A decade ago, Tomi Swick was heralded as the next big thing in Canadian music.
He was a singing, guitar-playing ginger (before Ed Sheeran made that cool) whose debut album Stalled Out in the Doorway — featuring singles like “A Night Like This” and “Everything Is Alright” — earned a nomination for Pop Album of the Year at the Juno Awards.
Swick lost to Nelly Furtado that night in Saskatoon but was named Best New Artist.
His life changed, but not in a good way.
“The day after I won the Juno, I lost my voice,” Swick recalled in an interview with iHeartRadio.ca.
He battled strep throat and pneumonia, then underwent surgery to have polyps and a cyst removed from his vocal cords.
“It was awful. It was a good three-and-a-half, four years of no singing,” Swick said. “It was rough. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
The medical issues conspired with his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to keep the rising star down.
“I was pretty nervous. I felt betrayed by my own body,” the native of Hamilton, Ont. admitted.
“Some of it wasn’t my fault, some of it was my fault. It was really scary but it was definitely an eye-opener. I had to rebuild.”
He parted ways with this record label (“They wanted me to be a bit more Michael Bublé or Ron Sexsmith,” said Swick) and lost his parents and a dog to cancer. It was enough to make him a country singer.
“I entertained it for a few minutes,” he said, “but I said no, I’m not that.”
What Swick is, though, is back.
His new album, The Yukon Motel, comes out Oct. 14 and contains 14 tracks that reflect the last few years of his life. It takes its name from an actual motel in Teslin, a village of fewer than 500 people just north of the B.C. border.
“I stayed at a place just down the street and I went and hung out at this Yukon Motel,” said Swick. “All these crazy characters there became an idea for a song, which became the title of the record.”
He’s the first to admit that his sound doesn’t fit easily into any one genre.
“It’s roots rock-ish,” Swick suggested. “Your guess is as good as mine. [It’s] not really country. I truly don't know.”
One inspiration, though, is clear. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is whiskey to Swick’s sound?
“Depends on the night,” he replied with a hearty laugh. “One to 10, I’ll go five. I’ll give you a five.”
It’s good to hear Swick laugh, after all he’s been through.
“I’m in the best place I’ve ever been,” he admitted. “I didn't respect the opportunity I had before. I care about it so much more now. Going through a lot of the things I’ve gone through made me kind of reset and rethink and have a bit of different perspective on lots of things.
“I feel very proud of this work. I’m a lot more positive and happy in my own skin on this record.”
Listen to tracks from The Yukon Motel:
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