Inspired by bushfire experience

WITH smoke-damaged lungs, Cairns musician Adrian Thomas knew he was lucky to escape the Australian bushfire crisis earlier this year relatively unharmed.

He had been doing a music tour, travelling through the Blue Mountains, Gippsland and into Melbourne, when he witnessed “a number of days under catastrophic conditions, evacuations, smoke billowing through the air, fire truck sirens and panic”.

“I was very lucky to escape relatively unharmed, yet coming back to Cairns, it took at least two weeks for the smoke to clear from my lungs,” Mr Thomas said.

“Those events and the subsequent lack of urgency from leaders, the flora and fauna carnage and the neglect that many fire services were forced to deal with inspired me to write this climate change song, Heaven on Earth.”

He describes the song as contemporary pop, which includes messages of hope and inspiration and are sure “to get your feet tapping”.

“Heaven on Earth addresses the ideological shift we need to embrace to survive by changing our mindset from the disproven Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ theory to one of community, co-operation and regeneration,” he said.

“The song-writing process was pretty fluid, and (the song) was written fairly quickly.

“I had the help of an amazing producer, BJ Johnson, who gave the song a contemporary feel.”

Mr Thomas is also working on a music video to accompany the track.

“It will feature around 20 amazing secondary students from Cairns as part of the Regional Excellence in Arts and Culture Hub’s dancing program to a breathtaking choreography by indigenous soul sister Tamara Pearson,” he said.

“It’ll be a truly beautiful coming together of culture and the message.”

There has always been a lot of depth to Mr Thomas’s music as he strives to promote spiritual unity and harmony through his melodies.

He is also a youth worker and an advocate for positive, long-term change and his songs are representative of his two passions.

“I make music that I believe is all about coming together spiritually,” he said.

“I believe celebrating what we share and dropping what divides us will guide us to the brightest day.”

His latest track, Heaven on Earth, is set to be released soon.

Keep an eye out on his Spotify and iTunes accounts or check in at www.adrianthom asmusic.com.au for his latest updates.