Mick Thomas

Their father, Brian Darvall Thomas (2 February 1925 – 12 September 2003), was a World War II naval veteran (23 April 1942 – 17 July 1946) and an electrical engineer with the State Electricity Commission.

Brian's family were from Tasmania and his wife, Margaret, was from northern Victoria.

They met in Melbourne after Brian returned from his war service.

"He served in the Pacific with the Navy during the war. He was in Japan shortly after the nuclear blast on Hiroshima. He was one of those blokes who never left Australia again. He had a normal life after the war but I'm sure his dreams were full of those things."

The family moved with Brian's work, from Gippsland to Colac, Horsham and then Geelong.

When Thomas was 15, in Geelong, he started playing folk music, initially as a solo artist.

Michael James Thomas (born 7 February 1960) is an Australian singer-songwriter, producer, guitarist and hotelier.

Michael James Thomas was born in Yallourn on 7 February 1960 and is the middle child of three.

His older brother, Steve, was later a playwright.

He was a member of Southern Aurora, and from 1978 to 1980 in Never Never Band which issued an independent single, "It Doesn't Mean Anything".

Other members of Never Never Band were Brolga, Archie Cuthbertson on drums, Wendy Harrison on bass guitar, and Joe Nadoh on guitar.

In 1981 (at age 21) he moved to Melbourne where he fronted a 1960s pop revival group, The Acrobats, from 1982 to 1983.

He attended university initially at Ballarat College of Advanced Education (now Federation University) and later transferring to Deakin University at Geelong where he completed an arts degree, with majors in history, literature and sociology.

With Cuthbertson other members of The Acrobats were David Adams on drums, Joe Colarazo, and Chris Dyson.

He spent two years in the local pub rock scene first in 1983 in Where's Wolfgang with Adams and Dyson joined by Shane Day; and then in 1984 in Trial.

Thomas was the frontman of folk rock group Weddings Parties Anything (1984–1998), and leader of Mick Thomas and the Sure Thing.

He has also released material as a solo artist.

In late 1984 Mick Thomas (lead vocals, lead guitar and bass guitar) formed the first version of folk rock band, Weddings Parties Anything with former bandmate Adams (ex-The Acrobats, Where's Wolfgang).

By 1985 they were joined by Mark Wallace aka Squeeze-Box Wally on piano, accordion and backing vocals.

Their debut four-track extended play, Weddings Parties Anything, appeared in December 1985.

It included two of "the band's early live classics", "Summons in the Morning" and "Roaring Days": both written by Thomas.

In April 1987 the group issued their debut studio album, Scorn of the Women, which reached No. 52 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart.

Eight of the twelve tracks were written solely by Thomas, with another track, "The Infanticide of Marie Farrar", adapted from the poem of the same name by Bertholt Brecht.

The band released further studio albums, Roaring Days (April 1988), The Big Don't Argue (October 1989), Difficult Loves (July 1992), King Tide (October 1993), Donkey Serenade (1995) and River'esque (September 1996) – with most of the material written by Thomas – before disbanding in December 1998.

Thomas later explained his reasons for the split "[w]e weren't going anywhere, commercially or artistically ... Some nights you don't want to play 'Father's Day' or 'A Tale They Won't Believe'. People want them. I had to apologise for playing something new".

The group had toured both nationally and internationally – they became popular in Canada and parts of United States.

Fellow Australian musician, Paul Kelly, described touring with Thomas' group "[w]e did a lot of shows with The Weddos ... and had all-night singalongs with them ... and at afternoon barbecues in lead singer Mick's big backyard down by the river ... We liked a drink and weren't shy about it, but The Weddos made us look like ladies at a tea party".

He noted that Thomas' musical influences were The Pogues, Fairport Convention (and guitarist Richard Thompson), Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson.

During their career they won four ARIA Music Awards – 'Best New Talent' (1988), 'Best Indigenous Release' (1989, 1990) and 'Song of the Year' for "Father's Day" (1993).

According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, the band "united two great Australian music traditions: post-punk pub rock and folk/bush balladry".

Two of their singles, "Father's Day" (May 1992) and "Monday's Experts" (September 1993), appeared in the top 50 on the ARIA Singles Chart; both are written by Thomas.

Mick Thomas wrote a play, Over in the West (1996), a country rock opera, which was performed at the Playbox Theatre.

The official cast soundtrack was released the following year.

In 1998 he issued his debut solo album, Under Starter's Orders: Live at the Continental, which was recorded during various solo performances from 1997 to 1998, while still a member of that group.

Allmusic's Aaron Badgley was impressed by the audience participation "wonderful to hear the audience know ['Step in Step Out'] and to hear the pride in Thomas's voice".

Aside from his own material Thomas is also a record producer and engineer for other artists.

In March 1998 he produced the debut album, Fisherman’s Daughter by Perth-born singer, Kavisha Mazzella.

In June 1999 Over in the West was performed at the Maverick Arts Festival, with Thomas also contributing the role of Mr Robert, leader of a pub rock band.

The play was described in McFarlane's Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop as a "gripping saga scanning an entire continent, two hotels and a pinball machine".

Following the demise of Weddings Parties Anything, Thomas embarked on a solo music career.