1) What is your full name?
    Thomas Warren Baker
2) What instrument(s) do you play?
    I play guitar and bass well. I also play the violin, mandolin, keyboard and some assorted percussion, though not that well.
3) How long have you been playing & how did you learn your instrument(s)?
    I started Suzuki method violin when I was seven. I picked up bass for a talent show in fifth grade. It was easier for me at the time than guitar, which is what I really wanted to play. I started playing guitar when I got one for my twelfth birthday, although I had snuck around playing my Dad’s guitar while he wasn’t around before then. Everything else I’ve kind of picked up here and there at various times, mostly when I’m looking for a new sound or something to record. The first time I really tried anything with the drums was about a year ago. I was working on a song and had a percussion part in my head. I didn’t like what I was doing with the drum machine, so I sat at the drum kit and tried to figure something out. I had some sticks, but I wanted a brush sound. It was something like two o’clock in the morning so going out and buying some brushes wasn’t an option. So I found some paint brushes and used those. I like that sound so much I used it for a couple of songs on the album I was working on at the time.
4) When & why did music become your thing or something that helps define you?
   My Dad’s always been a musician. He was in the same band for over twenty years while we were growing up. It was like a rite of passage to get to help them carry equipment. I’ve never really known any way to be other than a musician. I really began to own music as the identifying trait in my life when I got my first guitar and began to write my own music. Up until that point music was a defining trait, but when I started on guitar music became the defining trait. I didn’t want to do anything else in life once I really started playing guitar.
5) What is your family set (married? kids? pets? etc.?)
    I have a wife, Shannon, to whom I have been married for just over six years. We have three children, Josh (almost 6), Maggie (4), and Caleb (2). We also have a dog and three cats.
6) Who are some of your favorite bands?
    I really like Wilco right now. Some of my other favorites are King Crimson, REM, Glass Harp, The Choir, The Swirling Eddies, Model Engine, Dream Theater, LSU, and The 77s.
7) Who are some of your favorite musicians?
   Nels Cline, Adrian Belew, Joe Satriani, Richard Thompson, John Petrucci, Jeff Tweedy, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Danny Elfman, and Eric Clapton.
8) Who are some of your influences, musical & otherwise?
   Bono would be a big musical and otherwise influence for me. You have to admire what he and U2 have accomplished musically as far as longevity and consistency. But you really have to admire a man so passionate about social justice and the elimination of extreme poverty that he can get people like Brad Pitt and Pat Robertson involved in the same cause.
As far as guitar influence goes, the guitarists that have most shaped the way I play are Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Carlos Santana, Phil Keaggy, and most recently Adrian Belew and Nels Cline.
9) What inspires you?
   Constant, consistent improvement. I like to consistently get better at everything I do. I like to learn more about playing guitar, especially theory. I like to learn more about gear and how to modify and improve things. But I also like to better interact with my wife and family, consistently working to be a better husband and a better father.
10) What drives you?
    The desire to no longer live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t need a lot of money or stuff (though I like my guitar gear), but I would like to get to the position where if something happens we’re not just holding our breath, hoping to get by. I would like to get into the position where we can live comfortably, especially if we can live comfortably off of music income, without the need for any “day jobs”.
11) What is/are your day job(s)?
    I lead the contemporary worship at Trinity Hill United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. I am also in school (again) to become an English teacher.
12) What is your educational background?
    Although I attended Henry Clay High School for three and a half years, I graduated from Lafayette High School in Lexington in 1997, taking four music classes (out of six classes total) my senior year. After high school I briefly became a Music Education major. That didn’t work out. I floated around as an on-again-off-again part-time college student until I recently enrolled in the University of Kentucky as a full-time student and English major.
13) Who are some of your favorite authors?
    My favorite author is Douglass Adams. I also really enjoyed Bill Scheft’s most recent novel, Time Won’t Let Me. I have a very soft spot in my heart for humorists.
14) What are your hobbies/interests?
    I obviously love all things guitar. I especially enjoy tinkering with and modifying guitars. As far as non-musical interests go, I’m a big sports fan. I help to coach my oldest son’s basketball team. I love to ski, though tendonitis in my knees has kept me from doing as much skiing as I would like to lately. I’m also a big football fan, especially the NFL and most especially the Bengals. I also love UK basketball. My family has had season tickets since before I was born.
15) What are some of your previous bands?
    The band that I was in that had the most success before The Silent Screen was called Dave’s Not Here. We played a combination of 70s rock covers (Led Zeppelin, Santana, Pink Floyd, etc.) and blues/funk/rock based original songs. That band really worked me hard. I played extended solos in almost every song we played. I’ve also played as a solo artist (with Chappy on percussion) for the last seven years or so.
16) Who are some of your favorite artists?
    My art (other than music) is movies. I used to manage a video store. Some of my favorite directors are Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, Alfonso Cuaron, Jonathan Demme, and Stanley Kubrick.
17) What is your favorite song?
    “Eyes Wide Open” from King Crimson’s Power to Believe
18) What are your aspirations as a musician?
     To make a comfortable living without “selling out” as an artist. I guess I kind of want to have my cake and eat it too that way.
19) What are your aspirations as a person?
    To be at peace with who I am. To be selfless and slow to anger. To be the best person I can be without trying to be something that I’m not. I know that’s kind of corny and very elusive and abstract. I just want to be the kind of person that I know I can be, but haven’t “grown up” enough to become yet.
20) What song(s) do you like that you’re embarrassed to admit to?
    I like a lot of show tunes. I have played violin in the pit orchestra for several musicals, including West Side Story, Oliver, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. My aunt and uncle are classically trained professional musicians (violin and bass trombone, respectively) who have also played in several orchestra pits. So I’ve seen a lot of shows. I find myself singing show tunes around the house when I’m alone. Probably the one I sing the most is “My Best Girl” from Mame.