A Chat with Dan Thomas (31.10.25)
Dan Thomas is a folk singer-songwriter who fuses punk rock, heavy metal, and hard rock into his sound. We chat with Dan Thomas about his latest release ‘Is It Enough Yet’, and more below.
OSR: Who were your earliest musical heroes, and how do they influence your sound today?
Dan Thomas: The earliest one I can remember is Linkin Park. When I first heard their album Hybrid Theory, I was 14 and had never heard anything like it before, and they were definitely the gateway to heavier forms of music for me as a teenager. Whilst their influence probably isn’t as obvious in my music these days, there are still some fundamental building blocks of melody and writing vocal hooks that I think come from Chester Bennington (R.I.P.). Plus, a fun fact that I didn’t appreciate until after the release: Hybrid Theory was released 25 years to the day before ‘Is It Enough Yet?’, so that’s neat.
OSR: How did you transition from playing heavy music to exploring the folk side of your artistry?
Dan Thomas: I’d been playing in hard rock and metal bands for about 15 years and absolutely loved it, but around that time I’d finally gotten sick of playing in bands – specifically organising rehearsals and gigs and trying to coordinate people. There’s something that happens when you’re a musician playing in a band around your early-to-mid 20s when everybody’s schedule starts getting really tricky, and just getting people into a rehearsal space becomes a mammoth logistical exercise. The last band that I was in wrote some incredible songs, but we were only rehearsing on average once every 6-8 weeks – that’s absolutely no way to build any kind of momentum! Around the same time, I’d bought myself an acoustic guitar to try and teach myself how to play and maybe break into the pub and weddings covers circuit, and this opened me up to a lot more gentle songs and styles, particularly watching and learning from other artists on the open mic scene at the time. I quickly noticed that a lot of these artists were also playing their own material as well as the covers, and something in me took it as a challenge, not wanting to be outdone! That’s really how I got started as a solo artist in the guise I’m in today. Obviously, it’s been something of a journey from then to now, but this was the very beginning.
OSR: What’s something about you as an artist that might surprise people?
Dan Thomas: I’m never sure if this is as surprising to people as I often think it is, but I’m also a big fan of (and have performed a lot in) musical theatre. I’m a theatre kid by origin and I was also pursuing acting alongside music for a long time (it was often a bit of a tug of war between the two over which was my priority), so I’m as comfortable around theatre luvvies as I am around the punks and metalheads. It’s an incongruity about myself that I find amusing when I think about it (though maybe that’s just me).
OSR: What inspired the concept behind your new single ‘Is It Enough Yet’?
Dan Thomas: If you’ve been performing music in the modern age with any view to try and make a career out of it, you’ll likely know how utterly gruelling it can be. You’re out there playing your music to people who often don’t really give a shit, and it can start to chip away at you. At the same time, your social media feeds are full of other artists that you’ve met out on the scene who’s careers seem to be blossoming – they’re working with this producer, they’re playing that festival, etc – and you’re just left wondering what it is that you’re not doing or who it is in the industry that you’re not glad-handing. Then one day, I was chatting to one of these artists who appeared to be doing really well for himself, and he spoke effusively about how well he thought that I was doing, having recently been on tour. It turned out that this guy felt the exact same way that I did, and he wasn’t alone. I’ve had variations of this conversation with dozens of artists now, and it became clear that a big part of the problem is social media. I know it’s not exactly a hot take these days to say “social media = bad”, but when you’re stuck inside your own mind with all of these inadequacies (real or perceived) and you’re looking out at the curated highlight reels of your peers, it’s going to make you miserable if you’re not careful. I wanted to write this song as a way of declaring to anyone and everyone who might like what I do that “I feel it too”. I don’t have any solutions for this problem, but it surely has to start with us all being honest about how we feel.
OSR: The song talks about comparison and self-doubt. Was there a specific moment that sparked that theme for you?
Dan Thomas: I think I might have accidentally covered this one in the previous question. If that’s a bad thing, then sorry! If it’s a good thing, then hooray!
OSR: What’s the one lyric from ‘Is It Enough Yet’ that means the most to you, and why?
Dan Thomas: There’s a lot in there that I’m fond of, but the chorus is probably my favourite, particularly for the third and fourth lines: “How am I expected to keep up every single day / when all of these obstacles keep getting in the way? / I’m only human after all, no, not a Superman / but I’m moving forward nonetheless, just doing what I can”. I think that it’s important to acknowledge, not just in this industry, but in all areas of life, how hard we’re all trying. Being alive today is hard – there are so many ways in which we’ve never had it so good as a species, but there are so many others that make modern life a psychological nightmare, and none of us are superhuman. We’re all just moving forward as best as we can, and that’s fucking heroic.
OSR: What do you hope listeners take away after hearing “Is It Enough Yet”?
Dan Thomas: I hope that they come away from it realising that they’re not alone and that there are so many people out there who feel that same sense of overwhelm, inadequacy and loneliness that they feel. And maybe, just maybe, that will help them feel a little less alone, even if it’s only for a moment or two.
OSR: Do you think songwriting is more therapy or craftsmanship for you?
Dan Thomas: That’s a great question. It’s almost certainly a mix of both, but I definitely look to it more as therapy. I’ve been writing songs in collaboration with other people since I was 16, and I very quickly found that my songwriting was at its best when I was using it to talk about things that were important to me and how I felt about them. I don’t know how much I realised it at the time, but it was an incredibly powerful outlet for me, and I’m not sure how I would have coped if I didn’t have that avenue to express myself.
OSR: What’s been your proudest moment as a musician so far?
Dan Thomas: It’s hard to pick one definitively, but one that sticks out was at the final show of my first-ever tour in Europe in April 2023. I have a song in my set that I wrote about a miscarriage my wife and I went through before our daughter was born (it’s on the upcoming album due out next year). I’ve had plenty of people come and talk to me about the song since, but on the final show of the tour in Stolberg, the promoter came up to me and thanked me for playing the song as it enabled him to have a conversation with his 70 year old father (who was also in the audience) about his sister who died before he was born. I was utterly blown away by that, and all I could say was that I was honoured to have been able to facilitate that moment between them. Music and song can have such a cathartic, healing effect on people, and the fact that something I wrote was able to achieve that is something that I will always be proud of.
OSR: And what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about pursuing music?
You haven’t failed until you give up. I’m nearly 40 years old now, and there are plenty of people out there who would look at me, see that I’m not a household name, and deem me too old to be doing what I’m doing. That music is a young person’s game and that I should give up, as I haven’t “made it” (whatever that means). But as long as you know what success on your own terms looks like, as long as you are still fulfilled by what you’re doing, there is absolutely no reason to give up.
Many thanks to Dan Thomas for speaking with us. Find out more about Dan Thomas on his Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify.
