Old Lost John: News

Fans, friends, fairies and fools!

Halfway through the year of 2008, and a good time to look back and reflect upon the past six months. It's been a reasonably eventful year so far, including my first UK tour, a couple of German dates and of course a few gigs on Swedish home turf as well. Despite being an unsigned artist, managing myself, I have nevertheless gained exposure through several blogs and podcast shows, and lately enjoyed radio airplay in various European countries as well as the US and New Zealand.

The UK solo tour in particular was a good move. Most of the venues really nice ones with a good audience, and obviously rewarding to perform in front of a crowd in their own language. I've made some valuable contacts and good friends and I'm eager to get back whenever possible.

A swift look ahead. Only a few gigs booked for the summer, but I'll write and record some new material, and hopefully get an album out at some point. I'll keep you updated. Now take care of yourself and your loved ones, and have a wonderful summer!

Tomas of Old Lost John

Fans, friends, fairies and fools!

In a few days I leave my dear old Sweden and fly to London to begin
my UK South East Spring Tour 2008! Eight dates within ten days (the support slot for Jason Ringenberg at What's Cookin' on the 12th just added), see
details below, and even further details on the Gigs page:

May 7, 9PM
El Club Cobra (Sunrooms) Southend-on-Sea
May 8, 9PM
Shangri La (Railway Hotel) Southend-on-Sea
May 10, 8PM
Cavendish Arms (Stockwell) London
May 11, 6PM
Come Down and Meet the Folks (The Apple Tree) London
(supporting Southern Tenant Folk Union)
May 12, 8PM
What's Cookin' (The Sheepwalk), London
(supporting Jason Ringenberg)
May 14, 8PM
The Bee's Mouth, Brighton
May 15, 9PM
The Rooms, St Leonards-on-Sea
May 16, 8PM
The Smugglers, Hastings

I'm going solo, though bassist Mikael Persson will join me in
Brighton and possibly St Leonards. So, if you're living in the area,
very welcome! And if you don't but know someone who does, tell them
not to miss it! Cheers!

Tomas

FAWM 2008 is over and I made it again, wrote 14,5 songs during the 29 days of the month! To hear all the songs and read my fellow songwriter's comments, go to http://fawm.org/writers.php?id=908. Then have a listen to some of the others' stuff as well!

Fans, friends, fairies and fools, thanks to all of you who supported Old Lost John during 2007. Also, thanks to everybody I've had the pleasure to work with on stage: Ida Gustafsson, Johan Malmberg, Lars Borg, Goran Abelli, Joel Nevrup, Unni Zimmerdahl, Olof Jennfors and Markus Narvik. In the studio, I've had visits from Orkester Gul, Rebecka Karlsson and Searching for Luke aka Frida Astrand.

So, another year gone and closer to death. Looking back, did I keep my head on my shoulders? My heart in my chest? Well, most of the time anyway...

A handful of gigs booked so far, Berlin in February and the UK in May. More will be added, so keep an eye on the calendar. And have a look at the comments page, there's a couple of nice things added recently that I found when I googled.

Stay humble, and best wishes for 2008!
Tomas of Old Lost John

Yes, I've kept you waiting way too long, but the time has finally come! The first copies of the new Old Lost John release, "The Ghost of Calder Mountain", have now materialized! Twelve songs and about 45 minutes of haunting music, delivered in a neat package with full lyrics.

Here's the track listing: 1) Don't Lean On Me, 2) Join The Circus, 3) Boy With A Fever, 4) Would Coffee Do The Trick?, 5) Sick Mary, 6) Hey Lady, 7) Back Into The Zone, 8) Toads, 9) Dagger Dagger (Halloween Song 2006), 10) The Ghost Of Calder Mountain, 11) On My Side Of The River, 12) Sensitive Too.

It will be available through CD Baby within short, just go the the 'shopping' page and press the button!

(Swedish customers may find it easier to do it the primitive way, put the money in the hollow oak after sundown and I'll have one of my pigeons deliver the CD. But send an email first to make sure we get that oak correctly located!)

Fans, friends, fairies and fools! The month of February is over, and so is the annual FAWM project, where participating songwriters aim to come up with fourteen new songs within four weeks. I'm happy to announce that I made it, though I had to throw in a couple of rough sketches towards the end.

This has been an interesting experience and great fun. Amazing to see what you can deliver when you focus and get your creative muscles working. I've been lucky to be able to set off plenty of time for this, and only lost a little momentum when I had a couple of low-profile gigs last weekend.

Actually, I think I'll consider about half of the songs keepers, material for gigs and the next album. I'll even keep a couple of recordings pretty much the way they are. The songs will be up for listening on the Music page for some time, so please go lend an ear. For lyrics, click on titles. You can also go to my page on FAWM, http://www.fawm.org/writers.php?id=908, and read superlative comments from my (mostly) american songwriter colleagues.

Next thing to take care of will be the album I've promised you for some time. (Too many songs in the can!) I'll also get a smashing live band together for upcoming gigs, so stay tuned!

And, of course, stay humble and keep an open mind!
Tomas of Old Lost John

I don't know how you guys spent your Valentine. Personally, with no romantic adventures knocking at my door, I decided to join the FAWM project and agree to come up with fourteen new songs within the month of February! FAWM is short for February Album Writing Month, and you can find out more about it on www.fawm.org if you're interested or would like to join. Two weeks gone when I sign, which means approximately one new song each day. Now there's a challenge!

Anyway, so far so good. The first song is called Sensitive Too, and you find it at the bottom of the Music page, under the heading FAWM Project 2007. It's my usual kinda stuff, minor key, fingerpicking, words like "night, moon, breath" and so on, bla bla bla... (Oh, I forgot "rain"...) Only thirteen songs left to write!

Stay humble and don't get hung up!
Tomas of Old Lost John

A Happy New Year to all you fans, friends, fairies and fools supporting Old Lost John! Thanks also to all of you I've had the pleasure to work with on stage or in the studio during the year: Moppis Andersson, Mikael Persson, Maria Davidsson, Johan Malmberg, Thomas Jarbo, Ida Gustafsson, Frida Ã…strand and Eddie Didriksson. And thanks to Peter Kaarle for getting me gigs and lending the amp, to Carson in Canada for the airplay, to Acoustic Shack and any other webcast station that included Old Lost John in their playlists during the year. And thanks to anyone else I forget to mention that deserves it.

This has been a reasonably good year for Old Lost John, writing and recording a healthy amount of new material, gaining good reputation and increasing the fan base. Alas, I didn't get the new album together, and I didn't tour the UK. I don't want to make any promises for 2007 that I won't be able to keep, but on the other hand, not making any promises is not the way to make things happen. So I promise I'll push myself to focus on what needs to be done, keep my heart in my chest and my head on my shoulders and pull on through.

As you notice, I've opted for a new website design. Hope you like it.

Stay humble, and best wishes for 2007!
Tomas of Old Lost John

Merry Christmas to everyone concerned and Midwinter Greetings to you all, fans, friends, fairies and fools!

There's a new spooky song I wrote and recorded for this year's Halloween up on the music page. Listen, enjoy and download!

On Saturday, October 21, Old Lost John plays Vinylbaren in Malmo, Sweden. Orkester Gul (featuring singer/songwriter Ida Gustavsson) opens the evening at 21.00, and 21.30 Old Lost John enters the stage. This time I'm assisted by violinist Johan Malmberg.

Tuesday next week, October 24, Restaurang Mollan will host Old Lost John for another home gig. We'll play two sets, starting around 22.00, and accordionist Thomas Jarbo replaces Johan the fiddler.

Bring your friends and sharpen your ears, and see you there!

Recordings for the upcoming Old Lost John album is underway, and on the 'music' page you can now listen to the new track Don't Lean On Me.

Busy days in the studio indeed, as I've also been recording five songs with singer/songwriter Ida Gustavsson, adding melodeon and mandola to one of them.

Pictures from last weeks singer/songwriter night at Paddy's (Malmo, Sweden) is up on www.jamshop.se/html/jam_malmo.htm.

The Furch cedar top guitar I play in the main picture belongs to fellow singer/songwriter Ida Gustavsson.

Old Lost John has joined the Open Mic Contest at the Folk Alley website. There are currently two songs entered, Sick Mary and the as yet elsewhere unavailable Don't Look For Me. To listen to the new song, go to www.folkalley.com/openmic/artist.php?id=178 - and please consider logging in and rating songs.

New song up on the 'music' page, Stranger To Me, vocals and guitar only. Click on the title for lyrics.

The song can also be found on www.myspace.com/oldlostjohn.

Well, that depends. To find out what I'm talking about, go to the 'music' page and listen to the new website release from Old Lost John!

There's a new song up on the 'music' page, called Swift Like A Dagger. Vocals, guitar, mandolin, melodeon and pump organ, all done by myself. Listen, download and enjoy!

And something else. Ever wanted to take a closer look at Old Lost John's lyrics? Click on the song titles, and the lyrics will appear before your eyes!

It's been a while since an entirely new song was released on the website. Well, open up your ears and have a listen to Sick Mary! It features guitar, mandolin, melodeon and African drum, and you find it on the Music page!

Listen to Like A Stranger, recorded live in Malmo, Sweden earlier this year! You find it on the 'Music' page!

Don't miss Old Lost John at Bodoni on Thursday 23 this week. Find out more on the Gigs page.

The Volym date on Tuesday 21 this week has been cancelled with short notice.

A line-up change for this week's Old Lost John gig at Betlehemskyrkan in Malmo, Sweden. Bernhard the violinist is replaced by Mikael the bassist.

Well, don't expect it. Do, however, expect a quietly intense gig with songs old and new, performed in the coffee room of a small church. It will be me (Tomas Thunberg, that is) on vocals and guitar, Moppis Andersson on mandolin and Bernhard Steiner on violin, with Sweet Mary singer/songwriter Maria Davidsson on guest vocals.

'The Story So Far' will be sold at the gig for 100 SEK.

So, if you're in Malmo, Sweden this Thursday, 9th of March, don't miss it! See more details on the 'Gigs' page!

Old Lost John looks set to play three gigs on home turf in Malmo, Sweden next month. There will be some new material and probably a three- or four-piece line up, possibly with guests.

Click on 'Gigs' for further information!

Download, or just listen to, a live version of As We Do In Dreams, favourite song of many Old Lost John fans and the one that usually finishes off the live set. This recording was made in Betlehemskyrkan in Malmo, December last year, and features Eddie Didriksson on second guitar.

Thanks to those of you buying records and joining the mailing list in Konsthallen yesterday.