Thomas Truax, Faithful Johannes

In conjunction with Cobalt Studios' Fresh Thursdays, Prancey Dog is very proud to announce the return (with new instruments) of Thomas Truax. Fresh is a simple concept - new music and home-made food for £8. The food is simple and homecooked, always veggie with a vegan version, usually some kind of pizza and salad, dhal and rice, chilli etc. To avoid wasting food we can only guarantee that we'll feed you if tickets are bought online in advance. If you just want the gig only it's fine to pay on the door provided it's not sold out. The gigs are relaxed, informal and people come on their own and in small groups, there are usually plenty of sofas and comfortable seating around.

One of the most imaginative characters on the pop music fringe, since the year 2000 Thomas Truax has been traveling the world performing with his evolving “band” of bizarre self-made Harry Partch-esque instruments including a motorized drum machine made of bike wheels called ‘Mother Superior’ and a pimped-up Dr. Seuss-ian Gramophone called ‘The Hornicator’, as well as his venerable resonator guitar ‘Hank’. Time Out magazine has dubbed him “The king of home-made instruments” while Splendid magazine called him “one of the five or ten best singer/songwriters in the world that you’ve never heard of…an exceptional talent, unique and resistant to comparison, yet fairly accessible even to casual listeners.”

Truax crafts rich, poetically evocative songs about insects, trees, technology, and a lifelong obsession with things lunar, including various reasons ‘Why Dogs Howl at The Moon’. Notable supporters and collaborators include Jarvis Cocker, Duke Special, Richard Hawley, Amanda Palmer, and the late author Terry Pratchett. Brian Viglione (of the Dresden Dolls/Violent Femmes) plays drums on Thomas’s latest studio album ‘Jetstream Sunset’.

Support from Faithful Johannes. Barely-rap from Durham City. Existing in a hinterland between spoken word poetry and rap, Faithful Johannes has established his reputation as a unique lyricist and formidable live performer. On the back of support from BBC 6 Music (Gideon Coe and Tom Robinson) and following a string of single releases, Johannes prepares to release his debut album in the autumn of 2019.