The Pros and Cons of CSAs
McGinn is Mayor
Snowpocalypse 2010: Metro Strikes Back
Requiem For a Dream Season
photo credit: Alicia J. Rose
At this point, who doesn't love The Thermals? Your mom might not like that they play their music so loud and that their second album title featured the f-bomb, but even she'd have to admit that all their songs are pretty dang catchy (her words, not ours). Personally, we have loved them since their debut, the delightfully messy, sneeringly lo-fi More Parts Per Million, born of the fertile womb of Bush administration angst. The Portland post-powerpop-punk three-piece has continued to grow and evolve (and change lineups) over time, such that their last full-length was a concept album about living in a right-wing fascist theocracy. But now here we are at the dawn of a new political era, and The Thermals have a cautiously hopeful album to match. It's about death, of course. We spoke to Valley Girl-voiced singer Hutch Harris in anticipation of the band's show at Neumo's tomorrow night (8pm doors, $15, all ages).
How would you say Now We Can See compares to your previous albums? It's more positive in tone, but at the same time, it's also focused on death. How do you reconcile the two?
The Thermals have always been about celebrating negatives and positives in unison. If the world is going to hell, if we're gonna die, if we can't get laid, we're still gonna have a good time. We think Now We Can See is our best record yet.
How was working with John Congleton to produce the album?
A lot of fun. John has a great sense of humor, and we laughed our way through the sessions. Larry David guided us through the recording--we watched Curb Your Enthusiasm on breaks, and after each take, we'd tell each other it was "pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty good."
How's your new home with Kill Rock Stars? Speaking for Seattle, we wish you were still with Sub Pop, but we understand.
We are loving it. Honestly, we had no complaints with Sub Pop. They were very good to us, and we are still close friends. We were just looking for a different type of contract, simple as that. Speaking for Portland, we are thrilled to have Kill Rock Stars in our town.
Hutch on turning down offers to license songs in ads and editing your own Wikipedia page after the jump.
What does new drummer Westin Glass [formerly of Say Hi] bring to the table?
He brings great chops as a drummer and a great personality as well. He's very fun and easygoing. Kathy and I knew right when we met him it was a good fit.
Have you had any other offers to license your songs for a commercial (since turning down Hummer)? Are there any products or companies you wouldn't mind your songs being associated with?
We turned down a Schick ad as well, I think that's all. We like having our songs in film and tv (Chuck, Weeds) and video games, but I don't think we will do any ads.
Do you ever read/update the band's Wikipedia page? There's a couple good lines in there, like this one about More Parts Per Million: "A blistering slice of 'no-fi,' MPPM was rated everything from 'un-listenable' to 'very fucking listenable.' "
Genius, huh? And absolutely true. When we started this band we knew we had two choices: be manipulated by the media, or become the media. We chose the latter.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
the thermals watching and quoting curb your enthusiasm while recording their awesome new album? i think my head will explode if i read much more...
I remember picking up MPPM and showing it to some friends and they were all "um... yeah-okay" and now look at those silly kids.
LOOK NOW!
Also, as a person who went to school in Oly, I'm also glad KRS is located in Oly.
Kill Rock Stars has since moved its base of operations from Olympia to Portland.
KEEP UP, TROY!
Well, to begin with, my original version of my comment was a more "I remember when..." with the Thermals and KRS.
But then I checked KRS's Wikipedia article and it said they were in both cities.
So you tell that to Wikipedia.
Yes, because Wikipedia is always right. KRS has still got an office in Oly, but they're now based in PDX. You're just going to have to deal with being wrong.
Ah, well, that's why I used ambiguous terms like "Located" instead of "headquartered."
Saved again by obtuse statements and fingers in the ear and "lalalalas" out my mouf.