Andy Alt

Thomas tweaking my craigslist score

Meet Thomas Nordegg. Few people have spent time with as many culture-shaping artists as Thomas has. Surely you’d expect to hear nothing but road stories and reflections of crazy antics while touring with Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Duran Duran, Missing Persons, Dweezil Zappa and countless others but you won’t hear much of it– unless you ask. Unprovoked, the only two things that Thomas discusses is the amount of time he doesn’t have to accomplish a mountain of TODO’s and velcro. His shop, his enormously complex and unique guitar system, his modified everything– these are all fair topics of conversation. And velcro. The reason velcro comes up so often in casual conversation is because velcro saved Thomas’ life.

In 1983, Thomas had an accident on his scooter and was taken to the hospital. Later, when he was resting at home, Frank Zappa & Steve Vai came over to check up on him. As Thomas explains, “They were asking me if I was OK– and I really believed I was. Then someone said something about velcro and I asked ‘What’s that?’ Everyone in the room looked at each other and the next thing I knew, I was downtown LA getting a plate in my head.” — “I like going to the airport,” he smirks.

Thomas catching Yngwie Malmsteen's Strat

Out of all the adventurous & well-traveled road-dogs I’ve ever met, Thomas surely has the biggest heart. When I lost my wallet one night at The Fatburger, he was the one to suggest we dig through the parking lot dumpster at 5AM. When that proved unsuccesful, he scurried into his closet and came out with a metal shoebox filled with wallets. He offered me to take any one in the box– including one his deceased father had given him as a teenager. Or one he bought on tour in Germany with Frank. I picked an unsuspecting wallet (thinking I might lose it –again) and the first thing that was done was it underwent (you guessed it) velcro-ization! I cannot ever pay a library fine for fear of being cursed at by every bookworm in the joint as they hear the “fffffrrrrriiiippppp!” of my wallet being pryed open.

Thomas Nordegg is a good guy to have in your corner. He could be an arrogant prick & shut his doors to needy broken-string bastards like me but instead, he’s wholesome and generous as he casually mentions he’s currently working on a project with John Petrucci or teching a session for the guy who wrote the book on being a bad-ass, virtuoso guitar player.

Thomas riding an electric scooter around the Ibanez Custom Shop, doing 90 MPH.

I can’t leave out the fact that everytime Thomas has come to see Zack and I play, at the end of the show, he tells us to talk and network with everyone as he packs up our gear. When I open my gigbag and pedalboard case in the morning, it is like unwrapping a present on my birthday– everything is neat, tidy and proper. Thomas doesn’t mess around. He doesn’t have the time. Here’s a picture of Thomas riding an electric scooter around the Custom Shop at Ibanez, doing 90 MPH.