Gob's Tom Thacker Considering Solo Work

On top of his steady gig as Gob's vocalist, subbing as Sum 41's touring guitarist, dividing his time between Canada's west coast and New York City, and producing Vancouver indie bands with bandmate Theo Goutzinakis, pop-punk hero Tom Thacker is considering yet another job: a solo career.

It seems Thacker has more than just punk rock coursing through his veins.

"I write all the time," he says. "It's sort of the only thing that I constantly do.

"Most of the music that I write is with an acoustic guitar or a piano or something with more of a folk base rather than a punk rock-style song. A lot of times, we'll end up making songs into a rock song.

"'I Hear You Calling' wasn't really necessarily meant to be a punk rock song. It was sort of more, I felt, almost a country song. Even the latest record [2007's Muertos Vivos], a song like 'Still Feel Nothing' or 'Banshee Song' were just ideas I had, and we liked them and ended up turning them into a Gob song."

Thacker says he's always looking to challenge and entertain himself on the road, which is what recently led him to pick up the accordion.

"When I saw the movie Amelie, I really loved the music in it, and so I thought about it for a while. I would look at [accordions] every time I was in the pawn shop. There's this really cool accordion store in New York and I was just walking past it and ended up going in and buying an accordion.

Possible solo efforts won't be seen until Gob finish the latest leg of Muertos Vivos touring. The band have released three singles off the album and plan to issue one more not-yet-announced track before they hit the drawing board again.

"We challenge ourselves to make a great record every time, and we're not going to make the same thing every time," Thacker says. "I knew that right after our first record.

"What am I going to do, write songs just like that record? It just feels like you're parodying yourself. You write to reflect who you are at that time. That's why the sound changes."

Check Gob out at one of their remaining Canadian tour dates before Thacker splits to Japan to play guitar with Sum 41 in April:

Jan. 27 Sault Ste. Marie @ College Of Applied Arts & Technology
Jan. 28 Windsor, ON @ University Of Windsor w/The Johnstones
Jan. 29 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy w/The Johnstones
Jan. 30 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah w/The Johnstones
Jan. 31 Ottawa, ON @ Mavericks w/The Johnstones
Feb. 2 Cobalt, ON @ Cobalt Theatre w/The Johnstones
Feb. 3 Timmins, ON @ Northern College w/The Johnstones
Feb. 5 Winnipeg, MB @ The Royal Albert Arms w/The Johnstones
Feb. 6 Regina, SK @ The Drink w/The Johnstones
Feb. 8 Revelstoke, BC @ River City Pub
Feb. 26 Nanaimo, BC @ The Queens w/Carpenter and Burn Hollywood Burn
Feb. 27 Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar w/Carpenter and Burn Hollywood Burn
April 17 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret w/The Set and Burn Hollywood Burn