Dave Thomas

Edinburgh Festival 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:46:00 +0000

I am delighted to be performing 21 dates at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Dates:

4th, 5th, 6th August, 7.20pm - The Bongo Club
10th - 15th August, 10.45pm - Greenside
17th - 22nd August, 8.25pm - Greenside
24th - 29th August, 8.25pm - Greenside

www.edinburgh-fringe.com For info and tickets.

Don't forget to add me on Twitter and let me know if you can make it!

www.twitter.com/davethomasmusic

Hope to see you there!

Original music on Myspace! Indiestore goes live!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:17:00 +0000

You can now find a full preview of my first original song, "Our Story", on my myspace page, with links to an Indiestore that I have set up for anyone who would like to support me by purchasing my music.

You can preview and download Our Story now at my Indiestore for £1.50 (/$3.00/€1.90.)

http://www.indiestore.com/davethomasmusic

1 million views!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:50:00 +0000

"La Noyee - Solo" now has over 1 million views on Youtube! So a great big thankyou to everyone who watches and comments my videos - your continued support inspires me every day.

Purchasing an Accordian?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:27:00 +0000

I have had a lot of requests asking me about my make and model of accordian by those of you who like the sound of mine or the accordian sound on Amelie, so I thought I would answer them all here for everyone. Firstly, I play an "Allodi" accordian, and actually this is really because there is not much choice here in England and they have a large shop full of high quality Accordians in London - however - since purchasing the instrument I have actually had the sound of it altered by a technician as the sound was too 'bright' - whereas I wanted it to be more 'bittersweet'.

You see, the tuning of an accordian is achieved through 'musette', where two or more sets of reeds are tuned slightly off pitch from each other. The smaller the musette, the more bittersweet and wistful the sound. Larger musettes will give you that brash tango sound you can hear on most italian accordian music. If you like my sound, or the sound from Amelie, you really want one voice setting with a very small musette, as heard here:

...and one voice setting with a slightly larger musette (still small in comparison to true Musette) as heard here:

On the bass side, you will find that Accordians come with a different number of bass buttons - my model is a 96 bass, which is plenty enough for me. Finally - women's models are generally a little smaller - I actually began learning on a women's model without knowing it was one, before purchasing my Allodi.

Hope this helps everyone in their quest for the right instrument.

- Dave

#1 FEATURED VIDEO!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:43:00 +0000

On YouTube UK Homepage - right at the top! Thankyou YouTube! And thankyou to everyone for all the support that made this possible..!

"Lazy" - Bristol Carling Academy

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:19:00 +0000

Here is a video of me performing with Lisa Lindley-Jones' band - the track is "Lazy" at the Carling Academy, Bristol.

Testing, Testing!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:23:00 +0000

I have recently had a high-end microphone pickup system fitted to my Accordion - in no small part thanks to the lovely Lisa Lindley-Jones. The system houses 3 Sennheiser microphones on the Treble side and one on the Bass. Some clever micro-circuitry inside ties everything up to 2 volume knobs and an output jack - which, essentially, means that I now plug the instrument in exactly the same way one would an electric guitar. I have since purchased a Fishman Preamp to help EQ and compress the instrument, and the results are very promising! No more external microphones to be dealing with, which means a much stronger, more direct sound.

This is the first recording I have made with my 'new' instrument to test the sound quality. This is a quick bedroom recording and I am not a sound engineer, but I am very pleased with the immediate results and look forward to producing my original music in this manner. The song is "Le Banquet"... you may know it!

Tour pictures up!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:01:00 +0000

Lisa Lindley-Jones band supporting iliketrains

Gallery

On Tour.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:29:00 +0000

I will soon be touring with Brighton-based singer Lisa Lindley-Jones (www.myspace.com/lisalindleyjones), mainly adding small, subtle Accordian parts to her songs, but also playing some Melodica, Guitar and possibly even Piano in parts. I am very much looking forward to an interesting experience - the music is completely different stylistically to how I am used to playing, and yet, the ambience at once feels wonderfully familiar. For the bulk of the dates we will be supporting iliketrains (http://www.myspace.com/iliketrains).

Please note that I will be performing solely as part of Lisa's act, and that my role is to add a quiet, subtle flavour to the music. Think ambience, not showmanship.

10 Sep 2007 - 20:00 - Bristol Carling Academy (with iliketrains), Bristol
11 Sep 2007 - 20:00 - Cardiff Barfly (with iliketrains), Cardiff
12 Sep 2007 - 20:00 - Exeter Cavern (with iliketrains), Exeter
13 Sep 2007 - 20:00 - Southampton Joiners (with iliketrains), Southampton
14 Sep 2007 - 20:00 - Brighton Barfly (with iliketrains), Brighton
26 Sep 2007 20:00 - Red Roaster Cafe, Brighton
3 Oct 2007 20:00 - London Scala (with iliketrains), London
30 Oct 2007 20:00 - Concorde 2 (with Cinematic Orchestra), Brighton

After the tour I plan to turn my full attention to composing original material.

The future.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:07:00 +0000

I hope that many of you will be pleased to know that I am going to cut down on my working hours so that I may pursue my dreams more seriously, this is something that will happen within the next month. After which, the first thing I need to do is to devote the bulk of my time to creating my first album, for which I already have a few songs written, and many various little ideas.

Watch this space...

Gig @ Brighton Komedia, 20/07/07

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:05:00 +0000

Gallery

On Friday 20th July, At 8.15pm, I walked onto the largest stage I have ever performed solo or otherwise - and the very same stage at which I saw Yann Tiersen perform 3 months previously. The wonderful response of my audience after each piece was everything I ever wished for as an undiscovered artist.. and I'm sure everyone in the venue could tell just how much this performance meant to me, as I can barely put into words how I felt playing on that stage but that there was simply an incredibly powerful response in my chest to every nuance of every piece.. every loud, every soft, every rush and every drop..

I would be incredibly hard pressed to find one single event from which I have felt a more fulfilling and longer-lasting sense of accomplishment.. In which I have walked a room and received such praise.. the night where I stood and performed on the same ground as the man who inspired my return to the Piano. After my performance, I spent the evening relishing the wonderful feedback I received from everyone who approached me, basking in the proud smiles of my family, who have supported and encouraged my talents since I was a young boy.

Since that night, I have felt inside such a true sense of belief in myself! In both my ablilities as a musician, and my performance in front of a large audience... I feel like I can achieve everything I desire - my dreams of a music career. I don't believe I have ever been happier, or more inspired... here's to the future!

Email problems.. but Gallery is live!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:45:00 +0000

Unfortunately, I have lost all of my emails... so if anyone has sent me a message recently, see if it's still in your sent box! God bless Windows Mail.

http://www.davethomasmusic.co.uk/pics/album

Picture gallery is now active! Please can I ask all authors of Fan Art to email me again with their full names so that I may update the new gallery with this information.

Cheers!

Fan art!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:15:00 +0000

Received this one by email - cheers Jamie!

Gig @ Brighton Frocks

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:49:00 +0000

I was asked recently by my friend Liz Bishop to play at a fashion show she was organising, and it turned out to be one hell of an event (with one hell of an afterparty - didn't fully recover for 2 days..).

You can check out the event @ www.myspace.com/brightonfrocks

I played Accordian outside on the lawn, as the queue walked in - performing the majority of the accordion tracks from the Amelie soundtrack - La Valse d'Amelie, L'autre valse d'Amelie, La Noyee, A Quai, La Valse des Monstres, Soir de Fete - I had some great compliments, a few people dancing, and at least 5 or 6 people asking me if I was playing Amelie..!

Fan art!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:43:00 +0000

I was sent this on myspace.. I love how she's even drawn the YouTube player..!

http://www.myspace.com/molch81

A Quai

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:22:00 +0000

New video I posted a couple of days ago. Possibly my favourite all-time Tiersen piece...

First Post.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Thomas) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 13:30:00 +0000

La Valse d'Amelie Piano - 172,384 views and counting!

YouTube, and all the people who have posted comments, or sent me messages, this is here because of you. So many of you have shown a great interest and belief in me, so many of you have said such wonderful things about my playing, so many of you share with me this one common love for the sheer beauty of Yann Tiersen's music.. how it touches us through shivers, like a gentle breath on skin... how it mourns to our hearts, like nothing save the tears of a child... wistful, innocent, true.

Fitting then, that I would like to start this journey with a thankyou, a big thankyou to all of you for your words of encouragement.. when I am performing, whether out at a gig or simply practising at home, I will hope that somehow I am playing for you.. the grateful listener. This beautiful music, these wondrous sounds, were not designed to fall on deaf ears. After spending so many hours learning these songs note-for-note and recording these videos, it is truly a joy to know that so many of you have enjoyed my accomplishments.

La Valse d'Amelie

After so many of your kind words, I feel confidence and a burning desire to create, to grasp in the dark with these fingers.. can I find a voice somewhere, half as perfect as the one I mimic? I only care to find out, and in my journey to seek the answers I will use this blog to keep anyone interested up to date with all my goings-on - original music samples, pictures of performances, and of course.....videos.

If you have any questions you would like me to answer please send them over and I will try and answer them here (click the link on the right or send an email to info@davethomasmusic.co.uk), but please remember, I don't use sheet music so I honestly can't help you in that department.

To start us off, here is a sample of the first Piano song I ever wrote, a few weeks after watching Amelie.

It's called The Narrator.