thomasallencummins

Thomas Allen Cummins grew up in Tampa, Florida USA and began learning to play guitar and drums while in high school in the early 80s. His first band, Nerve Center, was formed by friend singer/songwriter/keyboardist Mark Frierson. Mark's idea was to assemble a variety of musically adept schoolmates to focus on creating original New Wave and mildly Punk influenced songs with Mark as vocalist and front-man. The band played locally for nearly a year before Frierson left to pursue more electronic oriented music while Thomas carried on as lead singer/guitarist with Nerve Center's drummer and bassist to form Multiple Choice. In the absence of Frierson's keyboard the band adopted a more simplistic, guitar driven sound which drastically altered the group's personality. However after a few months of performing a mix of altered Nerve Center and newly written songs, the band's bassist left forcing yet another reformation. Fortunately Thomas' childhood friend Dan Southard had been learning to play bass and proved to be a perfect replacement. Believing the band should adopt a more aggressive style with the new lineup the group changed the name to Cockpit, writing and playing songs influenced by bands like 999, The Clash, The Vapors and early XTC. Over time Thomas and the band's sound evolved into a more nuanced and atmospheric feel using guitar and vocal delay effects influenced by U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and Simple Minds and the band again decided to change its name to Clear Frontier. In the 90s Clear Frontier shifted it's focus to Christian rock and added a number of new members including Thomas' wife Kimberlie. The band performed and recorded for over a decade with the group's last performance to date in 2009. In the mid 90s Thomas had begun experimenting with writing and recording as a solo artist which has become his full time musical occupation focusing on instrumental, guitar and keyboard oriented songs.