Matt Thomas (born 15 June 1973) was a former member of New Zealand rock band The Feelers. Thomas started play the violin at school in Standard 2 (Year 4), the piano in Standard 3 (Year 5), and bass guitar in Form 2 (Year 8). At high school he won national awards for jazz, classical and public speaking. Thomas was the founding member of The Feelers, when he advertised for a bass player.He left the band in April 2008, due to personal and artistic differences.In his time with The Feelers he jointly won New Zealand Entertainment Awards "Entertainer of the Year", many New Zealand Music Awards including "Producer of the Year", "Artist of the Year", "Album of the Year" and had three albums reaching the top of the New Zealand charts. In 2009 he played alongside Steve Gadd with Lesley Meguid for her album "The Truth About Love Songs". Thomas went to New Plymouth Boys' High School and studied philosophy and computer programming at University. His brother is Gareth Thomas, of the former band Goodshirt. He is an endorser of Modulus basses, and Mark Bass bass amps.