The Thermals Crank Up the Heat at Neumos

The first time we ever saw The Thermals was about two years ago at the Gorge among a bunch of big-name acts like Modest Mouse and the Presidents. They played at one of the smaller stages, in the middle of the day with the sun blazing overhead and people aimlessly wandering by the front of the stage, stuffing their faces with elephant ears. Even in that environment, The Thermals brought forth a pure rock energy unmatched by any other band that day.

Saturday night's show at Neumos was different only in that it was approximately one thousand times better. This had a lot to do with the setting: an excited crowd jumping, dancing, jerking their heads back and forth in a dark, sweaty club. And of course the band feeds off of this. Whenever singer/guitarist Hutch Harris could tear himself away from the mic, he threw himself into one of his many classic guitar rock moves, twice falling to his knees submissively at the feet of bassist Kathy Foster. Not to be outdone, Foster herself has an intensely fun stage presence. When not singing backup, her body and guitar are coupled in a frenetic dance while that gorgeous curly hair of hers whips around wildly.

In town to support their fantastic new album, Now We Can See, the band played a spirited and potent show, drawing heavily from their two most recent albums (the aforementioned and 2006's The Body, The Blood, The Machine), but also reaching back to their first two (Fuckin A, and the crunchy lo-fi debut, More Parts per Million).

Here are a few photos which hopefully show off at least a little bit of the fun and intensity of a Thermals show.