I love your music and have seen you guys bust the bottom off the hill several times in san fran. i write and illustrate kids books, and would love to send you your very own signed copy. It's about an absent minded, doesn't have his shit together, kind of goat. The Goat in the Tower is the title, published by a small san fran company. If you let me know a box to send it to, it would be my pleasure. meow meow spill
It’s not every postpunk band that could twist a series of two-minute anthems into a concept album about the coming Christian Fascist state but the Thermals are not just any pop punk band. Ever since they snuck onto the scene in 2002, Hutch Harris, Kathy Foster and a revolving cast of characters, including current drummer Lorin Coleman have continued to live up to the standard of cutting edge D-I-Y music their record label, Sub Pop, is famous for.
The Thermals grew out of the Portland, Oregon coffee house scene where Harris and Foster, as well as Ben Barnett, the original guitarist, built their reputations in a succession of now forgotten bands with names like Haelah, Urban Legends, and Hutch and Kathy. Portland’s scene was small enough for them to rub shoulders with members of Modest Mouse, who invited them on tour, and Death Cab for Cutie, especially Chris Walla.
By 2002, they had wrangled a contract with Sub Pop, which had been putting out their favorite records ever since they could remember. In an early interview, they described themselves as the child of the two previous eras of Sub Pop -- the grunge era of Nirvana and Mudhoney and the “middle” era of Sebadoh and Eric’s Trip. The quote seemed to resonate, showing up on flyers and in interviews throughout the release and tour of their first album, the distortion-drenched, deceptively intelligent More Parts Per Million.
While the debut album got an acceptable level of buzz, the Thermals ultimately got more publicity for their refusal to accept $50,000 -- a much needed $50,000 -- for the right to use the song "It's Trivia" in a Hummer commercial than they did for the music. On one level, it was disappointing since they were more than willing to reap a financial windfall from work that had been completed a long time ago. On another, though, it was a simple 15-second decision because, as Harris told Pitchfork, Hummer “is just so evil.”
The second album, 2004’s Fuckin’ A, got even better reviews than the first, with NME singling out the more sophisticated production and comparing the band to both the Ramones and the Smiths. It was also the first release without Barnett, who had left the band before the album was released.
With one-third the original lineup gone, the third album was going to come from Harris and Foster. And while the second album proved The Thermals were no flash in the pan, no one foresaw the creative leaps the two would take with 2006’s The Body, the Blood, the Machine, a concept album about the rise of a Christian fascist state.
The influential website, Pitchfork, was an early champion of the album. Calling it a true achievement, the web site marveled at Harris' lyrics ability to “flaunt paranoia over our country's potentially Christian-fueled fascist future, while somehow maintaining his impish sense of humor throughout.”
Nowhere was that sense of humor more apparent than in the hilarious, inventive video for the single, "Pillar of Salt." It has a host of guest cameos and, as viewers have been pointing out in posts throughout the indie rock web world, has all the virtues that low-budget bands like The Thermals display when they, as opposed to the major labels, make videos for themselves, especially since these are the videos that do the best on emerging platforms like YouTube.
As far as Harris is concerned, the video’s reception is just one more sign that The Thermals are on their way. "Check in with us later, about five years from now," he has told his fans on the band's website. Because that's when The Thermals will not just be kings of "this neo-grunge" but when “we will be [capital letters his] "RICH."
