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 for all these types of music and is looking forward to the 2025 season with hopefully better weather than 2024.

R&B, gypsy jazz, rock & roll and bluegrass are all remaining buoyant through 2025. PM Warson’s R&B band are working on a new album at the moment and are going on a short tour to the Netherlands in May. Furthermore, Denver Cuss, who regularly sings as a member of P M Warson’s R&B band is now establishing 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 there are plans for many more performances throughout the year.

Pete still enjoys playing with The Vanguards bluegrass band but has now started a new bluegrass project with a band called Paul Armer and the Dawn Chorus; early days yet but the portents are excellent.

Pete plays fewer gypsy jazz gigs these days but still enjoys playing bass for friends when they come over from France. However, he has formed a trio with Victoria Bass simply called The Victoria Bass Trio to perform what may be described as 'cabaret jazz' primarily for functions. A video shoot and publicity photos have been taken and the quality of performance is excitingly high.

From April to June, Pete is joining Lipstick on Your Collar the 50’s/60’s Rock and Roll band. He is playing in eight venues around the country as shown on his gig list where there are links for available tickets.

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.