By: Ryan Ruff Smith
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| The Thermals - photo by Adam Bubolz |
It was a Monday night, and there was no denying it. When Superhopper got things started, there were just a handful of spectators scattered around the Triple Rock. This didn’t seem to faze the local group, who blazed through a set of fast, catchy rock tunes energetically.
Next up were The Thermals’ tourmates, Portland’s Reporter. A few songs into their set, they informed the crowd that they had just formed for this tour and had only played a handful of shows. With that in mind, the punk trio was remarkably tight, but their melodies and vocals failed to rise above the instrumentation and leave any strong lasting impression.
The Thermals came out to set up their own gear and then guitarist/lead singer Hutch Harris casually addressed the crowd before they kicked into their set. “It’s a Monday night,” he told us, “but that doesn’t mean we’re going to rock any less hard!” This set the tone for the show; the band was loose and casual, engaging the crowd in playful banter between songs without losing any of their intensity while playing.
The setlist focused heavily on the band’s most recent album, last year’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine. That record is a loose concept album envisioning the United States as a fascist Christian regime in the not-so-distant future. Though this may sound tiresome on paper, the band’s energy and unabashed melodies transcend their socio-political conceits, and Harris’s lyrics maintain a level of ambiguity that keep him from falling off of his soapbox.
It was clear early on that this was Harris’s show, but bassist Kathy Foster’s insistent bass lines proved to be the secret weapon that gave The Thermals their propulsive momentum. She also picked up on Harris’s freewheeling energy and amused the audience with a quick round of charades, imitating Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady and Lifter Puller) by mimicking his signature “fast clap.” It was an apt impersonation, and a shout out to a local hero never goes unappreciated.
The Thermals kept things interesting by mixing in a handful of songs from their first two albums and a casual Built to Spill cover. The biggest highlights were from their latest album though, which is remarkably consistent. “I Might Need You to Kill” and “St. Rosa and the Swallows” were early peaks, while “Here’s Your Future” picked up the energy mid-set. They closed with the album’s single “A Pillar of Salt” and headed backstage.
It was one of the rare shows where I actually wondered if there would be an encore, but the small crowd proved responsive enough to bring the trio back onstage. They played a couple of obscure covers (by The Wipers and Dead Moon) and then left us with their Thermals theme song. It was a surprisingly catchy and hard rocking tune for being something of a playful throwaway, and a fitting end to the laidback set. True, the show might have been a little more exciting if it had been held on a Friday or Saturday night, but The Thermals are about the most good-natured punks you could hope to meet, making them the perfect companion for a casual Monday evening rocking-out.
Location Info:
Triple Rock Social Club
Artist Info: Reporter, Superhopper, The Thermals
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