I, the writer
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa | SELF
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Overall, Jason performed admirably and despite the faux pas
revealed a dark, moody and alternative “I, the writer” than I
initially thought I’d see. Listening to his tracks from his
Fan Page on Facebook I envisioned a more subtle set,
something along the lines of Jack Johnson or John Mayer
perhaps, but what I got was something of a darker, much
deeper “I, the writer” than I expected on the night. I
was surprised, pleasantly surprised actually because I
knew right there and then that he played for himself
and I respect that.
- Swimming upstream 2.0
Discography
A unified theory of everything - Release date : late 2011
Photos
Bio
My name is Jason Thomas. I was born in 1984, on
June the 5th and I started writing poetry
when I was 8 years old.
I suspected it wasn’t considered cool for pre-pubescent
boys to write poetry so the drive to write was left
dormant for most of my school life. It wasn't until the
end of high school that the spark to write and create
surfaced again.
This time accompanied by a guitar and three friends, we
called ourselves Switchback. That was way back in 200?
I look back on those early years, sometimes with a hint
of pride, but mostly with a self-conscious apprehension.
But a journey has to start somewhere, right?
In 2003, Estranged came into being which turned into a
three year commitment from four musicians. Estranged
produced the album Unshackled that featured Karien De
Waal on bass, Alron Matthews playing lead, Brendon van
Rooyen on drums and myself doing rhythm guitar and lead
vocals.
Estranged performed in and around JHB alongside bands
and musicians like Niemand, Dan Patlansky, New Academics,
Mono and Sean Hayz . After three years of playing together,
the group members disbanded to
pursue other projects.
Alron Matthews and I continued writing and recording as
Traveling Light. We were joined by drummer Herman Rosslee
and together we recorded a six-track EP in 2008 that
launched at Tanz Café.
Traveling Light toured Cape Town and performed in JHB
until Herman had to leave to fulfill record label
commitments for another band he was playing with.
Alron and I kept writing and recording.
It wasn’t until 2009 that I started to write and
produce entirely on my own and I, the writer was born.
And won’t hesitate to say, I am a proud father.
I am currently working on an album split into four
sections, experimenting with different genres, namely
pop, rock, electronic and blues fusion.
I've already shot a music video for one of the pop singles
called ‘Come and see them’ in collaboration with the
enormously talented director Jurgen Meekel and Sean Hayz,
part-time musician and fulltime friend.
It seems the harder I work the luckier I get and as a
result, I, the writer has enjoyed airplay on numerous
campus radio stations namely Kovsie FM, Matie FM, UJ FM,
and UCT radio.
The next installment is … (*drumroll*) a collaboration
called ‘The creature song’ and features a piece of poetry
in Serbian by Masa Milovanovic.
I'm looking to release the completed album in September and
I cant wait to see you all there .
Peace out
Jason
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