NEW RECORD

http://thunders.bandcamp.com/ <---- pre-order info up now!

Ryan Reidy
Michael Preuschl
Bake
Beautiful Baby in the Bummer of Love

June 25 - Irving Theater::Indianapolis
July 9 - Kim's House::Bloomington, Indiana

East Coast Tour TBA

no real news to speak of

i've been talking about this new record for months now, but there isn't much new news to speak of. still in the process of mixing it. no idea when it will be out because that would require some sort of capital investment that i do no have. whatever.

July 2009: Writing New Hits

Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ... Writing new hits ...

East Coast Tour June2K9 + other thingssss

Hi everyone on the Internet right now

We are heading out East for three weeks at the end of May ... All the dates, thus far, are on the calendar on our Myspace (and at the bottom of this bulletin). Hey, do you live in Atlanta, Athens or Boston??? We are running into a wall in these places and desperately need help booking shows here on June 2, 3 and 11 (respectively). So, if you wanna, help us out with that. Our kick-off show for this tour will be in Indianapolis on May 29 @ the Melody Inn with Yuki. I'm starting a twitter for this tour ... trying to embrace new technology and all that, yeah yeah.

ALSO ... bunch of new reviews up in the reviews blog (aka ... Nice Things People Have Said About Us blog; which I guess is a misnomer because some of the stuff is just kind of neutral, but completists' sake they're there) and also a really long-winded interview with Ryan.

Getting back from tour June 18 ... this will be the last major push for "The Sympathetic Oscillations EP" before we head into the studio in July to record our full-length ... pretty excited about that one. Got lots of songs to record, lots of ideas for sounds ... Maybe we'll let some of it slip, maybe we won't, who knows, man, who knows.

Again, don't hesitate to contact us if you live in Atlanta, Athens or Boston-area and think you may be able to help.

Take care

Thunders by way of Mark

JUNER OSCILLATIONS TOUR 2K9
May 29- Indianapolis IN @ The Melody Inn w/ Yuki
May 30- Bloomington, IN @ The Statehouse
May 31- Lexington, KY @ Al's Bar w/ Jovontaes
June 1- Nashville, TN @ TBA w/ Turbo Fruits, Heavy Cream
June 2- Atlanta, GA @ help!!!
June 3- Athens, GA @ Go Bar
June 4- Asheville, NC @ The French Bar w/ The Soft Opening
June 5- Greenville, NC @ Spazzatorium
June 6- Richmond, VA @ The Plaza Bowl
June 7- Washington DC @ The Velvet Lounge w/ Doomstar
June 8- Baltimore, MD @ TBA w/ Weekends
June 9- Philadelphia, PA @ The M Room w/ Musicforheadphones
June 10- Brooklyn, NY @ Bruar Falls
June 11- Boston, MA @ All Asia
June 12- Manchester, CT @ Thunderdome
June 13- NYC, NY@ TBA
June 14- Syracuse, NY @ TBA
June 15- Rochester, NY @ the Bug Jar
June 16- Cleveland, OH @ Now That's Class w/ Freedom
June 17- Detroit, MI @ the Painted Lady w/ Qualia
June 18- Fort Wayne, IN @ The Brass Rail

next show after these is July 29- Indianapolis, IN @ Volrath w/ Obits (ex Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu) + Disappears ... will be a good one

pretty bad review from delusions of adequacy

http://www.adequacy.net/2009/05/thunders-the-sympathetic-oscillations-ep/

Is it possible to be dangerous in rock ‘n’ roll anymore? Thunders’ lead singer and songwriter Ryan Reidy certainly thinks so. With the presumptuous swagger and supreme confidence of Russell Brand, Reidy struts and strikes poses throughout the six tracks on The Sympathetic Oscillations EP to tiresome results. Equal parts The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, the Indianapolis, IN quartet finds no new ground to dig and barely manages to tread water with the aforementioned bands’ prima donna inclinations and propensity for drugged-fueled psychedelia. Reidy’s grating drawl slobbers all over Thunders’ wahed, washed out guitars and half-baked drums, sounding more like Wolf Parade’s prepubescent sneers than Marc Bolan’s sensual come-hithers. It results in an EP brimming with attitude and lacking in inspiration.

To be fair, Reidy recorded The Sympathetic Oscillations EP on his own, leaving himself to his own indulgences without the aid of another ear to ground him. He nails the loose bloozy sound he’s going for, but listeners have heard this before. A lot. It’s been done to death so many times before by so many better bands. Reidy tries to channel rock’s best ambassadors of sex and menace but falls short. If he forced himself to go out on a limb every once and a while, he might find himself making music that was a bit more uneven but potentially more remarkable, maybe even “dangerous”.

The songs do little to distract from Reidy’s irritating warble. “83” starts off like Wire’s “Strange” before descending into a heap of guitars buzzing around a bumbling riff like flies on a dog turd. Most of the tracks on The Sympathetic Oscillations EP fail to move beyond this swirling sameness, as if Reidy took a hippie drum circle and replaced the stoned, third rate bongo beaters with stoned, third-rate psych guitarists. If Reidy intended on making a splash with The Sympathetic Oscillations EP, he succeeded only in creating a venue for his own vainglorious ramblings. I’d rather attend an open mic night at a community college coffee shop than listen to another lyric like “We’ve got a love that’s deep in our hearts” ever again. Perhaps the recent addition of other opinionated musicians to fill out Thunders’ live setup will temper Reidy’s knack for hackneyed riffage and warmed over words.

very longwinded and verbose interview with Ryan.

http://indianapolis.metromix.com/music/article/q-and-a-with/1017438/content


We caught up with Thunders vocalist Ryan Reidy to ask about their upcoming full-length plans and the reception to their first release.

Now that Sympathetic Oscillations has been out for a bit, what’s your take of the reception? Was it what you were hoping for?
Ryan Reidy: I'll answer the second question first, because it will put my answer to the first bit in some context. Considering that the journey from beginning the songs and building my recording rig started a year and a half before it ended up in the hands of Andy and Annie Skinner at A Squared Industries, the gestation period for the vast majority of these songs was pretty lengthy. The sheer amount of time that had elapsed from beginning to end, which included going back to college to finish my degree, kind of made me unattached to the songs to a degree, simply because the time that had passed from initial inspiration to completed song was relatively long. Paradoxically, I feel very attached to the songs simply because they were only mine for so long, but I do not feel that is especially important with relation to the question asked. That's simply my own issue to wrestle with...but I digress.

Since I had, in effect, experienced these songs inside and out, on my own terms no less, for so long, I no longer felt like they really represented any sort of real emotional concepts or ideas that, while incredibly real at the time of writing, no longer seemed even remotely relevant. So, in a very very long, round-a-bout way, I wasn't really hoping for much. My time with the songs had already passed. Having said all of that, I am pretty pleased with its reception. It was kind of an "astronaut without a tether" feeling to the recording of that EP. I honestly had no idea what I was doing.

How much are you guys looking forward to SxSW? Have you been before?
RR: SxSW is a lot of fun. This will be my third time going. I suppose this should also be the place where I say that THUNDERS has never officially played any show associated with SxSW. Corporate sponsorship at the festival has been so prevalent in recent years, the proliferation of day parties with lots of free stuff, propped by a large amount of corporate money has allowed smaller bands - like us - a chance to take part in the fun. I mean, and not trying to sound too presumptuous, SxSW is really a party designed for people in the industry that miss spring break from high school or college. I'm not trying to make any moral stance on that, though. It can be a lot of fun.

What’s the plan for the forthcoming project – I’ve read you’re working on a full-length? Is that right?
RR: Ummmm, yes. We've been working on the full length since before the EP was released. The songs that were chosen to be on the EP were simply because they were the ones that were most completed at the time. We decided to release an EP simply as a way to help get shows and establish ourselves as a band. So, a lot of songs had already been written. Although, the identity of the band began to take shape more - as they so often do - from playing shows. I also began to write newer songs. The older songs were then, mostly, scrapped for some of the newer material that, in some ways, was written for this band in mind.

Prior to that, I feel like I was just writing songs without any real sort of frame of reference. The new songs seem like they are "our" songs, with some input from everyone, while the older ones just seem like "my" songs. Pretty recently the full length seems to be taking shape and getting some sort of identity unto itself. I'm pretty excited about it, actually.

The live show has been described as the best aspect for Thunders. Would you agree with that? Is that the favorite part of the gig for the band?
RR: I'm not sure if I even have an opinion of what kind of live band we are simply because I have never seen us. Of course, I'm not trying to sound cheeky or anything, but even down to how it sounds, I imagine that what I hear and experience is completely different than what other people do. I'm pretty far off into the things I have to do to make the songs happen that I rarely even notice the others on stage, even. I guess what I'm trying to say that it's a wholly different experience for me than it would be for the audience.

However, since a lot of time and care has been taken into the crafting of the songs themselves to stand by themselves, it seems like almost a slap in the face that something like a live show, that really only lasts the time a person sees the band can be the best part of a band. Especially against its record, which can be enjoyed for a lot longer time and under the listener's own control and context. I would really hate to be the kind of person that demands that other's only listen to and enjoy our/the/my music under whatever context we are making available to them. I guess it really isn't that important. There are certainly worse things that can be said about a band.

Speaking for myself only here: playing in front of people can take a lot out of you. Emotionally, physically, mentally... all of it. I often find myself leaving the stage feeling pretty awkward. Nine times out of ten, I want to leave immediately and find a quiet place to go. It's a strange mixed bag of feelings - feelings that I am at a loss to describe. I imagine that they come from the same place that would even motivate to make a record by myself. I think I am, at times, a control freak. Playing live, everything is out of one's control.

Finally, your place in the local music scene – has Indy helped or hindered your progress thus far? Have you thought of taking the act elsewhere or is there a local mission in mind?
RR: I think it's strange that, at least with all of the "local" press I read - which is also representative of the places I've lived, like Muncie - that somehow a question always comes up about where one lives and if they have a mission to "help" or be "hurt" from where they live. Compared to other cities, like say Bloomington or even Chicago, it seems like that question is kind of a non-issue. I think the reason for that might be because Indy and Muncie are comparably under-established as cultural hubs.

Maybe there's a collective chip on everyone's shoulders because of that. However, aside from a brief moment in my life where I had "Muncie Pride", I have ceased to have any real articulate opinion of such a thing. As Mark and I have discussed at length, everyone has to be from somewhere. We're from Indianapolis, and that is neither the flag we are waving, nor the name of the chip on our shoulder.