Tommy Villiers | |
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![]() Villiers (left) with Piri on stage at Radio 1 Big Weekend | |
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Birth name | Thomas George Villiers |
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Thomas George Villiers is an English musician. While best known for his work with Piri and as part of Piri & Tommy and Porij, he is also noted as a solo musician and remixer in his own right.
Thomas George Villiers[1] grew up in Saffron Walden,[2] and was a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.[3] He attended Saffron Walden County High School,[4] at which he would proffer his grade eight[5] trumpet skills to any high school band that would entertain him.[3] In 2016, he played at that year's Justice Service for the County of Essex.[6] When he was in sixth form, his older brother began taking him to house parties, where he developed an interest in dance music;[3] wanting to replicate what he was hearing, and having received a Mac,[7] he began producing drum and bass tracks, uploading them to SoundCloud, and DJing at house parties.[8] Villiers attended the Royal Northern College of Music,[9] from which he holds a degree in popular music.[5]
While at high school, he started a funk rock band,[3] Room C,[4] and while at university, he set up the bands Porij and See Thru Hands.[10] Porij took its name from a misspelling of the breakfast cereal porridge, and released the Breakfast EP in 2020 on their own label, Oat Gang,[11] so called because DistroKid wanted a label name.[12] They released a second EP, Baby Face, in 2021,[13] and a third EP, Outlines, in 2022, by which time Villiers had left to concentrate on Piri & Tommy,[14] a band he set up with Piri, who he met in 2020 just before the second United Kingdom COVID-19 lockdown[15] after matching with her on Tinder;[5] a couple of weeks later, one of Porij's photographers retweeted one of their photoshoots, prompting Piri to locate his Instagram account[16] and ask him out.[17] Their first date was at Piccadilly Gardens, at which they bonded over a shared love of disco.[5] They later formed a support bubble in a student house[18] in Manchester.[19]
After it was realised that Piri could sing and Villiers could produce, they set about writing together; the first song they recorded, "Sunlight", was a house song.[20] The first song they released was "It's a Match", a disco song, made after both experimented with numerous genres,[21] and their second song, June 2021's "Soft Spot", went viral on Spotify and TikTok,[22] prompting EMI to sign them, re-release "Soft Spot",[18] and release the singles "Beachin" in January 2022[23] and "Words" in April 2022.[24]
They then signed to Polydor Records,[25] who released "On & On" in July 2022,[26] and then the mixtape Froge.mp3 in October 2022, which took its name from a nickname they used to give each other,[20] featured "Sunlight", "Soft Spot", "Beachin", "Words", and "On & On",[27] and which they promoted with Froge.tour.[27] On 11 January 2023, Clash reported that Piri and Villiers had split up but remained friends, would release previously recorded music, and planned to work together in the future;[28] later that month, they featured on MJ Cole's "Feel It", to which Villiers contributed a guitar solo.[29] The following month, he played as part of Ninety One Living Room's house band Dojo Dojo,[30] and later that month Piri and Villiers released "Updown".[31] In May 2023, the pair released "Nice 2 Me",[32] and in July 2023, the pair released "Lovergirl" as independent artists.[33]
In April 2022,[34] Villiers played the anti-hero,[35] Scotty,[34] in the music video for Wet Leg's "Ur Mum", directed by Lava La Rue;[35] in an interview in June 2023, he stated that he got the job after supporting Nine8 Collective,[36]: 6:02 a group composed of Lava La Rue, Mac Wetha, Bone Slim, Biig Piig, Nayana Iz, Nige and LorenzoRSV,[37] and after being interviewed for the role in the venue's green room by La Rue.[36]: 6:02 He then released a remix of LF System's "Afraid to Feel",[38] before signing a solo publishing deal in September 2022 with Tim & Danny Music.[39] In November 2022, he released a remix of "Noodle Poodle" by Nine8 Collective,[40] before releasing a club track, "Not Puzzled", which featured Ceòl-Min. In July 2023, he released "To the Moon" with Hertfordshire-based rapper Mustbejohn, a song about the possibilities of a night out inspired by the UK garage and Brazilian music he was listening to at the time.[41]