Dog not included.
Thank You Scientist is a New Jersey-based, Genre-Busting Progressive Rock band. Formed by guitarist Tom Monda in 2009, the band is primarily notable for their incorporation of various genres of music into a distinct style, thanks to their seven-piece structure featuring trumpet, saxophone, and violin alongside the more typical rock instruments. They are currently signed to Evil Ink Records, a label owned by Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez, and have opened for his band on multiple tours as a result.
Albums by Thank You Scientist include:
- The Perils of Time Travel (2011) (EP)
- Maps of Non-Existent Places (2012, with a 2014 rerelease)
- Stranger Heads Prevail (2016)
- Terraformer (2019)
- Plague Accommodations (2021) (EP)
Current band members include:
- Tom Monda - guitar (2009-present)
- Salvatore Marrano - vocals (2009-present)
- Ben Karas - violin (2013-present)
- Cody McCorry - bass, theremin, musical saw (2015-present)
- Sam Greenfield - saxophone (2017-present)
- Joe Gullace - trumpet (2017-present)
- Kevin Grossman - drums (2021-present)
Past band members include:
- Greg Colacino - bass (2009-2015)
- James Robbins - bass (2015)
- Russ Lynch - violin, viola, mandolin (2009-2013)
- Ellis Jasenovic - saxophone (2009-2017)
- Andrew Digrius - trumpet, flugelhorn (2010-2017)
- Odin Alvarez - drums (2009-2017)
- Faye Fadem - drums (2017-2021)
Tropes present in Thank You Scientist's music:
- Album Intro Track: All three of their studio albums include these in some form:
- Maps of Non-Existent Places has the aptly titled "Prelude".
- Stranger Heads Prevail not only includes such a track ("Prologue: A Faint Applause..."), they also invert the trope with a concluding track ("Epilogue: ...And the Clever Depart"), making this an example of Book Ends as well.
- Terraformer has the instrumental track "Wrinkle".
- Book Ends: Stranger Heads Prevail includes similar tracks featuring just vocals and a piano at the beginning and end of the album.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Their debut EP included keyboard on some songs, and they had a keyboardist for their first year, but it usually is not a part of their overall sound.
- Epic Rocking: While they aren't as prone to it as other prog bands can be, they still hit this mark a couple times. "Psychopomp" from Stranger Heads Prevail and "Everyday Ghosts" and "Anchor" from Terraformer all exceed nine minutes, with Everyday Ghosts reaching a solid ten.
- Fading into the Next Song: Terraformer has "Wrinkle" → "FXMLDR", "Swarm" → "Son of a Serpent" and "New Moon" → "Terraformer"
- Genre-Busting: By Monda's own admission, their sound isn't usually what is thought of as progressive rock, yet there is no other label to describe them with. Swancore is the most commonly applied label; while they have only circumstantial association with Will Swan, they are sonically fairly similar to most of his bands and the bands associated with him and have a fair amount of fandom overlap.
- Precision F-Strike: In the title track of Terraformer, twice.
- Siamese Twin Songs: Their Album Intro Track examples tend to do this with the next song. Terraformer also includes the brief "New Moon" before the title track.
