Pat Thomas (musician)

Pat Thomas

Pat Thomas in 2011 at an academic pop music conference
Background information
Birth name Patrick O'Hearn Thomas
Born April 6, 1964
Genres Jazz, alternative, experimental psychedelic, folk rock
Occupation(s) Musician, record producer, writer
Instruments Drums
Associated acts Mushroom, Absolute Grey
Website www.roomonetwofour.com

Pat Thomas is a San Francisco-based percussionist, record producer, music critic, and writer.

Performing career

As a musician, Pat Thomas has been drummer and percussionist for bands such as Absolute Grey, and presently for the musicians' collective Mushroom, which he founded. From 1987 to 1997, Thomas released five solo records. He has recorded as Patrick Thomas and as Patrick O'Hearn.[1]

Thomas founded Mushroom in the San Francisco Bay Area, in November 1996. The group's sound has been described as a "diverse and eclectic blend of jazz, space rock, R&B, electronic, ambient, Krautrock and folk music".[2]

Mushroom released its first recording in 1997, a 12" single called "The Reeperbahn," described by critic Fred Mills in Magnet as a recording that "could fool a blindfolded test applicant into thinking its 25 minute psych blowout was some long lost Krautrock epic from the early '70s. Let the band's wah-wah guitar, feedback violin, volcanic bass, jazzbo percussion, and tape loops take you down the fabled motorway, never to return to the place you once knew."[1] "The Reeperbahn" provided the basis for CDs released in 1998 in Holland and Germany.[1]

In 1999, the band released Analog Hi-Fi Surprise in the United States and Germany, followed by a European tour, by which time keyboard player Graham Connah had exited and was replaced by Michael Holt.[1] Toronto music magazine Exclaim! wrote that the band "dish out the tastiest psychedelic funk you're ever likely to encounter. The groove's the thang as these tasty tracks cruise on Rhodes-driven jazz, ambient beats, surf riffs, and post rock textures. The band brew all these elements into a mixture that travels the outer realms of progressive funk. Like Tortoise jamming with the Grateful Dead or Soft Machine exploring the Funkadelic catalog, these loose open-ended excursions raise the art of fusion to a new plateau. While each track works a groove toward heady epiphany, the album as a whole refuses to stay locked into any one genre. Booker T-styled organ gyrations, rock guitar virtuosity, Bootsy Collins funk ups, ambient jazz, electronic beats, and Krautrock trance all make a stand, but the bottom line is that this is music that will move you, and then some."[3]

The band then recorded Foxy Music (2001), which included trumpeter Jon Birdsong (known for his work with Beck). Q magazine in England wrote, "On the Foxy Music CD, the band steer away from determined psychedelia in favor of a friendly looseness to their playing. Jabs of electro-trombone and flute cluster alongside churning organ and splintered Rhodes Piano. Beck's trumpeter Jon Birdsong also turns on a great big blubbery blast of tuba, while musical director Patrick O'Hearn's clattering drums have an automaton rotary action that sometimes recalls Can's Jaki Liebezeit."

As of 2015, the members of Mushroom were Pat Thomas (congas, bongos, drum kit), Ned Doherty (bass), Erik Pearson (flute, violin, effects, acoustic and electric guitar, electric sitar), Dave Brandt (congas, bongos, vibes, djembe, gongs), Josh Pollock (acoustic guitar, vocals, megaphone electronics), Alison Levy (vocals), Ralph Carney (woodwinds/horns), Gram Connah (keyboards), Matt Cunitz (keyboards), Tim Plowman (guitar), Dan Olmsted (guitar), and Dave Mihaly (vibes, percussion).[4] Mushroom's current label is 4 Zero Records.[5]

Production career

Thomas was the founder in 1988 of Heyday Records. He currently produces reissues for Omnivore Recordings, and previously for Water Records. His credits as a producer of reissue recordings include albums by Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Television,[6] and for Omnivore, artists such as Game Theory.

Writing

Thomas is the author of the book Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power, a 2012 work of African-American cultural history centering on the Black Panther Party,[7][8] with a concurrently released CD and double LP recording of speeches and protest songs.[9]

He is also known for his work as a music critic, and editor of Ptolemaic Terrascope.[10]

Discography

With Mushroom

Albums

Singles & EPs

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Mushroom". MySpace Music (official page). MySpace. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29.
  2. ↑ Fitzgerald, Jeff (October 2010). "Naked, Stoned and Interviewed". Aural Innovations (41). Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
  3. ↑ Danzig, Ian (November 1, 1999). "Mushroom: Analog Hi-Fi Surprise". Reviews. Exclaim! (Toronto, Canada). Archived from the original on 2015-02-12.
  4. ↑ "Mushroom (Musician/Band)" (official page). Facebook. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  5. ↑ "Indie psych and space rock". 4 Zero Records. 4zerorecords.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-08-13.
  6. ↑ "Reissue Producer Credits". Pat Thomas. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-12-18.
  7. ↑ "Pat Thomas Bio". Pat Thomas. Archived from the original on 2013-11-26.
  8. ↑ Thomas, Pat (2012). Listen, Whitey!: The Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975. Fantagraphics. ISBN 9781606995075.
  9. ↑ Thomas, Pat (2012). Listen, Whitey!: The Sounds of Black Power 1967–74 (CD, double LP). Light in the Attic. ASIN B006R6N1FM.
  10. ↑ Keresman, Mark (March 12, 2008). "Producer, Label Honcho, Performer, Journalist: Pat Thomas is San Francisco's musical catalyst". SF Weekly.
  11. ↑ Khalil, Fady (May 24, 2010). "Mushroom: Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed". CD Reviews. Jambands.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01.