The Thermals

Fucking great band from US, formed by Hutch and Kathy in 2002 the band was released the first albun “More Part Per Million” in 2003 by Sub Pod Records, with 13 lo-fi two-minute songs. They recorded more two albuns “Fuckin A (2004)” and “The Body, the Blood, the Machine (2006)” on Sub Pop. The new “Now We Can See (2009)” ,was realesed on label Kill Rock Stars ... Kathy Foster said to auralstates.com :

AS – For a lot of your previous records, it seemed the song-writing happened in really quick bursts. Was that the same for Now We Can See?

KF – We took more time with this one. With each record, a little more time was spent on the songwriting. We started writing beginning of 2007, and in between touring when we were home, Hutch and I would just get together and work on them a little more. We recorded demos along the way. And we spent all of 2008, from the beginning, making several different versions and demos of the songs on the cassette 4-track and 8-track and computer, just messing around trying to experiment with the sound. Playing them in different ways, before reining it in and finding the sound we wanted.
There was a lot more experimentation on this record. And Hutch spent a lot more time writing lyrics. Some of the songs he’d write a whole version of lyrics, decide he didn’t like it and throw the whole thing away. Not even try and edit it or anything, just start over. So he wrote a lot of lyrics. I was noting on the final insert this time, the lyrics fill up the whole front and back whereas on the other records, all three were on one side I think. There were a lot more words on this one.
We spent a lot more time developing everything about these songs, the structure, the sound, the arranging, the words. I guess we like both ways, writing a song really fast, not messing with it and just seeing what comes out. I love the raw energy of that.

AS – Do you think your sound progressed in the same way as the songwriting, from this raw energy to a more intense, thoughtful energy?

KF – Yeah, I think so. I think it’s just natural. You can’t manufacture raw energy. As soon as you’re aware of it, it starts changing. The first record was kind of a response or reaction to the Hutch and Kathy record we made. Just the two of us recording on an 8-track, going back and forth to each other’s houses. We spent a year, leisurely recording songs. That finally came out, then Hutch just wanted to do something totally opposite, record a song in one day and have it be blown out, fast and fun and catchy. Not thinking about it very much. A lot of the songs on that first record he wrote in one or a couple days. Like you said, it was just quick and raw, and that’s what people loved about it. When Sub Pop wanted to put it out, they asked us: “Do you want to re-record it?” We were like: “Uhh, no, we’d lose the whole character of the recording.”

More Parts Per Million - 2003



1. It's Trivia
2. Brace and Break
3. No Culture Icons
4. Goddamn the Light
5. Out of the Old and Thin
6. I Know the Pattern
7. Time to Lose
8. My Little Machine
9. Overgrown, Overblown!
10. A Passing Feeling
11. Back to Gray
12. Born Dead
13. An Endless Supply

Good Music!

Fucking A - 2004



1. Our Trip
2. Every Stitch
3. How We Know
4. When You're Thrown
5. Remember Today
6. Stare Like Yours
7. Let Your Earth Quake, Baby
8. God and Country
9. End to Begin
10. Forward
11. Keep Time
12. Top of the Earth
13. Thank You Goodnight

Good Music!

The Body, the Blood, the Machine - 2006



1. Here's Your Future
2. I Might Need For You to Kill
3. An Ear For Baby
4. A Pillar of Salt
5. Returning to the Fold
6. Test Pattern
7. St. Rosa & the Swallows
8. Back to the Sea
9. Power Doesn't Run on Nothing
10. I Hold the Sound

Good Music!

Live [At The Echoplex - December 7th, 2007]- 2007



1. No Culture Icons
2. I Might Need You to Kill
3. An Ear for Baby
4. A Stare Like Yours
5. End to Begin
6. Here's Your Future
7. St. Rosa and the Swallows
8. Overgrown, Overblown!
9. A Passing Feeling
10. How We Know
11. Hold the Sound
12. Back to the Sea
13. Power Doesn't Run on Nothing
14. Back to Gray
15. God and Country
16. Returning to the Fold
17. Everything Thermals
18. A Pillar of Salt
19. -encore-
20. Time to Lose
21. Big Dipper [Built to Spill]
22. It's Trivia

Good Music!

Now We Can See - 2009



01. When I Died
02. We Were Sick
03. I Let It Go
04. Now We Can See
05. At the Bottom of the Sea
06. When We Were Alive
07. I Called Out Your Name
08. When I Was Afraid
09. Liquid In, Liquid Out
10. How We Fade
11. You Dissolve

Good Music!