On this page is the latest news on my musical and inventor adventures,
not to be confused with the Wowtown News. If you want to catch
up on the latest goings on in and around Wowtown, click here
to visit the Wowtown News
archives OR subscribe to the Wowtown News email list via
the home page of this site, in which case
you will receive those rare but exciting updates plus upcoming show
announcements delivered straight to your box in a timely manner!
APRIL 14, 08:
A newly remixed single version of 'Stranger On A Train' from 'Why Dogs
Howl At The Moon' is released this month on SL Records. It features
a slightly more psychedelically-tinged treatment and raucous rockabilly
drums racing along with Mary Poppins. The B-Side is a cover of Wayne
Kemp's 'One Piece At A Time', a song made famous by Johnny Cash that
previously appeared on the VERY limited edition Truax tour CD 'Hornicating
With Sister Spinster' in 2004. The single is available as a download
from
itunes.
NOW AVAILABLE IN PODCASTS: WOWTOWN NEWS RADIO SHOW EPISODES!
Wowtown News Radio Episodes were recorded in 2003 for (and originally
broadcast on) Resonance FM in London during the stations Glassshrimp
show and also Richard Sanderson's Baggage Reclaim show. Though there
were only 10 recorded episodes, they were repeated often and are still
broadcast occasionally. They are now being made available for the first
time as podcasts. The radio stories are based on written news reports
from Wowtown which I started in 1999. Each episode runs an average of
4 to 6 minutes.
You can listen to the episodes on the website itself or subscribe if
you have itunes (a new episode will be released appx. once a week) by
visiting:
http://www.pmpmusic.co.uk or
http://www.bebo.com/thomastruax
Thanks to James who runs the bebo site for setting this up!
MARCH 10, 08:
NATURE Magazine Feature
I'm lucky to have the bandmates I do. Curiously, somehow my motorized
Sister Spinster, the Hornicator and co. have spun their way into the
March 6 issue of this prestigious international journal devoted primarily
to the natural world.
If you're not near the school library you can check it out here in pdf
format here.
ONE MAN IN THE BAND film featuring yours truly has it first screenings
in the US next week at the Cleveland Film Festival : http://www.clevelandfilm.org
FEB 20, 08:
KRUGER MAGAZINE FEATURES;
It's 'ONE MAN BAND' month at Kruger Magazine's website, so naturally
there's lots of Truax stuff there including a TV interview/instrument
demonstration recorded in Cardiff as well as a brand new written interview.
There's a great article by Adam Clitheroe 'The Ecstatic Loneliness of
the One Man Band' , and lots more, all free to access online now at:
krugermagazine.com
Direct links to the Q&A and TV show are: Kruger
Article
Kruger TV Interview
(on youtube)
There are also some new live videos posted on youtube.
FEB 5, 08:

JAN 24, 08
I'm flattered to have been nominated for best live act
of the year by these fine institutions: Is This Music
Magazine, The Indy Music Awards, and Maps Magazine. Up until the end
of January you can place your own votes at Is this Music. It's simple
and anyone can do it, just go to http://www.isthismusic.com/
if you're so inclined. They've also nominated 'Why Dogs Howl At The
Moon' for best video.
JAN 10, 08
Happy New Year. Things are going well in the studio, and some very
special top secret things are also being grown in the laboratory. I
also finished the first of a very limited number of MINI
SISTER SPINSTERS that I'm building, which was sold in an online
auction. There are more to come, but they will be born gradually one
at a time.
I'm looking at them as a small series of art pieces. Meanwhile, spring
tours are being organized for Ireland, the UK, and who knows where else.
More on this in the near future.
Twin London, a spoken word poetry-with-music collective, has voted
'The Butterfly and the Entomologist' feature of the week for the week
of January 9th.myspace.com/twinlondon
Their goal: "to encourage the development of new genres and hybrid
art-forms which incorporate poetry as an essential element."
NOV 11, 07
FILM PREMIERE
'One Man in the Band', Adam Clitheroe's long awaited feature-length
documentary featuring Thomas and other one-man (or woman) music makers
including Dennis Hopper Choppers, Duracell, Honkeyfinger, Man from Uranus,
and others, has been selected for it's world premiere at IDFA (www.idfa.nl),
the largest documentary festival in Europe, which takes place in Amsterdam
22 Nov to 2 Dec.
You can view a trailer from the film and find details at:
http://www.myspace.com/onemanintheband
We had a great week touring in Germany and France last week! We pushed
the limits of exhaustion to the final date, and in Cologne last wednesday
and the Tsunami club, Sister Spinster popped her rubber belt and the
Stringaling had a complete sound and emotional breakdown, so they will
both be spending some time in rehab and repair, while the Hornicator
goes fishing, and I go songwriting.
SEPT. 18

The second single from 'Why Dogs Howl at the Moon' is 'Like A Fallen
Tree', officially released Oct. 22, though both sides have already been
garnering a considerable amount of airplay in the UK. The b-side is
a dark, spare version of Smiths classic "The Is A Light That Never
Goes Out". Tourdates for the UK and Germany are listed on the live
page.
There's also a mysterious new tribute site that's been set up for fans
on Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/thomastruax
SEPT 1, 07
The new video for 'Why Dogs Howl At The Moon Part 1', conceived and
directed by Alex Decampi, is now up on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjOu30VUWog
JULY 31, 07
July News: Shot a new video for 'Why Dogs Howl At the Moon' with director
Alex DeCampi (who has done fantastic videos for Flipron, amongst others)
for which I had to paint my teeth red (I don't reccomend this as a regular
practice). It's a surreal still-life come to life, or something like
that. The footage was shot on 16mm film and is currently being edited.
The late july Irish tour was great. Thanks to all of you who came out
for those shows, and to Peter of Duke Special who loaned me his car.
I'll be back to Belfast on August 23rd to join DS again on the final
night of his five night stint at the Empire Music Hall, the 'Vaudeville
Extravaganza' night. Preceeding that, the night before in fact, I'll
be in Scotland for my second Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I did three
radio sessions on the Ireland tour, one for Edel Coffey's Access All
Areas show on PHANTOM 105.2 FM in Dublin, and two at BBC Radio Foyle
in Derry, one of which you can listen to online at: "Sessions and
Interviews" section of the webpage under 'Summer Sessions 07'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiofoyle/electricmainline
In other news, dissappointingly, I wont be supporting Richard Hawley
on his September UK tour after all. Record label politics are to blame.
Hopefully the Truax/Hawley connection will see some form of successful
fruition eventually. Meanwhile more headline dates are in the works
for October.
JUNE 11, '07
Very positive reviews for the new album have been appearing, see our
new 'Why Dogs Howl...' reviews page
for the first several of those. New live dates have been announced including
Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on June 28th supporting Hanne Hukkelberg
and my first headline tour of Ireland in July, see the live
details page. Meanwhile I've been locking myself in the laboratory
as often as possible to continue work on something new and special...
MAY 15, '07
TRACK OF THE WEEK on Myspace
In conjunction with the current tour and the launch of my new album
'Why Dogs Howl At The Moon' (officially released next Monday, the 21st
of May on SL Records) I'm going to be running a 'Track of the Week'
feature for a while on my myspace. We'll start by previewing some songs
from the album, a new one will be rotated weekly in the FOURTH SLOT
of the myspace songs list. Down the line I'll upload some things like
alternate takes, live, rare or unreleased tracks, possibly some old
episodes of the 'Wowtown News' radio show broadcasts and so on. Most
will coincide with a written bit of information, recording anecdotes,
or a story related to each song. http://www.myspace.com/thomastruax
To kick off the Scottish tour which begins Saturday 19th May there
will be a very intimate in-store performance at: Elvis Shakespeare record
store 347 Leith Walk, Edinburgh at 1pm
APRIL 28, 07
PRE TOUR BAND KNIFE FIGHT
During a last minute operation with Mary Poppins late on the night before
the tour a knife found it's way through the end of my left indexfinger.
Much bleeding, swearing and band 'differences' occurred, but when I
calmed down I thought I must think of it as if I were one of my mechanical
instruments, what would I do for a temporary fix if one of sister spinster's
mallets got hacked off? So, thanks to the wonders of multiple layers
of superglue, the crucial guitar playing appendage seems to be functioning
acceptably (albeit not without pain and clumsiness) and no shows will
be cancelled at this point. When word of this got around to my friend
photographer Chris Saunders, he called me a real trouper informing me
that Keith Richards once cancelled a show at Wembley Stadium because
of a cut finger. Well, maybe he could afford it. It's been almost two
weeks now as I write this and it's healing little by little, but my
playing is definitely not what it could be. For you gorehounds I put
the appendage through the scanner when the bandages and superglue were
temporarily removed:
I know it's not life threatening, but I think if it weren't for the
nail, half the tip of the finger would have just been lopped off .
APRIL 10, '07
The initial "Why Dogs Howl At The Moon" UK Tour dates have
been announced. The tour commences the 17th of this month. See live
details page. Newest self made mechanical instrument Mary Poppins
will be featured along with new songs and surprises as well as old favorites.
There will be more dates added on into the summer, so check back here
or on the myspace
page periodically. The album will be released officially May 21st on
SL Records.Several
new interviews and features are now posted on the Press
pages.
APRIL 05, '07 
New limited edition "Why Dogs.." T-shirts (as pictured above),
designed by Hazel Atashroo, will be available only at the shows on the
upcoming tour, dates to be announced within the next five days.
FEB 13, '07
At the end of this month I'm happy to announce I'll be
joining Duke Special as support act once again for the whole of their
upcoming tour of Ireland. Dates are listed on the live
details page. All shows are rumored to be already sold out. I coincidentally
ran into Duke Special the other day whilst in Leeds, there's more about
that and some other anecdotal things in a new blog entry at the myspace/thomastruax
page. A headline Truax UK/europe tour is slotted for April and May,
details on that later.
MARY POPPINS FINALLY MAKES THE STAGE
After having announced the imminent debut appearance of my latest invented
percussion contrivance, Mary Poppins, several times, only to frustratingly
find some new mechanical shortcoming that prevented her from joining
me on stage, I finally managed to get her into some semblance of dodgy
functionality. Having decided to stop making promises about something
that I couldn't deliver, Mary finally made her (unannounced) maiden
voyage and trial debut last Friday in Gloucester at the Guildhall Acoustica
night. She did all right, though several potential shortfalls became
evident and she'll need some more time in the lab and at rehearsals
before she becomes a reliable regular of the entourage. Its the first
time I've experimented with a certain amount of aerodynamics in the
equation. Somehow I do often get in over my head. She spins and clacks,
a little like her sister, Sister Spinster. But centrifugal force is
what lifts her mallets outward, and gravity, a wobbly mike stand (which
she is built to be attached to), a wind or air conditioner breeze all
have the potential to knock her rhythm off, much like some living drummers
I've known. Somewhat fragile for someone who is meant to sound like
a train! But she'll do all right.
JAN 16, '07
Recording and mixing of the third full Truax album 'Why Dogs Howl At
The Moon' is finally complete! Carrier pigeons are working overtime
along with moguls of the industry to fluff up the usual legal entanglements
so that it can see an official release this spring, we'll keep you posted.
As you might suspect, it's got plentiful doses of howling on it.
Meanwhile, on wednesday the 24th tune into Resonance FM 104.4 (in London,
or elsewhere on the Internet) for a Truax live appearance on our old
favorite, the Glassshrimp show! That runs between 5 and 6:30 pm, london
time. (that'd be noon in New York, six pm in western europe, etc.) http://www.resonancefm.com/
First live show of the year kicks off the following night at Rockfeedback's
basement night in London. Details for that and other upcoming events
are on the live details page.
DEC. 1, '06
I've published some memories, dreams, reflections on some of the touring
I did this past year with the Dresden Dolls and Duke Special over on
my myspace
blogs page. During the final show of the Endless Tour over at Hoxton
Square in London last Wednesday I managed not only to inadvertently
bash a poor soul in the head with Hank (my guitar) whilst leaping on
to the bar during 'Wowtown' but also to accidently punch Mike from Old
Street Musical Union in the face whilst putting on my overcoat. Fortunately
they both claimed to be all right. This kind of thing happens occasionally
in the wild world of live entertainment, there's gotta be an element
of danger you know. One time something like this happened in Cambridge
when someone got inadvertenly scraped in the face by a moody Hornicator.
He later sent me mail saying he'd treasure the scar until it healed!
Bless the UK. If this happened in the US I'd certainly have been sued
by now!
NOV. 14, '06
END OF THE 'ENDLESS TOUR'
Though I have been touring on and off for about five years with my trusty
band mates Sister Spinster and the Hornicator, in September '05 we launched
into a mad and nearly constant life on the road, what has officially
come to be called 'the Endless Tour'. Though we have no plans to cease
this questionable activity permanently, the time has come to call an
official end to the Endless tour (before it calls an official end to
us). We'll take a little time off to recover from stretched Stringalings
and vocal cords, squeaky axles, broken Backbeaters, cables and cases
inadvertently burned to a crisp by fire dancers (see my myspace
Halloween blog if you want the whole story), the Hornicator's venereal
inflictions and odd addictions, etc. The last official date will be
Nov. 29th at Hoxton Square in London. Thanks to all of you who came
out and supported and encouraged us this past year! I think I may very
well have set the world's record for jumping on the most consecutive
bars and tables whilst howling.
I'll be staying in London with scattered live engagements there and
a few out-of-town pickup dates through the end of the year at least,
continuing the seemingly never-ending birth process of the new album,
and some new instruments and such. I'd been holding some songs to record
with Richard
Hawley for quite some time, which has been one of my excuses for
why the album is yet to be complete, but Richard in his recent ascent
to greater (and well deserved) notoriety has been overwhelmed with other
non stop obligations; film soundtrack, Mercury Prize nomination, Jarvis
Cocker's upcoming tour, etc., which have forced him again to postpone
our working together. So unfortunately the new album wont feature any
Hawley produced tracks, but hopefully that will come together in the
future, and meanwhile the album, tentatively titled 'Why Dogs Howl At
The Moon', will sooner see the light of day.
The Rockfeedback TV show featuring a live and interview segment which
aired on MTV2 a while back is apparently now airing on saturdays late
night on Channel 4 in the UK. I'm not sure whether the episode featuring
your's truly has run yet or not.
Earlier this year I did a rare side project, music for an animated
television public service announcement by my wonderful friends over
at Screen
Novelties in Hollywood, a take on Willy Wonka, an anti-smoking ad,
which can now be viewed online here
(it's the one called 'Candy Factory'). It was strangely satisfying in
a way that felt almost subversive somehow, to get sounds of the Hornicator
and Stringaling featured in an anti-smoking television jingle. And they
even wound up using my dummy vocals for the Oompa Loompa derived singing.
OCT 15 '06
Due to circumstances beyond our control, sorry to announce we've had
to postpone some (but not all) of our european dates dates that were
scheduled for mid november, including Germany and Italy. These will
be rescheduled along with more dates, hopefully, sometime in the early
part of next year. Check the live dates
page for those that are still on.
SEPT 12 '06
We missed our plane to Munich on our way to support the Dresden
Dolls last week, partly due to the confusion and delays caused sadly
by someone jumping in front of a train in London and upsetting the entire
rail service. However, we did make the show, barely, taking the next
flight at huge financial loss (the show must go on!) and hitting the
stage within minutes of arriving, without soundcheck and hardly time
to catch my breath. To my horror, Sister Spinster
had not survived the panic and rough ride in the airplane hold. She
sat there looking quietly pretty while the Hornicator and I carried
on without her, then she was rushed to emergency surgery after the show.
Several operations later, she seems to be clicking and clacking along
well, just in time for our new UK Autumn Headline tour
which commences this week! New songs and surprises + old favorites promised.
Dates are listed on the Live Details
page. Some select dates in Europe are also in the works for November.
I've been working away on a new addition to the mechanical menagerie,
a rhythm contraption whose name is probably Mary, hoping she'll be ready
to join us for the tour, but with Sister Spinster's recent repairs dominating
laboratory time, it seems unlikely that Mary will quite be ready in
time, but maybe...
Along with the Dolls shows there was some exciting recording done with
Markus Jansen and Philip Lethen in Krefeld, Germany which will hopefully
be part of the new album.The album is nearing completion but, as is
so often the case, must be put off again until those precious pockets
of off-road time on the Neverending Tour.
AUGUST 14 '06
MTV Update: The MTV Rockfeedback TV program which will indeed include
some Truax portion will air on MTV2 Europe on the 24th or 31st of August
(which of these dates it is still tbc)...
Recordings that will be part of album number three are being finished
in London.
JULY 26 '06
MTV APPEARANCE:
Last Sunday's Truckfest show along with an interview was filmed by MTV.
They seemed very enthusiastic so if the cutting room is kind this will
air on MTV2's Rockfeedback
TV show in mid August (possibly the 17th in the UK), and repeated
in October on Channel 4 in the UK (as well as in 16 other countries).
The Stringaling was not interviewed, sadly.
Other substantial rumors include myself and the Hornicator supposedly
being featured, in comic form, in an upcoming Jackie Chan comic book
(!);
a track on an upcoming Smiths tribute album, and possibly some recordings
produced by Richard Hawley. Details later...
WOWTOWN UPDATE
Apologies for the delay in keeping you up on the Wowtown News, temperatures
in Wowtown at present have blown the tops off all thermometers and internet
access and site updates have suffered due to electrical meltdown. Groundhog
Al Camus has shaved off all his hair, it is a striking new look for
him. Fortunately Sister Spinster has been chugging away on battery power
and we've been recording some sweltering new tracks. Pete the cat is
still looking for his missing tail.
MAY-JUNE '06:
"There was a silence with lots of things going on in it."
-Dorothy Parker
APRIL 10 '06
Thanks to all of you who've come out for the last month of UK and europe
dates! It's only just begun, with new dates including supports for the
Dresden Dolls
and Duke Special
now extending into june. These and upcoming April UK headline dates
are listed on the live dates page.
There's a brand new feature in Plan B magazine by Robin Wilks:Read
it online here: http://www.planbmag.com
An interview/single preview will be featured in the June issue of
Dazed and Confused, the limited edition vinyl-only 7" ('Have We Been
Left Behind?' b/w 'Lessons In Art')on Manchester's Akoustik
Anarkhy records will be available at upcoming shows and in stores
later this month!
A recent live review appears on Drowned
In Sound
Thomas is also booked for appearances at this summer's Truckfest
and the Secret
Garden Festival.on the Up
All Night stage. More to be announced later.
And yes, a new album is in the works. It will be a while yet but tracks
recently embellished by members of Flipron are sounding very groovy
indeed.
FEB 21 '06
Lyrics
for the Audio Addiction album have been added to the site.
FEB 13 '06:
A brand new 7" single will be released in March by Manchester's
Akoustik Anarkhy label: '"Have We Been Left Behind?" b/w "Lessons In
Art" (aA2w/021) After 2 albums & a couple of singles, New York's Thomas
Truax is ready to make his debut on aA with 2 exclusive tunes that offer
the listener head spinning majesty of the highest order (available in
March on ltd 7" vinyl)'
Of course,nothing like a record release for an excuse to tour the UK
and Europe again! Stay tuned...
http://www.akoustikanarkhy.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/akoustikanarkhy
JAN 13 '06:
Thanks to all of you out there who've been so supportive over this
past year. It's been quite an eventful one: back and forth across the
ocean and to the west coast repeatedly, a hundred shows including 4
sets at Glastonbury (part of which was broadcast on TV), a live BBC
Radio 1 session, Lincoln Center in NYC, and a lot of smaller shows and
events, very few of which were less than very rewarding experiences.
I guess it was bound to happen: After the last round of UK/Europe I
found myself ill and extremely disoriented and having lost the ability
to sleep, sometimes for days on end, so a little time in Wowtown and
taking things a little more slowly might be in order... Yeah right.
I've got some new songs and don't know whether they're any good or not,
but you can bet I'll be out there testing 'em all on you soon enough.
At this point I'm going to make a minor change the way I format these
'news' entries, just adding them when things are happening or when I
can manage to rather than doing it by the month, though I'll probably
try to get to it roughly monthly at least if possible.
NOV '05:
New europe/UK dates are now posted on the live
details page.
A new page has been added to the site for gathering Audio
Addiction album reviews.
There's a brand new interview on get
underground.com.
My dear friend and theremin player Meredith Yayanos pointed out that
yesterday on the Dresden
Dolls forum I was brought up as the perfect definition of a sub-genre
called 'Steampunk'. Anyone who knows me knows I try to avoid
labels and pigeonholes generally but though I'm not entirely sure what
steampunk is I love the name! If they were to move my bin at the local
Virgin store to the 'Steampunk' section who could fight that!?
Meanwhile it almost seems like hypocrisy to me but I've finally succumbed
to the weight from all sides suggesting I'm really missing out not having
a 'my space' site (obviously
I can hardly keep my official site up to date so where will I find the
time?) , but I've finally caved in and started one. There's not much
up there yet but to all of you who encouraged me in this don't make
me feel like I did as a little squirt back in those lonely alienated
days at the orphanage, please come be my friend! http://www.myspace.com/thomastruax
Another radio interview is available to stream online, this was recorded
during Tom Schulte's Outsight Radio hours broadcast back in july, and
runs about 13 minutes: http://musicsojourn.com/AR/Alt/page/t/TruaxThomas.htm
For all you Ipod hooked audio addicts, both 'Audio Addiction' and 'Full
Moon...' are now available for digital download via the apple/itunes
site: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=74572162
go to: News Archives years 03-05
for even older 'news' click here
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