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®humanmusique productions

Spokane Valley, Washington

humanmusiqueproductions@gmail.com

Based in the Spokane Valley, Washington area, Tom is a native of northwest Louisiana. His first experience with music was in Austin, Texas playing snare drum in the marching band at Del Valle High School. His parents got some relief from him playing on the counter tops and furniture surfaces with butter knives by enrolling him in the band. It was during marching band season when Tom went to audition, the band director Mr Farris, knew that he couldn’t read music but gave him an audition.  Mr Farris had Tom mimic simple rhythms that elevated to more complex rhythms, which he did and  passed the under specific conditions by Mr. Farris’:  Tom was to listen to the other drummers, memorize and have the pieces down completely before he joined in. So throughout the entire marching band season this is how he operated and flourished.

His family moved back to Louisiana where he finished high school.  This last three years of high school included being a member of both the Pep Squad and choir. In his last two years of high school, he put together a small drum line and worked with the Cheer Leaders and Pep Squad. Outside of high school activities, Tom joined bands and played in night clubs and juke joints from northwest to central Louisiana. He was the youngest member by far and would have to be vouched for in order to be allowed in the night clubs. During the last three years of high school he played in several different bands including Soul, R&B, high school show bands (music exchange program with Booker T. Washington High School), Rock & Roll and Rock bands.

After high school, it was off to college for a couple of semesters and then his first stint in the Air Force as a weapons technician. For a couple years Tom was a spectator and fan of music until while in Germany.  After about eitght or none months of his arrival in Europe, He accepted an invitation to a jam session.  About a week or so, one of the people from the jam session asked if he would like to hear the tape of the session.…and he did. And he thought his contribution to the jam on drums was way less than acceptable. A decision had to be made at this point… Either quit right now or get a drum set and practice…a lot.

He bought the drum set and practiced…a lot. Eventually found a band and soon was performing in clubs around west central Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland. The band members, who were all in the Air Force, got wind of a competition sponsored by the Air Force for off duty bands. They entered the competition and kept winning until they wound up in England for the European finals. All the best off duty bands from their regions in Europe were there, which came out to six all toll. Tom’s band tied for first place and went to the finals in San Antonio, Texas for the ‘Tops in Blue’ competition. The contest was judged in 14 categories ranging from comedy, drama, pop, jazz, hillbilly, vocal and instrumental. To list just a few distinguished members from the judging panel over the years…Barry White, Les Brown, Richard Roundtree, Esther Williams, and the like. This was really big and cemented Tom’s decision of what he was going study when he went back to school once he was discharged.

Unfortunately their band did not win a spot for “Tops in Blue”. Tom finished his enlistment and returned to Louisiana and enrolled in a Lakeside Music Conservatory. A little late for that semester so he filled in that time by attending Southern University’s local campus until the next semester when he was accepted and admitted in the Conservatory. While there he learned the operating principles of music as well as studies of music theory, ear training, music composition, harmonic dictation, lab band performance and  music business fundamentals. While attending school Tom was a not only a member of the top lab band, he was also a fill in for the faculty band as their drummer.  The pinnacle job he landed in Shreveport while attending school was with a house band “Mikki Honeycutt and Valhalla” which both David Egan and Michael E. Johnson were members of. It was a rich environment and provided a wealth of needed knowledge and experience for Tom and he loved and relished every drop.

While attending school, Tom and his wife had their first child. This was a good thing all around until little Tomy, his son,  developed a severe incapacitating spinal infection when he was two weeks old and , . long story short, after Tom and his wife evaluated the situation, they arrive at the only logical conclusion. He would have quit school and find a job in order to pay the mounting medical bills. As he was contemplating this one afternoon on his way to a recording session, the guy who hired him noticed there was something not quite right with Tom and inquired before the recording session began. Tom explained the situation and the guy responded…I’m in the Air Force Band. That’s what I do. I’m, in a sense, a soldier of music; a musical ambassador in the band 100% of my time in the Air Force. I can set up an audition for you and you can, not only continue with your music career but also tend to your son’s medical needs. This one incident was the right time, right place and right direction sign if there ever was one for Tom. The audition was set, passed and all that was left was deciding where he wanted to be assigned. He chose the Seattle area and spent the next eight years with the 724^th Band of the Pacific Northwest touring all of Washington State, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, western Montana,  and British Columbia, Canada.

While in the area, Tom performed with several other groups and did a bit of freelance studio work as well. Country, Rock, Jazz Fusion as well as bands that played all original material…he considered himself a chameleon. Learning to speak the different dialects of music in way that reflected a sound amount of comfort and familiarity.

This is what Tom did until the dreaded urinalysis test that resulted positive for THC. Although this was not an absolute 100% positive result, it was within the range of Air Force guidelines as unacceptable and calls for discharge.   It’s what he did in his down time. Never indulged prior to performances so as not to pollute the music. Still, a careless move given that this definitely would end his career in the Air Force and have a serious financial impact his family.

With the Air Force Band not in the picture, he worked in construction for a while and played music mainly on the weekends. Shortly before being discharged from the Air Force, he was still putting some time into songwriting. Along with a dear friend and partner, Tom was submitting material to music supervisors in the Seattle area as well as with his close friend Michael E. Johnson of The Killer Bees in Austin, Texas.  Michael picked up a couple of his songs and was performing them live..a test run if you will. After about nine months of working construction and playing on the weekends, the call from Austin happened. Michael called and explained that The Killer Bees had split and the label wanted him to front the new band Michael E Johnson and the Killer Bees and an offer was extended to Tom as the drummer. No brainer right. Tom made all the arrangements to sell his house, manage this children’s situation (as he was in the middle of a divorce and had custody of the children), listened constantly to reggae music and learning the discipline of Reggae dialect.  In the mean time, Michael held the job open for three months hiring other freelance drummers temporarily to complete performances until finally in August 1989 Tom arrived in Austin, Tx.

While in Austin Tom performed with Michael E Johnson and the Killer Bees for sevaral years.  After the chapter was finished with the Killer Bees, Tom went on to perform, freelance, with (One Nation) formerly Tribal Nation, Root One, T’Chia Amet and a host of other bands in and around the Austin area.  When he wasn’t performing he was also a house manager for the Austin Opera House, Stage manager and organizer for The Marcus Garvey Festival, Sponsor for Clinician and African Instrument maker Odis Johnson (Percussionist and Expert in African Rhythms) and worked with local African Dance Troop as percussionist, as well as working in conjunction with the local Red Cross chapter doing fund raisers.

All the while Tom has contributed not only his musician skills to the bands he performed with, he also handled merchandise, contributed to song writing, solicited sponsors for tours, assisted and booked engagements for bands. Although he contributed material for recording while with Root One that received limited regional airplay, Tom was still aching for more time to concentrate on song writing and make it work on a larger scale.

He developed a good sense for maintaining the soul of songs, speaking the dialects and infusing the unfamiliar on a familiar bed so it was attractive. Before you know it, you had accepted all the nuance of the not so familiar and looking for more. Putting these practices to the test while performing his material live gave him the canvas that reaped instant response for what worked and what needed to be worked still.

That brings us to now and the current projects that Tom has just completed. After being an integral part of helping others realize their dreams, he’s currently working on his.

NEVER2LATE by his band IKUID eKLEKTIK, his first solo project and whose title has layered meaning, is a collection of material that Tom refers to as World Hybrid.  Heavily cultured melodies, rhythms and instrumentation served on a semi-contemporary structure.  Included in works released is an even more recent project.. A Little Dub Will So Ya-Papa T.  On both of these projects, Tom goes into multi-instrumentalist mode, recorded and mixed the entire project. Although not for everyone, everyone will get something out of one of the twelve songs from IKUID eKLEKTIK as well as the carefully selected five songs from Papa T. The current set of released work is a fairly broad spectrum bound with tight rhythmic construction and attractive melodies. This is the first set of collective works of which several will follow on the road of songwriting for Tom.

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