Since debuting as a columnist for the legendary Trouser Press magazine when he was only 16, Tim Sommer has been a participant, witness, and catalyst in some of the pivotal moments in the last 44 years of music history. He has worked extensively as a musician, journalist, major label creative executive, MTV and VH1 producer and VJ, record producer, and club and radio DJ.
As a journalist, Sommer has contributed regularly to Village Voice, Sounds (UK), the Daily News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Mojo, the LA Weekly, The Observer, Trouser Press, Rolling Stone, Spin, Inside Hook, Rock and Roll Globe, and many others.
As a musician, Sommer is likely best known for his work as a conceptualist and bassist for the 1980s’ American dreampop band Hugo Largo, who released two albums on Brian Eno’s Opal/Land record label. Sommer was also a member of the Glenn Branca Ensemble from 1983 to 1986, and in the early 1980s performed in the punk band Even Worse, alongside Jack Rabid, Thurston Moore, and Steve Waxman. In addition, Sommer has produced albums and sessions for Drunken Boat, Paul Sanchez, Kara’s Flowers, Alexandra Scott, Cowboy Mouth, Susan Cowsill, The Prettiots, and the Indecent. In 2005 Sommer and Scott, working as Hi-Fi Sky, released Music for Synchronized Swimming in Space, an album of electric ambient landscapes based on traditional Cajun and Acadien folk songs.
In the early 1980s, Sommer also worked extensively as radio and club DJ in New York City, specializing in punk rock, post punk and hardcore punk. He hosted the legendary Noise the Show punk radio show on WNYU, and spun frequently in clubs like the Peppermint Lounge, the Mudd Club, Danceteria, Irving Plaza.
From 1989 to 1992, Sommer worked with both MTV and VH1 as an on-air news correspondent, and he was the host of the nightly Post-Modern MTV alternative Music Show. In 2004 he acted as producer for the Louisiana Jukebox television series.
For the bulk of the 1990s, Sommer worked as an A&R rep with Atlantic Records. In this capacity, Sommer signed and supervised production for Hootie & the Blowfish, Duncan Sheik, Michael Crawford, the Tea Party, Scott Weiland, Bruce McCulloch, 7 Year Bitch, Melissa Ferrick, and King Missile.
I Only Wanna Be With You: The Inside Story of Hootie & the Blowfish is Tim Sommer’s first full-length book. It is released by the University of South Carolina Press on April 28, 2022.