The Thermals
are an indie/pop-punk band based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The group was formed in 2002.
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THE THERMALS TICKETS
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History
Their debut LP,
More Parts Per Million
, was conceived and recorded in the kitchenette of singer Hutch Harris's house, known as "The Moss Motel", in southeast Portland, Oregon. The album was recorded on a 4-track cassette machine, with total tracking costs around $10. A demo of the record was passed from
Ben Gibbard (
Death Cab For Cutie,
The Postal Service) to indie giant
Sub Pop Records, who signed The Thermals after they had played just a handful of shows.
MPPM
was then mixed by Death Cab For Cutie's
Chris Walla at
The Hall Of Justice in
Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop released the record in March of 2003. The original live line-up of The Thermals consisted of
Kathy Foster (who had collaborated with Harris on various musical projects for years prior) on bass, Jordan Hudson on drums, and Ben Barnett on guitar. Harris sang, flailed about, and occasionally stripped naked onstage. Barnett left the group after the first few tours for
MPPM
, Harris picked up a guitar, and The Thermals became what is commonly known as a
power trio.
Harris, Foster and Hudson returned to Seattle in the early winter of 2004, to record their second album,
Fuckin' A
. They re-teamed with Chris Walla, who manned all recording and mixing duties this time around, at Seattle's famed Avast studio. Released in July 2004, The Thermals toured the US and
Europe relentlessly in support of
Fuckin' A
, before returning to Portland to record their unreleased, or "lost" LP with
Joanna Bolme (
The Jicks), at the original
Jackpot Recording Studio. The album was tentatively titled
We Sleep In A Holy Bed
, and has yet to see the light of day. Harris and Foster split with Hudson soon after, in the fall of 2005. No less than three people would play drums for The Thermals over the next three years, including
Caitlin Love, Lorin Coleman, and even Kathy Foster herself.
For their third record,
The Body, the Blood, the Machine
, Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster hired
Brendan Canty of
Fugazi to produce. Canty had recently recorded a Thermals song for his
Burn to Shine series, in which indie bands perform at a house slated to be burned by the fire department.
TBtBtM
was recorded at
Supernatural Sound in
Oregon City, with Foster playing drums on all tracks, and splitting bass duties with Harris. The album (loosely) tells the story of a young couple who must flee a United States governed by fascist faux-Christians.
TBtBtM
was released in August of 2006, and subsequently featured in many Best-Of-2006 lists, including
Pitchfork,
Spin,
NPR, and
The Onion's A.V. Club. The Thermals toured for close to two years following
TBtBtM
's release, and were briefly a four-piece again (Harris, Foster, Coleman, and Joel Burrows on second guitar). This line-up dissolved in early 2008, and Hutch and Kathy set about making another record as a duo.
After an amicable split with Sub Pop, the band signed with iconic Northwest label
Kill Rock Stars, recently relocated to Portland, Oregon. In April 2009 The Thermals released their fourth album,
Now We Can See
.
Now We Can See
was recorded by
John Congleton (
Explosions in the Sky,
Polyphonic Spree) again at Supernatural, and at Congleton's studio
Elmwood in
Dallas, Texas. Hutch and Kathy recorded
NWCS
the same way they did
TBTBTM
: as a duo, with Foster acting as a one-woman rhythm section for the entire record. Westin Glass joined The Thermals soon after the recording was completed, to become the fourth drummer for The Thermals (sixth if Harris and Foster are counted).
Discography
Studio albums
- More Parts per Million
(2003)
- Fuckin A
(2004)
- The Body, the Blood, the Machine
(2006)
- Now We Can See
(2009)
Singles and EPs
Year
| Title
| Label
|
2003
| No Culture Icons
| Sub Pop
|
2007
| "A Pillar of Salt"
| Sub Pop
|
2008
| "Returning to the Fold"
| Sub Pop
|
2009
| "Now We Can See"
| Kill Rock Stars
|
Live albums
Year
| Title
| Label
|
2007
| Insound Tour Support 2.0
| Insound
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2008
| LIVE at the Echoplex - December 7th, 2007
| Kufala Recordings
|
Compilations
Year
| Title
| Label
|
2003
| The Wonder of the Underground Pressed On Plastic, Vol. 1
| Meow Meow
|
2004
| Sub Pop: Patient Zero
| Sub Pop
|
2006
| To Elliott: From Portland
| Expunged Records
|
2006
| Terminal Sales Vol. 2: This Delicious
| Sub Pop
|
2007
| Bridging the Distance: a Portland, OR covers compilation
| Arena Rock Recording Co.
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Trivia
- The band turned down a $50,000 offer for the right to use their song "It's Trivia" (from More Parts Per Million
) in a Hummer commercial. Harris commented on the decision in a February 2006 asap article: "We thought about it for about 15 seconds, maybe...it was a really easy decision. How could we go on after soundtracking Hummer? It's just so evil." [1]
- Before forming The Thermals, Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster played together in the bands: Haelah, Urban Legends, and Hutch and Kathy. Kathy Foster also currently plays for the All Girl Summer Fun Band. [2]
References
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable