Thoola

Thoola was conceived on a cold winter night in 2010 as Martin and Mathieu - two unemployed musicians who'd recently relocated to Prague - bonded over their passion for acoustic music at a friend's house party. Over the course of few sessions they sketched the base of the first instrumental songs they would soon start playing in the cosy little venues accompanied on cajon by their mutual friend Sam.
But their initial approach towards long instrumental compositions soon started to wear off. The zeal for classic songwriting and the encounter with a talented singer Zoja pushed the group to redefine their sound and paved them way to a studio to record the EP Springs. The debut, recorded only on acoustic instruments with no bass and drums and minimum overdubs, was released in June 2011 and featured five fresh folk tunes that were immediately embraced by their following and listed in playlists of local alternative radio stations. The band then only made a couple of public appearances before Zoja and Sam left the band and the country.

The two remaining members did not give up and decided to take the project to the next level by inviting Marketa on bass to the current line-up meanwhile Martin would do his best to fullfil lead singer duties he long wished to tackle. But as the search for a suitable drummer was taking longer that anyone expected the unfinished material started to pile up and the band's focus had gradually shifted from the venue stages to the production of their new songs in Martin's home studio. Few months later, just in time when the drummer Jakub joined the outfit to play first shows, Zoja announced her comeback and the newly reformed band hit the stage this autumn to present both old and new material as a five-piece.

The new EP Bed of Fallen Autumn Leaves (out in January 2013) presents the band's work in a completely new light. As opposed to its predecessor, it was carefully crafted and arranged over the long period of time and with the usage of instrumentation unheard at live shows. It features pulsating acoustic rock songs where the driving rhythms and the acoustic guitar/cello interplays occasionally give way to stabs of electric guitar that together with urgent vocals render the whole record a rare listening experience.

Thoola's members are:

Martin Pípal - vocals, guitars
Zoja Gorbušina - vocals
Mathieu Guillemi - cello
Markéta Haová - bass
Jakub Homola - drums