Gtaranaki 2010

The Thomas Oliver Band plays a combination of blues, rock, country and roots music, with inflections of folk and alt-pop. Their fresh instrumentation, including lap-slide guitar, double bass and baritone saxophone, blends with Oliver’s compelling writing style to create a sound which is absolutely unique and unequalled in New Zealand.  They are acclaimed for their hugely dynamic live shows and musical journeys on stage, from the most gentle of acoustic sounds to the heaviest of euphoric soundscapes. They are undeniably a complete live experience. Wellington-based, The Thomas Oliver Band have independently developed a huge following for their live shows both in their home town and increasingly across New Zealand.

They are currently heading into the mixing stage of their highly anticipated full-length album, to be released near the end of the year. M2 Magazine writes of their 2007 EP, Every Penny: "From the sexy, dirty blues/rock of 'Nothing Left' and 'In My Bones' to he glorious, perfect-pop balladry of 'A Letter', Every Penny is flawless. This is just the beginning. If you do not know who they are, watch this space: they are simply too good to stay underground for much longer.”

The new album is “more organic, earthier and more sonically rich”, says Oliver, “and the step from 3-piece to 5-piece has completely opened up our sound, and allowed a lot more creative expression for us, and particularly for me as the writer.”

In the 2008Capital Times annual readers' poll, The Thomas Oliver Band was voted 3rd best band in Wellington, behind Fat Freddys Drop and Flight Of The Conchords.

The NZ Campus Arts Network selected The Thomas Oliver Band over a myriad of top bands from across the country, to be 2009’s “Emerging Artist”, to complete a full national tour, performing at every university in the country in February and March. Their live shows were typically embraced by university students nationwide.

In the space of four years, The TOB has played hundreds of shows across the country and supported The Black Seeds, The Phoenix Foundation, Pluto, dDub and Little Bushman, among others. As a soloist, Thomas Oliver has supported Eric Clapton, Jimmy Barnes and Tom Jones at the internationally renowned Mission Estate Concerts in Napier, to 30,000 people.

This band is leading New Zealand music in a fresh and imaginative way, and will undoubtedly go on to make New Zealand music richer and broader.

http://www.myspace.com/thethomasoliverband