We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Thomas Mahar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Thomas, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In terms of playing music professionally, doing what you really want to do with it, and making a living, I find it necessary to take risks. And by taking risks I mean stepping out to do something and feeling like I could fall flat on my face. Before I went to any jam sessions in LA I felt terrified about being able to play with the musicians who regularly play in those jams and are experienced at it. I didn’t know if I would be able to float. One night I decided to go with my bass player to a jam that was held at a bar in the Valley. It was my first time hopping in on a pro jam and I was nervous. I knew I wanted to be able to hang with those musicians. Before hand I told myself I was willing to fall flat on my face and completely mess up. After jam however, I realized I didn’t fail and was pretty exhilarated by the experience. It did a lot to boost my confidence. Our bass player Cayla also hopped in that jam session and did a great job. I think it’s really important for anyone who is chasing a dream, or has a specific goal in mind to get out there and make themselves uncomfortable. That’s how you gain experience, grow your confidence, and show yourself you can do it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in Greenville, North Carolina and lived in Athens, Georgia for a few years. I moved to LA in 2016 because my sister lived out here and in 2017 played my first gig, supporting a singer on a radio station. I had played music growing up and when I moved to California I decided to go for music as a full time career. That had always been my dream. After a few years of playing with other artists I formed Retrognome because I wanted to write and play my own music.

Retrognome is a rock band I formed in 2021 before I had any band members. I wrote and recorded an album called A Place For Your Ghosts To Dance, which was released in early 2022. I played all the instruments except for drums. In 2022 Cayla Dean joined the band on bass blending her melodic, playful bass lines with my own style of dreamy, unexpected harmonies and head-banging hooks. With Cayla as a full time band member, we began writing music together. In January 2024 we released our first EP, Dreams of Love. Something that sets us apart is our unconventional style of song writing. We write rock songs together and what comes out is a blend of our influences. Our song writing can involve unconventional song structures and tempo changes.

We are always excited to play our music to other people and we love writing new songs. Our approach to our next album is to play our new songs live to really flesh them out before recording them. We gave ourselves a deadline to finish the tunes for Dreams of Love and that was a cool approach. We were productive in a time crunch. This time we want to approach recording differently. We want to hone in each song by playing it live and seeing how song parts change, stay the same, or riffs evolve.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

In my experience the vast majority of people have been supportive of my creative journey. When I still had a part time job, I would occasionally have someone ask if that job was my fallback plan, or if I had some sort of back up plan. Again almost everyone has been supportive, but sometimes someone would ask that sort of question and it always seemed hard to have a good response. That question didn’t necessarily come from a bad place, but hearing that question, I felt misunderstood. As an artist, not only do I want to spend my life creating and exploring art, but on a soul level it’s something I have to do to really feel like myself. I think most people who see artists on their journey think it’s really cool that they are doing it. It’s a bold thing to chase your dreams. My belief is that if you have a specific dream you have to go for it completely, without having something mentally to fall back on. As an artist it’s normal for self doubt to creep in, but you have to keep moving forward and re-balance your mindset. After all, you’re doing this because you love it.

When it comes to the dreaded question about back up plans, I would say don’t have one. It’s always good to respond respectfully to people. You can establish your boundaries respectfully. You owe it to yourself to chase your dreams no matter what. Someone else can think a back up plan “makes sense” financially, but chasing your dreams doesn’t always follow a logical path. In my opinion, listening to your gut and going with what feels right to you is the best thing.

If someone is concerned about making money while chasing their dreams, I would suggest seeing how they can use their skill sets in various ways. For example, maybe you’re a song writer and having your own band is your goal. You may meet someone with a podcast who needs some music for their show. You can be hired to write that sort of music. It may even be fun and a good stretch for the artist to think outside the box.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Last year we flew to Georgia to play some shows in Athens and Atlanta. It was our first time touring and we had lined up the shows ourselves. We contacted the venues and through Instagram reached out to local bands to play with us. Everything was all set, all the plans were made, instruments were packed, and we were about to fly to Georgia. The day before we got there, the venue in Athens where we were to play our first show reached out and said they were understaffed and couldn’t hold the show anymore. Cayla and I walked into every bar and venue in downtown Athens that we could find and asked if we could play a show the next evening. It was so last minute and no venue was able to host us. We only had four shows lined up, so missing one was a big deal to us. Finally, this place called Rabbit Hole Studios, from whom I was renting an amplifier, said we could play the show at their venue. They even found a sound guy who was available last minute. We were determined to play that first show no matter what and everything came together. Cayla and I are a good team and we can hold each other up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://retrognomeband.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrognome/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@retrognometheband
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/GHbyfizi2zUPuugs9
• Other: retrognome.bandcamp.com

  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CPuaL6i18dczNZP7u2mSS?si=sjNIDvNsRoa4IzqHCljo1g