top of page

THE MAKING TRACKS PODCAST

In The Making Tracks Podcast I interview musicians about the story behind a song, their life story, philosophy, psychology, spirituality and more.

​

My own experiences as a musician, when I had leukaemia have made me realised how much music can help us through hard times, make sense of our experiences, and to feel connected to others. I now want to invite other musicians to explore the meaning of music, and its importance in their lives.


The Making Tracks Podcast is funded by Arts Council England , Youth Music as part of Making Tracks, a partnership project between Trinity Bristol, Basement Studios and Aspiration Creation Elevation (ACE). 

​

​

FIND LINKS TO ALL PLATFORMS

​

  HERE  

-

Stanlaey (Black Circle 2).png

EPISODE 14::
STANLAEY

TRACK: "Fragility"

  • Sonic world building

  • The temporal topography of a song

  • The colour of songs

  • Combining classical with glitchy electronic music

  • The need for self-compassion

  • Breath

Ayanna (Circle Image).png

EPISODE 13::
AYANNA
WITTER-JOHNSON

TRACK: "Rise Up"

  • Studying composition in New York

  • Making music that straddles the universal (classical), personal (songwriting) and cultural 

  • Changing the world from within through music

  • Exploring her Jamaican heritage and its folk music

  • Writing using her cello

  • Why Jamaican music has spread so far

Xyzelle (Circle).png

EPISODE 12::
XYZELLE.

Abi Flynn (Circle).png

EPISODE 11::
ABI FLYNN

TRACK: "Remedy"

  • Moving from the Philippines as a child

  • Growing up as an Asian person in a predominately white community

  • Finding confidence as a teenage girl and a person of colour

  • Learning to trust your creative instincts

  • Writing in a foreign language (Tagalog)

  • How music can tie you to a sense of place and belonging

TRACK: "Courage"

  • Her miraculous healing from a terminal diagnosis, emerging from emotional and inner work - such a similar experience to my own

  • Recording “Courage” whilst “basically on her death bed"

  • Adjusting back from isolation, drawing parallels to lockdown

  • Alchemy and inner transformation

  • How closeness to death gave urgency to her music making - and the loss of motivation afterwards

  • How becoming a mother has changed her outlook on death

-

Jasmine Crowe (Circle).png

EPISODE 10::
JASMINE CROWE

TRACK: "Sky is Falling"

  • Her father - an astrophysicist, philosopher and pianist

  • Songwriting to process his passing away

  • Songwriting collaboratively long distance during lockdown

  • Coping mechanisms and mental health

  • The relationship between music, time and memory

  • Astrophysics, Jupiter and stardust 

-

Anusha (Circle).png

EPISODE 9::
ANUSHA

TRACK: "Someone I Never Wanted"

  • Her experience of sexual harassment at university

  • Combining her background in classical music with poetry & hip-hop

  • Songwriting to make sense of difficult experiences

  • How art can precipitate social change

  • The value of play

-

Grove (Circle).png

EPISODE 8::
GROVE

TRACK: "Black"

  • What being queer means to them

  • Discovering their black heritage, and how these two identities intersperse

  • Self-exploration

  • AI

  • Nina Simone, and how a life can be a piece of art, and a form of protest

  • Evolving as a society beyond duality and classifications

-

RIZIK (Circle).png

EPISODE 7::
RIZIK

TRACK: "Alone Together (Panorama)"

  • Leaving marketing to pursue his dream of being a musician

  • Feeling shame about calling yourself "an artist"

  • Materialism in Los Angeles

  • Feeling pressured by his Palestinian parents into a conventional path

  • The fraud complex

Andy Cato (Circle).png

-

EPISODE 6::
ANDY CATO (GROOVE ARMADA)

TRACK: "At The River"

  • His early experiences of dance music

  • Playing jazz with his dad

  • Music culture as social change

  • Zen

  • His transition into regenerative farming

  • Parallels between farming and song-writing

-

Copy of TKM Podcast Photo (YT Thumbnail)

EPISODE 5::
SAM BROOKES

TRACK: "18 & Sleeping"

  • Grief

  • Healing through songwriting

  • Depression

  • The magic of live music

  • Finding peace within ourselves

TKM Podcast Photo (Circled).png

EPISODE 4::
THOMAS KAM

TRACK: "Call Me When You're Falling Down"

  • From Oxford University to India to Bristol Hospital

  • Being diagnosed with leukaemia

  • How songwriting made cancer manageable

  • Dear Lady Death

  • Making Tracks

  • Writing music in hospital

  • Making the podcast

-

Menu

Eli Carvajal Podcast Photo (Circle).png

EPISODE 3::

ELI CARVAJAL​

TRACK: "Mom Song"​

  • His mom's journey: 

    • from a dancer to a lawyer

    • From NY to London

    • her recent heart attack

  • Chinese poetry

  • The songwriter as a prism for creative consciousness

  • Our first experiences of performing

  • Writing songs about family

-

Kathryn Williams Podcast Photo (Circle).

EPISODE 2::

KATHRYN WILLIAMS

TRACK: "Heart Shaped Stone"

  • The downsides of fame

  • Writing music in collaboration

  • Different recording and production style

  • Using silence in music

  • Teaching songwriting

-

Dizraeli Podcast Photo (Circle).png

EPISODE 1::

DIZRAELI

TRACK: -  Everybody Here's Golden" 

  • His mental breakdown

  • The ecstatic moment of release from depression

  • Sampling the city

  • Inner silence, inner peace

  • Black Lives Matter

  • Poetry vs Rap

  • His time studying percussion in Senegal

Menu

Interested in being on the podcast? Email: hello@thomaskam.com

bottom of page