Mick Thomas

With the ever changing landscape of the music industry artists are constantly exploring new and innovative ways to showcase their work. For Mick Thomas the most compelling way to showcase his over three decade career was to pen a book and pair it with a compilation album of songs from his days in Weddings, Parties, Anything and also as a solo artist.

“The original idea was to have a compilation record to sell at the march stand because records seem to get deleted so quickly these days.” explained Thomas, “In packaging it [These Are The Songs and These Are The Days] I had this desire to make the physical artefact something worthwhile, something that can’t be downloaded or streamed, so that you have a sense of ownership over that record. Whilst going through that process the cover notes grew and grew and grew to the point where the record company said ‘we can’t conceive of an album cover of that size and scope so you’re going to have to get a publishing deal for this as a seperate entity’”

Having been told this Mick immediately set out to write the book. As an avid reader Mick was incredibly keen to explore the new burgeoning genre which is blending fiction and non-fiction. Mick told us that the most difficult part of the entire process was sequencing the songs and stories, “Initially I had the Weddings’ songs in their own seperate compartment but my publisher quickly pointed out to me that I always bitch about people drawing an arbitrary line in my career like that.” In order to overcome this problem songs and stories have been set out as if they were part of a live set which allowed Mick to explain why these songs were still part of his life.

Although Mick would prefer the book and record are enjoyed together as “companion pieces” he was very aware that this may not always be the case and thus ensured the stories in the book are “strong enough to stand on their own and perhaps introduce people to songs they hadn’t previously known about.”

After over 30 years in the business Mick says “it’s a great accomplishment to still have people wanting to hear our songs” but it’s also incredibly enjoyable as he has welcomed a younger batch of musicians on board for tours.

“Playing with younger people you become every recognisant of how difficult it is to get out there and make money from music these days, so they’ve brought a real sense of thrill to our tours.”

Jun 2, 6pm. The Leadbelly, 42 King St, Newtown. $34.70 Tickets & Info: www.theleadbelly.com.au