Troy Thompson

Troy Thompson's interest in music was created when he was just a boy. At an early age Troy was surrounded by music as his Mother was the lead singer in a Country Band. Troy adopted playing drums as his first instrument by chance, as the drummer in his Mother's band left the kit at their house. Troy soon started practicing drums to go alongside his Mother's singing and guitar playing. The passion for music soon evolved into playing guitar.

However, it was short-lived at this time in Troy's life as he felt his Mother was only teaching him country chords so he decided to put the guitar down for a while.

The next phase of Troy's music career was by far the most eccentric. He created an air band, which featured lip synching and all, where Troy went so far as to actually perform at family events and weddings. Following this endeavour Troy found himself taking the plunge further into the music business by buying his own drum set and writing his own independent magazine to attract band members. The first band he created was called The Persecuted, which was named after his magazine. This band was a Christian gutter punk/ska/metal band that gained a fair amount of local recognition by playing at venues ranging from retreats at the Belleville Ramada Inn, to back wood stages at Marmora's Punkfest. Following the release of the band's first and only album, released on Country Road Records in 1998, the band broke up and the members went their separate ways.

This split up was fortunately not forever as some of the band members from The Persecuted collaborated once again to play in Troy's second band Steadfast. It was not long, however, that the band realized that ?Steadfast? was a very popular name and so, armed with a new bass player and a second guitarist, they renamed the band xnotwithstandingx. The band usually stuck to harder edged punk in the hardcore music vein. They released a five song EP in 2001 entitled ?The Trials that Come? and toured Southern Ontario and the U.S.A. to promote and spread their music. The band shortly disbanded after the tour took off, when the drummer quit and the van broke down.

Troy's next musical chapter featured his adoption into the band Uneven Ground as a replacement vocalist. The band played together for about six months, at which time Troy decided that commuting to London for practice was a little too much to handle.
For the next phase of Troy's music career he decided to try things a little differently and picked up the guitar to start writing his own songs to play acoustically. There were a couple of side projects during this time worth mentioning: Canadian Diva, an all male Avril Lavigne cover band and Rust & Burn, a duo with Wayne Bailey. Both endeavours were only around for a few shows and festivals which fuelled Troy's resolve to pursue his solo effort. After writing about three albums worth of songs he started to weigh out his recording options. At this point there was a slight pause in the pursuit of Troy's solo career as he left the area to attend university in Toronto. While in Toronto, Troy joined another band Brannigan's Law. The band, after a half-dozen shows, had a difference of opinion and Troy went his own way. Troy now decided that he was about through with bands, at least for the time being, and focused on building his solo career.

In 2005 Troy met with Jef Leeson and settled a deal with Jef to start recording his album Kismet Culprit. After spending over three years perfecting his songs, sound, and getting player's together Troy finally finished the much awaited solo album. The album was released in July of 2009, more than ten years after his first recording with The Persecuted. Now based out of Peterborough, Troy frequents open mics with just his guitar or playing shows at some of the cities more popular spots with the support of a band. Troy Thompson and the Kismet Culprits are now prepared to embark on a new decade of shows, songs, and experiences.