HARD IS HARD

'Tomás Doncker and the True Groove All-Stars have fused Blues, jazz, Funk, Soul and Gospel and taken them to another level.’

Blues Matters

‘A masterclass in Doncker’s inate knack for genre fluidity’.

Blues and Soul magazine

Hard Is Hard’ was produced with James Dellatacoma (Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock) and mastered by Michael Fossenkemper (Paul Weller, LL Cool J, Miles Davis) and includes guest instrumentation from Frank Benbini (UB40, Fun Lovin’ Criminals), Adriano Rossetti-Bonell (UB40) and The Specials Horns.

With elements of soul, blues, funk, rock and some jazz thrown in for good measure, ‘Hard Is Hard’ is a masterclass in Doncker’s innate knack for genre fluidity, lyrically exploring themes of racial inequality, social injustice and keeping a positive mental attitude through hard times.

ACE OF SPADES

A soulful reworking of Motörhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’, released in June 2025.

“Motörhead…Lemmy…Ace of Spades. Who doesn’t love this song? I have since I first heard it many lifetimes ago. A few years back, I was in a car, and it came on the radio - and it spoke to me in a very different way than it ever had before. This was the moment when the idea of covering it popped into my head."

"When I read the lyrics, it became clear to me what it was that was tugging at me…The Blues. I realised that Motörhead had changed the spirit of Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and the Delta Blues storytelling tradition and sped it up to create one of the quintessential rock and roll anthems of all time. It became obvious that I had to sing this song. I saw myself in it.”

Snippets from HARD IS HARD album

Post Modern Jive…Again

Life without Drama

Hard is Hard acoustic

Wha- Gwaan!

Wha-Gwaan! Review

The single ‘Wha-Gwaan’ is a collaboration with The Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ Frank Benbini. Tomás says, “Wah Gwaan’ is a Jamaican Patois greeting that means ‘what’s going on?’ or ‘what’s up?’. The lyric is a modern day riff on Marvin Gaye’s classic ‘What’s Going On’, through an Afro Beat/Funk-Rebel music lens. It was designed to be a wake up call response to the seemingly increasing presence of social injustice in the world today. The hypnotic dub-funk groove is brought to the boiling point by the legendary Frank Benbini (Fun Lovin’ Criminals/UB40/Uncle Frank), who I’m thrilled makes a guest appearance on drums and hype vocals.”

‘Wha-Gwaan’ is a fluid mix of reggae and funk with cavernous drums that splash and stomp around undulating bass, organ punctuation and a guitar line that acts like a compass keeping everything pointing truth north. Over the top those hype vocals hold everything together and fly over bursts of gospel backing harmonies. It’s as captivating as the Penrose stairs (aka the ‘impossible staircase’) that climb round and round; the key doesn’t change and there’s no chorus, but the magic thread is in the irresistible groove it all rides on.'