The Thermals!

So this post is quite long overdue (feel free to nod in agreement). While in Texas we saw some new bands, but also some bands we'd seen before (or at least some of us). I've seen The Thermals twice in Cleveland and both time they put on a pretty good show. One was definitely more memorable than the other but that had more to do with the hardcore fans that came with silly string and sprayed the band down. Texas was the same as the two times: A band that clearly not only loves to write songs, but loves to share them also. I'm pretty sure Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster had smiles on their faces most of the show.

Which is kind of weird, because as poppy fun punk indie rock as the music is, the lyrics are kind of depressing. All doom and gloom, talking about mortality, and death, and the loss of loved ones. It's like they get us all excited about this nicely packaged song only to bring us down to see if we're really listening. But, honestly, it's really not that depressing. The Thermals could be a ska band, such is their skill at packaging sugar sweet melodies with not the most sugary of sentiments. But I digress. The last album, 'The Body, The Blood, The Machine' saw a maturing of The Thermals four to the floor pop punk sound. It became a little bit more polished, but in a good way. The new album 'Now We Can See' doesn't change up the formula a whole lot, but it doesn't really need to. If you like the Thermals past efforts, then you'll like this one. And if you've never been introduced to the Thermals, well, this is as good as an introduction as ever.



Try it!