After an amazing show in Seattle, from what I heard, The Thermals played their first show in Olympia on Sunday at the all-ages venue The Northern. A refurbished storefront, The Northern is perhaps the most rundown venue I’ve ever been to, so it was cool to see that the Thermals chose to play there.
Strong advocates for the All-Ages Movement Project, The Thermals brought close to about 100 people to the tiny dimly-lit venue on Sunday, but it didn’t really matter how many people were there, because The Thermals are never low on energy and always promise a good time. 
Opening the show was White Fang, the self-proclaimed “Portland’s Favorite Shred Pop Drug Punk Spazz Rock Good Guy Band.” It personally wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was definitely fit for the Olympia crowd, which you could call a dirtier version of Seattle. Yeah, Olympia is like Seattle, but dirtier.
All of White Fang’s songs were around 1-2 minutes long, and were so indistinguishable that you didn’t even have time to get into the songs.
“This song is about being younger than someone. It’s called ‘Younger.’”
Featuring lots of fake seizures, homoerotic state antics, and some semi-nudity, White Fang is definitely a band that puts on a show, and whether or not I liked the music, I appreciated the power they had on stage.
At this point, a few more people had stepped through the door, but literally it was the smallest crowd I’ve ever been a part of. Actually my friend’s roommate was working the lights that night, and he told us that the Northern didn’t make any profit until 16 people bought tickets. And at $8 per person, you can guess how much each show cost them to put on.
Hey, now’s a good place to recommend that you donate to your local all-ages venue, because like the Northern, most don’t have a lot of money and some are close to being shut down.
After the 20-or-so-minute intermission, Olympia locals Broken Water took the stage to a much more subdued performance, featuring psychedelic vocals and fuzzed-out guitars fit for an Olympia rainy day, reminiscent of early Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Seriously, Broken Water at times sounded like they were channeling Thurston and Kim from Sonic Youth, but it a good way.
Broken Water’s throwback garage rock was actually quite refreshing. And their presence was much less “dude let’s get wasted” and more “we’re such music dorks,” as their on-stage (makeshift stage, I might add) banter was quite endearing.
“I vote we raise some money to get this place a proper PA system,” drummer Kanako Wynkoop proclaimed to the exuberant crowd.
There set was much longer and more enjoyable than White Fang’s, which seemed cut short. I suggest you go find their debut LP Whet, which came out last year.
As they stepped off the wooden two-piece stage, more people arrived in the dingy storefront-turned-venue. At this point, people tried to actually get close to the stage, but it wouldn’t have really made a difference either way.
The Thermals are such lovely people. Honestly, during both the opening bands’ sets Kathy Foster and Westin Glass were off to the side of the stage listening and bopping their heads along with everyone else in the venue. It’s just too bad I didn’t get a chance to stay afterward and hang for a bit. It was a school night, and I still had homework today.
Jumping right into the first song was a bit trickier than it originally would have been. Literally four beats into it, Glass’s pedal broke. The chain just snapped in half. I guess he started so furiously that the pedal couldn’t handle it.
Frantically, Glass called on the members of Broken Water to see if they had left yet. And meanwhile, people were shouting from the audience to Kathy, “tell a joke!”
“Nooooo. This isn’t a comedy club,” she said cheekily.
Thankfully Broken Water hadn’t left, so The Thermals got their bass pedal, and the music recommenced.
From then on, the show went off without a hitch, unless you count Westin shouting at some guy shoving people around up front. I have to admit, that was kind of awesome.
As you can notice with the set list I posted above, The Thermals played through their whole catalogue, not just the new stuff. It was great for the newer younger fans and the old-school Olympia punks that came out on Sunday. Starting with “A Stare Like Yours” off Fuckin A was a perfect way to begin a fun and quite sweaty night.
As I helped hold up the speakers while people were thrashing around up front, I didn’t even care that the lighting was virtually impossible, because a.) I’d seen The Thermals twice last year, and b.) they’ll be playing the Sasquatch announcement party next month, so getting good photos was the least of my worries. The Thermals are too much fun to even care what’s going on around you, even if that means a speaker is going to fall on your head.
Not that it happened. A few people standing around me periodically grabbed the stand the speaker was sitting upon, because it was certainly moving around.
Hey, that’s something donations to the All-Ages Movement Project would help – getting proper equipment for these places that make it their goal to bring good music to all-ages crowds all the time. I’m all for that.
After an hour or so of the short and infectious hits from the last 8 years of their existence, The Thermals made it seem as if they weren’t shoved on this tiny stage in the middle of downtown Olympia. They made the best of it, and it definitely secured my love for them, as well as a new respect for the fledgling venues out there. Seriously, more bands need to be like The Thermals and book the venues that no one else will.
The more venues where everyone can see live music, the better.
