Les Thomas & The Living bring Melbourne singer-songwriter Les Thomas’s story-driven songs to the stage with power, warmth and room for every word. Drawing on folk, country and rock, the band moves from close, reflective moments to full-hearted choruses without losing the human stories at the centre of the music.

Winner of the Troubadour Foundation’s Keeping the Flame Alive Award, Les writes about memory, working lives, love, loss and resistance. His songs look closely at the people behind larger events: families shaped by the decline of Australian manufacturing, lives marked by injustice, and the ways we carry history into the present.

His third album, I Remember Everything, has drawn acclaim in Australia and the UK. Americana UK called it “an absolute gem which should be studied line by line in schools”; Morning Star awarded it five stars; and Liverpool Sound and Vision gave it 8.5/10. Every track on the album has received radio airplay.

In 2026, Les took the songs on a UK tour that included the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, folk clubs, bookshops and listening rooms across England. Back in Melbourne, he launched the album with The Living at Northcote Social Club. The band’s performance brought out the songs’ full range, with moments of tenderness, humour, defiance and release.

The Living features Joshua Jones on guitar, Trevayne Fernandez on piano, Craig Kelly on upright bass, Jason Bunn on viola and Justin Olsson on drums. Together they give Les’s songs a sound that can be spare and intimate or bold and expansive. Their live show is built around strong musicianship, engaging storytelling and the connection that happens when a room sings along.