st. thomas - strangers out of blue

News Page May 2004: News from the St. Thomas world, and updates to this page in May 2004. This page is not an official source of information, if in doubt of accuracy of info please get in touch with webmaster of this page or the info source.

May 4th 2004 - Demos for new album
Never one to sit down and relax, St. Thomas is already working on a follow-up to "Let's Grow Together - The Comeback Of St. Thomas," which was released only five months ago, and which also came out less than a year after his successfull "Hey Harmony" album.

In March Thomas was in Valdres with producer Robert Jønnum, who recorded "Mysterious Walks," "I'm Coming Home" and "Let's Grow Together," along with Alex Lindbäck on drums, Espen Mellingen on guitar and Petter Pogo on bass, and they ended up recording thirteen new tracks. The track titles are: "LA Man;" "Last Word Is Not Spoken," "The Mexican Father," "The Twisted Cowboy," "Instrumental Sound," "Dream On," "Cowboy On Holiday," "Il Postino," "Children Of The New Brigade," "Polka," "Wagner's Waltz," "Kjerringa Har Skote Goldfogli" and "Evil Forever Be Broken Down."

Some weeks ago, three of these tracks ("The Mexican Father," "Last Word Is Not Spoken" and "LA Man") were re-recorded at Athletic Sound in Halden with producer Kai Andersen, who is probably most known for recording Madrugada's fabulous debut album "Industrial Silence" at the same studio, and these songs turned out so well that the band will go back into studio in September to continue their work with Andersen.

I have had the opportunity to listen through both demos, and the Athletic Sound demo sounds excellent, warm and professional sound, twisted and strange lyrics, excellent vocal performances and guitar work that sounds better than anything St. Thomas has ever released before.

In addition to all of this, Thomas and Alex have a new band called Mr. Lizard & Dr. Rattlesnake. The band name was inspired by the cowboy boots the pair bought in Austin, Texas; naturally Thomas bought lizard boots and Alex bought rattlesnake boots. The odd part about this band, apart from their name of course, is that all lyrics are sung in the Norwegian dialect nynorsk. But they are not too good in this dialect, so it is rather sung in what they presume to be nynorsk... They have written three songs so far, "Kjerringa Har Skote Goldfogli" (which St. Thomas does a cover of), "Pølsa (Den Hadde Det Bra)" and "Aldri Mer Fjas." They are hoping to add two or three more songs to their repertoire before debuting the material live at Rock Bottom at Muddy Waters in Oslo on May 27th, where they will be support act for St. Thomas.

May 4th 2004 - First concerts on tour
Last Friday St. Thomas played at Harvest in Kvinesdal, and on Saturday at Corner in Egersund, both these were to warm up for the UK tour that started at Borderline in London last night and continues in Norwich tonight.

Both concerts in Norway went very well musically, with Thomas and Alex performing four new songs ("Children Of The New Brigade," "The Mexican Father," "Last Word Is Not Spoken" and "Kjerringa Har Skote Goldfogli," the latter was cut from the set the second night) in addition to the usual highlights from the last four records. With Alex on drums, the sound is a bit more rock-like than what most people expect from St. Thomas, and on "The Mexican Father" Thomas is actually playing a guitar solo for the first time in his life.

According to a text message from Thomas, the first night in London went very well, and they are hoping to continue the success on the remaining seven tour dates, at least Cambridge tomorrow night will be a highlight as it will see St. Thomas play with one of his new favorite bands, The Broken Family Band. On all stops in the UK except for London last night, Alex' solo project Seven Doors Hostel will be support act. If you go to one of the shows, be sure you get one of his cool buttons. Also, the "Let's Grow Together - The Comeback Of St. Thomas" vinyl is finally available, and is being sold on this tour.