Artist Information
Biography
Where it all started;
In a small country town with only a tavern, a hall, a handful of houses and a tiny garden shed for a post office; people used to drive from miles and miles, lining the roads to the local pub for the legendary Sunday sessions or more recently; the fabulous Lounge Cabarets at the local hall. You see this is no usual country town, this tiny town lay claim to some fine rock bands, music university graduates, solo artists, duos, DJs, an Elvis impersonator, a Noel Coward specialist and even a barbershop quartet. Songwriter, pianist, and lead vocalist Kitt Byfield was born into this rich musical culture and from a very young age was listeing and playing along to the likes of The Beatles, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Queen with the local musicians; one being his father; an accomplished singer, guitarist, flautist and harmonica player. Kitt later moved to the big smoke to study music (drums/percussion) and now lives somewhere hidden in the hills and has added Radiohead, The Smiths and Sigur Ros to the list of influences.
And so came the emergence of Sir Thomas;
In the front room of an old house, Sir Thomas have been rehearsing, creating and perfecting their refreshingly unique music for the past 5 years. Kitt was firstly joined by Callum Moncrieff, who grew up playing drums to bands like Tool, Incubus and A Perfect Circle but now regularly comissions and premieres new classical / contemporary works for percussion (vibraphone). Then came Mel Hall, who grew up playing the bass to bands like Metallica, Rancid and Primus, and now is a fine folk guitarist and singer/songwriter. Lastly came Christopher de Groot, a serious classical and contemporary composer who now writes gigantic film scores, his latest works being the horror movies ‘Sororal’ and ‘Esoterica’.
Sir Thomas is just plain different; and rather than adapting in order to fit those around them, they have stayed true to their values, their sound and their approach. And over time the support and admiration for the band this has increased. And so when Sir Thomas asked their fans to lend them a helping hand, 100 True Fans answered by handing them $10,000 without question. And thus came about their long awaited debut album. The album is the culmination of 11 years of songwriting including 5 years of rehearsing, perfoming, arranging and fine tuning; all in the aid of perfecting and discovering the sound that is Sir Thomas.
Who is Sir Thomas you ask?
The debut album is simply a portrait of the man that is Sir Thomas.
A man with two sides.
The rest can be created, imagined and dreamt by you.
Enjoy
Some quotes from the '100 True Fans' of Sir Thomas
‘Beautiful, colorful and magnificent’
‘Refreshingly unique and cleverly composed’
‘Beauty in contradiction’
‘Dynamic and engaging’
‘Emotional, heartfelt and honest’
‘A sun shower of sound’
‘A delicately crafted microcosm of sound’
‘A band with no guitars’
‘Sir Thomas helps you see that speck of light, always glimmering in the dark’
‘Australia’s answer to Sigur Ros’
Instrumentation
Mel Hall - Bass, Backing Vocals
Callum Moncrieff - Drums, Backing Vocals, Percussion
Kitt Byfield - Piano, Lead Vocal
Chris De Groot - Backing Vocals, Keyboards and All Other Sounds
Discography
Self Titled Demo (2007)
Self Titled EP (2009)
Mixed and mastered at Crank Studios in Perth by the legendary Lee Buddle
Debut Album - Coming October 2012
