Tommy Novak has teased his next performance on The Voice Australia, saying he’ll be playing the piano once again. Photo: Seven Network.
South Coast-born musician Tommy Novak has spent weeks winning hearts on national television, but now he’s preparing for a special trip to his hometown.
He has made it through to another stage of this year’s The Voice Australia, after surviving the knockout stage.
Tommy passed with an emotional cover of All By Myself, by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen.
He was facing off against a small group of fellow artists to see who would move ahead to the quarterfinals.
“It was a pretty huge song that [coach] Richard [Marx] entrusted me with … It certainly wasn’t my first pick for a song to do,” he told Region.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting to get handed a song like that because it’s obviously one of those power ballads that it’s renowned for someone like Celine Dion.
“But what Richard asked me to do with that particular song was to actually take it back to its roots.”
His journey began when he wowed audiences – and the judges – with his cover of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.
Since making it through his blind audition just a few weeks ago, he says a lot has changed.
“I think it certainly has had a huge influence on me, just in terms of my confidence to be myself on that stage and to wear my heart on my sleeve,” he said.
“I think it’s really helped me to get comfortable with expressing what I’m feeling through music – and performing is certainly part of that, right?”
In addition to competing on The Voice Australia, Tommy released his debut EP in July.
It’s “serendipitous” timing to have the EP release and the competition happening so near to each other, he said.
“I don’t think I could have necessarily planned for it … But I think it’s been really special for those two things to be happening at about the same time.”
Tommy began working on the EP, “Parallels”, after a separation.
“I turned to music to kind of help process my feelings … In the last 18 months, I spent a lot of time going back to writing.
“It’s something I’ve always loved, but wasn’t necessarily doing a lot of, and they formed what would be my EP.”
He’ll also be hosting a viewing party at the Republic Hotel in Sydney on Sunday (13 September) and performing for the crowd.
To celebrate the release of “Parallels”, Tommy is heading back to the coast later this month.
A few days after his show in Sydney, he’ll take to the stage at Batemans Bay’s The Starfish Deli on 18 September from 6:30 pm.
Tommy says he wants to give back during his visit home.
“While I’m down there, I’m going to go pay a visit to my school, Carroll College at Broulee … I really want to share with those kids. I suppose share with them perhaps what I don’t necessarily feel someone said to me.
“If someone had come to me when I was in school and said, ‘Hey, if this [music] is something that you really love and you’re really interested in it, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pursue it’.”
While in his hometown, he will take to the stage as part of an extra-special concert.
“My sister, who has an intellectual disability, spends some time at a place called Yumaro … I’m going to go and spend some time at Yumaro, and perform a couple of songs for my sister and all of her friends there.
“I think that’ll be really special.”
When asked what he could tease about the upcoming The Voice Australia quarterfinals, Tommy wouldn’t reveal all his secrets.
“For the knockouts where I sang All by Myself, I played guitar … It was just me and an electric guitar, literally singing the lyrics all by myself,” he said.
“The thing that I can tell you is that I’m going to be jumping back on the piano on Sunday for the next song that I’m singing.”
The Voice Australia is airing on the Seven Network and on the 7plus streaming service. You can also follow Tommy’s upcoming gigs through his Facebook page and his website.
Original Article published by Claire Sams on About Regional.
