Singer & Songwriter Tom Goss

Name:

Tom Goss

Birth Place:

Quincy, IL

Occupation:

Singer, Songwriter

Words that best describe you?

Driven, Loyal, Compassionate

Who has been your biggest influence in your life?

My family and my husband.

When did you become out to friends and family?

When I was 22. I believe I was asexual for a lot of my life, at 22 I fell in love with a man and understood otherwise.

I would give anything to meet…

I’m not sure I’d give anything to meet anyone. That said, I’m inspired by artists. I’d love to meet: M83, Damien Rice, Flannery O’Connor, Imogean Heap, Ryan Tedder, Dave Matthews, Macklemore, Jason Keonig, Paul Higgins, Childish Gambino, Sia, Michael Winslow, lil Dickey, Aaron Paul… It’s a long list of folks. More than anything, I love meeting people that inspire me.

Your idea of a perfect evening is?

Relaxing at home while eating great food and playing fun games with close friends. There’d be lots of laughing because everyone is comfortable and relaxed. Afterwards, I climb into bed with my husband, make love and fall asleep.

The last book I read was ….

The Tipping Point: Malcolm Gladwell

My favorite movies/plays are?

I tend to skew towards dramatic or comedic plays, not as much musicals. I’m all over the board when it comes to films. Storytelling is important to me so when the writing and storytelling is clear and concise then I’m happy.

What had been your biggest setback or failure in life and how did you overcome it?

Probably leaving Catholic Seminary. I really believed it was the right path for me, when I realized it wasn’t I lost more than a career, I lost my friend, my support and my faith.

Love overcame that failure. My husband has healed and nurtured me in ways that I will never fully understand.

If I could meet my younger self, I would tell him…

Relax, don’t work so hard, enjoy your life and be happy.

The after 40  crowd loves you!  You wrote the very popular song Bears..we love the song and the video! How long did it take to write the song and make the video?

‘Bears’ was such a fun project to undertake. I wrote the song one afternoon because I was performing that night at Bear Happy Hour in DC and I wanted to sing something fun that spoke to my love of bears. People immediately took to it and I loved singing it. At the same time, I was beginning to dive into dance/remix music and was an admirer of Rich Morel’s work. One day I dropped him a line and asked him if he was interested in producing the track. To my surprise he said yes and we got to work. He’s brilliant, it was such a pleasure to work with him. The video took about a month to plan and 3 days to shoot. I’ve never been a part of a project that had such universal support form the start. Most people hadn’t heard the song but were diving into the project. People flew in from all over the country! In many ways, it was the easiest shoot I’ve ever been a part of. People had fun and we captured it on film. Easy!

Produced by Rich Morel
Video directed by Aram Vartian and Michael Patrick Key

What is your secret to maintaining such a great physique?

I spend too much time at the gym. It’s annoying. When we shot ‘Bears’ I was the skinniest I’ve been since college wrestling season. Actually, I almost made weight again (141)! Honestly, I carry more weight on a day to day basis. That said, when I do half naked projects I am on a very strict diet for 4 – 6 weeks and then I look like that. Part of me hates the idea of capturing an image of a body in an almost unattainable state. It perpetuates a stereotype of beauty that in many ways isn’t real. That said, as an entertainer, I know my art will be consumed more if I look like that. It’s a double edge sword that I’m not sure I’ll ever quite be comfortable with. —

What other recent projects are you involved in lately?

I’m currently finishing up a new record and a couple new music videos. 2016 is going to be a very exciting year!

We know you are 34, but what are the biggest challenges you have as a gay man ?

I think my challenges often stem from your previous question. I struggle a lot with the idea of beauty in our community. You would think we would understand what it means to be discriminated against, and as a result, not discriminate against one another, but that’s not true. I recently moved to Los Angeles and it seems to be only more magnified here. We value youth and beauty over everything else. The harder pill to swallow is knowing that some of my work helps fuel this same fire. I work hard to show the many sides of beauty, traditional and non-traditional, I hope that message resonates more deeply than ‘Tom goes to the gym a lot.’ Anyone can go to the gym, that’s not hard. Learning how to treat one another, how to be compassionate, generous, understanding, forgiving – that’s much more beautiful than anything you can find at the gym.

Where can our readers find you or know more about you?

I’m easy to find! www.facebook.com/tomgossmusic, www.instagram.com/tomgossmusic, www.youtube.com/tomgossmusic, www.tomgossmusic.com