WE WANT DUNHAM!: Recap & Photos: The Thermals & The Big Sleep

Thursday nite I kinda-sorta took a gamble and made my way to Atlanta's Drunken Unicorn to get a taste of Portland, Oregon's The Thermals and Brooklyn's The Big Sleep. I've known about The Thermals for a few years now, but I've always neglected to look into them some more. Apparently 2006 was a big year for them as their album The Blood The Body The Machine did not go unnoticed and ended up on a few top-10 lists as "Best in '06" material. As is the norm, with a bunch of hype, I want to see if it's worth buying into. So I got a copy of said album and it wasn't too bad. I don't think it was as good as some lists were making it out to be, but it was a nice listen. The tracks were a little repetitive, but not that that's a bad thing. I just wasn't gripped to listen to the album time and time again, the way amazing releases do.

When I found out that they were coming to Atlanta, touring behind this record, I decided I'd try it out and see what they have to offer. Well, I was pretty much blown away. And that's what I love about live shows - you take a record that is OK, have the band play it live, and it becomes sonically destroying. The show on Thursday nite was a non-stop rock fest and The Thermals really brought it out. Despite their backup guitar player hobbling around on crutches prior to their set and nursing an obviously hurting ankle, all four of 'em brought it on stage. What I also loved about this show was the antics of singer Hutch Harris. I mean, can a guy be any more dramatic during a show? It was all done in a cheesy kinda fashion, but I still appreciated the crap out of it.

Also, I never heard them before (but read some about them in blogs), but The Big Sleep opened for The Thermals and they were surprisingly awesome. They played some loud, murky riffs that just tore the roof off the Unicorn and didn't need vocals to get their point across. A few songs did have some vocals, but their music was just so ferocious and moving. They were just really good. Glad that I got there early enough to catch their set.

More photos can be found at the flickr site, but here are some samples. The Thermals' setlist is also on flickr, if you're interested in what they played.