Patrick Thomas

Record Stores have a fierce compulsive need to categorize and methodically file bands. In Any Record Store USA, you will predictably find Pop and Alternative bins at the front of the store. R & B, Blues, Jazz and New Age take you further back toward Electronica and finally the one-stop trend-shop… Soundtracks. How then, in these generic categories, can music lovers find something new and original if it hasn’t already been overplayed on the radio? Should music shops start filing records under “Road Trip Tunes” or “Timeless Anthems”, “Haunting Choruses” or “Albums That Never Leave the Changer?”

How and where do you file songs that stop you dead in your tracks and make you revise the soundtrack of your life?

If you can find such a place in a record store, you’ll find Patrick Thomas.

Patrick Thomas and his gang of renegade troubadours have in a brief time become fixtures on the Detroit music scene. Through touring, press and word of mouth, they have built a swelling fan-base of music lovers who span lifestyles and generations.

Patrick’s diverse fan-base proves that good tunes, great hooks, memorable lyrics and tight musicianship can put a smile on a million different faces.

Songwriting came naturally and obviously to Patrick. At age 13, he picked up a guitar and transformed his observations on life to song. Influenced by the hooky lyrics and melodies of the Motown sound he heard on the radio and the energy of the classic rock vinyl’s he discovered in his basement, Patrick started to form a unique sound very early on. But even outweighing his ability in great music, Thomas has always had a gift with words. His immediate but casual storytelling style allows him to pick out a moment in time and provide it with a lifetime of emotion.

While attending the University of Michigan, Patrick played anywhere and with anyone, so long as his songs were heard. After school he began penning the songs that would become Ghost Town Radio. Over the next two and a half years, the album was finished and Patrick found the right players to bring his songs to life. The members of his band have played with the likes of Prince and Warren Haynes, and have perfected their craft through years of touring and session work.

Fans (possibly ex-record store clerks) have compared Patrick’s acoustic performances to those of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. His band’s high-energy performances have drawn comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, REM and the Jayhawks. Whatever the setting, Patrick Thomas converts fans with every listen and every live performance. Dedicated supporters include Detroit’s commercial alternative station 89X, the Detroit Free Press, the Oakland Press, Billboard and numerous college radio stations and newspapers throughout the Midwest and beyond.

If you had a spot in your own music store for timeless music, great songs and the perfect live band, there is no doubt that Patrick Thomas would be the first in the bin!

Katrina Mari

All of us have traveled down an "imaginary road". Some turn down a road that leads to numbness, others turn down a road that leads to personal and artistic achievement. Katrina Mari's life has always been about the road in a sense, as she has made her way toward a life in music.

At the age of four Katrina was already performing shows and writing songs. As a child living in Germany, she performed in theatre, an experience which began to define her stage presence, and added a European cultural slant to her developing muse.
Much of Kat's youth and adolescence were spent in New Brunswick, Canada, where another layer of cultural influences were added to her burgeoning artistic sense. She sang at her high school football games, basketball games, graduation ceremony, and managed to squeeze in a few shows in the city. A move to Alabama as a teenager led to her first recording sessions.

College led her to Michigan, where Katrina has steadily been developing her craft and finding an enthusiastic audience. As the lead singer for well-known Detroit-based band EightFold Path, she opened for such acts as Michelle Branch and Live. The band was among the movers and shakers in the Detroit music scene in a very short time, and Katrina's star began to rise.

In early 2004, Katrina and EightFold Path decided to go in different directions, and she began her career as a solo artist. Katrina's music is eclectic, drawing on influences ranging from trip-hop to rock, pop, and folk. She is a performer who electrifies a room with her stage presence and a voice that has been described as shimmering crystal.

SuperString is where yet another journey begins. Katrina is already working on her first solo album with producer Les Schefman.

Fans of her music have something to look forward to.