Multi platinum selling singer/songwriter Sandi Thom is to visit Chester on the final leg of her European tour.

Aardvarker brings the renowned Scottish artist to the Live Rooms on Friday, December 11.

During her career, since her UK number one with I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker, Sandi has collectively sold in excess of one million records, been nominated for a Brit Award, won a Digital Music Award, won Album Of The Year at the Scottish Music Awards with her third studio album and been given an Ivor Novello Award for excellence in songwriting.

With two Top 30 albums, including a No 1, Sandi Thom has racked 500,000 album sales in this country alone.

Sandi Thom
Sandi Thom

Sandi was the first singer/songwriter ever to gain global stardom and a major label record deal through the use of webcasting.

But it’s a long way from that global smash – I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) launched from webcasts in a London basement – to where the proud Scot finds herself today with a highly credible body of work behind her.

She has recorded in Nashville and LA, has worked with top producers and songwriters, has written for important media outlets like The Daily Beast, has graced the stage of the legendary Royal Albert Hall, has played at Glastonbury, has performed on stage with Brian May, Alice Cooper and George Michael and is now embarking on a brand new groundbreaking chapter in her career as she produces her new album.

“Weapons of Past Destruction is the first album I’ve produced,’ she said. “It’s about picking up the pieces and starting all over again in the aftermath of an emotional disaster.

“The songs are about war, death, destruction, anger, courage and hope as well as reconciling with the past and moving on. I don’t pretend to have a hard life. I’m not living through a war. I don’t know that kind of pain and suffering but in my own small way, like everyone in life, I have had to face that moment when the rug gets pulled out from under your feet and you’re left standing there with a broken heart, shattered dreams and the long road ahead to rebuild your life.”

Sandi Thom
Sandi Thom

The moment she’s referring to was the end of her long-term relationship with legendary musician Joe Bonamassa. It was a split that came out of the blue, leaving Sandi shell-shocked and at a loss for what to do next.

“The first single from the album is called Earthquake,” she says. “It’s a song where I try to come to terms with what happened that day. I wanted to write a song to share with people of all ages who could relate to how I felt when I had that bombshell dropped on me. It’s often hard to put into words.”

But it’s not all heartbreak. There is anger then the sense of rebuilding, digging deep and finding the courage to start that long road to recovery.

Songs like Carry You Over the Finish Line and The Courage are, she explains, “about the hope that one day you are going to look back on all this and be thankful for the pain that you endured because what was waiting for you was a whole lot more exciting”.

Songs of hope

“These are songs of hope. Songs that show that in the aftermath of an emotional disaster, what lies in front of you can be a million times better than what you left behind.”

As well as wanting to write and produce songs that people of all ages could relate to, Sandi also wanted to return to her pop roots. “After many years of a musical adventure into many different genres, I wanted to go back to creating catchy, memorable melodies very much like my earlier work,” she said.

Having managed herself for years and having released her own albums, producing was the next logical step. “It brings together everything I’ve learned throughout the years working with so many incredible musicians and producers. Now was most certainly the time to come back with a bang.”

Tickets for her Chester gig are £18 from www.seetickets.com.