You can’t read anything about the Detroit freak-out rock band Thunderbirds Are Now! without the journalist/blogger/MySpacer fawning over the group’s spastic live show.
So we’ll get that out of the way immediately, because writing about this band and its albums and the members’ musical-chairs back stories and their indie-famous buddies in Michigan and Ohio and not paying respects to their frenetic concerts … well, that would be a shame.
“Our early shows were actually more insane than they are now,” frontman Ryan Allen said this week as his band’s van hurtled down an Ohio interstate. “Back then, all we wanted to do was just have fun with each other, and we still do, but back then there was a lot less focus on playing the songs right.”
Playing the songs right, even in rock ‘n’ roll, is important – and this quartet quickly picked that up, without sacrificing the infectious energy. It’s almost as if their Detroit brethren, Electric Six, has passed on their bombastic live show to Thunderbirds Are Now!, because just as E6 was playing more straightforward rock shows, the Thunderbirds crowed loudly. And word spread.
So, how to describe this band?
First, imagine a stark rock ‘n’ roll stage where the keyboard player bangs his head harder than anybody at a Quiet Riot concert. The singer-guitarist jumps and shimmies and freaks. The tambourine gets passed around like a bikinied strumpet in a rap video.
Second, go to youtube.com and type the band’s name into the search field. (Don’t forget the exclamation point!) Enjoy, although the sound on these vids is generally lackluster.
Third, venture out to the Larimer Lounge on Saturday and witness it for yourself. It’s an excellent bill, with Sub Pop artists The Oxford Collapse playing alongside local heroes Team Awesome and DJ Michael Trundle (from Lipgloss).
“Back when we first started playing out in basements, I wouldn’t play guitar half the time,” Allen said. “It was a lot of fun, but then it got to the point where it became a joke, and people would come to our shows just to (expletive) with us and we’d (expletive) with them back.”
That changed.
“It’s really cool the first couple of times, but after a while it becomes redundant,” Allen said. “We really respect our audience, and we respect the procedure of playing live, and that is, first and foremost, the kind of band we are.”
Saturday’s show comes at the beginning of TAN!’s marathon touring slate. After Denver, they have 10 days in the U.S., then 10 days in Europe and another 20 days back in the U.S., which takes them to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. TAN! should have their A-game on by then, but they’ll also be exhausted.
But does TAN! ever rest? No.
“We’re also going back overseas in April and doing the whole of Europe,” Allen said.
The Thunderbirds have been going full-on since they first started playing together several years ago. After two EPs, Action Driver Records released their debut full-length, “Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief.”
After the buzzy EP “Another One Hypnotized By …,” people started talking, and Frenchkiss Records soon released TAN!’s second full-length, “Justamustache,” which jump-started the group’s buzzy trajectory with cleverly crafted singles such as “Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me” and “This World is Made of Paper … Held Together By a Stapler.”
After touring “Justamustache” into the ground, the group started reading some of the reams of pigeonholing press it was receiving. Allen had studied journalism at Central Michigan, and realized music writers need qualifiers. He just felt his band wasn’t this one thing writers kept calling them, and decided to write a different record for the follow-up.
“Changing just seemed like it was a natural thing for us to do,” he said. “We decided to write the best songs we could and not worry about the classifications that people placed upon us.”
With that in mind, TAN! worked with John Schmersal of Enon and Brainiac on a project that became “Make History,” released in October. Recorded with a new bass player and drummer, the album was a massive shift from “Justamustache,” mainly in its accessible pop glory. It could still be rough around the edges, but it was mostly vibrant and bouncy – clean, even.
“We were starting to realize that there was a good balance between us writing conventional pop songs and the weird factor that we wanted to retain,” said Allen. “We all look at (Schmersal) as somebody who is really good at combining the two. His guidance in the studio was cool. He’s really a genius freakazoid kind of dude.
“He’s a solid pop songwriter … but his ear for melody is really spot-on, and he helped us explore all the different facets of this band.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Thunderbirds Are Now!
FREAK-OUT ROCK|Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St.; 9:30 p.m. Saturday with The Oxford Collapse, Team Awesome and DJ Michael Trundle|$8| info: larimerlounge.com; tickets: bigmarkstickets.com.
3more
HEARTLESS BASTARDS Their dossier is tight. Hometown: Cincinnati. Label: Fat Possum. Music: Jangly, loosely crafted melodies over deliciously messy guitars. They play the Bluebird on Saturday. More: nipp.com.
THE HIDDEN HAND In certain stoner-rock circles, Scott “Wino” Weinrich is a name that carries weight. Find out why when Wino’s new band, The Hidden Hand, plays Wednesday at the Hi-Dive. More: hi-dive.com.
ALBERT HAMMOND JR. Ever since The Strokes hit the scene, Hammond has been the band’s mouthpiece. Now he’s stepping out on his own with an anticipated solo record and an opening date Thursday at the Fillmore, warming the stage up for Incubus. The show is sold out. More: fillmoreauditorium.com.
-Ricardo Baca
