Pete Thomas

Born in Reading and a graduate of the Newcastle College of Performing Arts, the first instrument that Pete learned to play was the guitar. In his early teens he discovered the bass guitar and subsequently the double bass, and these became his favoured instruments for live performance and recording. Nevertheless he is no mean player of the tenor banjo, mandolin and bouzouki and enjoys playing them whenever the opportunity arises as a change from being the “bassman”.

At the Derby Folk Festival - image by permission © Mark Steele 

His career started when he was still at school and he has performed for more than a decade professionally with many bands covering many genres: R&B and rock, English and Irish folk music, bluegrass, and gypsy jazz.

He is an old hand at performing at festivals which have been more forthcoming in 2025 compared with 2024 – and it is not over yet. The Vanguards recently played at the Festival in the Forest and are soon to perform at the King Harvest Festival, Basingstoke. Pete will also perform with the Guildford Bluegrass band at the same festival.

PM Warson’s R&B band are currently working on a new album but had a successful short tour of the Netherlands in early May followed by a performance at the Bridge Guitar Festival also in the Netherlands. The band are due to play in Madrid at the end of the year and Phil and Pete are scheduled to play at the Green Note in Camden at the end of September. Denver Cuss, who regularly sings as a member of P M Warson’s R&B band has now established herself as performer in her own right and Pete plays bass for her in her new band. She had a hugely successful performance at the Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney earlier in April and her album Leaving Me is available from Bandcamp or as a vinyl LP.

Paul Armer and the Dawn Chorus have had their first live performances, most notably at at the Battlefield Bluegrass Festival at Naseby in July. The band’s musicianship is exceptional and the harmonisation of Paul’s and Noel Dashwood’s voices is wonderfully unique. Their following is rapidly growing and they have four performances planned in November; they head off to Bath shortly to record an EP. Pete always enjoys playing with The Vanguards bluegrass band. They too have a great following and are frequent headliners; they recently had an airing requested by journalist Grant Cartwright on Cerys Matthews BBC Radio 6 show on September 7th. They are looking forward to playing at the King Harvest Festival later in September.

Pete plays fewer gypsy jazz gigs these days but still enjoys playing bass for friends when they come over from France, as indeed happened with Adrien Marco earlier in the year. However, he has formed a trio with the singer Victoria Bass and the guitarist Dan Criscuolo, simply called The Victoria Bass Trio to perform 'cabaret jazz' and swing primarily for functions and cabaret. Victoria has a sensational voice for this type of genre, many of the numbers are well known standards, often from the forties and fifties, but her rendition is hugely entertaining. Victoria is currently in America but the trio will reconvene shortly on her return.

50’s and 60’s Rock and Roll is always close to Pete’s heart and he recently helped out the Rave On show when they were short of a bassist for a couple of performances. Great fun and he will join them again for a performance on the Isle of Wight. Similarly, he will be joining the Blue Jays when they will be the guest stars on the Queen Victoria Cunard cruise to Eixample, Spain in October.

Just for fun and for his own amusement, Pete is now reprising his folk music skills particularly performing on his tenor banjo and his brand new Fylde mandolin. He used to play regularly about ten years ago particularly in pub jam sessions but also had airings on the radio at the time. Consequently he is playing in pub jam sessions such as The Myddleton Arms Canonbury on Sundays once again. Great fun sessions.

See the Discography page on this website for details and links for all the music mentioned above.

Click for pics/clips of Jazz, Folk and Blues/Rock

See also Pete Thomas's Instagram page and YouTube account.