One of the most imaginative characters (and firm Silent Radio favourite) on the pop music fringe, for well over a decade Thomas Truax has been releasing albums and travelling the world performing with his ‘band’ of bizarre self-made Harry Partch-esque instruments including a motorized drum machine made of bike wheels called ‘Mother Superior’ and a pimped-up Dr. Seuss-ian Gramophone called ‘The Hornicator’ (as well as his venerable resonator guitar ‘Hank’).
Such frivolous names make it tempting to dismiss his act as novelty, but the instruments are only one of many elements that get thrown in the skillet to make up the exciting journey and rich varied tapestry that is a Thomas Truax album. On Jetstream Sunset, he has added a powerhouse of a special ingredient in the form of Brian Viglione, the exceptional drummer best known as half of the Dresden Dolls, his work with Nine Inch Nails, and as the current drummer of the Violent Femmes.
While musically lively, themes of reflection and reminiscence, friendship and loneliness permeate the album lyrically.
As a “bored American” ‘Teenage Post-Punk’ (“there were no easy labels back then”) Thomas found solace in a diet of British bands and seems nostalgic for a time when phones were still connected by wires. At other points he references nostalgic subjects more likely from his parent’s era: Drive-In-Movies, Rosa Parks, 70’s TV show Kung-Fu (“Grandfather says to Grasshopper…”).
The video to ‘I’ve Got To Know’ features Brian Viglione on real life drumming duties keeping time with Mother Superior along with Truax playing his self-made ‘Scary Aerial’.. The track is taken from the new album Jetstream Sunset (out now).
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