Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Smouse.
Tom, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It started with a tank of gas. I drove up from Iowa to the Twin Cities one weekend in early 2000 to pursue a career in the music industry. I knocked on 30+ recording studio doors, asking to be an apprentice. My last stop after being consistently rejected, I was told to check out a college opening up soon. Being one of the first graduates, and a Valedictorian of the Institute of Production (IPR), my passion in music bloomed. This led to going to a ton of shows, working with bands, and recording whomever and whenever I could. I spent 6 years working as the Lead Engineer at Fuzzy Slippers Studios. When the studio shut down due to increasing rental rates in Lowertown, I started my own record label, appropriately named Failing Forward Records. Two years of putting everything I could into it, it fizzled and I was burned out.
My path took a turn into corporate audio visual and finding a consistent path for revenue, with my passion and drive for music laying dormant. It was during a 3-year stint in Seattle where I couldn’t hold it down anymore. I moved back to Minnesota and searched for an outlet.
I stumbled upon a website, Music in Minnesota, where I could write about music, go to shows, and once again support local music. This opportunity led me to writing about music venues, interview industry professionals, and filling my ears with our talented field of local artists. When the pandemic hit, like so many other people, I felt lost on what to do. This led to a collaborating effort to raise money for the music venues that were closed. Eight different photographers captured 54 artists in front of 8 different music venues. This project was featured on the news and raised over $26k that went back to each of the venues.
Through Music in Minnesota, I’ve had unique opportunities to interview musicians, support diverse voices, and creatively spread my wings with photography. This opened up a door to cover the bluegrass-driven Blue Ox Music Festival in 2021 and even partner with a website on a podcast where I go into artists’ home to discuss their environments, songwriting, and capturing images from these personal spaces.
From the very first door that I knocked on in Minnesota, my heart and passion have been to be involved in our music scene. Supporting local artists, venues, projects, and everything in between has defined what motivates and drives me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Every road has bumps. For me, my personal shortcomings seeped into my professional career with a very public mistake and loss of trust from my peers. Although I’ve moved on and grown in the mistake, it’s a situation that opened my eyes to the sense of community. It made me realize the fragility of trust and reputation. It’s also driven me to be better and put in more to support this community.
Another struggle is my scale of creative ideas, as I always want to make something big and complex. If you’re going to divest energy and ideas, you might as well do it to it’s fullest. That may go back to a saying from my favorite poet Charles Bukowski, “Find what you love and let it kill you”. You see that scale and effort in my portrait photography, uniquely finding ways to make people feel beautiful.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My online moniker ‘Smouse in the House’ is a collect all for my music journalism, live music photography, writings, and the weekly podcast. I also explore portrait photography, focusing on unique settings. Check out www.smousehousephotography.com for a full picture of my work.
My hope is I’m known as an advocate for local music, venues, and publications that give voices to diversity and inclusion. I’m most proud of my ability to bring people together and show the strings that connect our neighborhoods. I spent 2 days driving around the Twin Cities during the shutdown, taking photos of musicians stuck at home through their windows. Keeping those strings strong and providing distinct ways to draw eyes to our creatives sets me apart.
I think back to my speech at graduation where I nervously biffed a joke about not caring enough to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but instead being the most useful. I continue to keep that motto in my swiss army pocket of being useful to as many people as I can.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Tying in my passion for music, the main memory comes from washing dishes as a teenager and my mother walking in with a CD. She handed it to me saying it was a lady at work whose son wanted me to hear it. I popped it into the boombox and ended up listening to it all summer long until the grooves of the CD wore out. That album changed my life and lit a fire of wanting to be involved in music. I figured if an album can change a life, then I wanted to make something that had the ability to do that to someone else.
Having little talent in playing an instrument, little skill in reading music, and little musical background in my family, that album set me on a path to hopefully change lives in a positive way. You never know when growing up can take something little and turn it into something big.
Contact Info:
- Email: tsmouse310@gmail.com
- Website: www.
smousehousephotography.com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/smouse_in_the_ house/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/smouseinthehouse
Image Credits
Tom Smouse
Chris Taylor
