Newfoundland musician Jamal Tinkov is carving out his name as a rock artist to watch. He’s just released his fantastic second single, “Cruel Love”, so we caught up with him to chat about the song, what type of superhero he’d be, and what’s next.

From The Strait: Tell us about your new single, “Cruel Love” – inspiration, writing process, anything at all!

Jamal Tinkov: The majority of this track was written in about a half hour in early summer 2020. I had the melody stuck in my head for a day or two and the inspiration just hit and I grabbed my guitar and started to work out what I was hearing in my head. Within minutes, I had the first verse and chorus and the rest of the song really came quite naturally. At the time I was going through a very up and down relationship, I can’t quite say for sure if that is what inspired the song but it certainly didn’t hurt

FTS: What made you want to become a musician?

Jamal Tinkov: As long as I can remember I’ve always loved music and wanted to play. I got my first copy of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” at age 12 and knew I wanted to do what they did. Some of my earliest experiences playing came with my grandfather & uncle. They would play at family gatherings and I would strum along on an old guitar (not really knowing what I was doing). This rooted my passion for playing and I took it from there.

FTS: If you could play a show where the audience was filled solely with other bands & musicians, who would you want in attendance?

Jamal Tinkov: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Gord Downie, Kurt Cobain & Chris Stapleton (Although, I’d be real nervous haha

FTS: If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?

Jamal Tinkov: I would have to say teleportation or time travel. I love travelling, so the ability to teleport anywhere in the world would be awesome. Time travel would be cool as I would likely go back in time and see many of my favorite bands in their “hay day”.

FTS: What’s next for you?

Jamal Tinkov: With the pandemic it is an uncertain time for many of us. Musically, I plan to continue writing and recording with the goal being to release a full length LP. I also have another original project ongoing that I hope to record and perform with later this year.


Check out Jamal Tinkov’s new single, “Cruel Love”!