Has Toby Mobbs Had His Moment? Or Is There More To Squeeze Out Of It?

Since mid-2020, Toby Mobbs has had a phenomenal run with his smash-hit single ‘Making Lemonade’, including a 15-week stint at number one at the time of writing. Atomic’s Mel Naismith caught up with the multi-award winning artist to get his take on Making Lemonade and also to unpack what Toby is working on next as a musician.

Toby: The sun has set on Making Lemonade. The lemons have been squeezed, there’s just this empty shell of a lemon left.

Mel: I feel like there are those dry bits that you can put in the fire to ignite it. No, I’m done with lemons and lemonade. We’re here to talk to everyone about today is Moments. You’ve got a new song coming out. It’s very different, it’s not what I was expecting. Where did this sound come from?

Toby: A fair few people have heard a little snippet of this, I sent a tiny taster to every person who purchased my first single and that was the general consensus. Moments is sort of going into hard rock territory.

It’s a sound that I‘ve grown up with and I really love it a lot. Whenever I write a song, it’s based on that heavier kind of version, like playing in a band. So I really wanted to bring that out on my next song. When I’m playing a song at home I interpret it like, how it’s going to come out from a full band.

A few more songs are going to head in that direction off an upcoming album as well.

Mel: Everyone says that you are such an excellent solo performer. Why are you writing your songs for a band?

Toby: It’s a very different feeling for me when I’m playing solo, from when I was playing in bands years ago. When I’m solo, it’s all on me. If anything doesn’t go right, it’s all a reflection on me. In a band situation I can sort of let go which brings me back to that feeling I had in high-school when I was in a lot of bands and I’ve missed that feeling, for a very long time. A bit of fun. I’m having a lot of fun with these new songs.

Mel: Is it right to say that performing solo can be a bit of a lonely pursuit? Because you have to do it all yourself?

Toby: Yeah, it comes as no surprise that there’s so much planning to put into a solo tour which is a lot of work and is why I’ve put my efforts into recording, to get out of that mind frame of doing a lot of work and get into a more fun situation by doing more recording.

Toby is proud that every sound recorded on his new single Moments is played by himself in his “second bedroom” studio recording space. It’s all him!

Mel: You are one of the hardest working musicians that I know, you’ve won more awards than I can lift. I know that I’ve been caught in jobs where everything just becomes purpose driven which removes creativity.

Toby: I think you’ve summed it up really well just there. I’m very purpose driven and goal-orientated. I have a 3-4 year plan with music and I have lost spontaneity with things and the music I’m recording at the moment and want to play in that band situation. I want to remove myself from all those plans and get that release.

Mel: and you get to blame some of the mistake son those other and members

Toby: [laughs]

Both ‘Making Lemonade’ and ‘Moments’ will feature on the upcoming album ‘Placid In The Rough’ to coincide with a national tour in 2022. It’s here that Toby plans to put his band idea into action, bringing the studio sound of ‘Moments’ to the stage. Until then, Toby has said he’ll be releasing more singles. His next one is not too far off, titled “All; Right Now” and plans to feature quite the ensemble of local artists. You heard it here first! You can hear an early sneak peak of this next hit on the Making Lemonade Regional Tour until the end of the year.

Recorded by Toby Mobbs. Mixed & Mastered by Simon McKenna.