Luke Thomas was born in a small town in Wisconsin. At 6 years old, his parents made him take piano lessons and he cried at every single one, making poor Mrs. Virchow extremely uncomfortable. In fourth grade, his parents made the mistake of getting him a drumset. Luke banged on it a lot in a basement with red carpet and almost died following an incident with a piece of butterscotch hard candy. Luke picked up the guitar after hearing the blazing harmonized guitar riffage of "Cover Girl" by New Kids on the Block. He played all-school mass for his Catholic school, and played Stairway to Heaven on a black Squier Strat for his eighth grade talent show. In high school, Luke discovered that chicks dig guitar and joined a "punk" band called Happy Hour that learned how to rap. From that day forward, they wanted to be Rage Against the Machine, albeit a more teenage-children-of-white-middle-class-parents variety.
Luke went to college and studied jazz, but didn't really know anything except for Metallica and 311 songs. In college, he listened to John Scofield and Mike Stern and decided that jazz was cool. Luke went to school for a long time, and they gave him a piece of paper that said "Good Job, Thanks for the Money, Sucker! Love, University of Wisconsin." After graduation, he played guitar and taught other people's children to play guitar and run around and question everything. Finally, he decided Wisconsin was no place to rock'n'roll, so the ambitious young man moved to California to rock'n'roll there instead.
After studying and playing with musicians and bands from such diverse backgrounds - from Australia to Zimbabwe and Afro-Beat to Avante-Garde to Jazz-Fusion and Zydeco, Luke relocated from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area after three glorious and painful years to pursue an even fuller career by placing himself in one of the fastest-paced musical meccas of the world.
Luke currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he is a full-time gigging musician, educator, composer, and recording artist. He is in the studio recording a full-length instrumental full-band album, titled "Inertia", scheduled for release in late fall of 2011. The album will feature 10 original compositions in a myriad of styles that feature Luke's compositional skills and some amazing guitar playing, as well as contributions by some of the most talented musicians on the West Coast. Luke also recently composed an original score for a short film, entitled “Totemist,” released at several international film festivals in 2007.
You can catch Luke performing around the country with a number of interesting and aspiring groups. Luke leads his own group (LT3, LT4) which performs around Los Angeles and up and down the West Coast, and features a cast of members, including Dickie Ogden, Uriah Duffy, Mike Shiono, Colin Hogan, Jason Langley, and Valerie Franco. Luke was also a member of the LA-based rock outfit eEnik, and left in December to pursue greater career opportunities. Luke has played and recorded with a variety of musical projects, including Synapse, Aja, Big Papa Boogie, Finless Brown, Amber Haze, Soul System, Temporary Music Group (leader), Tensegrity Nine, and the Jazz Orgy. Luke has also performed in a number of musical theater productions, including "Fame" and "Footloose" and independent productions.
© 2011 Luke Thomas
