Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to John Thomas . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
John , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I only have two projects under my belt at the moment; two EPs called Life of an Oddball and Inner Peace. Both projects mean a lot to me for very different reasons.
Life of an Oddball was my first project and was my first real shot at making Hip-Hop. Before that project I was actually the drummer of a Metal band called Salem Knights; So, making Rap music was something that was borderline foreign to me. I had always listened to and appreciated Hip-Hop and its culture, but up until starting on that first EP I had only done freestyles and had only recorded a few verses here and there on some of my homies’ songs. I definitely think that I was very green on that first project. My rapping ability, singing, and use of harmonies wasn’t developed yet. It was a very raw from a production standpoint. Even though the project was rough, it was something I was very proud of at the time and it encouraged me to keep going. It also helped that the reception to the project was pretty positive in my little college town, which was a pretty hype feeling as well. I’ll always have love for my first project, even though it was lacking in a lot of areas and is far inferior to my second project, I will always have an appreciation for it because it’s what lit the fire in my soul to keep making music.
My second and most recent project (Inner Peace) on the other hand, is what I see as being my greatest achievement to date. After the first project, I took a few years to hone my artistry and assess what my weak points as an artist were. I became a true student of the game and started studying my musical influences very closely. I listened to their music, analyzed their writing, and I spent hours on hours watching live performances on YouTube to get inspired and take notes. I spent four years developing my artistry between projects and started actively training my voice to become a stronger singer. I also began to dive into the music theory behind singing and learned how to do vocal harmonies, which were prevalent on Inner Peace. Inner Peace was also a much deeper and focused project that touched upon some much heavier and mature topics. I wrote and recorded Inner Peace after I had went to counseling and after the death of my grandfather; who was the most prevalent male figure in my life. So, in a way, my second project was basically like me releasing pages from my personal diary or journal; it was very personal and much more vulnerable than I had ever been before. In a sense, my music matured along with me over that four year period. During the writing and recording of Inner Peace, I not only found and developed my sound, but also found myself in the process. I also feel like I truly found my sound with this project. I gained a lot of respect from my peers and other artists in the scene based off the Alternative Rage sound of the project, which is something I’m very proud of. I am so proud of this project overall because I not only created something that helped me get through the most difficult time of my life, but I think I created something that is going to help people get through difficult and relatable situations and personal traumas for years to come; which is something that means a lot to me.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve been a musician for basically my entire life and it’s what I personally think I was meant to do with my life. My dad is a musician and my mom is friends with a lot of musicians in the industry, so growing up I was always surrounded by music of all genres. I started my musical career playing drums in a Seattle based thrash metal band called Salem Knights for years, but left the band in 2016 when I went to college at Central Washington University. During my time at CWU, I was looking for a new way to express myself. I was still playing instruments (mostly the drums, but along the way I also picked up learning the piano and guitar), but it wasn’t enough. One day in 2019, I went through a really bad situation that I personally didn’t know how to deal with and at the time. I was both too scared and too broke to go to counseling, which is when I decided pick up making Hip-Hop as an outlet for the stress and anxiety that I was feeling at the time. This situation led me to record my first project in my homie Gavin’s home studio (y’all probably know him by his stage name: gavn!). Now we here.
Over the last four years, I’ve taken my musical journey to another level. I went from recording in bedrooms and hotel rooms to recording in real professional grade studios. I’ve gotten the opportunity to play shows all over the U.S. and see what life is like outside of Washington. I’ve made countless friends both in my own industry and in other industries. I started collective comprised of artists from my hometown of Kent, Washington called the Kent Boyz. This is why you always see me saying #KB4L (which stands for Kent Boyz 4 Life). Music has both changed and saved my life. Music has led me to places that I used to dream about as a kid and helped me get through the most traumatic of times in my life. Last year, I truly hit rock bottom after dealing with the death of my grandfather, and music was the one thing that helped me get back up and climb out of a really dark place. So, for that I am very thankful.
Ultimately, I hope that people can relate to the music that I’ve made. I hope that my music can help pull somebody out of a dark place and help them heal from whatever it is they’re going though. I also hope that my music inspires somebody to pursue their dreams and keep pushing. The music industry can be a very cut-throat and fickle place, so I just want my music to serve as encouragement to upcoming artists to keep going and following their dreams.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Personally, I think the best way society can help support their favorite artists is to spread the word that their art exists in the first place. I don’t know what it is about society today, but I see so many people find an artist that they really enjoy and then gatekeep their music; which doesn’t help anybody. It limits the discoverability of the artist because their music isn’t being properly spread on a person-to-person basis. I’m not saying that this is the only factor that’s going to stop an artist from blowing up and reaching their full potential (the internet is a big place with a lot of opportunities), but it does make that push for success a lot harder when an artists work is not being shared. The best way to support your favorite artists is to share their content on as many mediums as possible. Whether that be sharing their snippets to your IG story, putting your friends on to their music on a car ride, or even just asking people if they’ve heard of them; it all goes a long way. It also will give you as a fan the gratification of knowing that you were responsible for putting so many people on to your favorite artist’s music and knowing that you were a true day one fan. If you’re gatekeeping, you’re really doing your favorite artists a disservice.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My mission as an artists is and always has been to help and inspire people. Whether that be by making relatable music that helps people deal with similar traumas and tribulations or by simply having my journey inspire them to take the leap of faith and follow their dreams; it has always been my goal to help others through my art. I hope to inspire people through not only the music I make, but the clothes I wear as well. Fashion is also something that I am very passionate about that I take very seriously. At this point, I feel like fashion is just as important to my brand as music is. So I hope that through my sense of style, I can influence people to wear what they want and to feel comfortable doing so.
As a creator who is of African American/Kittitian and Filipino decent, I aspire to be a good ambassador of both my cultures as well. Culture is something of great importance to me, so to be known as being an inspiration in not just the United States, but in The Philippines and St. Kitts as well means a lot to me. At the end of the day, I just want to make my people proud.
One day, I aspire to have my own imprint or label in order to create opportunities for upcoming artists. And by that, I don’t mean a label that’s going to just hand artists unfair 360 deals, but one that actually going to give artists a fighting chance to make something of themselves by creating fair contracts and good artist relations. I’ve always strived to consistently promote and employ good business on my end and that’s something that I don’t ever wish to change. I know I’ve got a long way to go before this goal comes to fruition, but I think it will be something that’s worth the wait and something worth grinding for.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmljohnthomas/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fmljohnthomas?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FMLJohnThomas
Image Credits
Photos by Sonny Svay (@ssvay.lens) & Rico Suave Jr. (@heysuavphotography)