Meet 'RHUMBA CLUB' AKA (Tom Falle) | We Chat About New Single RHUMBA CLUB & Sexual Identity
Fresh from being #2 on British GQ’s Ones To Watch list and composing music for Fendi’s Flow-up collection, London queer-pop maker ‘Rhumba Club’ today unveils new single and video ‘The Rhumba Club is Waiting For Me’. The latest single comes ahead of his UK headline show at The Phoenix Arts Club on November 3rd.
Tom is just beginning to hit his stride, Rhumba Club has already been lauded by tastemakers. British ‘GQ says this track is “the perfect lockdown banger” and we would have to agree. Crafting pop that is current with a retro soul, Tom addresses the honest realities of queer life through disco thumping beats and synth bass riffs worthy of Depeche Mode, proving himself as a top tier artist and certified one to watch.
Hi Tom, Thank you for joining us for an interview.
Your music has been gaining momentum with BBC introducing as well as a variety other music outlets. You are fresh from being #2 on British GQ’s “Ones To Watch List” and you are composing music for Fendi’s Flow-up collection, congratulations on your successes so far! What are your long term goals for the “Rhumba Club”?
Thank you. Practically speaking, I’d love for Rhumba Club to be critically acclaimed on its own terms, unbowed by trends. I’d also like to be able to release work as Rhumba Club for decades without fear of financial worry. Artistically speaking, I’d like to add a bit of genuine provocation into the pop landscape: both sonically and lyrically.
As the song is titled ‘The Rhumba Club is Waiting For Me’ and this is your artist/band stage name what is the significance of the ‘The Rhumba Club’?
The Rhumba Club, conceptually, is my place of queer escape. It’s very indulgent really – it’s the world as I would like it to be. It initially began as an inclusivity project - I held ‘Rhumba Club' club nights in Hackney that were specifically intended to integrate straight and queer crowds, but since then it has developed into a kind of metaphor for a place of belonging. If you feel like an outsider, the Rhumba Club is for you.
There is an 80’s Pet Shop Boys meets Rick Astley vibe and of course Erasure and The Communards, which you mentioned. There is usually an upbeat tone that runs through your music, contrasted by often more sombre lyrics and themes. Your visuals and styling are also 80’s. What is it about the nostalgia of this decade that appeals to you?
Very well observed re the lyrics! It’s a conscious choice of mine to merge optimistic sounds with a wry lyric.
I think much queer pop in the 80s was magnificently constructed – so often it had to subtly cater to different crowds. Much of the Pet Shop Boys work, for instance, worked as great commercial dance music whilst also offering a nod and a wink to the queer community in really clever, high camp ways. I know a lot of the indulgences of artists in the era have been panned by anti-capitalist critics (the Yacht in Duran Duran’s Rio video, for instance), but I think all pop music is a capitalist construction of sorts so...whatever. I’m also an unashamed synthesizer geek, and of course...the 80s was the era of the synthesizer. I’m keen not to be perceived as a one-trick pony though, so won’t hang around there forever.
Interpreting the lyrics it seems that the song is about being cheated on, masturbating, being single/alone, insecurity, parental inability to fully understand and the gay club scene. Would this be a correct interpretation of the lyrics? Could you tell us in your own words what the song is about on the whole?
The song is absolutely about all of those things. I think it’s a fairly well-documented experience, being a queer teenager with no-one else around you able to corroborate or unpack those experiences or feelings with you. I used to create my own kind of therapy – listening to bombastic, apparently confident queer artists in the confines of my bedroom (Erasure, Queen, Morrissey etc.). That was my ‘Rhumba Club’. I wanted to recreate that feeling in the song.
Photo Credit | Ivan Ruberto
As you said the song was “Inspired by the feelings of insecurity I felt as a gay teenager[…]”
Many LGBTQ+ people have reported going through an internal struggle with their sexual identity growing up. LGBTQ+ youths have stated that as they grow up often in homophobic environments whether at school, at home or absorb homophobia projected by the media. They often internalise this homophobia, while often in denial of their sexuality to themselves or those around them. Also many have stated that they thought that their friends and family did not truly love them because they had already displayed their homophobic beliefs openly when they did not know their child was LGBTQ+ or if they were individuals that were visibly queer acting they would be treated negatively or differently etc. Obviously as a result they have higher rates of mental health issues and suicide.
As someone who identifies openly as “queer” what was your personal experience growing up queer on the small island of Jersey and how did your experiences growing up impact you both positively and negatively as an adult?
My experience of being a queer teenager in a small place was probably fairly typical. It was clumsy. I went to an all-boys school where my sexuality was woefully misunderstood. Had it not been for the peculiar confidence of my personality, the fact I had girlfriends (occasionally), and my family’s stability, it definitely could have been much tougher. One weird by-product of the situation was the way in which I dealt with being the only out queer kid at school – I ended up being very performative day-to-day. I’d up the camp as a kind of pre-emptive defense mechanism. In my head, it was a case of ‘if I’m knowingly overt, then they would seem idiotic to leverage my sexuality against me’. A prepared ‘read’ of sorts. I was always very used to feeling like an outsider though, which helped me a lot when forming an artistic identity.
As a man sporting a moustache are you doing anything for Movember? Have you personally checked your balls, prostate and are you ok right now?
a. My moustache is with me 365 days of the year :)
b. Let me just check...yep...all good.
Considering it’s scientifically proven (Kinsey etc.) that while some people are more inclined one way or the other most people are not either 100% homosexual or heterosexual and that sexuality is generally a spectrum of preferences, which can also be fluid to an extent.
Also historically speaking there was often no term or label for sexuality in many cultures and the idea of heterosexuality is a relatively new social construct and in a similar way to how pink used to be perfectly acceptable for young boys until a marketing director decided to sex pink and blue to create the distinction when marketing products…
Do you think all these labels to describe sexuality e.g. sapiosexual, pansexual, demisexual etc. ultimately do more harm than good or do you like having a word to define your sexuality, personally?
I have really strong views on this: labelling one’s sexuality, though politically useful, is limiting long-term. I love the evolving and fluid nature of the term queer. It’s so encompassing and seems to ridicule boundaries. People often think that my track Normativity is about ‘toxic masculinity’. It is a bit, but not really. It’s principally a rallying cry against any kind of rigidity, sexual, or otherwise. And, in all honesty, I get uncomfortable when certain quarters seem so determined to categorize sexualities, it creates all kind of social regulations. I completely recognize that without a title, though, it’s harder for certain groups to be heard.
I guess my policy is: be whoever you feel like being when you wake up in the morning and condemn those who’d get in the way of that.
Do you think homophobia exists because as stated previously most people are not 100% straight and would rather try to conform to the status quo? As a recent study found homophobic men were more aroused by gay porn than those that were not homophobic and in the least tolerant countries, they have the most searches for gay porn? What are your thoughts on this and have you encountered homophobia on your music journey?
1. Homophobia exists because of an instinctive aversion to otherness, especially in conservative places. I just think that after 250,000 years of humanity we need to move past that particular evolutionary attribute...
2. I am sure there is some correlation between one’s desires and cultural taboos, but I ain’t no psychoanalyst. I would maintain my focus on outwardly condemning homophobic laws to be honest. Currently, I feel there tends to be a focus on relatively niche domestic issues, which is great, but sometimes we need to unashamedly promote truly muscular liberalism, particularly in deeply conservative, religious states.
3. Yes, I have encountered homophobia, often in indirect ways. Industry types often suggest I should ‘tone down the queer’. Good luck with that.
Do you think your music is relatable enough to appeal to people that that don’t identify as LGBTQ+?
100%. Everyone can be a victim of the topics I write about, and everyone needs a Rhumba-release (even if they don’t know it yet). My shows are always filled with a mixed crowd. Purists might eye-roll at that, but I think integration is a great thing.
Have you had much support from the LGBTQ+ community for your music?
From those who get it, yes. It’s interesting because the LGBTQ+ community is truly diverse now. My queer cultural references will not resonate with some LGBTQ+ folk, and that’s perfectly ok. We aren’t and never were a homogenous mass, I’m happy to just concentrate on carving out a space for Rhumba Club in the hearts of those who’d have her.
What question would you want to be asked that has not already been asked in an interview?
Who else is integral to making Rhumba Club work? The answer is my super-hot live band, and my stylist, Benjamin Canares, who is a walking library of cultural references.
What can people expect from your performance at the socially distanced set at London’s Phoenix Arts Club on November 3rd?
Synthesizers, sweat, saxophones and socially distanced dancing...
tickets available here.
Interview by John Burbidge