Drummer’s choice to concentrate on his skills as a teen pays off

Keeping the beat: John Thomas’ first makeshift drums were a stack of encyclopedias.

At an age when most teenagers were bugging their parents for a handphone, John Thomas was drumming for world music/pop artiste Zainal Abidin and folkie Amir Yussof.

“That was my first professional gig. I was 16 and playing in a backing band with Andy Peterson (bass virtuoso) and Mac Chiew (keyboardist and producer) for Zainal and Amir at a show in Singapore,” he said.