We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Rife. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.
Thomas, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
To be honest, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to play guitar and have music play a large part of my life and a passion that makes me who I am today. Growing up, my mother never drove anywhere quiet. There was always a blues guitarist, rock band, or songwriters new album blaring from her car with a broad spectrum of genre’s for any given feel for the day to any destination or errand. A lot of my family members loved music, and it was common for everyone to share their favorites with each other. Hearing all of this rad music, there were always the ones that I thought were the cool guys, and cool guys played heavy metal. My rad cousin Jackie started it all when she showed me Blizzard Of Oz, something about Randy Rhoads’ rip into the first track changed everything I thought about the world. It was from that moment, I knew what I wanted to do, and had zero idea of how I would make it happen. After some years of various changes and endless nights of shredding Guitar Hero by myself, I woke up on a Christmas morning and received my first Peavey 4 string bass. Thus began, The Riff-oning.
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?
When I was pretty young I got into the local scene of my hometown pretty quick, thanks to my older brother and his friends that never wanted to take me to do anything. After so many times and earning the trust of my mother, I got to check them out by myself. I had a guitar teacher in a local metal band called Crow, and see them live at such a young age was so sick. Somehow I was meeting everyone, promoters, photographers, sound engineers, guitar store owners, I was even hanging out with the door guys my Mom paid to check up on me. Fast forward some years, my first band was show ready, so I went straight back to those friends and asked what I could do to get my band on bills. For about 5 or 6 years of grinding with many bands in the Colorado scene I was put in a situation where I wasn’t playing music at all. Fast forward about 10 years, and here I am in Houston ready to fire on all cylinders and get back to the daily riffs and jams that I care about entirely. Heading into the scene I’d like to bring a positive attitude and sense of friendship to as many homies I can make. I love people, and I love being around people who love what I love. If I can bring good times to new friends and people through music, my mission on this Earth will be fulfilled.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
At this time about 4 years ago I was headed down a very unhealthy path of alcohol abuse and drug use, while attempting to pursue a culinary career in Denver. In the depth of the Corona Virus lockdown, my unhealthy habits took hold of my day to day life and I couldn’t function as the person I wanted to be anymore. I knew I had to change, and so I asked my father to help me get away from Colorado, and help me get sober from all of the poisons I was seeking refuge in. Well, thankfully it worked. I left Denver, got sober, got a rad job with a company I still work for and love, and had the stability in my life I needed to start playing guitar and pursuing my life’s dream. After climbing from a hole of depravity I was forcing myself into, I am a happy and lively person again. I know today that being away from the shit, I can love the way I want to love, riff as hard and heavy as I want, and be unforgivably me everyday with no compromise. It feels good to be able to look back and say, I did it. That feeling alone makes for some sick riffs, I tell ya.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I listen to music as much as I possibly can all day of everyday. At any given moment I can check out a new band, take a listen to a homies new track, or find that place where an album took me to when I need to be somewhere else, I will jam the fuck out. In doing so, I tend to invest my attention into artists so I can learn who they are and check out what other human lifeforms are doing with their time. Music is the most rad thing that was ever fuckin invented, and it’s amazing to see where it’s headed. Hearing all of this creativity fuels my own, so I work my ass off to write rad heavy music, cause all of the rad people I know are doing it. Working with my new project called Bleak Barrow, I have been writing some of my favorite things I’ve ever played. I am constantly chasing that feeling of when I write a riff I am proud of and I finally capture a feeling I had in the moment. It’s a constant grind with ups and downs, anger and excitement, and forever adventure of “how fuckin sick can I make this track?”.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @trynariff
