| The Thermals | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Genre: | Indie rock, lo-fi, |
| Years Active: | 2002 - 2018 |
| Label: | Kill Rock Stars, Saddle Creek, Sub Pop |
| Associated Acts: | Hutch & Kathy, All Girl Summer Fun Band, Forbidden Friends |
| Past Members: | Hutch Harris Kathy Foster Westin Glass Jordan Hudson Ben Barnett Caitlin Love Lorin Coleman Joel Burrows |
The Thermals were an American indie rock band based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The group was formed in 2002. With influences heavily rooted in both lofi, as well as standard rock, the band's songs were also known for their political and religious imagery.[1]
In 2002 former bandmates Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster came together to form the Thermals, having previously worked together, most notably in the folk duo Hutch & Kathy. Their first album, More Parts per Million, was released in 2003 by Sub Pop Records. The album was recorded and performed entirely by Hutch Harris, who played every instrument. The first live lineup was Harris with Kathy Foster on bass, Jordan Hudson (also of M. Ward and The operacycle) on drums and Ben Barnett on guitar.[2]
Their follow-up album, 2004's Fuckin A, was mixed by Death Cab For Cutie member Chris Walla.[3] During that period Ben Barnett left the band and Hutch Harris took over the role as guitarist.
Their third album The Body, The Blood, The Machine was produced by Brendan Canty of Fugazi[4] and won the group much recognition and acclaim, appearing on multiple top album lists for 2006 such as NPR, The AV Club and Pitchfork.[5] The song "A Pillar of Salt" was also featured on EA's Skate 3 in-game radio. Jordan Hudson dropped out of the band during the recording of their third album. Kathy Foster took over percussion duties in the recording studio, which Lorin Coleman performed on tour.
The Thermals' fourth album Now We Can See, was released in 2009 on the label Kill Rock Stars and produced by John Congleton. Again, Foster worked as the percussionist on the album. Westin Glass joined the group as a drummer after the album had been completed.
The Thermals fifth album, Personal Life was released September 7, 2010.
The Thermals' cover of the song "Little Boxes" was used as the opening song for Weeds season 8 episode 8, "Five Miles From Yetzer Hara" which aired on August 19, 2012; their song "Here's Your Future" from The Body, The Blood, The Machine having been previously used in the second episode of the third season ("A Pool and his Money" August 20, 2007).
In October 2012, former guitarist Joel Burrows died from complications from a car accident.[6]
On January 31, 2013, The Thermals signed to Saddle Creek Records and planned to release their new album Desperate Ground on April 16, 2013.[7] [8] In March 2013, The Thermals were named one of Fuse TV's 30 must-see artists at SXSW.[9]
On January 6, 2016, The Thermals announced the release of their seventh studio album titled We Disappear. It was released on March 25, 2016 via Saddle Creek records.[10]
On April 9, 2018, the band announced[11] that they were officially disbanding after 16 years.
Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:piano value:purple legend:Keyboards id:lines value:black legend:Studio_albums
LineData = at:04/03/2003 color:black layer:back at:18/05/2004 color:black layer:back at:22/08/2006 color:black layer:back at:04/07/2009 color:black layer:back at:07/09/2010 color:black layer:back at:13/04/2013 color:black layer:back at:25/03/2016 color:black layer:back
BarData = bar:Harris text:"Hutch Harris" bar:Foster text:"Kathy Foster" bar:Barnett text:"Ben Barnett" bar:Burrows text:"Joel Burrows" bar:Hudson text:"Jordan Hudson" bar:Love text:"Caitlin Love" bar:Coleman text:"Lorin Coleman" bar:Glass text:"Westin Glass"
PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Harris from:01/01/2002 till:end color:vocals bar:Harris from:01/01/2002 till:end color:guitar width:3 bar:Harris from:01/01/2002 till:end color:piano width:7 bar:Foster from:01/01/2002 till:end color:bass bar:Foster from:01/01/2002 till:end color:vocals width:3 bar:Glass from:01/01/2008 till:end color:drums bar:Glass from:01/01/2008 till:end color:vocals width:3 bar:Hudson from:01/01/2002 till:31/12/2005 color:drums bar:Love from:01/01/2006 till:31/12/2006 color:drums bar:Coleman from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 color:drums bar:Barnett from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2003 color:guitar bar:Burrows from:01/01/2008 till:31/12/2008 color:guitar
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] | US Heat [13] | US Indie [14] | |||
| More Parts per Million |
| — | — | — | |
| Fuckin A |
| — | — | — | |
| The Body, the Blood, the Machine |
| — | — | — | |
| Now We Can See |
| 191 | 5 | 20 | |
| Personal Life |
| 180 | 1 | 30 | |
| Desperate Ground |
| — | 1 | 39 | |
| We Disappear |
| — | 11 | 36 | |
| "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released | |||||
| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| No Culture Icons | |
| A Pillar of Salt |
|
| Desperate Ground Demos |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Sales [18] | UK Indie | |||||||||||||
| "How We Know"[19] | 2004 | — | — | Fuckin A | ||||||||||
| "A Pillar of Salt"[20] | 2007 | — | 34 | The Body, the Blood, the Machine | ||||||||||
| "Returning to the Fold" | 2008 | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Now We Can See" | 2009 | — | — | Now We Can See | ||||||||||
| "We Were Sick" | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Canada" | 2010 | — | — | |||||||||||
| "I Don't Believe You" | — | — | Personal Life | |||||||||||
| "Never Listen To Me" | 84 | — | ||||||||||||
| "Not Like Any Other Feeling" | 2011 | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Born To Kill" | 2013 | — | — | Desperate Ground | ||||||||||
| "Hey You"[21] | 2016 | — | — | We Disappear | ||||||||||
| "My Heart Went Cold" | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Ballad of Big Nothing" / "Division Day" | 2006 | We Are Telephone | To Elliott, from Portland |
| "When I Died" / "Cool Yourself You Are Flush Red"[22] | 2009 | Thao & The Get Down Stay Down | rowspan="2" |
| "Separate" / "So Hot Now" | 2010 | The Cribs |
| Year | Title | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Insound Tour Support 2.0 | Insound | |
| 2008 | LIVE at the Echoplex - December 7, 2007 | Kufala Recordings |
| Year | Title | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Wonder of the Underground Pressed On Plastic, Vol. 1 | Meow Meow | |
| 2004 | Sub Pop: Patient Zero | Sub Pop | |
| 2006 | To Elliott: From Portland | Expunged Records | |
| 2006 | Terminal Sales Vol. 2: This Delicious | Sub Pop | |
| 2007 | Arena Rock Recording Co. |