When putting a band together there will always be ideas that you won’t bring to the table for the group. Your aspirations of making a name for yourself in the world of bedroom chiptune won’t be something you want to leak into your progressive death-tech band now is it? Toying with different influences and styles is a healthy escape from the band environment for any musician, but more times than not that spark of independence can come off a tad rubbish, rushed and self-absorbed. Though when done with a high level of care, consideration and humanity  it is damn near as essential listening as the original act.

A prime example of this ‘essential listening’ is Drew Thomson.

Kicking off his musical conquests with blistering Canadian punks Single Mothers, Drew left the band back in 2011 to pursue a career in gold prospecting and to get away from the menace of drink and debauchery. In that time the only company he had was his thoughts, his guitar and the demons of the past. The result was a cleared head thanks to his new prospecting passion and a 4 track EP ‘Honesty Is A Confidence Problem’ released through Secret Voice. Though Drew rejoined Single Mothers and put together the band’s ridiculously powerful full length debut ‘Negative Qualities’ last year, he promised to continue to pursue his own personal ventures of exorcism on the side.

In comparison to the harsh, bitter lashings conjured within the walls of Single Mothers, Drew playing on his own terms is a much more sombre but no less hard hitting affair. On his recent self-titled 2-track, released last year through No Sleep Records, loose and soothing guitars croon and breeze over brutally honest tales of overcoming addiction, battling depression and surviving the dangers of the ugly side of the world. Though lyrically similar to his musings with Single Mothers, through the medium of one man rather than the clattering and angst of a full band the scars are far more raw, itchy and exceptionally compelling.

Drew will release his debut full length later this year. Keep your ears open.