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] While there, he started a funk rock band,[3] Room C.[4] 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] After receiving a Mac and deciding he wanted to replicate what he was hearing,[7] he began producing drum and bass tracks, uploading them to SoundCloud, and DJing at house parties.[8]
Bands
Villiers attended the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM),[9] from which he holds a degree in popular music.[5] While there,[10]: 29:33 he joined the bands See Thru Hands and Porij,[11] the former after being recruited at a jam session to join four personal friends of the band's vocalist.[12] By January 2019, See Thru Hands had released an EP, Hot City/Connectivity, which David Sue of Manchester Evening News compared to Prince, Chic, Hot Chip, and New Order.[13] A reviewer for DIY later described "Hot City" as "disco-inflected post-punk"[14] and Paul Carr of PopMatters compared its introduction to that of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".[15]
Villiers set up Porij in early 2019[16] with other students from his RNCM course.[17] Just before the second United Kingdom COVID-19 lockdown,[18] he matched with Piri 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 and ask him out.[10]: 38:07 Their first date was at Piccadilly Gardens, at which they bonded over a shared love of disco.[5] 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.[19] She later moved into his student house[20] in Manchester and formed Piri & Tommy with him.[10] Porij released the Breakfast EP in November 2020 and the Baby Face EP in September 2021.[21] Villiers left this band in early 2022[22] to concentrate on Piri & Tommy, remaining in Porij long enough to gain writing credits on their third EP, Outlines.[23]
Piri & Tommy released "It's a Match" in March 2021,[24]: 37:50 a disco song made after both experimented with numerous genres.[10] Their second song, June 2021's "Soft Spot", went viral on Spotify and TikTok,[25] prompting EMI to sign them, re-release "Soft Spot",[20] and release the singles "Beachin" in January 2022[26] and "Words" in April 2022.[27] They then signed to Polydor Records,[28] who released "On & On" in July 2022[29] and then the mixtape Froge.mp3 in October 2022. The latter took its name from a nickname they used to give each other[19] and featured "Sunlight", "Soft Spot", "Beachin", "Words", "On & On",[30] and "Player 2", with Villiers providing lead vocals on the last of these.[31] They promoted the mixtape with Froge.tour, which ran from 2 to 19 November.[30] A week after the tour finished, the pair split up and did not talk to each other until April 2023,[24]: 44:20 though Robin Murray of Clash reported in January 2023 that Piri and Villiers would release previously recorded music and planned to work together in the future.[32]
Later that month, they featured on MJ Cole's "Feel It", to which Villiers contributed a guitar solo.[33] Piri and Villiers followed this with "Updown" in February 2023[34] and "Nice 2 Me" in May 2023.[35] In July 2023, the pair released "Lovergirl" as independent artists,[36]: 1:19:39 followed by "Bluetooth" in October[37] and "Christmas Time" in November.[38] In August 2024, they announced an EP and released the liquid drum and bass track "99%" from it.[39] The following month, having remixed Lucy Tun's "Come to My House", they announced that the EP would be called About Dancing and released the dance-pop track "Dog".[40]About Dancing was released that November.[41] In February 2023, he played as part of Ninety One Living Room's house band Dojo Dojo[42] and in April 2024, he performed as half of Toast Club.[43]
Solo career
In April 2022,[44] Villiers played the anti-hero,[45] Scotty,[44] in the music video for Wet Leg's "Ur Mum", directed by Lava La Rue;[45] in an interview in June 2023, he stated that he got the job after supporting Nine8 Collective,[46]: 6:02 a group composed of Lava La Rue, Mac Wetha, Bone Slim, Biig Piig, Nayana Iz, Nige and LorenzoRSV,[47] and after being interviewed for the role in the venue's green room by La Rue.[46]: 6:02 By September 2022, he had released a remix of LF System's "Afraid to Feel";[48] that month, he signed a solo publishing deal in September 2022 with Tim & Danny Music.[49] In November 2022, he released a remix of "Noodle Poodle" by Nine8 Collective.[50] By July 2023, he had released "Not Puzzled" featuring Ceòl-Min; that month, he released "To the Moon" with Hertfordshire-based rapper Mustbejohn, a song about the possibilities of a night out.[51]
Artistry
In May 2021, Villiers cited Coco Bryce as an inspiration on the grounds that no two of his breaks were the same.[52] "To the Moon" was inspired by the UK garage and Brazilian music he and Mustbejohn were listening to during studio sessions,[53] while Toast Club were inspired by yacht rock and California sound.[43]Dork wrote in August 2024 that Villiers took inspiration from "everything from Daft Punk music videos to black midi press shoots".[54]
