Andrew AT Thomas

AT on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GuitarSandwich
AT on Reverb Nation: www.reverbnation.com/andrewthomasmusic
My name is Andrew Thomas, though most folks call me by my initials, "AT." I have been playing music since age three and pursuing it professionally for my entire adult life. Throughout the years I have played and studied piano, voice, trumpet, guitar, drum set, electric bass, and various percussion instruments.
Presented below in list form is my personal account of the happenings and whatnots that make up the events, involvements, and peoples with whom I associate in music and beyond.
*My primary instrument is the guitar; I am mainly a rock, jazz, and blues player, though I explore and thoroughly enjoy many genres and styles.
*I teach guitar to wanting souls several days a week at My Music Store (www.my-music-store.com) in Golden Valley. I've known the owner Jim since I was a young kid, and the family-like atmosphere of the store is indeed very comfortable to work in. I've taught in one form or another since 1998, including summer school courses for the city of St. Louis Park and private guitar lessons.
*For many years I have owned a recording studio, first called Greenhouse Studios (1995-2000, located in St. Louis Park), then Soliton (2000-2008, located in Bloomington), then The Northwestern Building (2008-2011, located in St. Paul), and finally Alpha Tango (2011-Present, located in Minneapolis). My longtime associate and creative collaborator was veteran Twin Cities musician Jeremy Ylvisaker, who left the business in 2006. In my numerous years of studio experience I have worked and/or played on more than 300 unique projects. I also sometimes act as a freelance engineer and producer.
*I have played in several bands since I was a teenager. Throughout the 1990s I wrote, recorded, and performed primarily as a solo artist, but that eventually opened to more group projects as I learned to favor interaction and collaboration. I currently play in the exaggerated mock-rock band AT/DT (www.myspace.com/atdt) and the indie-rock group Eel Electric (eelelectric.bandcamp.com). I also continually write and record solo music.
*I am a member of ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). In addition to studio, teaching, and band work, I write music regularly for other purposes, either with the intent of selling a song to another artist or producer or for things like film and television productions.
*In my "spare" time I like to assemble and build electric guitars and basses. I appreciate the adventure of conceiving and creating something I will use specifically and functionally for my chosen occupation, and the end result is always very rewarding. To date I've built more than 30 instruments.
*As a side business, since 2008 I've been offering guitar setups and small repairs/modifications out of my home in Minneapolis. (A full guitar setup includes a complete string change, neck truss rod adjustment, bridge saddle intonation, cleaning/oiling of the neck, and general lubricating and cleaning of the instrument.) Repairs and modifications I can do include pickup, tuning machine, pickguard, and bridge and hardware installations or replacements, soldering, and small finish touch-ups. I can also advise on custom-build projects. (Contact me directly for pricing and appointments.)
*I am a producer and music director with a film collaborative called Siege Perilous Films (www.siegeperilousfilms.com). We formed in 2002 around the production of a feature-length movie called "revisions" (www.revisions-movie.com), which was the film school project written and directed by my good friend James Buffington. After lingering on in extended post-production, "revisions" was completed in 2008.
*I am somewhat active politically and studied political science in a return to school several years ago. In an effort to maintain some level of objectivity, I avoid attaching specific titles to myself or my political views. If pressed, however, the term "progressive" fits fairly well. I take pride in being one who will always consider the opinion of another, however. It is a distant goal I have to one day, in some capacity, run for elected office.
*Baseball, Stanley Kubrick films, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Car Talk on NPR, coffee, cheese and crackers, and Windex are other things I enjoy. I am basically a 20th Century pop culture sponge and tend to reference random bits of it at random.