Thomas Harris (Wagemaker)
SPB: You went from a full band to doing Wagemaker as a one-person project. Now you’re a duo. What’s the perfect number of people for a band?
Harris: My name is Thomas Harris and I sing and play bass alongside Jason LaVeris’s (drums) in the group Wagemaker.
And to answer your question – What is the ideal number of members for a band? I feel it’s purely utilitarian in the sense that it is based on what allows you to make the music/sound that you wish to create. Even more importantly, it’s what allows you to put your creative output into the world -- whether it be live performance, writing, recording, and sharing original material, etc.
For Wagemaker, initially, the choice to be a one-person entity was purely to allow me to make the music I wanted, in the timeline of my choice. It was also very much influenced by my obsession with Joe Preston and The Thrones. Once those desires were satisfied, and the newer music I wanted to write required a drummer, it was time to expand. At this point I feel incredibly lucky to have played with a number of talented drummers -- and this culminated with Jason, who joined the band earlier this year. Jason and myself share a musical vocabulary and understanding of genres that allows us to make the music we want -- and even more importantly, we both share the goal of actually bringing the music into the “real world,” with live performance and recording. And, quite frankly, the biggest challenge to making music is managing the schedule of more than one person, so you can consistently show up to work on and create something of your own. This is why I feel incredibly grateful for Jason’s presence in the band. We share the same desire to make our music a tangible, real thing.
We do talk about bringing in other band members, but it’s dependent on the ideas we want to work on. So maybe someday we could reach the numbers of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, but for now two is perfect!
