Meet the band 2 – Leah
Name: Leah Elisabeth Thomas
What instrument(s) do you play? Saxes (Piano, Clarinet, Recorder, Flute, Vocals….)
Do you have any other role in the band? Person who counts people in, wears high heels, woops a lot, and jumps up and down. And provides the tenor skank.
Do you have a favourite tune in the Skamonics repertoire? Gangsters, the Madness stuff…oh it all depends on the mood!! love it all.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever played with the Skamonics? with other bands? Hootananny is great…love playing 100 Club with Big Band – love the Gospel Piano in church on a Sunday morning.
How did you learn to play? Piano at the age of 5, sax at age of 10…and was made to practice. Brilliant. I was in every music club going, was in recorder club in sixth form. Then came the music degrees.
What else do you do musically? Music company with beautiful fellow Skamonic Steve: Blue Flamingo Entertainments….gig with Big Band, Rockabilly, Quartet, Gospel….have been known to do some madrigal singing…
Who are your musical influences on your instrument – and more generally? Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Lockjaw, Pete Long…
As well as ska, what other types of music do you like, and who are some of your favourite bands or musicians? Anything that has a great horn section – LOVE jazz, old school rhythm & blues, grew up on country, ADORE rock’n’roll. Good pop.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to (where you weren’t playing?) Some fab nights at Ronnie Scott’s, or for that matter Big Band Britannia @ Barbican, or just some great contemporary jazz in dingy venues.
What do you do when you are not playing music? Talking about music. Going to church. Going to see gigs. Organising music.
What about you would surprise other members of the band? I’d never listened to ska in my life before I played the first time as a dep. Ooo, I went to Bible College in America for a year.