Stu Thomas

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Stu David Thomas is an Australian musician, born in Canberra, raised in Perth, and musically active in Melbourne since 1990.

He is a multi-instrumentalist, performer, singer, composer, arranger, producer, bass player, guitarist, trumpet player, holds a Diploma of Music, and is a visual artist. Thomas has played in many countries including: Australia, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovakia, Portugal, England, Ireland, Scotland, USA, New Zealand, Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Stu has appeared on over 80 releases.

Thomas performs solo or with his band as The Stu Thomas Paradox,^[1] mainly in Australia, with appearances in Europe and New Zealand. He has released three solo albums to date: "Devil and Daughter"^[2] (2004 Audrey Records,^[3] Australia, and 2007 Bang! Records, Spain), "Escape From Algebra"^[4] (2010 Bar Hum Bug Records, Australia), and "Counting To Infinity" (2020 Off The Hip Records).^[5] An EP "Resonance" (Audrey Records) was released in 2001.

In 2014, he self-released the "Stu plays Lee" EP,^[6] following successful shows in Melbourne playing the music of Lee Hazlewood. An abridged version, renamed "Stu Thomas plays Lee Hazlewood", was released in 2015 as a limited edition 8-inch clear vinyl EP on Stu's own Bar Hum Bug label. Stu has continued performances of Hazlewood music, solo or with band, in Darwin, Adelaide & Melbourne, into 2024.

The Stu Thomas Paradox (aka STP) is: Stu Thomas on lead vocals, guitar, Billy Miller on guitar, backing vocals, Eduardo Miller on bass and backing vocals, Phil Collings on drums. Additional players include: Clare Moore (drums/keys/vocals), Mal Beveridge (bass), Stuart Perera (guitar), Rosie Westbrook (double bass), David Lord (harmonica/keys) and John Annas (drums in STP's 2005 debut gig). In 2004, Stu played a solo mini-tour of Berlin, which included German musician Lemmi Schwarz on clarinet and Australian ex-pat Chris Hughes on drums.

During Covid lockdowns of 2020-22, Stu performed a series of live-streamed shows via StageIt, playing songs by Iggy Pop, Lee Hazlewood, Lou Reed, David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World", James Bond, and all 3 of Stu's own albums.

In 2020, Stu received a nomination for Best Musician in the Music Victoria Awards.

Thomas is known for his work as a bass player. He has played in a large variety of bands since 1979, and came to global attention in late 1995 when he joined Kim Salmon & The Surrealists. He also played with Kim Salmon in Kim Salmon and The Business, and SALMON, as well as in Kim Salmon's solo band, and also Kim Salmon Plays The Scientists. With Kim Salmon, Thomas has toured Australia many times. Together they played three tours of Europe: in 1996 with Kim Salmon and the Surrealists with drummer Greg Bainbridge, as well as USA in 1996. In 2004 Stu played with Kim Salmon Plays The Scientists as a trio with drummer Leanne Cowie and in 2006 as Kim Salmon and the Surrealists (with drummer Phil Collings) at Azkena Rock Festival. Thomas appears on several Kim Salmon & The Surrealists releases including "Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing" (1997), "You're Such A Freak" EP (1998), "Grand Unifying Theory" (2010), and "Rantings From The Book Of Swamp" (2020), plus other Kim Salmon releases. (For more details see Discography.)

Stu found further acclaim joining The Royal Dave Graney Show on bass in 2004. They became Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist,^[7] and later Dave Graney & The mistLY. In 2011 Dave Graney & The mistLY received the Best Victorian Band award at the AGE EG Awards.Thomas is also bassist for Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes, since their re-formation in 2015, touring in 2017 & 2023. Thomas has toured Europe twice with Dave Graney & The MistLY, supporting Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 2008 on the Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! tour, and then a headline tour in 2016, with Scottish guitarist Malcolm Ross. Thomas appears on several Dave Graney band releases including "Hashish and Liqour" (2005), "We Wuz Curious" (2008), "Rock N Roll Is Where I Hide" (2011), "You've Been In My Mind (2012), "Play mistLY For Me" (2015), "ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS?" (2019), "In A Mistly" (2022), plus other Dave Graney releases. (For more details see Discography).

In 1997, Thomas founded The Brass Bed, a trash-noir band consisting of brass and rhythm sections, with a notable lack of guitar. The lineup was flexible and in its largest form included two trombones, trumpet, clarinet, bass and drums. In its smallest form: bass and drums. Other forms included harmonica, sax, cello and violin. They released the "low key" EP in 1997, the "No Single" 7 inch white vinyl in 1998, "Resonances: Live Film Music" CD in 2000, "Save Your Breath" CD 2001, and "The Super8 Video LP" DVD in 2007. The Brass Bed played exclusively in Melbourne from 1997 - 2007, apart from one performance as a duo in Auckland, New Zealand in 2001 as a duo (Stu Thomas and Delaney Davidson). They began doing rock gigs, but ended up playing live soundtracks to films in theatres, and galleries. The initial lineup was: Stu Thomas, Delaney Davidson, Tatiana Pajo and Brian May. Subsequent members were Rhys Braddock, Cam McAllister, Tim Hilton, Lemmi Schwarz, Sonke Rickertson, Adam Nash, Mike Noga, Sherab Holley and Phil Collings.

Stu has been involved musically with many artists of note including: Kim Salmon, Mick Harvey, Dave Graney, Clare Moore, Billy Miller, Spencer P. Jones, Rebecca Barnard, Delaney Davidson, Martin Cilia, Dan Brodie, The Spoils, among others.

In 2019, Thomas appeared on the soundtrack to French film Qui m'aime me suive! (aka Just The Three Of Us). He sang with Mick Harvey and Xanthe Waite, music by Fred Avril.

Stu is a proponent of the Fender P-Bass, the Burns London baritone guitar, and the Burns Marquee Club series electric guitar. He is in demand for bass, guitar, vocal, trumpet and flugelhorn sessions.

Thomas is also a visual artist having done much graphic art work, is a painter and also works in a variety of media. His first solo exhibition of kinetic paintings was in 2017 at Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne. His second exhibition of 2019 was called "Second Painting Exhibition". It appeared in two Melbourne venues: Carringbush Hotel, and Swamplands. A 2021 exhibition was a group show with Kim Salmon called "The Surrealists Exhibition" held at One Star Gallery, West Melbourne. Stu's works included kinetic painting, graphic painting, neon works, objet d'art and 3D assemblages. In 2023, his work was part of a group exhibition at One Star Gallery. Stu's 3rd solo exhibition was called "FutuRetro", encompassing paintings and sculptures. Stu also performed music on guitar, and trumpet.

In 2020, during concurrent lockdowns Stu was invited by Shane O'Mara (musician) to contribute bass, online, to a new recording project which became a full-blown band called The Silversound, once the members finally met. The other members being Andrew Tanner and Leroy Cope, from Sand Pebbles. Two singles, "Shaker" and "Wolf" appeared early 2023, with the self-titled album released Mar 28th.