dad showed me how to make a few chords on the guitar and I could play an E’m chord the easiest but a G chord or a D was really hard for my fingers. This must have been when I was about 9 years old. When I heard Purple Haze by Hendrix, Sunshine of Your Love by Cream, and “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, I was floored. It was so hard and heavy, I was always into the harder rock music. Then came Black Sabbath and it turned my music world upside down. Sabbath, UFO, Scorpions, Montrose, and Alice Cooper were the first albums I bought with my own money. I was originally a drummer and got my first drum set for Christmas when I was 13. They were blue Ludwigs and the snare was a silver-colored Gretch. The set had Zildjin cymbals including the hi hat. I think they paid only $40 for the entire set used from an ad in the local paper. The durm playing only lasted a few years and I never played in a band, I just played along to KISS records mostly. The drums drove my neighbors crazy!
You come from Ventura, California, known for its diverse music scene. Could you tell us more about it?
Ventura originally had some major country music roots with Johnny Cash living in Casitas Springs in the 1960’s. His former 6 acre property and house in Casitas Springs recently sold for $1.8 million. How cool would that be to live in his house? There were a lot of garage bands in the 1970’s and 1980’s that had very good musicians and some of them worked at the local music stores. When I first started playing bass, in 1979, Greg Lindstrom worked at “Fancy Music” here in town. I purchased my first really nice bass rig from his boss, Richard (a Peavey Mark III bass head for about $450). I recall seeing Greg at Fancy when I would go in and knew he was a member of Cirith Ungol. He had a reputation of being a laid back guy, but when he got on stage, he became a force of nature! Of the local bands, Cirith Ungol was always looked upon as one of the very best in the area. There were many bars and nightclubs in the area that showcased the local talent on Friday and Saturday nights, but for Cirith Ungol, they mostly played the clubs in Los Angeles which had a wider audience.
You collaborated with the heavy metal band Cirith Ungol as a session musician on the Forever Black album and during their performance at Keep It True XXIII festival in 2023. Please tell us more about it and how did you met the members of the band?
First off, let me say this quote: “I’m the biggest fan playing in his favorite band”. That’s what I tell the guys all the time. My son Jake, when he was very young asked me, “Dad, what’s your favorite song?” and I answered “Join The Legion” by Cirith Ungol. He still remembers that and he’s now 35 years old.
When Greg Lindstrom formed “Falcon”, I had been in touch with him, as a Cirith Ungol fan and was really excited when he was playing live and making the Falcon albums. I was like a roadie and photographer during their gigs as some of the gigs when they were playing in Southern California. Greg has always been really good to me as has Perry Grayson. They are both dear friends. That would have been back probably around 2003 or so. I didn’t think Cirith Ungol would ever reform. So let’s fast forward to about 2017.
Just a chance meeting, a twist of fate. I was at a concert (I think it was Uli Jon Roth) and I ran into Rob Garven who was also there. This was early 2017. He mentioned they had recently got back together and they might need a fill-in bass player when Jarvis is on tour with Night Demon. He asked if I knew anyone and I said yes! ME! I gave him my phone number and I didn’t expect anything but one day my phone rang and it was him. I was invited down to the practice facility and lucky for me they liked me. At the time, Tim Baker’s son, Matthew, was also sitting in. He’s a great guy and a really good bass player! So I was #3 in line. As life went on, Matthew became more busy with life and work and I sat in more and more. So, for the last 7 and a half years, it’s been a dream come true for me. The guys are like family to me and I’m proof that it’s never too late to live your dream. I was 55 years old when I got the call and to play with these guys, it’s just been amazing. I played on the demos for Forever Black and I also got to record the initial bass parts (which btw my bass parts are not on the album, but the Jarvis’s) with Rob’s drum parts for the Dark Parade album in the studio.
Regarding getting to play live at Keep It True, OMG! That was so gracious of the band to allow me to get up and play with them for three songs. Jarvis had it arranged where I just took his wireless rig, plugged in and it all worked out really well. I’m grateful for that moment in time. The fans were really great. On a side note, I think many of the German fans thought I was Michael “Flint” Vujea, the original bass player.At a band meet and greet the next day, I was asked to sign some of the classic albums and when I explained I wasn’t “Flint” the fans were a little shocked. I was sorry to disappoint them. I loved Germany and the fans were awesome.
Although they did not reach the fame of Iron Maiden or Metallica, Cirith Ungol enjoys great popularity among fans of heavy metal music. Although they did not reach the fame of Iron Maiden or Metallica, Cirith Ungol enjoys great popularity among fans of heavy metal music. Although you are not an official member of the band, what is your opinion about it?
So let’s get to Cirith Ungol. I remember getting the first Cirith Ungol album in about 1981 and hearing that crazy amazing bass part in the middle of “Better Off Dead” for the first time! Wow! Greg was a notch above most bass players. I still have that first album, part of the first batch that came out on Liquid Flames Records.
That Frost and Fire record was groundbreaking and for those guys to be from Ventura, it was amazing.
Tim’s vocals, Rob’s drums, Jerry’s guitar parts, Greg’s bass, all unique. They sounded European to me and not like a local southern California band. The “King of The Dead” record made me a fan for life. What a record! I think that’s what made them an underground favorite.
I also thought “One Foot In Hell” was a very good record and “Paradise Lost” has some fantastic timeless songs on it too. Personally, I really like the entire Paradise Lost album. It’s aged very well. I think it’s wonderful that they are more well known now and getting some well deserved recognition as what I believe to be “Godfathers of Doom Metal”. Also, their amazing album covers and the praying skeletons as their calling card, just brilliant and epic!
Besides music, what else do you do
Besides music, I have a French Bulldog that takes up a lot of my time. I’m married to my highschool sweetheart and we have been married 37 years years. I’m a huge American Football fan and my favorite team is the Los Angeles Rams. I’ve been a Rams fan since 1969.
Finally, what are your plans for the future? What would you say to our readers?
I hope to keep getting better as a musician as I think I could live to be a thousand years old and would still find new challenges with the bass to explore. I really like the bands Insomnium and Borknagar and their progressive approach to metal. If you haven’t heard them, check them out.