Chris and Thomas are an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
folk duo Christopher Anderson and Thomas Hien. They are signed with
Defend Music.
History
Christopher Anderson and Thomas Hien became close friends during their years at the historic art school in
Liverpool where
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney had met decades before. They played the
Irish pubs
An Irish pub is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. Irish pubs are characterised by a unique culture centred around a casual and friendly atmosphere, hearty food and drink, Irish sports, and tr ...
and they sang for the Queen while they earned music degrees in
film composition.
In the late 1990s, the two had created "Cook Au Van," a travelling cooking show. The vehicle for the show was an old gas board utility van that they had converted into a five star restaurant. Made from found objects, the van boasted water fountains, changing works of art and a fully functional
wet bar. Inside the van, they hosted dinner parties for the
Lord Mayor and countless British celebrities. After doing the circus lifestyle with the traveling restaurant and cooking for the likes of
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...
,
Bill Drummond, politicians and fine artists, the two had decided to turn back to their true love of music.
The duo's live debut was on November 18, 2003, at the
Hotel Café in Los Angeles, California, opening for singer-songwriter
Alexi Murdoch. Their unique live performance, which involved playing with one condenser microphone and gathering around it like some modern day
Carter Family, quickly earned Chris and Thomas a name on the L.A. club circuit.
A breakthrough event for the duo occurred while returning from a weekend in
Joshua Tree, where the two were greeted by multiple phone messages from excited friends who had heard their song "Take These Thoughts" on L.A.'s influential
KCRW
KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...
. Their EP, ''Vista Street Sessions'', was passed on by a mutual friend to the station's tastemaker DJ and music director
Nic Harcourt
Nic Harcourt (born September 23, 1957) is an English-born American radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for the Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Har ...
. Harcourt programmed the disc on his show, and eventually included it on NPR's syndicated ''
Sounds Eclectic'', which introduced a national audience to Chris and Thomas.
On-air performances on KCRW and other radio stations followed with appearances at
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
and other venues and festivals throughout the country. More radio stations have added Chris and Thomas to their playlists in the US, and Europe.
"Take These Thoughts" won best song of the year in the
Americana category at the Independent Music Awards 2006. The duo's full-length debut ''Land Of Sea'' was recorded with producer/engineer
Mark Howard (
Bob Dylan,
U2,
Tom Waits). Howard, who used to work with producer
Daniel Lanois for over ten years, has a unique way of recording. He rented out an old
sound stage in Hollywood, where he set up vintage recording equipment, Persian rugs, and Victorian lamps and brought in musicians to accompany Chris and Thomas on their record.
The record was first released in the UK in 2006 in conjunction with a five-week tour and has gained critical acclaim and positive reviews (4 stars) and runner-up to album of the month in the music magazine ''
MOJO
Mojo may refer to:
*Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* '' ...
''. The US release occurred in late August 2007.
Chris and Thomas and
Oscar-nominated composer
John Debney wrote the title song for
Garry Marshall's 2007 film ''
Georgia Rule'' starring
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...
and
Jane Fonda
Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...
.
Most recently, the duo scored music for the 2010 Sony Pictures hit movie ''
Friendship!
''Friendship!'' is a 2010 German film directed by Markus Goller.
Plot
Berlin 1989: After the fall of the Berlin wall, Veit (Mücke) and his friend Tom (Schweighöfer) decide to fly to San Francisco. Veit claims that he wants to travel to San Franc ...
'' (2010) directed by
Markus Goller and starring
Matthias Schweighöfer
With their records being played on NPR, Chris and Thomas have an audience everywhere they play: places like the
Roxy in Los Angeles, and the
Mercury Lounge in New York.
After performing in the US for years they have become recognized by NPR including:
*NPR World Cafe November 2007
*NPR World Cafe August 2007
*NPR Artists To Watch March 2006
*NPR Song of the Day October 23, 2007
Members
Christopher Anderson
Christopher Anderson was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in
Memphis, Tennessee.
He studied literature at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
in Dublin, Ireland, Political Science at the
University of Salzburg,
Austria,
and attained a BA in music at the
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in
Liverpool, England.
He has a home in Los Angeles and is working on a book of visual poem stories for various mediums centered around the sun, nourishing food, vital music, and kind people and the evolution of all things that come and go.
Thomas Hien
Thomas Hien was born in
Munich, Germany and is a singer, songwriter, composer and music producer.
His educational background includes the
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts, with Honors. Prior to LIPA he attended
Ludwig Maximilian University
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
where he studied Political Science.
His publishing and recording deals with various publishers and record labels include Siegel, Red House Music, Seven Scores, Boar Records, Kobalt Music Group and Defend Music. In 1998 (to 1999) he joined the UK band
The Managers; they released an album and toured the UK. In 1995 and 1996 he performed with multi-platinum selling artists
Cliff Richard and
Jennifer Rush as their guitar player on TV appearances in Germany.
Discography
Vista Street Sessions – 2004
Track listing:
# "Time To Find out"
# "Take These Thoughts"
# "Land of Sea"
# "Betting On the Moon"
# "Don't Hang Your Heart"
# "Show Me the Way"
Land of Sea – 2006 (UK) – 2007 (US)
Track listing:
# "Land of Sea"
# "Broken Chair"
# "Bettin' On the Moon"
# "You're the One I Want"
# "Isn't That So"
# "Don't Hang Your Heart"
# "Take These Thoughts"
# "Riversong"
# "Time To Find Out"
# "In My Time"
# "Dreaming of Relief"
# "Horse In the Sky" (US release only)
Resonet In Laudibus – 2009
Track listing:
# "Resonet In Laudibus"
I Know A Way To Get Myself Free – 2010
Track listing:
# "I Know A Way To Get Myself Free"
# "Windows"
# "Drunk Without Drinking"
Into The Sun – 2011
Track listing:
# "New Light"
# "Last Companion"
# "Into The Sun"
# "New Light"
# "Bridge In The Distance"
# "Morning Song"
# "Incarnation Song"
# "Traum"
# "Till The End Of Time"
# "Found A Place"
# "Windows"
Seven Rivers – 2017
Track listing:
# "This Life"
# "Can We Lift The Darkness"
# "Song Of My Soul"
# "The River"
# "Statik"
# "Life Is What You Call Her"
The Bootlegs, Vol.1 – 2018
Track listing:
# "Calling Me"
# "Take These Thoughts"
# "Show Me The Way"
# "These Are The Days"
# "You're The One I Want"
# "Broken Chair"
# "Land of Sea"
# "Riversong"
# "Time To Find Out"
Rooms of Light and Wonder – 2018
Track listing:
# "Quantum Prayer"
# "Rooms of Light and Wonder"
# "Going Home"
# "Water and Stones"
Time of Times – 2019
Track listing:
# "Love Is Calling"
# "On A Day Like This"
# "Open The Door"
# "Time of Times"
# "Up In The Air"
# "Save Me"
Awards
Independent Music Awards (2005) – Best Americana – Song for "Take These Thoughts"
References
External links
chris and thomason
MyspaceOfficial Website of Chris and ThomasOfficial Website of Thomas Hien
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chris And Thomas
American folk musical duos
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Alumni of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts