Gurdan Thomas
Gurdan Thomas founded his self-styled ‘musical collective’ in Birmingham, UK in 2007 around a core of 4 musicians. They play a multitude of instruments, from regular guitars, piano, clarinet and ukulele, to more unusual items such as the ocarina, kazoo and plastic tub, and often whatever else comes to hand.
Gurdan performs with these musicians, and with others he meets on his travels across Europe, or sometimes just solo, keeping things interesting for his live audiences. The arrangement of his songs can often differ from one night to the next depending on the line-up that Gurdan has assembled, but are always a surprising mixed bag of sounds and styles, leading to comparisons with The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
Having produced 2 self-released albums, ‘Graceful Rabbits’ (2007) and ‘Gnodelly Gnodelly’ (2008), he released his 3rd album ‘The Fat Lady Sings’ on Commercially Inviable in Summer 2010. ‘The Fat Lady Sings’ was partly recorded in England, in a van, and in the Villa Waldbertha, Munich, but almost all of it was created at the Meier farm in Stockau, Bavaria along with performances from musician / farmers Wastl and Katl Meier. Curiously, despite the multitude of players from across continental Europe contributing to the recording, the album retains the distinct feel of an English eccentric at play.
He swiftly followed up the LP with an EP of new songs and recorded over a weekend back home in Birmingham at the legendary studios of Bob Lamb (The Lilac Time, UB40), the Todd EP came out in the autumn of 2010, also on Commercially Inviable.
Gurdan has received airplay on NPR (National Public Radio, USA) and has graced the stages of the Gigbeth Festival, The Soho Ottakring Festival in Vienna, The Pro Etnica Festival in Sighisoara, Romania and The Moseley Folk Festival, UK. Gurdan
recently performed at The Suq Festival in Genoa, Italy, as part of the MELT project, where he spent some time working with musicians from Munich, Vienna, Istanbul, Genoa, Sighisoara and Birmingham.
Gurdan has performed as part of label buddy James Summerfield’s touring band and will also be touring this year with Vroni von Quast, as she promotes her new record with Sony.
