Dave

Dave has been stroking, er... strumming, his guitar for many,many years, since he was a young tyke. One of 14 offspring of the veryfertile, very catholic, very Irish Thom family, Dave's older brothers andsisters introduced him not only to the guitar but also to a vibrantMinneapolis music scene which at the time was birthing the likes of TheReplacements, Soul Asylum and Run Westy Run. Dave took to itimmediately and music became an important driving force in his life.

High School came along and Dave found himself hooking upwith James who had just purchased his first drum kit. They got togehterwith a handful of other buddies who took up vocals, bass and moreguitar parts and together they started pounding out the cover tunes.James and the other guys were heavily into AC/DC at the time, socombined with Dave's background in local Minneapolis rock they got offto an unusual but none-the-less rockin start to their rock and rollcarreers.

From there Dave went on to play in basements, garages, metal trailers (where electric shocks were not uncommon), wet stages in the middle of a field (again, where electric shocks were very common), backyards on decks (or in the yard), po-dunk bars where nobody wants to hear anything but Skynard, anyplace and anytime there was a chanceto play guitar and sing, Dave was there whether with a full band, one other guy playing guitar, or drums or bass or whatever, or simply with his trusty acoustic, ready to please.

After playing lots of cover tunes, Dave began writing his own tunes.Using many of his own life experiences for the basis of his tunes andhis love of reading and writing of poetry, the transition to writingsongs was a fairly smooth one. With a handful of songs in hand, Daverecorded his own solo album, titled "Short of Breath". Duringrecording, he enlisted James, who was off playing in various blues andcover bands, to play the drums on the album. And so The Deadwoods wereborn!