THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW! + The Hair + National Snack

Sun 25th Feb 2007

The Luminaire presents
THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW!
+ The Hair
+ National Snack

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

"Detroit spazz-rockers TAN! jettison Jagged guitar lines and fractured beats amidst a hearty offering of sociopolitical commentary." [CMJ]

'Make History', Detroit band Thunderbirds Are Now!'s 3rd full-length and second on Frenchkiss Records, does away with a band in full tail-chase and depicts one at it's peak: no longer stressing about what people might expect, but rather wearing their influences better than one of Interpol's tailored suits.

"We live off of pop music," says singer/guitarist Ryan Allen. "Some Beatles for breakfast, a little Smiths for lunch, and the Pixies for dinner. Sometimes we'll have a little New Pornographers for a midnight snack, shooting for an album full of melodies, actual choruses, songs in major keys..."

The band started off as a five-piece in the suburbs of Detroit, eventually trimming down to drummer Mike Durgan, bassist Marty Smith, keyboardist Scott Allen, and singer/guitarist Ryan Allen. The band released two EPs and one full-length record (2003's rambunctious Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief on the Action Driver label), before signing to Frenchkiss Records to release their 2005 breakthrough Justamustache. The record garnered praise across the board from tastemakers like Pitchforkmedia.com and others.

After Smith left the group to become a married man the band drafted bassist Howard Chang and hit the road with fervor, touring with the likes of Enon, Minus the Bear, The Hold Steady, The Constantines, These Arms are Snakes, Supersystem, and Rahim. Summer 2005 saw the band make their first appearance on the American summer festival circuit playing the Pitchforkmedia-curated Intonation Music Festival.

To cap off their year the band visited the UK for the first time. In early 2006, Durgan left the band, so new drummer Matt Rickle (of Detroit faves Javelins) stepped in to the fray, joining the band for their first-ever Australian tour alongside Les Savy Fav and the Hold Steady. 2007 promises more of the same upward trajectory for TAN! starting with Make History in the fall and their patented brand of unrelenting touring and inspiring live shows around the globe to follow. The opening bars of “Panthers In Crime,” the first track off of Make History, are tender and folky, with dulcet vocal harmonies hanging in the air. Have Thunderbirds Are Now! gone soft on us? Fortunately, fans of the Detroit spazz-rockers don’t have to wait for long for an answer, as the song eventually gives way to a jumpy, call-andresponse chorus against capitalism. In their follow-up to 2005’s Justamustache, tackles issues like violence and the ravages of human nature, littering the disc with images of lifeless bodies. “Who created the monsters?/Are they born or are they made?/From the densest cities to the Everglades/Their eyes are like knives, words like grenades,” singer Ryan Allen charges in “Why We War.”

Main support are The Hair; "upbeat foot-stomping punk-funkers, whose set is often interrupted, as all four members clamber on to the drumkit to smash out tribal techno breakdowns. Awesome.” [NME].

The band's musical guise encapsulates an exciting, poppy and danceable rhythm...all in one intense throng of expressive sample-led funk gluttony. Their songs range from intricate tales of broken relationships to full on baggy instrumental breakdowns.

"In a word, they are fantastic, everything a band should be. Young, enthusiastic, loud, practically fizzing with animated passion and in possession of a bagful of great tunes." [GigWise]

During 2006 the band built up a substantial following in Yorkshire and developed a national reputation with approval from the bands they played with over the past 12 months including The Sunshine Underground, The Maccabees, The Pigeon Detectives, Mumm-ra, The Longcut, Infadels & Good Shoes.

"The guitars are set to maximum fuzz, the keyboards verge on tropical and the vocals shriek rather brilliantly…The Hair create spasmic brilliance it seems, as this reaches the kind of convulsing coda which could easily fill Indie discos with juddering masses." [DrownedInSound]

The Summer of 2006 also saw The Hair play the 02 Wireless Festival in Leeds, Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire and Leeds Festival. Debut single ‘Ghosts’ will be the first release on new Fierce Panda imprint ‘Cool For Cats Records’ when released on 12th March 2007. The single will be available on 500 limited edition 7” vinyl and all major digital and mobile download networks.

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