Thomas “Tomye West” Niessner started his drumming journey in 1999, at the tender age of 11.
With a “consistently messy” style of playing, that he himself has described as “a calculated mess” and continued to offer that “no one should ever take drumming cue’s from me, because it’s all wrong, but it works for me”, he got his first big break with a band called CircumSystem at the age of 16.
That break included playing sold out shows for bands like Behind Crimson Eyes, The Hot Lies, Closure in Moscow, and bigger names including The Getaway Plan, Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive and Atticus (NZ).
CircumSystem’s biggest song releases include: Sand in the Hourglass (feat. Benny Chong of The Getaway Plan) and Misfortune for a Fallen Soul.
His second band, The Lesson of Her Death, started in 2008, where he enjoyed continued success, playing alongside Dream on Dreamer, City Escape and House vs Hurricane.
TLOD’s biggest songs came in the form of: Tragedy! Tragedy!, Escaping Introductions and Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
Tomye’s journey continued with a band called I Confess, which had 2 full release Eps; Puzzles, and the follow up EP Footsteps.
I Confess were featured in BLUNT Magazine, and their biggest songs include: Whispers, Puzzles, Obsession and Hearts on Fire.
He also enjoyed a short stint with All We Need.
Throughout his career, Tomye has recorded over 25 studio tracks, and with his newest band, This Point Forward, is looking to add to that quickly (Their debut EP, United We Stand, is due out this year, and they already have shows lined up for late 2021).
Having recently launched his own Drum Channel on YouTube (Tomye West Drums), he’s no beginner when it comes to the limelight – he Guest Hosted a Breakfast Radio show on SynFM, with CircumSystem, and has played headlining gigs at multiple clubs including Bang! And Next, and has also won 3x Battle of the Bands throughout his career (judged by well known Industry experts, including none other than John Swan (Manager of, the one, the only, Jimmy Barnes))
Tomye’s inspirations include:
Aaron Gillespie – Underoath
Dan Kerby – Behind Crimson Eyes / Bliss and Eso
Paul Lundy – Funeral for a Friend
Tomye’s Custom Kit is made up of the following pieces:
Drums are the Spectrum Series by PDP:
8x10, 9x12 and 14x16 Toms and a 18x22 Kick to round it out.
The snare he uses is the Pearl JJ1365N Steel Shell Joey Jordison Signature 13" X 6.5".
Mixed with his brand new Soultone Custom Brilliant Signature “Tomye West” Escobar Series:
Soultone Custom Brilliant 10” Splash, 14” Hats, 16” and 18” Crash, 18” China and a 22” Ride.
SOCIAL PAGES AND PORTFOLIO:
Portfolio: www.reverbnation.com/tomyewest
INSTAGRAM: tomye_west
Twitter: @TomNiessner