NEW HOPE, PA — Bucks County native Thomas G. Waites, a Julliard School-trained actor who has starred alongside Kurt
Russell and worked with legendary horror film director John Carpenter, is preparing to take the stage with his quartet, Heartbreak Waites at New Hope Winery.
Set for June 7, Waites said the concert, as well as the East Coast tour that the band is launching, is in response to the “political situation we’re in.
“My music is an attempt to bring us together,” he said. “We often try to get the audience singing along.”
In fact, Waites sometimes attends open mics to try out new songs.
“They start singing to the hook,” he said. “That makes me so happy.”
If given the chance to soak in that experience or receive a $1 million check, Waites said he would wholeheartedly “keep the experience.”
Waites cut his teeth in the 80s music scene as frontman for new wave punk band The Pushups. During shows at notorious venues including CBGB, Waites was known to do one-handed pushups.
The Heartbreak Waites performs Americana music for the soul.
“I didn’t take it as seriously,” Waites said, noting that Heartbreak Waites is a different musical vibe. “It’s
Americana music for the soul. A blend of 60s harmonies. It’s quite dramatic considering I’m the frontman. It’s very lyric heavy, but a lot of fun.”
The 3-year-old band is touring in support of its self-titled album.
When he’s not taking the stage with his band, Waites continues directing, producing, teaching acting and continuing his five-decade-long acting career, which includes roles in “The Thing,” “Warriors,” as well as stints acting alongside Al Pacino in “…And Justice For All,” and “Richard III” on Broadway.
Waites stars in the upcoming horror film, “The Block,” as well as the 2027 release of “The Silver Game,” which he describes as a “screwball comedy.”
“I’ve never done a comedy on film,” he said. “I’m really, really excited about that. It was fun as hell.”
Yet for all of his arts-related accolades, Waites credits his Bucks County roots for inspiring him to think beyond working at the steel mill. At 14 the Bishop Egan High School freshman was a “terrible student” and a “general ruffian,” who was constantly getting into trouble.
After getting hit by a car, snapping his femur bone and spending six months in the hospital recovering, Waites accompanied his sister to a showing of “Romeo and Juliet.”
“That film just made me weep profusely,” he said. “That completely changed me. I no longer wanted this life in the streets and getting into trouble.”
The next day, he went to the library and memorized both characters in the balcony scene. His portrayal of Shakespeare’s famed Romeo landed him a full scholarship to The Julliard School.
“Growing up in Levittown I think we were subconsciously limited by our parents’ and neighbors’ expectations. We expected so little of ourselves,” Waites said. “To make a big leap to New York City to be on Broadway and be in movies was a gigantic leap from working in the steel mill. It’s not the
circumstances that make the man, it’s the man that makes the circumstances.”
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