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Luke

About Me


Luke Thomas was born in a small town in Wisconsin. At 6 years old, his parents made him take piano lessons and he cried at every single one, making poor Mrs. Virchow extremely uncomfortable. In fourth grade, his parents made the mistake of getting him a drumset. Luke banged on it a lot in a basement with red carpet and almost died following an incident with a piece of butterscotch hard candy. Luke picked up the guitar after hearing the blazing harmonized guitar riffage of "Cover Girl" by New Kids on the Block. He played all-school mass for his Catholic school, and played Stairway to Heaven on a black Squier Strat for his eighth grade talent show. In high school, Luke discovered that chicks dig guitar and joined a "punk" band called Happy Hour that learned how to rap. From that day forward, they wanted to be Rage Against the Machine, albeit a more teenage-children-of-white-middle-class-parents variety.
Luke went to college and studied jazz, but didn't really know anything except for Metallica and 311 songs. In college, he listened to John Scofield and Mike Stern and decided that jazz was cool. Luke went to school for a long time, and they gave him a piece of paper that said "Good Job, Thanks for the Money, Sucker! Love, University of Wisconsin." After graduation, he played guitar and taught other people's children to play guitar and run around and question everything. Finally, he decided Wisconsin was no place to rock'n'roll, so the ambitious young man moved to California to rock'n'roll there instead.
After studying and playing with musicians and bands from such diverse backgrounds - from Australia to Zimbabwe and Afro-Beat to Avante-Garde to Jazz-Fusion and Zydeco, Luke relocated from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area after three glorious and painful years to pursue an even fuller career by placing himself in one of the fastest-paced musical meccas of the world.
Luke currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he is a full-time gigging musician, educator, composer, and recording artist. As a guitarist, he has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Smashmouth, Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea Elektric Band), Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Jamie Kime (Zappa Plays Zappa), Rare Earth, and Bo Diddley. He is a member of retro-futuristic prog-pop rockers, eEnik, and leads his own trio, "LT3" .
You can catch Luke performing around the country with a number of diverse and aspiring groups around Los Angeles and up and down the West Coast. He handled lead guitar duties and vocals in the San Francisco Bay Area's "local maniacs" and jazz-funk-rock fiends the Angry Philosophers and Earth-rockers Phoenix and AfterBuffalo . As a session guitarist, he has played and recorded with a variety of musical projects, including Synapse, Aja, Big Papa Boogie, Finless Brown, coutry-pop crossover artist Bettina, Amber Haze, Soul System , Temporary Music Group (leader), Tensegrity Nine , and the Jazz Orgy . Luke has also performed in a number of musical theater productions, including "Fame" and "Footloose" and independent productions. Luke also recently composed an original score for a short film, entitled “Totemist,” which was released at several international film festivals in 2007.
Luke Thomas playing "Whatchu Lookin' At, Human?" for Bogner's new Alchemist series amplifiers.
www.bogneramplifiaction.com

Luke Thomas plays "Little Wing" - Live with pictures of me live, with friends, students, and Mother Nature.
Some eEnik madness.
www.eenik.com

LT live with Phoenix and AfterBuffalo - One Love People's Day in People's Park, Berkeley, CA

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/10/2005
Band Website: www.lukewhatimade.com
Band Members: Luke Thomas (LT)
Influences: I have had the joy and the blessing of studying with and learning from many artists whose playing and teaching have been incredibly influential, including Oz Noy, John Pattitucci, Kai Eckhardt, Fareed Haque, Chris Robinson, Kenny Werner, Dave Fiuczynski, and Ernie Watts.

People that I like to listen to: The Police, Charlie Hunter, The Beatles, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Kurt Elling, John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Mahavishnu Orchestra, Kenny Garrett, Soul Coughing, Elvis Costello, Bill Frissel, Peter Gabriel, John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Miles Davis, The Black Crowes, Oz Noy, The Roots, Pat Metheny, Paco DeLucia, Joe Satriani, 311, Bob Marley, Ben Monder, Dave Matthews Band, Toto (Steve Lukather), Erykah Badu, Megadeth, Fishbone, Led Zepplin, Earth Wind and Fire, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), John Scofield, Incubus, Jimi Hendrix, Slash (G'n'R), Dave Fiuczynski from Screaming Headless Torsos, Pearl Jam, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Faith No More, Radiohead , Fareed Haque, Def Leppard, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Mayer, Steely Dan, Wes Montgomery, Stone Temple Pilots, Steve Vai...

Sounds Like: Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
-Victor Hugo
Rock'n'roll is just rock'n'roll.
-AC/DC

Some nice quotes about Luke Thomas:

"Luke is a unique player with an amazing range of styles at his fingertips. Very promising."
Reinhold Bogner, Bogner Amplification

"Bladdy L! You are a total groove-o-saur, dude! ME LIKE!!!!!"
Dale Turner, ed. Guitar One magazine

"LUKE! Nice tone, nice tunes!"
Jude Gold, ed. Guitar Player Magazine
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Boom Boom Room Post-game

What a dream come true.  I loved playing the Boom Boom Room.  Before Imoved to California, I went to see a show at the Boom Boom Room while Iwas visiting some friends in San Francisco.  I decided at t...
Posted by on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:18:00 GMT

My Bogner & Line 6 Demo Video Shoot

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Posted by on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:39:00 GMT

!!!eEnik!!!

Well, it's official.  For those of you who have known me and my search for the coolest band ever, I found it.  Welcome to the world of eEnik.  A fantastical assemblage of character...
Posted by on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:45:00 GMT

LA Amp Show Part 2

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Posted by on Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

The LA Amp Show Part 1

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Posted by on Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:28:00 GMT

Student Recommendation 2

Earlier this year I decided to get back into guitar after putting it aside for about 25 years.   I took some lessons back in my college days for a couple of years focusing on rock, blues, an...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:44:00 GMT

Student Recommendation 1

Dear Reader,              I am writing this letter to elucidate all the qualifications of Luke Thomas as an accomplished guitar teacher. Prior ...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:42:00 GMT

Student Recommendation3

Luke Thomas is an enigma................... And when I say enigma, I mean, it's compelling how very good he is at what he does (wailing, shredding, mutilating on the guitar&yet in a very musically wo...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:47:00 GMT

Lesson Information

I am available for private lessons in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas.  I teach people how to play, enjoy, and understand the guitar in a unique style that I've been developing for ov...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:38:00 GMT

My Website is up and running!

Finally, my website is up and ready to go.  Come visit at www.lukewhatimade.com and sign my guestbook.  You can also look at pretty pictures, listen to pretty songs, and sign up on my pretty...
Posted by on Sun, 04 May 2008 22:41:00 GMT