Tennessee Thomas (born 17 December 1984) is a British drummer. She is best known as the drummer of bands The Like and Nice as Fuck. As an actress, she has played drummers in fictional bands.

Early and personal life

Thomas is the daughter of Pete Thomas, drummer for Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and first started playing the drums at the age of 13. She was raised in both

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, forming band The Like when she was in high school in LA. She was dating

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...

in 2009.

Career

Thomas was a founding member and drummer of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

group The Like. The band formed in 2001, when the group were teenagers; all three of the founding members are daughters of music industry veterans. She deejayed at the

Rachel Antonoff Rachel Antonoff is an American fashion designer based in New York City. She is known for presenting her designs in creative ways, including in the form of a murder mystery, as a "sock hop," and in a dollhouse. In 2015, director and actress Lena D ...

show at

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

in 2011. By 2014, The Like were taking a "seemingly permanent hiatus". With a group of female activists and artists, including Lena Dunham, Alexa Chung and

Alia Penner Alia Penner is a Los Angeles–based artist, whose work is predominantly modern pop art, and film curator. Early life Penner grew up in Topanga Canyon. Her father is a 3D cinematographer, and Penner says that she always wanted to be an artist, a ...

, she performed to the song "

You Don't Own Me "You Don't Own Me" is a popular song written by Philadelphia songwriters John Medora, John Madara and David White (musician), David White and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, when Gore was 17 years old. The song was Gore's second most succe ...

" in 2012 as a PSA on women's rights in political spaces, because of growing misogynistic sentiment being emitted from the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. She made this as one of many PSA's through the activism group Department of Peace. After finishing touring with The Like and settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Thomas worked on campaigns as part of Department of Peace. In 2013, Thomas opened a pop-up in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's East Village, which turned into her permanent boutique shop and club, the Deep End Club. A performance space, the shop also sells work by local artists with a "graphic '60s vibe". In 2016, she joined Jenny Lewis and

Erika Forster Au Revoir Simone is an American indie pop band from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The group is composed of Erika Forster (vocals/keyboard), Annie Hart (vocals/keyboard/bass) and Heather D'Angelo (vocals/drum machine/keyboar ...

to form the "supergroup" trio Nice As Fuck. Thomas continued her activism, campaigning for

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

and turning the Deep End Club into a headquarters for this cause. She has had two acting roles. In 2010, she portrayed Lynette Guycott in the film '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'', based on the '' Scott Pilgrim'' comic book series. Lynette is the drummer of the band The Clash at Demonhead, fronted in the film by Brie Larson as Envy Adams and Brandon Routh as bass player Todd. Thomas only appears to play the drums, with her character's role significantly downsized from the comics. In 2014, she appeared in the music video for Jenny Lewis's "Just One of the Guys" as the drummer for Lewis's fictional band, fronted by actresses Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway and Brie Larson cross-dressing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Tennessee 1984 births Living people English expatriates in the United States Musicians from London English rock drummers British women drummers 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century drummers The Like members Nice as Fuck members