From Copper to Rocker
Thomas Heppell in his own words
WORDS – Juliet Hurwitt
PHOTOS – Graham Hutton and Chris Griffiths
Thomas Heppell…a name you’re probably starting to notice on the blues-rock scene. A UK Blues awards nominee who is supporting some of the more established bands on tour, and appearing at many festivals, if he isn’t on your radar yet he soon will be.
It’s not often that an artist is local enough to meet up in person, and it made a nice change to chat face to face. So, consistent with living the rock ‘n roll high life, we met…at a café for coffee!
Naturally, the first question is how did he get into music?
“I was part of the School of Rock (Jack Black) generation, and that’s when the seed was planted. I begged my parents for a guitar for my birthday, had some lessons where I learnt a few chords and how to tune a guitar.” Not quite the Bon Jovi he was hoping for, but then he was only six years old. As his interest in football grew the guitar got put aside, and it wasn’t until Thomas was around fourteen in senior school, seeing the ‘cool kids’ playing guitar, that got him thinking ‘I want to do that.’ This prompted him to pick up his Dad’s rarely used 1970’s Ibanez acoustic guitar and start learning songs from online videos. “I picked it up really quickly and I was quite surprised.” Although Thomas brushed off he was a natural, “as no-one else in my family is musical,” we did agree that trends in families has to start somewhere. “I kept learning song after song, got into rock and learnt songs by Nirvana and Foo Fighters.” The videos suggested he should listen to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn, so Thomas looked them up and that was his lightbulb moment when the blues kicked in. “I started learning ragtime blues by Robert Johnson, BB King and the like, which took me down the classic blues route.” His first performance was at ‘School’s Got Talent’ and although very nervous he loved it and made it through to the second round. From there he started to get a reputation around the school as ‘the bluesy guy’, got himself involved with music projects, and making up songs about various random topics, like PE and the cardio-vascular system! Well, why not?
Thomas wanted to go to college to study music, but his public service family background suggested that maybe he wasn’t quite good enough and would be better off with a steady job. He did as advised, but halfway through his public sector college course he realised it wasn’t for him so told his lecturer he wanted to swap to the music course. He was taken to meet the head of music who gave the vibe of ‘not another guitar player’, but when Thomas correctly identified all (but one) of the notes played to him, the head of music was impressed enough to allow him to join the music course. At the end of the two-years, Thomas was the highest scoring student in his class. During his college years, he played at the Edinburgh fringe festival and even got onto The Voice but was one round away from being on the live TV show. “It’s all good experience and it builds the resilience being told you’re not good enough.” As with most knock backs there’s always something to be gained from the experience, and in this case the show’s producers told him that although he could play guitar, his singing wasn’t quite developed enough. This prompted the still only eighteen-year-old Thomas to have singing lessons, and for those of us who have heard him sing will know these have definitely paid off.
When he finished college he still wanted to be a full-time musician, but unlike traditional professions there’s no guidance on how to do this. “There was never a lesson on how to be a full-time musician. They can tell you what careers you can have in music, like how to be a music teacher or a musician in the army, but they don’t tell you how to do it [be a musician].” Not wanting to go down the university route and his family unable to advise him [on a music career], Thomas got a part-time job in a music studio, but being on reception wasn’t quite the experience he’d hoped for. It was time to rethink.
Thomas asked his sister, who was in the police force, if he could get some shadowing shifts to see what policing was like. He quite enjoyed these so applied to join, and after the two-year process he was accepted. Not that his passion for music had gone as during this time he was still jamming in his local Ringwood, Hampshire area. Young Thomas rocking up at these blues-jam nights with “all these guys with their expensive Gibson guitars, and basically just keeping up with them.” When he started to get a reputation at these jams, open mics nights, and little gigs here and there, that he felt musically things were starting to open up a bit.
Unfortunately, also at this time he had to move out of home, which meant he needed to get a ‘real’ job and push his police application. By 2018, Thomas was ready to hang up his guitar as he felt the music opportunity had “dried up” as life took him a different path. He decided to concentrate on becoming a police officer.
“It’s kinda weird but looking back on my career as an officer there’s so many parts of it where I was able to involve music. I learnt The Caution by singing it, and there’s a video online of me singing in my uniform!” (watch here). Meanwhile, he was still playing at open mics, but then lockdown hit and everything stopped. “I bought myself a bass, a piano and an electric drumkit and started doing videos at home. My musicianship just grew by learning different things and writing songs from scratch.” He created a Facebook page so he could share his music videos with friends, and five years later there are over 1,500 followers. Not too shabby. Add to that a total of five UK Blues award nominations (two in 2024, and three in 2025) and although he hasn’t won yet, Thomas knows that these have provided good networking opportunities and gets his name alongside other great blues acts.
But what was the turning point that instigated his final decision to become a full-time musician?
Now living in Windsor, as based first in Slough then Staines with the police, when venues opened up again for open mics and jam nights Thomas started going along, reminding him how much he loved playing live. Venue owners were asking to book him for gigs, but this didn’t fit in with his police shifts, “you’re working three weekends a month, day and night, constantly shattered, jamming in London (evenings), then policing on about an hour’s sleep.” Having to turn down gigs “just didn’t feel right. I’m sacrificing my happiness for a job I’m not passionate about.” He was at that crossroads moment; does he give up all he’s worked for to be in the police or follow his heart. A job had also come up at a music school where they teach kids how to be in rock bands. He needed a sign to help decide what to do. That sign came on a not uncommon, traumatic night shift, dealing with dangerous job after job on his own. He reached the turning point when he thought “I just can’t do this anymore.” He resigned.
Rocksteady music school snapped him up after an interview that involved teaching a classroom full of students. He taught there for three years. In addition, he really started pushing his own music and getting his name noticed by supporting blues artists. He is relentless “I will literally go to the end of the country to do a gig for free if it gets my name noticed.”
This is how Thomas has got most of his gigs. The first time I saw him was supporting Dom Martin in Reading, which happened because Thomas “just asked him”. Dom was so impressed that he was invited to be the support on tour (May 2025). Other ventures in 2025 alone include supporting Brave Rival, Chloe Josephine, Chris Jagger, to name a few. “The journey is just crazy at the moment. I call it copper gone rocker!” Gigs are now in clubs instead of pubs, and those spaces will continue to grow.
Sometimes Thomas plays with his band, aptly named The Thomas Heppell Band, and moving forward he’d like to do more of these, enjoying the energy and interaction when others are on stage. Afterwards, he loves meeting everyone, having a chat and finding out about ‘you’. “They’re supporting my dream, and doing this full time is just a blessing.”
More songs have been written, and the plan is for a new album release towards the end of this year. Listen out for the new songs at the live shows and summer festivals.
With the great outlook of “don’t ask, you don’t get” we will continue to see Thomas supporting many other emerging artists and increasing the number of his own headline gigs. With an agent now on board to help with bookings, and others to add their input to the album, life as a full-time musician definitely suits Mr. Thomas Heppell. Myself and at least 1500 others are pleased he made the career move. You’ll find him on stage, smiling, at a venue near you soon.
