Stu Thomas

Stu David Thomas is an Australian musician, born 1967 in Canberra, raised in Perth, and currently musically active in Melbourne.

He is a multi-instrumentalist, performer, singer, composer, arranger, producer, bass player, guitarist and trumpet player, and holds a Diploma of Music. 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, and appeared on over 80 recorded releases.

Thomas performs solo or with his band as The Stu Thomas Paradox,[1] performing 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) and "Escape From Algebra"[4] (2010 Bar Hum Bug Records, Australia), and one EP "Resonance" (2001 Audrey Records). In 2014, he self-released the "Stu plays Lee" EP,[5] 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, with more performances in Darwin and Adelaide. 2020 saw the Stu Thomas Paradox album "Counting To Infinity" [6]released on Off The Hip Records.

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. On occasion, Clare Moore has substituted on drums / keyboards and Mal Beveridge on bass. Drummer John Annas played a gig with the band in 2005, their debut. 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.

!n 2020, during Covid-19 lockdown, Stu performed a series of live-streamed shows from his home on the Stage It platform. The first being an selection of Iggy Pop songs, the 2nd was Stu's entire "Devil and Daughter" album, and the 3rd was the whole of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World". For the 4th show Stu performed his "Counting To Infinity" album in its entirety. Stu also received a nomination for Best Musician in the Music Victoria Awards 2020.

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 when he joined The Royal Dave Graney Show in 2004, who metamorphosized into Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist,[7] and later re-metamorphosized into Dave Graney & The mistLY. In 2011 Dave Graney & The mistLY received the Best Victorian Band award at the AGE EG Awards.Thomas is also part of Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes, on bass duties for them since their re-formation in 2015. 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), 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.

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

Thomas is a proponent of the Fender P-Bass, and the Burns London baritone guitar, and is in demand for bass, guitar, vocal, trumpet and flugelhorn sessions.

Thomas is also a visual artist having done much graphic art work, and is a painter. His first solo exhibition was in 2017 at Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne.