Tom Ciurczak Album "Yorick" Review

Artist: Tom Ciurczak

Album: Yorick

Released: 2025

Artist Website: https://tomciurczak.com/

Tom Ciurczak returns in 2025 with a set of classic sounding flat out rock and roll tracks clocking in at about 37 minutes. Four chords and four minutes is what makes these ten songs tick, like every great rock and roll band! Tom's vocals are relaxed with a hint of natural gravel and his compositions are well put together. The band has a great live feel to it with crisp drum sounds and crunchy guitars. A winning combo when done by music veterans like this crew. This is clearly not the first time around the studio block for these cats.

The album starts with The Watcher, which like a good deal of Tom's music that I've heard has a late 70's pre MTV vibe. A time before "video killed the radio star" when music was a bit grittier than what came in the MTV era, but still had some shine on it. There is a short window of time in the late 70s where artists like Tommy Tutone, Tom Petty and Greg Kihn were writing very memorable music that was being played live in the studio. This is the space that I suspect Tom Ciurczak found his legs in rock and roll. The Watcher is a vivid snapshot of this time period and a great example of the power of a competent performance of a simple rock tune!

Chameleon is a quick and catchy standout track. Coming in with a cool little riff reminding me of the Bryan Adams track Run To You. But it is there that the comparison ends. This cut is a fun hard driving three minute micro masterpiece. Super upbeat like a GoGos track with more grit. It's like The Smithereens doing a Beatles cover. If The Beatles have taught us anything it is that one can get the point across in under three minutes and Ciurczak is a master of it in this case.

The title track Yorick is a mellower side of the album that Ciurczak wears like an old comfortable pair of jeans. It is a bigger production and deeper arrangement than the bulk of the album, but landed without a bump. The songwriting chops are top shelf like a Billy Joel piece of music. Clever turns and a fiercely effective vocal delivery come together to tell a great story both lyrically and musically. This song is the obvious choice to serve as the title track.

Ciurczak's music is always catchy and gutsy. It's ballsy in its approach but never heavy. The songs are tailor made for adults who still want to dance and laugh over some drinks. The band is a gritty little rock and roll outfit reminiscent of the music The Kinks were making in the late 70s and early 80s. It has a bit more punch than Tom Petty with the slightest hint of a Ramones influence. Maybe not so much in the classic punk aspect of The Ramones, but the bounciness and flat out fun side of them. Sonically it sounds like Telecasters running into Vox amps turned up to the point where the speakers start to distort, but never going much beyond that. It is the simplicity of the songs, performance and production that is so intoxicating, because it's real, and real is timeless!

Check out the interview with Tom below!

Tell us the brief history of your band or musical career.

I’ve been a guitarist and songwriter since my early teens, so it’s not something I recently started doing. I’ve spent a lot of time developing my skills and how I approach the craft of song writing. I went through many musical phases; from garage rock bands, to various folk-rock incarnations. But, in my early 30’s I put regular performing on hold to raise a family. Even though I never stopped writing or performing at the occasional open mic. As luck would have it, I saw an article in a Rolling Stone magazine in 2014 about a songwriting camp being run by Steve Earle. Being a huge fan of his, and his song writing, I decided to go. I like to say it’s where I met my lost tribe. One hundred songwriters, from all around the globe, who shared the same passion. That event made a change in my life’s trajectory and jet propelled me back into the music world that I had put on hold and into finally recording some of the songs that I had written over the years that were just getting dusty laying on my book shelf. Having a record out then led to me putting together a full band, so that I could perform these recordings live. And then one thing led to another and like potato chips, I couldn’t stop at just one album. because I had way too much material to let loose to the world. Since 2020 I have now released 4 solo albums of original material, plus one Christmas EP and have been playing live all-around Southern California. Additionally, I got back together again with a group of friends that I met at that initial Steve Earle Songwriters Camp, and in May 2024 we all headed down to Muscle Shoals Studio’s in Alabama and recorded a “ten-year group reunion album.” We called it the “Copperhead Six Project”. This was a big departure from my normal type of record, with it having more “Traveling Wilburys” vibe to it. It was released Dec 2024, and because of it, we pushed the YORICK Album back to June 2025. It’s been quite a whirlwind and the pace has been picking up with a lot more still to come.

Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

I’ve definitely been heavily influenced by the Classic Rock era of music and I often say everything you would find from A-Z in a record shop have been my teachers. I very much loved the early 1970’s Prog Bands and then was reluctantly dragged to a Bruce Springsteen concert, kicking and screaming, where he premiered his “Born to Run” album. It was a major awakening for me and I became a hardcore Springsteen fan ever since I saw that first show. Many people say they can hear the Springsteen influence in my songs, But I like to think that my songwriting is an amalgamation of all the great singer song writers of the Classic Rock era. Plus, I think you’ll also hear a lot of PROG influences in some of my songs as well.

Is there a particular song that has resonated with you for a long time?

Without a doubt it would have to be “Born to Run”, I think it’s a song that just gets everybody’s adrenalin pumping. I’ve always been drawn to anthemic songs, whether it’s been “Baba O’Reilly” by the Who; Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”; or Queen’s “We Will Rock You”. But to me, the ultimate rock anthem in my life has been “Born to Run”.

What’s your favorite accomplishment as a musician thus far?  


My favorite accomplishment, has been being able to bring my songs to life, from a simple acoustic sketch to full blown live production. To me as a songwriter, there’s no bigger thrill than this.

Tell me about your favorite performance in your career.

Getting a chance to play at the iconic clubs in Southern California and to be on the same stage, at place like the “The Whiskey a Go Go”, where so many rock legends from: the Doors, Frank Zappa, Hendrix, Cream and the Byrds all played has been an absolute thrill!

What's new in the recording of your music?

We recorded the last few sessions at “Sunset Sound Studio’s” and just like with the “Whiskey a Go Go” there are so many ghosts that haunt the studio walls there. We recorded YORICK in Studio One; which is the same studio that the Doors recorded their first 3 albums in; as well as the Stones “Exile On Main Street”, Led Zeppelin IV; Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush” the Beach Boy’s “Pet Sounds”, Prince’s “Purple Rain”, Van Halen’s debut album; Janis Joplin’s “Pearl”. If you listen carefully, you can hear them all in the back-round vocals.

How has your music changed over the years?

I think I have progressively become a better song writer from both a musical and lyrical perspective. I’m always consciously trying to incorporate musical and lyrical hooks for the listener to latch on to, that they can hopefully relate to. Personally, I like it when a song can catch a listener’s ear at the surface level with an instrumental riff or a vocal one, and at the same time have some real complexity to it for the deeper, multiple listeners. In that regard, I’ve refined the way that I storyboard a song, in that I often conduct deeper google research for songs to fact check elements in the lyrical narrative. I refer to many of my songs as, as mini 3 act plays and usually, I’ll put a twist in the third act. “Wild One” “Yorick” and “A.L.T.O.W.D.” are all examples of this. Musically, I try to stay away from traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge song structures, (as I find them to get boring, and my goal is to keep the song moving to engage and capture the listener’s ear.) It’s taken a lot of daily writing practice to become a better writer, but I’ve saved everything I’ve ever written and the change over time is very noticeable (at least to me.)

What inspires you to write the music you write? 

Great question! I love movies, TV mini-series, Books, and I’m a news junkie. So, I’m constantly absorbing information and ideas, plus I’ve always had an active imagination for storytelling. Usually, just coming up with a song’s title will set me down the lyrical path to a new song. I’m the same way with the musical component and have been listening to various music styles and genre’s since I was small. My father was a professional trombone player, which exposed me to the world of horns used in big bands and classical orchestra’s and I’m sure a lot of that daily exposure seeped into my brain over time as well. Even though I have a strong “Classic Rock” leaning, I’ve always focused on creating something unique and original. It may sound like it’s from that era, but my aim is for it to be nothing you’ve ever heard of, but you wish you did. A lot of people will ask what comes first for you the music or the lyrics? For me it’s usually the music, as I think for me that’s where the emotional feel is likely to come from, and there is a lot of emotion in music. For me, the lyrics come later, but at some point, during the process, there is convergence where they both are written simultaneously. Then just like with writing a book it’s never done until it’s edited multiple times. And then as Steve Earle would say “a song is never really finished until you play it out live in front of an audience”.


What made you want to play the instrument you play? 

Easy answer Sept 9th 1964 when me and a million other kids turned on the Ed Sullivan show and all decided we wanted to play guitar.


How does your latest album differ from any of your others in the past? 

I think the first album “Call Me Ishmael” was a big venture into the unknown. That’s where I learned the most about the recording studio and how to approach the process of making an album. The albums since have all been a huge leap forward as I think we really hit our stride after the first one. YORICK in many ways is a continuation of “I Ain’t Ever Growing Up Volumes I&II” (that were released in 2023 and 2024.) I believe the last 3 albums are all very similar and have a cohesive flow to them. I do try to cover many lyrical themes to make the songs different and interesting. YORICK is filled with many unusual and colorful characters from: Space Aliens, Medieval Court Jesters, Car Thief’s, Mercenaries, CIA Agents, Private Eyes, and War Refugee’s. The same production and engineering team, Stephen Haaker, Brett Grossman and myself, have been together for all the albums and I think that is a key. We are all very much in sync together and have a shared vision on how each finished song should sound. And it really is amazing when everything is completed.

What do you like most about your new album?

There are a lot of musical elements that we explored and different instruments we used in each of the albums we’ve made to date. And as with the prior albums I personally love to listen to all the instrumental and vocal contributions from the various musicians. With YORICK, the first, standout performance is the thump bass solo in “You’re Next” by Brandon Washington. Everyone needs to give it a listen, it’s totally brilliant. There just aren’t many songs with a bass solo? Maybe “My Generation” by John Entwistle of the “Who”? But I can’t think of many others. Brandon’s solo fits so perfectly in “You’re Next” it’s absolutely stunning. Then the horns in “Top of the Rainbow” with Jon Manness on Trumpet and Lasim Richards on Trombone give “Top of the Rainbow” a whole different feel from every other track on the album and lift it up to one of the standout tracks. It’s the only track with horns and it really jumps out at you because of it. Since the Allman Brothers, I have always loved twin guitar harmony and had written what I thought was a couple of absolute killer guitar harmony riffs for this album. The first is in “Wild One” where Jimena Fosado and Oscar Jesus Bugarin just nail it on a Thin Lizzy inspired twin lead. The second one is in “Am I MIA” where Dylan Tirapelli-Jamail deftly executes the America/Ventura Highway acoustic guitar harmony that I had written, beautifully. I love piano songs and I wrote A.L.T.O.W.D. on piano. Bobby “Bundst” Victor played this song so beautifully that it gave me chills, plus the harmonica fills by Matt Lomeo really take it to another level. I don’t want to forget to mention, the stunning slide guitar outro from the opening song, “The Watcher” played by Matt Hornbeck, you almost feel like the aliens are actually beaming you up to the mother ship, it’s a very cool ending to the song. Finally, above and beyond all the instrument performances, what I liked the most on this album are all the beautiful harmony vocal parts that were sung by Tita Hutchinson, Melissa Robin, and Eli Arnold. The songs would not be the same without them. Combining, all of these various elements, is what really brings the songs to life and make them so gratifying for me to listen to and I hope for everyone else as well.


What artists do you enjoy listening to nowadays?

I’ve always been a huge fan of singer-songwriters and still am. I love everything Jason Isbell comes out with right now. I’m also a big fan of Roger Clyne, Michael McDermott, Craig Finn, Jesse Malin, Butch Walker… and of course I still follow all the dinosaurs such as Steve Earle, Bruce, John Mellencamp. Peter Gabriel. And when it comes to the current PROG scene, I totally love anything Neal Morse is associated with from his Spock’s Beard days, to Transatlantic and everything else.

What is the best way to stay updated on current news; gigs, releases, etc.

The best way to stay up to speed on news: gigs: releases etc. is to sign up for my email list on my website tomciurczak.com. Additionally, there is a calendar section with upcoming shows and advance discount ticket sales.


Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

I worked 4o years in the Specialty Lighting World for both German and Japanese Companies. I traveled extensively around the world for my work visiting various factories throughout Europe and Asia. I even owned a company in Ikebukuro Japan. The Specialty Lighting World is quite different from what most people would think, when they think about lighting. It afforded me the ability to be heavily involved in many different kinds of industries such as Semiconductor Processing; Medical Equipment; Studio and Stage Lighting; Movie Theatre Projection. It was quite a learning experience. I would often tell people “Just subtract out everything you know about lighting and then I’m involved with what’s left over.” (However, I do apologize as I’m afraid it’s where I wound up getting a lot of the characters in my songs. But don’t worry, if you recognize yourself, at least I changed all the names.)