Job ThomasIn my spare time I run the review website CULTURESHOCK. I lead the team of authors, but mostly enjoy the writing part of the job. I share my thoughts on film & TV, books and music; have interviewed quite a number of artists; and occasionally try to bridge the game between pop culture and Christianity.
From 14 until I was about 24 or 25, I played in bands. All throughout high school, music dominated my spare time. When the band life started taking too much time in university, we slowed down a lot. I appreciated the space it opened, but I did also miss it. So Philip and I started […]
I’ve watched fewer movies and series in 2017 than the previous year, but I still watched plenty. Here’s a shortlist of my recommendations. Absolute highlights Early in 2017, I attended a theology day organised by The Warehouse, and we watched and discussed Son of Man, a South African adaptation of the Gospel. Set in a […]
South Africa is out of the way for a lot of artists, so it’s always exciting if musicians I admire visit our country. Since the early days, I’ve been following the record label Humble Beast and it’s been an absolute pleasure to welcome Propaganda shortly after we saw Sho Baraka here in June. After a […]
Several years ago, I first heard about Humble Beast, the record company hosting amazing artists like Beautiful Eulogy, Propaganda, and Sho Baraka. The latter was in Cape Town this weekend and performed together with Good Hope FM’s DJ Eazy. The evening was opened with a rap battle and short performances of locals Lux Kent (feat. […]
When you listen to music, you get influenced by a lot of other musicians, but I doubt anyone has as much influence as your local bands. Especially in Belgium, where everything is only a short train ride away, I’ve looked up to several bands. I still listen to some of those musicians regularly. So which […]
Last week, August Burns Red came to South Africa for the first time (or Africa for that matter). CULTURESHOCK was able to get press tickets and I got the photo pass for it. It had been almost two years since I last did some proper concert photography, but I’m happy with the result. Hope you like […]
My review of the new James Bond movie (and my first review for CULTURESHOCK in a long time)
Little over a year ago, I wrote this opinion piece on Hillsong and it’s great move toward including The Apostles’ Creed on their album. Singing this song in church yesterday morning made me happy seeing that this song is bringing the Creed into non-traditional churches.
Friends of mine were performing in Veladraco and it was a great opportunity to also see a Jack Parow show for the first time. Great vibe.
A few weeks ago our team met in San Francisco. We’re quite deprived of good international punk line-ups in Cape Town, so it was great being able to shoot New Found Glory and support.
The Wolfmother and Editors show in Cape Town was the first show I’ve shot in South Africa. It was a good experience and fun to see the dynamic of both bands on stage.
So far, the only band I’ve shot twice is Enter Shikari and on each occasion, it’s been an absolute pleasure, but also a big challenge. The band simply doesn’t stand still.
I’ve never been a huge ska fan, but seeing these icons of ska and punk rock music perform is always special.
South Africa isn’t frequented by a lot of metalcore bands and I really wanted to see Oh, Sleeper before moving to that part of the world. Not only did they come to Belgium in the last months before my move, I got to shoot and interview them.
The first festival I shot, was the annual Christmas Rock Night in Enneptal, Germany. First time for me seeing most of these bands and great fun to take pics of Wolves At The Gates, I Am Empire, John Coffey, Icon For Hire, and Hawk Nelson.
Enter Shikari is the first big concert that I shot. And what a challenge: dynamic, fast, vibrant. So difficult to get a good shot out of that. I wasn’t that blown away by Your Demise, but got some good pics out of them.
I started listening to punk rock music in 1997 through MxPx. Needless to say that when I was able to shoot Mike Herrera in August 2010 in Belgium, I was super excited.