The Thermals, who turn out the kind of tight, high-energy songs you can jump around to, first met label mates and fellow indie pop-rockers Thao with the Get Down Stay Down in 2008. That’s when, after six years at Sub Pop Records, they found a new label to call home at home in Portland, Oregon, with Kill Rock Stars.
Now after a summer of hanging around together in Portland, sharing a split 7-inch release for Record Store Day, and both playing at the South by Southwest music festival last year, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down and The Thermals have arrived this month at our sunnier state in a joint West Coast tour.
The bands make their L.A. stop at the Troubadour on Feb. 11.
“(The Thermals) are good friends with us. We always said actually that we would try to go on tour together,” said guitarist-vocalist Thao Nguyen, also known simply as Thao.
Thao credited The Thermals for their incredible energy and engaging live shows and said that she and her band would like to bring the same to the tour.
“The difference is that (guitarist-vocalist Hutch Harris) walks around in his underwear. He can pull it off. He writes things on his body, which I do not,” Thao said.
A third-year art student who plans to attend the show, Ashi Diamon saw The Thermals perform live with high energy at last summer’s FYF Fest music festival in Los Angeles’ Chinatown district. Diamon co-hosts a show on UCLAradio.com called Fruitcake.
“When we heard about the tour, we were just like, “˜That makes so much sense!'” Diamon said. “I feel like they would go together.”
Initially concerned that the two headliners would compete against each other, Diamon said she realized it would not be a problem since both bands are so easygoing.
“It seems like it’s going to be one of those shows that’s really amazing from start to finish, not one (where) you have a flaky, lackluster opener,” Diamon said. “It’s just going to be bam-bam, straight-through goodness.”
With a hushed but powerful voice and distinctive vocal delivery, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down has also been described as an alternative folk-rock outfit. There might be plucking and ringing strings, but Thao calls the collaboration a dirty pop band.
“I think at the heart of it, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, but you know, it’s kind of dirtier, bright songs,” Thao said. “But actually, no, there (are) a few songs on the new record that are just sad.”
Indeed both bands manage to exude a lively, upbeat sound despite the darker, more tragic topics they have chosen to explore in their songs.
The Thermals’ latest record from last year, “Now We Can See,” according to Harris, picks up on the previous record’s focus on war and destruction to deal with the subject of death.
“I think for us, and for a lot of people, it’s on our minds a lot.” Harris said.
But Harris assures that there will be no more death on the next record. Under a current working title of “Personal Life,” the new record is all about love and personal relationships, and the difficulties that come along with them.
“There’s a lot about power and control ““ a lot of our records are about that too,” Harris said. “It can be taken politically or personally.”
The band, also made up of bassist-vocalist Kathy Foster and drummer Westin Glass, is in the middle of signing the contract for its next record with Kill Rock Stars and has written many new songs, six or seven of which they will perform on the tour.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down released its new record last October, called “Know Better Learn Faster.” According to Thao, the record has a lot to do with the end of a relationship.
“A lot of the songs were about how you kind of let each other down, you kind of let yourself down. So a lot of it was just what happened and what didn’t happen,” Thao said. “But it was very cathartic ““ a lot of the songs are very energetic, and there’s this undercurrent of restlessness and tension.”
Harris termed The Thermals’ particular sound “post-pop-punk.”
“(It’s) just like a punk band, but it’s really catchy, and it’s all about catchy ““ like early Weezer and early Green Day,” Harris said.
A fourth-year English student who hopes to attend the show, Kimberlee Vander Most first stumbled upon The Thermals while looking for new music and browsing the online music library Web site Last.fm. Vander Most co-hosts a show on UCLAradio.com called The Backseat.
“(Harris’) voice is just so … unreal kind of good,” Vander Most said. “To hear a lead singer with that kind of raw sound … just to have that sheer power of emotion that was real, I was just kind of blown away.”
Diamon said the band was one of the most accessible bands at FYF Fest.
“One thing about shows like that is you sort of check your ego and your elitism, and just have fun,” Diamon said. “Everybody was just so happy to be there, because (The Thermals) were just so fast, and loud, and positive.”
Vander Most also said it’s easy to relate to and fall for the music once you listen to it.
“I keep going to this word, “˜spontaneity,’ but I think that’s really the quality they bring,” Vander Most said. “The sort of raw musicality that’s not quite so pop, so thought-out, but feels very organic.”