A famous Portland-based band, The Thermals, will appear at WOW Hall Friday night, joined by White Fang and local band The Blimp.
The Thermals are touring to support the release of their relatively new album, “Personal Life,” which was released on Sept. 7, 2010.
This will be the band’s sixth performance in Eugene over its eight-year musical career. Starting off playing house parties in their early years, the band has graduated to selling out WOW Hall a handful of times.
“Eugene is a blast!” said Hutch Harris, who plays guitar and sings vocals for the band. “It’s the best, closest city to Portland worth playing, and always a good time. We’ll never skip Eugene as long as we like getting drunk and hanging out with homeless kids.”
With rich, Northwest music, the Portland indie-rock band is a group that creates a large amount of buzz anytime they come through Eugene.
“We so rarely get bands like this at the WOW Hall. It is nice to see some locals coming down to rock the house,” said Calyn Kelly, the booking agent for WOW Hall. “They always have such great energy and put on a killer show.”
The Thermals have a mutual feeling when the prospect of playing WOW Hall comes up.
“Always fun, great that it’s all-ages,” Harris said. “We try to do mostly all-ages shows, it’s important! The WOW is a great space and a great scene.”
Although fun-loving, the three-person band composed of Harris, co-founder Kathy Foster and 2008 addition Westin Glass, has evolved from local Portland band to Northwest phenomenon to nationally respected group. Their signature ’90s-inspired, indie-punk, guitar-driven sound backed by a consistent drum flow has made the group an addicting listen that pops up on Pandora or plays on repeat on iTunes. What helped propel the group to a national spotlight were Harris’ commanding vocals, strongly singing about themes of political discontentment, religion and death.
This sound and message was most popularly received on the band’s 2006 album “The Body, The Blood, The Machine.” The album’s critical commentary of God, war and power was met with critical acclaim. Among all critics, Pitchfork placed the album at No. 17 for their best albums of 2006, beating out artists like Justin Timberlake, LCD Soundsystem and Lily Allen that year.
The band’s 2010 album, “Personal Life,” hits on the personal matters of love, loss and lies. Although not receiving as much acclaim, the album depicts The Thermals’ take and experience with some of life’s happiest and darkest personal matters.
Aside from the release, the band spent 2010 much of the same way it has spent its entire existence — playing music and enjoying life.
“2010 was awesome! We ate Chinese food. Like, actual Chinese food!” Harris said. “Plus we did five U.S. tours and released our fifth amazing record, ‘Personal Life.’”
Harris believes the band will spend 2011 in similar fashion.
“In 2011 we will tour the U.S., Europe, write, record and continue to rule the scene,” Harris said. “Also we will debut Forbidden Friends, my new project for the Kill Rock Stars label, very soon!”
The concert begins at 9 p.m.
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The Thermals rise to the occasion
Daily Emerald
January 12, 2011
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