Tommy's Travelogue Songs: "DINO"

In the spring of 2016, I was recovering from a sexual assault and years of alcohol abuse. I returned to Berlin, the city which had welcomed me in the late 80’s, there I spent some quality time with my friend Dino.

Dino, a fantastic painter, was working on his collection of paintings which investigated the contemporary proliferation of gay hook-up apps.

In a weird moment of synergy, I was also thinking about this issue while writing songs for my debut solo album. The person who had stalked me for several months had used gay dating apps and social media to send me threatening messages, stupidly I had ignored his threats. Anyway, I was dealing with a lot of shit at the time. Fortunately I found someone who was thinking along similar lines.

Dino and I talked through many things. Our conversations covered a variety of fascinating topics like the nature of art, the nature of communication, and contemporary research into the phenomenon of dating apps.

We considered our history of abusive relationships and our use of dating apps. We had originally met on an app and had become friends; so, we had both positive and negative experiences while using these services. In many ways, I feel that social media apps can be an interruption in the moment of authentic human communication. From my experience, they had the effect of restricting my social interactions and atomising my social relationships.

But then, I got to meet Dino and have a halcyon springtime in Berlin, for which I am eternally grateful.

The series of paintings produced by Dino called ‘Grinded’ inspired me to change the title of this track to ‘Grinded’ when I recorded it for my debut solo album.

‘Grinded’ is available from Dino’s website. Check out his instagram: @BoyWarschauer
'Grinded' the track is available from my website follow the links from: www.tommypoppers.com

This song is for all the people who might feel constrained within the window of a application profile. Just a gentle reminder, there's more to you than that. x x x

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