The General Store: 2000-2009
In April 2000, while trying to get over a messy break-up, I bought some recording equipment and made my first album, ‘Local Honey’ (Not Lame recordings, 2002) in my bedroom. I came up with a band name: The General Store, found a manager, met some labels, put a band together and played some live shows in the U.K and the U.S. The album was eventually released in 2002 to encouraging reviews.
Local Honey album sample by Tam Johnstone
Mountain Rescue album sample by Tam Johnstone
The most recent album, 'Mountain Rescue' (Brewery records, 2008) was recorded in the summer of 2003 with producer, Paul Reeve (Muse, Supergrass, Beta Band) and a plethora of guest musicians: Nick Zala (Mojave 3, The Loose Salute), singer/songwriter, Mike Silver, Jo Partridge (David Essex, The Who, Kiki Dee) and my mum, to name a few. Once again, the reviews were very positive but as I got busier with my 'day job' (session drummer) and things with my other band Glass Shark started happening, I had to put TGS to one side.
From the album, 'Mountain Rescue' available on CD and download
Since I moved to the U.S (in August 2009), I'd been tinkering with another album which evolved into the Song Explosion project which, in turn, has evolved into a Tam Johnstone album. I finally decided to stop hiding behind TGS and start releasing music as myself. For TGS fans who wanted a bit more, there's a ton of stuff I never put out. Hopefully, it'll come out some day. Official website