Fred Thomas News

My friend and I both said the same thing at the same time as we left the Boilershop after seeing South African Cellist, Abel Selaocoe. This was 'that might have been the best gig I’ve ever been to'. That might not be a very journalism-y thing to say (well, neither is “journalism-y”,) but it sums things up succinctly.

The 2023 Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, hosts its 36th annual event Friday, July 28th through Sunday, July 30th, with music, traditional crafts and foods that span the globe.

Shakespeare in the Squares has released photos of their return to London’s garden spaces this summer in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Shakespeare in the Squares has announced the full cast for their return to London's garden spaces this summer with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Sioned Jones directs Lucy Ireland (Viola), Carys McQueen (Olivia), Marissa Landy (Feste), Priscille Grace (Maria) Lee Drage (Antonio/Sea Captain), Richard Emerson (Malvolio/Officer) Toby Gordon (Orsino/Sir Toby Belch) and Fred Thomas (Sebastian/Sir Andrew Aguecheek).

Jude Christian's visually stunning take on this goriest of stories from Shakespeare is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows. In a gender reversal of what likely took place on its first outing, this production has an all-female cast committing the heinous murders. The many, many deaths are portrayed by candles being snuffed out. This may be set in ancient Rome, but the dress code here is pyjamas and, in place of lyres and pan pipes, the music here consists mainly of darkly comic songs. A classic interpretation? Hardly

ZOE COMES HOME, a dark comedy about depression, backyard junk, art, and one errant pooch, written by Melissa Bell and directed by Laurie A. Guzda, will have a premiere production at the Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg, NY, on Friday, October 7, and Saturday, October 8, at 7pm.

Whitmer Thomas shares a wistful video for “Most Likely,” the latest from his recently announced new album, The Older I Get The Funnier I Was, out on Hardly Art. The track features guest vocals from comedian Mitra Jouhari and Great Grandpa’s Al Menne. Watch the new music video now! Plus, check out upcoming tour dates!

Whitmer Thomas announces his new album, The Older I Get The Funnier I Was with a video for lead single “Rigamarole.” The track features contributions from the album’s producer Melina Duterte (Jay Som), Al Menne (Great Grandpa), Christian Lee Hutson, and Harrison Whitford (Phoebe Bridgers). Plus, check out upcoming tour dates with Al Menne!

Festival Director Daniel Brine has today announced the full programme for Norfolk & Norwich Festival’s 250th anniversary edition. With its origins going as far back as 1772, Norfolk & Norwich Festival is considered to be the oldest single-city arts Festival in the UK. 

Committed to supporting the future of accessible digital theatre, the matinee performance will be streamed with live captioning at 3.30pm and the evening performance will be streamed at 8pm.

Originally banned in Britain, Wilde's outrageously provocative Salomé comes to Southwark Playhouse after an original run at Greenwich Theatre in 2019. This immersive new version sits the audience at Herod's banqueting table on his birthday, but the lavish affair with innocuous cake and party hats soon descends from garish to gore.

Today, Brooklyn-based electronic duo, Bottler, share the mesmerizing “Soft Winds” from their upcoming Grow EP due out October 9.

Third Man Records is excited to announce Bonny Doon - Blue Stage Sessions, recorded direct-to-acetate at Third Man Cass Corridor in Detroit. The LP is available on vinyl today at Third Man storefronts, indie record stores and on the Third Man online store. Limited-edition blue vinyl is available exclusively at Third Man Cass Corridor. Purchase the vinyl LP HERE.

Minihorse are sharing the third single, 'King Of The Concrete', from their debut LP Living Room Art, out July 26th on Park The Van Records, with The Alternative who liken the band's debut to 'the brittle hooks of Elliott Smith, the dynamic progressions of Grandaddy, and the textural girth of My Bloody Valentine' and say that 'Collins' songs are incredibly well-produced and meticulously performed, with tons of space in the mix for distorted guitar leads and gravelly basslines to float alongside one another like stardust...[King Of The Concrete] is over and done in a blink, but there's enough going on in that brief moment to go back and dissect multiple times.'

Emerging from the revered Athens, Georgia indie scene, post-punk rockers Grand Vapids are returning with a new full-length, Eat the Shadow, on July 12, 2019 and it can be pre-ordered now via Bandcamp. Produced by David Barbe (The Glands, Drive-By Truckers, Sugar) and tracked live at Athens' Chase Park Transduction, the 9-track set is a long-awaited follow-up to their 2015 debut Guarantees, which Stereogum called “instrumentally lush, understated indie rock.” Consequence of Sound praised, “[N]othing is ever hurried, and each moving part feels defined and purposeful,” and Impose added, 'A sledgehammer to the gut hit of deconstructed self-agonizing anguish...strikes you in your most vulnerable spot.' The album landed Grand Vapids on Paste Magazine's “25 Georgia Bands You Should Listen To Now” and saw them share stages with Ought, Pile, Fred Thomas, T. Hardy Morris, and Pure Bathing Culture. While Guarantees proved a perfect postcard from the time when they were fresh and lean and full of nothing but beginner's hope, nearly half a decade later Eat the Shadow presents a band that has resurfaced after dark years of coping with personal tragedy, identity crisis, and dysfunctional relationships. The album opener, 'Disjecta,' was inspired by the latter, serving as catharsis for two partners in the midst of breaking up while still living together and attempting to rediscover their respective identities. The track's slacker-rock vibes project the sense of foreboding that accompanies feeling isolated in a relationship that is consuming you. It is one of a group of songs on Eat the Shadow — along with album tracks 'Shallow,' 'Creature Strain,' and 'Drowning' — that each capture different periods of a long cycle of dissolution and unraveling. The band shared the video for “Disjecta” today with an announcement of the forthcoming LP. It was shot and directed by bassist Patrick Morales and can be viewed/shared via the link below.

minihorse have announced their debut LP, Living Room Art, coming on Park The Van Records in the Summer of 2019 with what Stereogum calls the 'catchy as hell, introspective enough to provoke existential thought, yet somehow calming all at the same time' single 'Drink You Dry', which features Anna Burch on guitar and vocals. The 'reverb-drenched layering [that] adds to that disembodied sense of drifting into another dimension' is a perfect introduction to the sludgy, My Bloody Valentine meets 90s indie-rock that comprise the minihorse's 10 track debut record. Not to be saddled with a throwback label Ben Collins' (whose side hustles include, but are not limited to, handler for Sophia the AI robot, engineering a meditation app and producing records for the likes of Bonny Doon and Stef Chura) lyrics ring clear through a haze of modern anxiety, veritable mantras that speak to personal and collective experiences of trying to survive under the weight of the world and ones own experience of it. The balance of beauty and strain, both musically and lyrically, make for an engaging and, at times, psychedelic listen, replete with soundscapes, wall of sound guitars and a cat's meows set against Collins' poignant lyrics.

With the release of his new album Stereotype Threat under the bold, fresh artistic identity FKAjazz (formerly known as...), NYC based saxophonist Samir Zarif lays the dynamic groundwork for the possibilities of what jazz is for his generation and provides a vision for what the cherished American art form can be moving forward. With a freewheeling energy driven by the still simmering melting pot of influences that drive his musical passion - traditional jazz, R&B and hip-hop - the full length collection is the culmination of a multi-faceted journey that transcends easy definitions. It's always evolving with a sense of grooving and improvisational wonder and discovery.

Theatre Y announces their production of Yerma, written by Federico Garcia Lorca and directed by Max Traux, playing at the company's new home, 4546 N. Western Ave., October 27 - December 10.

Celebrated brother and sister duo Wild Belle premieres a surprise double A-side single today featuring new tracks Untamed Heart and Morphine Dreamer ahead of their fall North American tour

With the release of his new album Stereotype Threat under the bold, fresh artistic identity FKAjazz (formerly known as…), NYC based saxophonist Samir Zarif lays the dynamic groundwork for the possibilities of what jazz is for his generation and provides a vision for what the cherished American art form can be moving forward.