The Thermals @ The Casbah,, 4/5/2007
Review and pics by Natalie Kardos
“Hardly art/hardly garbage.” So spoke the Thermals in “No Culture Icons” off of their first album, More Parts Per Million. And so goes their music. Hardly art, insofar as it’s punk rock and thus rebelling against traditional art forms. Hardly garbage, because, well, it’s damn good music. And it comes across at least ten times better live than it does on their albums.
With guitarist Joel Burrows missing in action, the three remaining Thermals (Hutch Harris – guitar and vocals, Kathy Foster – bass guitar, and Lorin Coleman on drums) started their set at the Casbah with the opening trifecta of “Here’s Your Future,” “I Might Need You to Kill,” and “An Ear for Baby.” These are also the first three songs, in order, off of their new album The Body The Blood The Machine, whose main concept revolves around a couple that’s escaping from a state ruled by a fascist Christian government. A statement on the current situation in the U.S., perhaps? There’s no perhaps about it – the Thermals make their political dissent blatantly obvious through their intelligent and intelligible lyrics. And by exercising their First Amendment rights, aren’t they being truly patriotic? Maybe the American flag on their bass drum isn’t ironic after all.
The rest of their set list consisted of a good mix of songs off of all three of their albums, including “Our Trip” and “How We Know” from Fuckin’ A, and “No Culture Icons” from More Parts Per Million. One song bled into another through drum fills and intentional feedback that kept the audience’s eardrums active. In fact, the only time the music ever really stopped after the first chord was during the short encore break, after which the Thermals returned to play two of their older songs – “God and Country” (“pray for a new state/pray for assassination”) and “Time to Lose” (“I think we’re finished/I think we’ve reached our limits”). All of the songs were incredibly infectious and performed with an amazing intensity, especially regular set closers “A Pillar of Salt,” during which Hutch handled both rhythm and lead guitar parts deftly (although with a look of fierce concentration on his face), and “Returning to the Fold.” This show was one of those rare birds – a true punk rock show.
NK